Cops: Standoff With Torture Suspect 'Resolved'

Oregon police say Benjamin Foster has been taken into custody
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 30, 2023 10:15 AM CST
Updated Feb 1, 2023 12:01 AM CST
Cops: Torture Suspect Is Using Chilling Way to Avoid Capture
This undated photo shows Benjamin Obadiah Foster, with longer hair.   (Grants Pass Police Department via AP)
UPDATE Feb 1, 2023 12:01 AM CST

A standoff on Tuesday involving a man suspected in a violent kidnapping in Oregon who was barricaded underneath a home has been “resolved,” police said, per the AP. Grants Pass Police Lt. Jeff Hattersley told KTVL-TV Tuesday evening that Benjamin Obadiah Foster, 36, was underneath the house in Grants Pass and that police were trying to get him to surrender. Just before 8pm, Hattersley said the situation was resolved. He told the news outlet he could not confirm at the time whether Foster was arrested, but later Tuesday, CNN reported Foster had been taken into custody. Foster had evaded authorities for a week but was spotted Tuesday walking a dog in the Grants Pass area.

Jan 30, 2023 10:15 AM CST

As if the world of online dating wasn't iffy enough, authorities in Oregon are issuing a new warning, one involving a man they're seeking in a torture case. Cops are on the hunt for 36-year-old Benjamin Obadiah Foster, suspected of abducting and then torturing a woman over a period of days; she was found Tuesday in a Grants Pass home bound, unconscious, and near death, per the AP. Police from that town are now saying that Foster has logged on to dating apps, which he may be "actively using" to find new victims, or simply to help him evade capture.

They say Foster may try to alter what he looks like by cutting down his hair and beard, or dyeing them. Authorities note that eyes and facial structure are much harder to mask, and so romance seekers on dating sites, as well as everyone else in the general public, should look most closely at those features if they think they've spotted Foster. "Additional photos of Foster, as they become available, will be released to assist in his identification," the Grants Pass Police Department notes. On Thursday, police in Wolf Creek, Oregon, about 18 miles from where the Grants Pass victim was found, issued a search warrant at a residence there and arrested a 68-year-old woman, reports the Washington Post.

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Authorities have charged Tina Marie Jones with hindering prosecution, accusing her of following Foster in another car as he intentionally drove his 2008 Nissan Sentra over an embankment, then giving him a ride back to the property that was later raided, per court docs. It's not clear if Foster and Jones met on a dating app. Foster, meanwhile, was able to escape into the thickly wooded area near the home. Foster had served less than 200 days in prison after sentencing in a 2019 case after police say he bound and beat his then-girlfriend for two weeks. The Grants Pass victim remains hospitalized in critical condition, authorities said Sunday. A $2,500 reward has been offered for any info leading to the arrest and prosecution of Foster, who's been charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, and assault. Police say he may be armed and should be considered "extremely dangerous," per CNN. (More manhunt stories.)

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