Girl’s escape from cinder block cell probably spared others from comparable ‘nightmare,’ FBI says

PORTLAND, Ore. — A lady who escaped her kidnapper by punching her manner out of a do-it-yourself cinder block cell at a house in southern Oregon probably saved different girls from an identical destiny, authorities stated, by alerting them to a person they now suspect in sexual assaults in no less than 4 extra states.

Negasi Zuberi posed as an undercover police officer when he kidnapped the girl in Seattle, drove tons of of miles to his residence in Klamath Falls and locked her within the storage cell till she bloodied her arms breaking the door to flee, the FBI stated Wednesday.

Zuberi, 29, faces federal fees that embrace interstate kidnapping, and authorities stated they’re searching for further victims after linking him to the opposite assaults. Authorities haven’t but stated publicly during which states these assaults happened.

“This lady was kidnapped, chained, sexually assaulted, and locked in a cinderblock cell,” Stephanie Shark, the assistant particular agent in control of the FBI’s Portland area workplace, stated in a information launch. “Police say she beat the door together with her arms till they had been bloody in an effort to break away. Her fast considering and can to outlive could have saved different girls from an identical nightmare.”

After the girl escaped from his residence in Klamath Falls, Zuberi fled town of roughly 22,000 folks however was arrested by state police in Reno, Nevada, the following afternoon, the FBI stated.

Courtroom data didn’t but record an lawyer who would possibly converse on Zuberi’s behalf. He has not but been assigned a public defender in Oregon as he is nonetheless being transferred from Nevada, which might take a number of weeks, stated Kevin Sonoff, a spokesperson for the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in Oregon.

A grand jury in Portland on Wednesday returned an indictment charging Zuberi with interstate kidnapping and transporting a person throughout state strains with intent to interact in felony sexual exercise. He might withstand life in jail if convicted.

In response to the FBI, Zuberi additionally glided by the names Sakima, Justin Hyche and Justin Kouassi, and he has lived in a number of states since 2016, presumably together with California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Alabama, and Nevada.

In response to a felony criticism filed in U.S. District Courtroom in Oregon, Zuberi solicited the girl, recognized solely as Grownup Sufferer 1, within the early-morning hours of July 15 to interact in prostitution alongside Aurora Avenue in Seattle, an space identified for intercourse work. Afterward, Zuberi advised the girl he was an undercover officer, confirmed her a badge, pointed a stun gun at her and positioned her in handcuffs and leg irons earlier than placing her at the back of his car, the criticism says.

He then drove to his residence, stopping alongside the best way to sexually assault her, the criticism says. After they arrived about seven hours after he first encountered her in Seattle, he put her within the makeshift cell constructed from cinder blocks with a door of steel bars and stated he was leaving to do paperwork.

The lady “briefly slept and awoke to the belief that she would probably die if she didn’t try to flee,” the criticism says.

She managed to interrupt among the door’s welded joints, making a small opening which she climbed via, Klamath Falls Police Capt. Rob Reynolds stated at a information convention.

“She repeatedly punched the door together with her personal arms,” Reynolds stated. “She had a number of lacerations alongside her knuckles.”

The sufferer opened Zuberi’s car which was within the storage, grabbed his gun and fled, leaving blood on a wood fence she climbed over to flee, the criticism says. She flagged down a passing driver, who referred to as 911.

Two Nevada State Patrol officers tracked Zuberi down at a Walmart parking zone in Reno the following day, July 16, the criticism says. He was in his automobile holding one in every of his kids within the entrance seat whereas speaking to his spouse, who was standing exterior the car. He initially refused to get out of the automobile when the officers requested and as an alternative reduce himself with a pointy object and tried to destroy his cellphone, in response to the criticism. Zuberi finally surrendered, and the kid wasn’t harmed.

Investigators interviewed Zuberi’s spouse and neighbors, however authorities declined to say if there was any indication that any of them had been conscious of the kidnapping.

A search of Zuberi’s residence and storage turned up the Seattle lady’s purse and handwritten notes, in response to investigators. One among them was labeled “Operation Take Over” and included a bullet record with entries that learn, “Depart cellphone at residence” and “Ensure they don’t have a bunch of ppl (sic) of their life. You don’t need any sort of investigation.”

One other handwritten doc appeared to incorporate a tough sketch for an underground construction utilizing concrete blocks, foam insulation and waterproof concrete.

The FBI stated Zuberi could have used different strategies of gaining management of ladies, together with drugging their drinks. The company stated it was establishing an internet site asking anybody who believes they could have been a sufferer to come back ahead.

The Klamath Falls rental residence the place Zuberi allegedly took the girl is owned by town’s mayor, Carol Westfall, and her husband, Kevin, in response to property data. The home backs onto a park and is on a residential road, lower than a quarter-mile (half a kilometer) from a freeway.

Courtroom data present that after Zuberi’s arrest, the couple had him evicted.

“We’re shocked and dismayed by what has occurred,” the Westfalls, who declined to touch upon their interactions with Zuberi, stated in an e mail. “We applaud the actions of the girl who helped seize this particular person and forestall him from committing additional atrocities.”

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Johnson reported from Seattle. Related Press writers Andrew Selsky in Salem, Oregon, and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, contributed. Claire Rush is a corps member for the Related Press/Report for America Statehouse Information Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit nationwide service program that locations journalists in native newsrooms to report on undercovered points.