Oregon torture suspect spotted walking dog, police say

A man accused of torturing a woman he held captive in Oregon last week was spotted walking a dog in the same area that crime took place, police said Tuesday. 

Benjamin Obadiah Foster, 36, is wanted by police for attempted murder, kidnapping and assault after a woman was found unconscious, bound and near death in Grants Pass, Oregon, last Tuesday. She was hospitalized in critical condition.

The Grants Pass Police Department on Tuesday shared a photo of what it claimed was Foster walking a dog “in the Grants Pass area.”

Later Tuesday night, a large police presence was gathered outside the home in Grants Pass where the woman was found, according to CBS affiliate KTVL-TV. Video from the station showed police surrounding the area and occasionally moving toward the house. KTVL reported that police believe Foster is barricaded inside the home, but law enforcement officials have not publicly confirmed that report or said what it is they were doing in the area.

On Thursday night, local and federal law enforcement agents raided a property in the unincorporated community of Wolf Creek, about 20 miles north of Grants Pass, and seized Foster’s car. They arrested a 68-year-old woman for hindering prosecution in the raid, but Foster managed to escape.

In 2019, before moving to Oregon, Foster held his then-girlfriend captive inside her Las Vegas apartment for two weeks. He initially was charged with five felonies, including assault and battery, and faced decades in prison upon conviction. But in August 2021, Foster reached a deal with Clark County prosecutors that allowed him to plead guilty to one felony count of battery and a misdemeanor count of battery constituting domestic violence.

A judge sentenced him to up to 2 1/2 years in a Nevada prison. But after the 729 days he had spent in jail awaiting trial were factored into his punishment, Foster was left to serve fewer than 200 additional days in state custody.