An Oregon man, who was on the run from police for allegedly bounding and beating a woman last week, has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after an hours-long standoff with authorities, according to CBS affiliate KTVL in Medford, Oregon.
Benjamin Obadiah Foster, 36, was alleged to have violently kidnapped a woman and tortured her for days before he fled into a forested area of Oregon. Police had said in a brief statement Tuesday that Foster was in custody after a standoff that lasted several hours.
Foster died at a hospital shortly after he was taken into custody at a property where he was staying in Grants Pass, Oregon, Lt. Jeff Hattersley of the Grants Pass Police Department told KTVL.
Foster had been at the center of an intense statewide manhunt since Jan. 24, when Grants Pass police officers responded to a home and found a woman who “had been bound and severely beaten into unconsciousness,” according to police at the time.
Police said they received “credible information” linking Foster to the attack, the Daily Courier reported. Foster was wanted on kidnapping, attempted murder, and assault charges, police have said.
Foster’s victim remains hospitalized in critical condition and her name has not been released.
Foster had been released from a Nevada prison about two years earlier. He had been charged with holding another woman captive for weeks in her Las Vegas apartment in 2019 and was convicted on lesser charges, the Associated Press reported.
He was sentenced to up to two-and-a-half years in prison, but he had already spent 729 days in jail awaiting trial and was released.
Police recently issued a warning that Foster was using dating apps to search for safe places to hide. Authorities also said he may have changed his appearance by shaving and dyeing his hair.
Last week, law enforcement officials discovered Foster’s 2008 Nissan Sentra at a property in Wolf Creek, Oregon, and arrested 68-year-old Tina Marie Jones on charges of hindering prosecution.
“I’m disgusted by what I know happened,” Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman said last week, according to NBC affiliate KOBI in Medford. “This was an evil act.”
“We typically think this could not happen in our small community of 40,000 people, but this can happen anywhere,” he added.
