Benjamin Obadiah Foster is wanted on charges of attempted murder, kidnapping and assault in Oregon, police said.
A nationwide manhunt is underway for Benjamin Obadiah Foster, who is wanted in Oregon on kidnapping and torture charges and is using dating apps to find new victims, authorities said.
Foster, 36, has been on the run since last Tuesday and is wanted on charges of murder, kidnapping and assault, according to the Grants Pass Police Department.
Authorities warned that Foster may have changed his appearance by shaving his beard, cutting his hair or changing its color.
Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman has told reporters the man is active on dating apps and may be using them to find new victims and to lure women into helping his escape efforts.
“I’m disgusted by what I know happened. This was an evil act,” Hensman told reporters last week, after police said they found a 35-year-old woman bound and beaten nearly to death inside a Grants Pass residence. The victim had been held and tortured for a “protracted amount of time,” the police chief said.
“This is an all-hands-on-deck operation and we won’t rest until we capture this man,” Hensman said. The U.S. Marshals Service is also assisting in the search, he said.
The woman remained in critical condition and under police protection at a hospital, authorities said.
Police warned the public not to approach the suspect, who is considered "armed and extremely dangerous."
In 2019, before moving to Oregon, Foster was charged in Las Vegas with holding his former girlfriend hostage for two weeks, police said. Foster was originally charged with five felonies, including assault and battery, authorities said, but reached a plea deal with prosecutors in 2021 in which he pleaded guilty to one felony count of battery and a misdemeanor count of battery constituting domestic violence.
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