CNN —
After an hours-long standoff, Oregon authorities have taken kidnapping suspect Benjamin Foster into custody, police said Tuesday night.
A standoff Tuesday between Oregon authorities and a man accused of kidnapping and torturing a woman this month has been “resolved,” a CNN affiliate reported, citing police.
Authorities had surrounded a home underneath which suspect Benjamin Obadiah Foster was believed to be hiding in the southwest Oregon city of Grants Pass, CNN affiliate KTVL reported, citing a police spokesperson.
A SWAT team had been trying to get him to surrender Tuesday evening, the affiliate reported, citing police.
The spokesperson did not confirm how the scenario was resolved, but said police would provide further details in the coming hours, KTVL reported.
Some residents in the neighborhood received a notification to shelter in place earlier Tuesday evening, KTVL reported.
Foster, sought by authorities for a week, was seen walking a dog in the Grants Pass area Tuesday morning, police said.
CNN has reached out to Grants Pass police, the Josephine County and Jefferson County sheriff’s offices and the FBI’s Portland office about the developing situation and has not heard back.
The search for Foster began January 24 after officers found a woman who had been bound and severely beaten into unconsciousness inside a Grants Pass home, police said. Foster had already fled the crime scene when police arrived, they said.
The victim still was hospitalized in critical condition as of Sunday, according to Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman.
Federal, state and local authorities have been searching “around the clock” for Foster, who is wanted on suspicion of attempted murder, kidnapping and assault, according to the police chief.
Prosecutors have accused Foster of trying to kill the woman while “intentionally torturing” her, according to charging documents obtained by CNN affiliate KDRV. The victim endured the alleged abuses for a “protracted amount of time,” the police chief has said.
The victim was initially found by a friend who called police and identified Foster as the suspect, Hensman said.
When officers arrived January 24, they found “an absolutely disgusting scene,” the police chief said, adding that images taken by investigators are “horrific.”
“I’ve seen a lot in my career, but some things do stick with you, and this will stay stained in my memory for many years to come,” Hensman told CNN Monday.
Foster and his victim had a “prior relationship,” Hensman told CNN Monday. He did not provide further details but said, “This was not a random attack.”
Investigators are still sifting through a “significant amount” of evidence and following up on the flood of tips that the department has received so far, the police chief said.
Authorities are urging the public to send in any information about Foster’s whereabouts or potential sightings of the suspect. People should pay particular attention to his eyes and facial structure, police said, because he may have tried to alter his appearance by cutting or coloring his hair and beard.
Hensman encouraged people who come into contact with Foster – either in person or online – to call 911 immediately. Police have warned that the “extremely dangerous suspect” could be armed.
Hensman said Monday that he does not believe Foster is a “random attacker” but warned “nothing is off the table with an individual like him.”
“He’s definitely a threat to others,” the police chief said. “I think he would be a threat to somebody who might befriend him.”
Investigators previously said Foster may be using dating apps to find potential new victims or manipulate people into helping him evade arrest. Hensman declined to clarify Monday whether Foster is still active on those apps.
Foster has been accused of attacking women who he had relationships with in two separate cases in Las Vegas, Clark County records show.
In the first case, Foster was charged with felony battery constituting domestic violence, the records show. His ex-girlfriend testified that he tried to strangle her on Christmas Eve in 2017 after he saw that another man had texted her, according to the documents.
He was also charged with felony assault, battery and kidnapping for alleged abuses against his then-girlfriend in 2019, according to charging documents.
The victim in that case told police Foster strangled her several times and kept her tied up for most of the following two weeks, a Las Vegas police report said. When she was finally able to escape to a hospital, she had seven broken ribs, two black eyes and abrasions to her wrists and ankles from being tied up, the report said.
Foster accepted plea deals in both cases. In the first case, he was sentenced to a maximum of 30 months in prison but given credit for 729 days served.
