Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
PORTLAND, OREGON: A federal grand jury in Portland handed down an indictment accusing a Klamath Falls, Oregon, man of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a Seattle woman on Wednesday, August 2. The FBI claims it is searching for more victims in other states after the woman managed to escape from a constructed "dungeon" made of cinder blocks in the accused's Oregon house.
Negasi Zuberi, 29, also known by the names of Sakima, Justin Kouassi, and Justin Hyche, is suspected of interstate kidnapping and transporting the victims to participate in illicit sexual activity, as reported by CNN. According to the criminal complaint, the woman was taken from her home after midnight on July 15 before being sexually assaulted, kidnapped, and hauled more than seven hours away.
Who is Negasi Zuberi?
Zuberi has been charged with kidnapping, raping, and imprisoning a victim. According to the FBI, Zuberi, who has resided in at least 10 different states since 2016, has been connected to violent assaults in at least four of these jurisdictions. The agency stated that there are grounds for investigators to think there may be further victims. According to court documents released on Wednesday, a grand jury in Oregon indicted him on one count of kidnapping and one count of transporting with the intent to engage in sexual activity.
The suspect might be known to victims as "Sakima," and it's believed he used various kinds of tactics to acquire control of the women, including drugging their drinks and impersonating a police officer. He's also said to have hired sex workers to brutally sexually assault them. There's a chance that some of the interactions were captured by him on video to make it seem like the assault was consensual. Furthermore, the FBI stated that between August 2016 and July 2023, Zuberi allegedly targeted sex workers or housemates in California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Alabama, and Nevada, and requests the public's assistance to find more potential victims and more details on Zuberi.
Negasi Zuberi posed as an undercover cop before kidnapping the Seattle woman
According to a press release from the FBI, Zuberi left his residence in Klamath Falls on July 15 and traveled to Seattle, where he pretended to be an undercover cop to hire a sex worker. The victim claimed that Zuberi tased her, handcuffed her, and put leg irons on her before placing her in the back seat of his car. "Zuberi told the victim she was under arrest. The victim reported Zuberi had a firearm, police patches, a taser, and other law enforcement equipment," states a news release from the Klamath Falls Police Department.
"Sakima" Zuberi then apparently drove nearly 450 miles to his house in Klamath Falls while repeatedly abusing the woman sexually, who claimed to have been placed in "a makeshift cell he had constructed in his garage" at his residence at 1336 N Eldorado Avenue. Following the woman's escape, Zuberi left the locale but was later located in Reno, Nevada, where he was brought into custody by police after a 45-minute standoff, as per officials.
'The victim said she knew Zuberi would kill her if she stayed in the room'
According to an affidavit, the woman observed a map application on the suspect's mobile during the drive that showed they were two hours and four minutes away from the intended destination. The victim "knew at that point that Zuberi was not a police officer and that she was being kidnapped," stated the affidavit shared by CNN. While fleeing, the woman had to break the door open to escape the cell built by Zuber, according to the news release. "The victim said she knew Zuberi would kill her if she stayed in the room. The victim began punching the security screen door. The victim was able to break the welds on the screen door and pull the metal screen material down. The victim then climbed through a small opening in the door and escaped," explained the police. Then the victim chased down a passing local driver who dialed 911 as per the FBI. She was later transferred to a neighboring hospital where detectives attended to a report of a rape victim, and the authorities discovered "blood on the wooden fence" the woman had climbed over to get away, according to the police documents.
