John Jefferson
Inset: Negasi Zuberi. Background: Two images of a makeshift cell allegedly used to confine kidnapped women in Oregon (FBI).
A federal jury in Oregon convicted a man for kidnapping and raping two women, including one whom he held in a makeshift cell in his garage — all while his wife and child were in the home.
Negasi Zuberi, 30, was found guilty of kidnapping, transporting a victim for criminal sexual activity and illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition as a convicted felon, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon said Friday.
Authorities say the defendant has gone by several different aliases –including: “Sakima,” “Justin Hyche,” and “Justin Kouassi” – and he has lived in at least 10 states over the last 10 years.
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A Washington State woman led investigators to her former cell – at a house in Klamath Falls, near the Oregon-California border, resulting in the defendant’s eventual arrest. But while she may be the last alleged victim, authorities don’t believe she’s the first by any stretch.
“While she may have helped protect future victims, sadly we have now linked Zuberi to additional violent sexual assaults in at least four states and there could be more,” said Stephanie Shark, assistant special agent in charge at the FBI Portland Field Office said in a press release.
On July 15, 2023, Zuberi solicited the woman in question under the guise of purchasing sex in Seattle, the victim told law enforcement. After getting her alone, however, the woman’s soon-to-be captor posed as an undercover police officer and pretended to arrest her by pointing a Taser-like device at her and placing her in handcuffs and leg irons. Then, the woman said, Zuberi put her in the back of his car and took her some 450 miles back to the cell constructed in the garage in Klamath Falls – sexually assaulting her throughout the trip.
The woman would go on to describe the makeshift cell as having a metal door that was only able to be opened from the outside, according to a federal criminal complaint filed in the case and obtained by Law&Crime. At one point, Zuberi left, telling the woman he needed to go “do paperwork,” the document says.
“[The woman] briefly slept and awoke to the realization that she would likely die if she did not attempt to escape,” the complaint says. “[She] repeatedly banged on the door and was able to break the door open and escape the room. Once outside of the cell, she observed the Zuberi’s vehicle parked in the garage, opened the vehicle door, observed the handgun, retrieved it, and fled. [She] sought assistance from a passing motorist who called 911.”
Local police officers noted the presence of blood on the wooden fence at Zuberi’s house that the woman said she climbed over in order to escape, the complaint says. Law enforcement then interviewed neighbors and Zuberi’s wife, searched various records to firm up their identification and secured a search warrant for the inside of the house.
There, officers found the makeshift cell, the complaint says, and a notebook outlining a disturbing plan.
“Operation Take Over,” the handwritten document reads. “Leave phone at home. Make sure they don’t have a bunch of ppl in their life. You don’t want any type of investigation.”
Two pages of a notebook found at the houses in Klamath Falls, Ore. (FBI)
A second page appears to detail how to dispose of bodies: “Dig a hole straight down 100ft”
Law enforcement later used GPS to track the defendant down to a Walmart parking lot in Reno, Nevada, the complaint says. There, after a standoff during which he allegedly cut himself and started to bleed “profusely,” Zuberi eventually surrendered to law enforcement.
“Sakima has several different methods to gain control of his victims, including drugging their drinks, pretending to be a police officer, and soliciting the services of sex workers and then violently sexually assaulting them,” the FBI said in a department-wide information page. “Some of the encounters may have been filmed to make it appear as if the assault was consensual. The victims are threatened with retaliation if they notify the police.”
According to authorities, since August 2016, Zuberi has lived in – at least – the states of California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Alabama, and Nevada. He is believed to have sexually assaulted numerous women over a roughly eight-year timespan — between 2016 and 2023 — frequently targeting sex workers and roommates.
In a superseding indictment filed in February, agents detailed a horrifying kidnapping and sexual assault that occurred about six weeks before the incident in Seattle. The complaint says Zuberi approached a woman who was stranded and without a ride outside a bar in Klamath Falls. He started walking with her as she looked for friends and next thing she remembered was being in his car “not knowing how she got there.” Zuberi claimed he was driving her to her friend’s house but instead he drove her back to his home.
The woman tried to jump out of the car but he sped up. He drove to a remote area where he pulled over and used a Taser on her and bound her wrist and ankles, the complaint said. He then drove home and kept her inside the car in the garage with a pile of cinderblocks that was later used to construct the cell. Zuberi then asked her to have sex. She said no.
“I’m handcuffed in the back of your car. You need to let me go. This isn’t okay. You can’t just take people,” she said, according to the complaint.
He raped her several times. Zuberi took a picture of her driver’s license and said he would kill her and her family if she called cops. Zuberi also said he would use her as a human shield if he got in a shootout with police. The victim finally convinced him to let her go.
The indictment also detailed how Zuberi wanted to force several women to have his children so he could “raise an Army.”
Zuberi faces life in prison when he is sentenced at a later date.
Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.
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