Police said on the night of Tuesday, January 24, the Grants Pass Police Department responded to a reported assault at a home in the 2100 block of Shane Way.
GPPD said when officers arrived at the scene, they found a bound, unconscious woman who had been brutally beaten.
Police revealed the victim, who was hospitalized in critical condition, was in a “former domestic relationship” with 36-year-old Benjamin Obadiah Foster of Wolf Creek.
Foster, later identified as a suspect in the incident, left the home before police got there.
While searching for Foster, police warned the public that he may have continued using dating apps to find victims. However, they couldn’t confirm if he did.
On Thursday, January 26, investigators got a tip that Foster — wanted for attempted murder, kidnapping and assault — was at a property in the Sunny Valley area near Wolf Creek.
That tip resulted in an overnight search involving multiple SWAT teams and law enforcement agencies. However, GPPD said Foster was able to evade capture.
While the search continued, police were doing welfare checks in the Sunny Valley area when they found signs of a crime scene where further investigation revealed two homicide victims. They were identified as Richard Lee Barron, born in 1949, and Donald Owen Griffith, born in 1958. It appears they both died from blunt-force trauma.
The Josephine County Sheriff’s Office said they believe Foster is suspected of committing the homicides.
On Tuesday, January 31, a cab company reported that a driver took a man from the Sunny Valley area to Grants Pass near the original crime scene.
Later that day, Foster was spotted in Grants Pass walking a dog. Later that afternoon, police narrowed down their search to the home of the attempted murder victim.
Officers surrounded the home and a long standoff ensued. As the hours ticked by, police were reportedly confident that Foster had taken his own life. While working to confirm this theory, police entered the home and, using a robot, discovered Foster “burrowed” underneath the house. Before he was found, he shot himself in the head with a .45-caliber weapon, police said.
Still breathing, Foster was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
During the search for Foster, investigators arrested 68-year-old Tina Marie Jones of Wolf Creek for hindering prosecution. She was lodged at the Josephine County Jail.
Prior to these incidents, Foster was accused of similar assaults. Read more HERE.
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