MEDFORD, Ore. — The man accused of kidnapping a woman in Seattle and locking her in a makeshift cinderblock cell within his Klamath Falls home now faces additional charges after attempting to escape his jail cell, according to a statement from a southern Oregon sheriff's office in charge of the facility where he's incarcerated.
Negasi Zuberi, 29, is being held in the Jackson County Jail in Medford on a federal hold while awaiting trial. According to the county sheriff's office, Zuberi tried to break through the glass in his cell window in order to make an escape.
A county maintenance worker was outside of the facility when he noticed a "suspicious noise" coming from one of the cells. Deputies responded inside of the jail and found Zuberi standing on his bunk bed near a chipped window in his cell, the sheriff's office said.
Exterior windows in the jail are made of reinforced glass, the sheriff's office added, so Zuberi was only able to damage the interior layer of the window.
After putting Zuberi through a full-body scanner, deputies moved him to a "hard cell" without any exterior windows. During a search of his old cell, deputies reported finding an improvised tool that they believe Zuberi used to damage the window.
Zuberi now faces additional charges of second-degree escape and first-degree disorderly conduct.
Early this month, the FBI held a press conference where they revealed Zuberi's arrest and his alleged crimes. In mid-July, they said, he solicited a sex worker in Seattle, then posed as an undercover law enforcement officer in order to take her captive. He sexually assaulted her, according to the FBI, and drove her 450 miles down to his home in Klamath Falls where he locked her in a cell he'd built in his garage.
Once Zuberi left, the FBI said, the woman beat the walls and door of the cell "with bloodied hands" until she was able to open the door enough to escape and get help. Law enforcement officers later took Zuberi into custody in Reno, Nevada.
Zuberi has been in at least 10 states over the past several years, and police have linked Zuberi to at least four sexual assaults, all in different states. He lived in Vancouver, Washington starting in August 2022 and also spent time in Portland, Oregon before moving to Klamath Falls this past spring.
The FBI still believes that Zuberi may have had other victims prior to his arrest in July. Anyone who thinks they were victimized by Zuberi, or anyone with information can call 1-800-CallFBI or go to the FBI's website.