A Klamath Falls man is accused of posing as an undercover police officer, kidnapping a woman from Seattle, sexually abusing her and driving her to his home, where he locked her in a homemade cinderblock cell in his garage, according to a federal affidavit unsealed Wednesday.

Negasi Zuberi, 29, also known as Justin Joshua Hyche, is accused of interstate kidnapping in federal court in Medford.

The woman was able to escape from the cell by repeatedly beating on a door and ripping through a screen with her hands until they bled, and now Zuberi has been linked to violent sexual assaults in at least three other states, according to the FBI and Klamath Falls police.

“Her will to survive may have actually saved many other women,” said Stephanie Shark, assistant special agent in charge of Oregon’s FBI.

The disturbing evidence collected by investigators so far “points to an individual’s ongoing and escalating pattern of violence targeting women in multiple states,” Shark said.

Zuberi has lived in 10 states over the last 10 years, and FBI investigators said they suspect there could be additional sexual assault victims. In addition to Oregon, he has lived in California, Washington, Colorado, Utah, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Alabama and Nevada since August 2016.

Investigators said they haven’t found any connection between Zuberi and a series of women found dead this year in and around Portland. A Portland man has been identified as a person of interest in the suspicious deaths but faces no charges. Police haven’t said how the women died.

Zuberi was arrested July 16 in Reno, a day after the kidnapping, after Nevada state patrol officers located him in a Walmart parking lot with his wife and one of his children, according to the affidavit. He was taken into custody after a 45-minute standoff, the FBI said.

He initially refused to get out of his car, cut himself with a sharp object and attempted to destroy his cellphone before he was taken into custody, according to the FBI. Zuberi asserted his right to remain silent during a federal court appearance in Nevada, court records show.

Kidnapping in Seattle

Shortly after midnight on July 15, Zuberi approached a Washington woman near Aurora Avenue in Seattle and solicited her for sex, according to the affidavit.

After having sex with the woman, Zuberi flashed a badge, claimed to be an undercover cop, pointed a black-and-yellow Taser stun gun at the woman, handcuffed her and put iron shackles on her legs before moving her to the back seat of his vehicle, an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit.

Zuberi claimed he was taking the woman to a police station but then drove south on Interstate 5 into Oregon, according to the affidavit. The woman spotted a map app on Zuberi’s cellphone and noticed it showed him as “2 hours and 4 minutes away” from his destination, leading her to recognize at that point that he wasn’t an officer and she was being kidnapped, according to the affidavit.

During the 450-mile trip to southern Oregon, he stopped and forced the woman to have sex, according to the affidavit.

About 7 a.m. that day, he pulled over at a truck stop north of Klamath Falls, pulled a hooded sweatshirt over the woman’s face and then drove her to his home in the 1300 block of North El Dorado Avenue in Klamath Falls, the affidavit said.

He placed her in a “makeshift cell” he had built in his garage made of cinder blocks and locked the metal door, according to the FBI. The woman, fearing for her life, repeatedly banged on the door and was able to escape, according to the affidavit.

The woman had been locked in the cell, illuminated by a single overhead lightbulb, for “at least a couple of hours” before she was able to rip through a screen on the cell and crawl through a small space, according to Klamath Falls Police Capt. Rob Reynolds.

Once out of the cell, she saw Zuberi’s car in the garage, opened a car door, grabbed a handgun from inside and ran out, climbed over a fence and flagged down a passing motorist who called 911, according to the FBI.

“If she didn’t do what she did, we wouldn’t be here today,” Reynolds said.

The woman was taken to Sky Lakes Medical Center for a forensic examination and treatment, the affidavit said.

“The victim is strong and courageous, and right now she is physically OK,” Shark said. FBI victim service advocates are providing support and resources to the woman, she said.

Investigators went to the home and found blood on the wooden fence that the woman had scaled. Klamath Falls police obtained a warrant to search Zuberi’s home on July 16 and discovered the cell, according to the affidavit.

Police also found several handwritten notes, including one that had a drawing of how to dig a 100-foot deep concrete block cell, according to the affidavit. One note had a heading that read “Operation Take Over” and described plans to “leave phone at home” and “make sure they don’t have a bunch” of people in their life, it said. It ended, “You dont want any type of investigation,” according to a photo of the note in the affidavit.

‘Quick thinking’

According to the FBI, people may know Zuberi by the name “Sakima.” He also may have drugged women’s drinks and impersonated an officer before, investigators said.

The Washington woman “was kidnapped, chained, sexually assaulted, and locked in a cinderblock cell. Police say, she beat the door with her hands until they were bloody in order to break free. Her quick thinking and will to survive may have saved other women from a similar nightmare,” Shark said.

“We are fortunate that this brave woman escaped and alerted authorities. Through quick law enforcement action we were able to get Zuberi in custody the next day,” she said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Lichvarcik, the prosecutor who oversees the Oregon U.S. Attorney’s Medford and Eugene offices, said U.S. Marshals are working to bring Zuberi back to Oregon, where he’ll face prosecution in federal court in Medford.

Authorities did not identify the other states where Zuberi has been linked to prior sexual assaults, citing their ongoing investigation. Charges have not been filed yet in the other alleged sexual assaults, Shark said.

“Some cases alarm even the most seasoned investigators,” Shark said, adding that Zuberi’s case is “that kind of case.”

Under his alias of Hyche, he has prior convictions for possessing a firearm in a public place in Chicago in December 2020, and a 2016 conviction in Kern County, Calif. for driving more than 100 miles per hour and driving with a suspended license, records show.

Working with the FBI on the case were Klamath Falls Police Department, the Oregon Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Oregon State Police, Reno Police Department, Nevada State Police and the FBI’s Las Vegas office.

The FBI is asking people to contact investigators if they have any information concerning Zuberi at a special website for his alleged victims or call 1-800-CALL-FBI. People also can also contact the FBI Portland Field Office at 503-224-4181 or their local FBI office, the nearest American embassy or consulate or submit a tip online to the federal bureau.