33-year-old Benjamin Obadiah Foster held his girlfriend hostage for two weeks, shaving her head, burning her fingers with lye (after making her eat it), breaking her ribs, punching her in the eyes, and leaving black and blue bruises all over her wrists and ankles.
Benjamin now faces charges of first-degree kidnapping, coercion with force, assault with a deadly weapon, and domestic battery. He is being held without bond at a detention center in Clark County; his preliminary hearing is set for October 21st at 10 a.m. Experienced Las Vegas criminal defense lawyers say it may be challenging to answer to these graphic and heinous crimes.
Who Is the Accused?
Benjamin had been trained in mixed martial arts and has previous domestic battery charges (strangulation) pending against him. As well, he was serving a suspended sentence for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit at the time of the recent kidnapping of his girlfriend.
What Are the Details of The Crime?
His girlfriend, whose name is redacted in the police report, was held against her will inside a northwest Las Vegas apartment after Benjamin became paranoid that she was having him followed. He also told her that “she had cameras hiding all inside the residence that watch him to include the microwave,” as per the police report.
From there on, according to the reports, Benjamin tied the legs and arms of his girlfriend up so violently and tightly with zip ties and duct tape that she was left injured from the restraints. At times during her kidnapping, he would threaten her with a knife or a handgun, telling her he was going to kill her.
The victim also reported that her boyfriend forced her to eat lye, choked her to the point of unconsciousness, and – when she wasn’t tied up – forced to always “stay in constant contact with Foster’s body.” She was also not allowed to use the bathroom freely.
How Did The Victim Escape?
On the morning she escaped, the woman had convinced Benjamin that they needed food and water. Benjamin allowed her and her dog to accompany him to the grocery store and gas station, where he let the woman out of sight, and she sprinted to a nearby store through a back exit and into an apartment complex.
She was found by a female resident there who described her as “frantic and in a panic.” The resident rushed her to Mountain View Hospital, where the medical staff called 911, and details of the kidnapping followed.