February 2023 | Page 19 of 19

Benjamin Foster Murdered 2 Before Taking Own Life

The violent story of Benjamin Foster that came to an end when the violent criminal took his own life when police approach has yet another chapter as before his final standoff he would murder two men. According to police reports in the days leading up to the final showdown with police Benjamin Foster would murder Richard Lee Barron Jr. and Donald Owen Griffith. The two men would die from blunt force trauma.. Benjamin Foster who was wanted for a violent kidnapping where he would torture a woman before leaving her on the side of a road unconscious with severe injuries. Chances are this story is not over yet as time may reveal more victims that ran across Benjamin Foster

Benjamin Foster More News

The kidnapping suspect who led authorities on a weeklong manhunt in southwest Oregon murdered two men before turning a gun on himself Tuesday evening, according to law enforcement officials.

Benjamin Foster, a 36-year-old man accused of torturing and imprisoning a woman, died of a gunshot wound to the head after a standoff with police in Grants Pass, Oregon.

As police searched for Foster, they discovered the bodies of Richard Lee Barron Jr. and Donald Owen Griffith, who had died from blunt force trauma some time between Monday afternoon and Tuesday evening. Foster is the primary suspect in their murders.

The manhunt for Foster began on Jan. 24, when police found a woman at a home who had been “bound and severely beaten into unconsciousness.”

Police released several photos of Foster, who they warned could be using online dating applications to try to evade authorities and find additional victims.

Authorities received a tip that Foster had returned to the home on Tuesday where the original victim was found.

They converged on the residence expecting a gunfight, but Foster eventually shot himself in the head with a .45-caliber pistol while wedged in the home’s crawlspace. He was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

It wasn’t the first time that Foster was accused of holding someone captive. In 2019, his then-girlfriend was found unconscious with broken ribs, two black eyes, and other injuries after Foster held her captive for two weeks.

He struck a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to once felony count of battery and a misdemeanor count of battery constituting domestic violence in that case.

A judge sentenced him to between one and 2 1/2 years behind bars, but he was released on the day he was transferred to prison because he had already spent 729 days in jail awaiting trial.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/oregon-kidnapping-suspect-murdered-two-men-turning-gun-himself-police-say

Benjamin Obadiah Foster Dead Following Police Standoff

The manhunt for Benjamin Obadiah Foster is over after a police standoff in Grants Pass Oregon ended with the violent criminal taking his own life. According to police reports Benjamin Obadiah Foster was wanted by police in Oregon for the kidnapping and torture of a female victim. Benjamin Obadiah Foster had left the woman badly injured and unconscious on the side of the road.

Police were searching for the violent felon for a week until information brought them to a home in Grants Pass Oregon where he was found hiding under a home. As police moved in Benjamin Obadiah Foster would shoot himself in the head and would be pronounced dead at the hospital

Benjamin Obadiah Foster More News

A man accused of kidnapping and torturing a woman in Oregon this month died from a self inflicted-gunshot wound following an hourslong standoff with authorities Tuesday night, a CNN affiliate reported.

Benjamin Obadiah Foster, 36, died in the hospital after law enforcement had surrounded a property in Grants Pass, Oregon, where he was believed to be hiding under a house, CNN affiliate KTVL reported, citing police. Authorities had been trying to get the suspect to surrender, the report said.

Grants Pass police announced late Tuesday that Foster – sought by authorities for a week – was in custody, but did not provide details on how the standoff ended. Police said they would hold a news conference Wednesday.

CNN has reached out to Grants Pass police, the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI’s Portland office and has not heard back.

News that Foster was in custody came after police said Foster was seen walking a dog in the Grants Pass area Tuesday morning.

The search for Foster began January 24 after officers found a woman who had been bound and severely beaten into unconsciousness inside a Grants Pass home, police said. Foster had already fled the crime scene when police arrived, they said.

The victim still was hospitalized in critical condition as of Sunday, according to Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman.

Federal, state and local authorities had been searching “around the clock” for Foster, who is wanted on suspicion of attempted murder, kidnapping and assault, according to the police chief.

Prosecutors have accused Foster of trying to kill the woman while “intentionally torturing” her, according to charging documents obtained by CNN affiliate KDRV. The victim endured the alleged abuses for a “protracted amount of time,” the police chief has said

The victim was initially found by a friend who called police and identified Foster as the suspect, Hensman said.

When officers arrived January 24, they found “an absolutely disgusting scene,” the police chief said, adding that images taken by investigators are “horrific.”

“I’ve seen a lot in my career, but some things do stick with you, and this will stay stained in my memory for many years to come,” Hensman told CNN Monday.

Foster and his victim had a “prior relationship,” Hensman told CNN Monday. He did not provide further details but said, “This was not a random attack.”

Investigators are still sifting through a “significant amount” of evidence and following up on the flood of tips that the department has received so far, the police chief said.

Hensman had encouraged people who come into contact with Foster – either in person or online – to call 911 immediately. Police warned that the “extremely dangerous suspect” could have been armed.

Hensman said Monday that he did not believe Foster is a “random attacker” but warned “nothing is off the table with an individual like him.”

“He’s definitely a threat to others,” the police chief said. “I think he would be a threat to somebody who might befriend him.”

Investigators previously said Foster may be using dating apps to find potential new victims or manipulate people into helping him evade arrest. Hensman declined to clarify Monday whether Foster is still active on those apps.

Foster has been accused of attacking women who he had relationships with in two separate cases in Las Vegas, Clark County records show.

In the first case, Foster was charged with felony battery constituting domestic violence, the records show. His ex-girlfriend testified that he tried to strangle her on Christmas Eve in 2017 after he saw that another man had texted her, according to the documents.

He was also charged with felony assault, battery and kidnapping for alleged abuses against his then-girlfriend in 2019, according to charging documents.

The victim in that case told police Foster strangled her several times and kept her tied up for most of the following two weeks, a Las Vegas police report said. When she was finally able to escape to a hospital, she had seven broken ribs, two black eyes and abrasions to her wrists and ankles from being tied up, the report said.

Foster accepted plea deals in both cases. In the first case, he was sentenced to a maximum of 30 months in prison but given credit for 729 days served.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/us/oregon-kidnapping-suspect-benjamin-foster-tuesday

Wesley Ruiz Execution Scheduled Tonight

Wesley Ruiz is scheduled to be executed tonight, February 1 2023, for the murder of a police officer in Dallas Texas. According to court documents Wesley Ruiz was involved in a high speed chase with the officer and when the chase came to an end he would fatally shoot Dallas Police Sr. Corporal Mark Nix, in March of 2007. Wesley Ruiz is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection, if the execution goes through it will be the second this year for Texas as Robert Fratta was executed in January

Wesley Ruiz would be executed by lethal injection on February 1 2023

Wesley Ruiz More News

A man convicted of fatally shooting a Dallas police officer nearly 16 years ago faces execution on Wednesday.

Wesley Ruiz, 43, is set to receive a lethal injection for the March 2007 killing of Dallas Police Senior Corporal Mark Nix.

Ruiz had led officers on a high-speed chase after being spotted driving a car that matched the description of one used by a murder suspect. Authorities said Nix tried to break the vehicle’s passenger window after the chase ended and that Ruiz fired one shot. The bullet hit Nix’s badge, splintered it and sent fragments that severed an artery in his neck. Nix later died in a hospital.

The 33-year-old officer was a U.S. Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm. He’d been on the Dallas force for nearly seven years and was engaged to be married when he was killed.

Ruiz’s attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution, which was scheduled for Wednesday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. They argue that jurors relied on “overtly racist” and “blatant anti-Hispanic stereotypes” in appraising whether Ruiz would be a future danger, an element needed to secure a death sentence in Texas. Ruiz is Hispanic.

Last week, U.S. District Judge David Godbey in Dallas denied a request to stay Ruiz’s execution, saying his attorneys failed to show that jurors made statements during trial that showed “overt racial bias.” On Monday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied a similar stay request based on alleged racial bias. The appeals court did not consider the merits of the claim, but rejected it on procedural grounds.

Ruiz’s attorneys have previously argued unsuccessfully that an expert witness for the prosecution falsely testified at Ruiz’s 2008 trial about whether he would be a future danger. Defense attorneys alleged prosecutors knew about the false testimony and remained silent. In his ruling, Godbey said the expert testimony “was quite possibly harmless” and even if the testimony was corrected, it would not have changed the jury’s decision to sentence Ruiz to death.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday unanimously declined to commute Ruiz’s death sentence to a lesser penalty.

Ruiz is one of five Texas death row inmates who are suing to stop the state’s prison system from using what they allege are expired and unsafe execution drugs. Despite a civil court judge in Austin preliminarily agreeing with the claims, the state’s top two courts allowed one inmate who had been part of the litigation to be executed on Jan. 10.

Prison officials deny the lawsuit’s claims and say the state’s supply of execution drugs is safe.

At his trial, Ruiz testified he was afraid for his life and only fired in self-defense after Nix allegedly threatened to kill him. The defendant also said he believed police fired their weapons first.

“I didn’t try to kill the officer. I just tried to stop him,” Ruiz testified.

Ruiz said he fled police that day because he had illegal drugs in his car and had taken drugs.

Gabriel Luchiano, who knew Nix when the officer worked as a security guard, said he always responded quickly when people needed help at the convenience store in northwest Dallas where Luchiano worked.

He was a “guardian angel,” said Luchiano, 55. “It’s still painful no matter what. Nothing is going to close it.”

Ruiz would be the second inmate put to death this year in Texas and the fourth in the U.S. Seven other executions are scheduled in Texas for later this year, including one next week.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/man-convicted-killing-dallas-officer-16-years-faces-execution

Wesley Ruiz Execution

A Texas death row inmate was executed Wednesday after being convicted of fatally shooting a Dallas police officer nearly 16 years ago following a high-speed chase.

Wesley Ruiz, 43, received lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the March 2007 killing of Dallas Police Senior Corporal Mark Nix.

“I would like to apologize to Mark and the Nix family for taking him away from you,” Ruiz said as he was laying strapped to a gurney in the death chamber. “I hope this brings you closure.”

Ruiz never looked at Nix’s relatives and friends, which included his mother and sister, who watched the execution a few feet away from him through a window. Instead, he thanked his family and friends for support, while urging his children to “stand tall and continue to make me proud.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m ready to fly,” he said. “All right warden, I’m ready to ride.”

As the lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital began taking effect, he took two quick breaths, then began snoring. His 11th snore was his last and there was no further movement. Twenty-two minutes later, at 6:41 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

Ruiz led officers on a high-speed chase after being spotted driving a car that matched the description of one used by a murder suspect nearly 16 years ago. Ruiz fired one shot at Nix when the officer tried to break the vehicle’s passenger window after the chase, authorities said.

The bullet hit Nix’s badge, splintered it and sent fragments into his neck, which severed an artery. He later died at a hospital.

Ruiz said he had fled from police that day because he had illegal drugs in his car and had taken drugs. He also said he did not mean to kill Nix, but rather stop him after alleging that Nix had threatened to kill him. He also said he believed police fired their weapons first.

Ruiz was the second inmate put to death this year in Texas and the fourth in the U.S. Seven other executions are scheduled in Texas for later this year, including one next week.

Nix, 33, a U.S. Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm, had been on the Dallas force for nearly seven years and was engaged to be married when he was killed.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-cop-killer-executed-delivering-last-message-victims-family-feet-away