PORTLAND, Ore. — A woman kidnapped and raped by a man who broke into her car in eastern Oregon was able to call 911 after the vehicle got a flat tire, the authorities said Monday.
The woman phoned Saturday morning, and police got enough information to capture the suspect on I-84 east of Arlington, Oregon State Police Lt. Bill Fugate said.
William T. Cooter, 46, of Greeneville, Tennessee, was arraigned Monday afternoon on charges of kidnapping, rape, sex abuse, sodomy, assault, coercion, menacing, criminal mischief, meth possession, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, providing false information to a police officer and interfering with making a report.
Marion Weatherford, the district attorney in sparsely populated Gilliam County, said the attack happened after the woman and her dog stopped to rest during a drive. They were in Arlington, a town of 600 people near the Columbia River.
Cooter broke into the car, punched the woman and bound her with electrical tape, Weatherford said. He then took the wheel, drove to a remote road along the river and raped her.
At some point during the incident, the car got a flat tire. As it was being fixed, the woman used the opportunity to call 911.
“She hung up and 911 called back,” Weatherford said. “He was aware it was 911, and so he took over the phone.”
Police were able to find them.
Weatherford declined to discuss the woman’s injuries, but said she was not in a hospital and would stay in Gilliam County to testify Wednesday before a grand jury.
Cooter’s bail was set at $1.25 million. He remained in the Northern Oregon Regional Correctional Facility in The Dalles and will be assigned a court-appointed attorney.
Tennessee records show Cooter with prior convictions for kidnapping and aggravated assault. Cooter told investigators that he drifted northwest to Oregon and has no permanent address, Fugate said.
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