A man who is accused of kidnapping a woman in Seattle and locking her in a cinder block cell in his house in Klamath Falls, Oregon, until she broke out, tried to escape from jail cell Tuesday, according to officials.
In a news release, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office’s corrections deputies reportedly caught Negasi Zuberi, 29, trying to break through the glass in his cell window Tuesday afternoon.
The incident happened just before 1 p.m. when a maintenance worker outside the building informed deputies about a suspicious noise they heard from one of the cells, the sheriff’s office said.
[ Man arrested after woman escaped makeshift cell; FBI searching for possible other victims ]
Deputies found Zuberi on his bunk bed by the window that chipped, the sheriff’s office said, according to The Associated Press. Deputies then found “an improvised tool” that they believed Zuberi used.
Since the incident, Zuberi has been moved to another cell that has no windows to the exterior, officials said, according to the AP.
Zuberi has been in jail on a federal hold or interstate kidnapping, the FBI said. He has since been additionally charged with second-degree attempted escape and first-degree disorderly conduct, the sheriff’s office said.
Zuberi reportedly kidnapped a woman and drove her back to his house in Oregon on July 15, the FBI said, according to the AP. He allegedly locked her in a makeshift cell in his garage, but the woman somehow was able to escape and flagged down a driver for help. He was arrested the following day in Reno, Nevada. Zuberi has also gone by the names Sakima, Justin Hyche, and Justin Kouassi.