Images of a makeshift cell allegedly used to confine a kidnapped sex worker and rape victim in Klamath Falls, Ore. Inset: Negasi Zuberi (images via FBI)
Already suspected of having multiple victims spanning numerous states and currently awaiting trial for the kidnapping and rape of a woman he allegedly held captive in an cinderblock cell, accused rapist Negasi Zuberi is now facing a new raft of disturbing assault charges.
Public court records from Klamath County, Oregon, show that Zuberi has been charged with 10 new felony counts in a separate case. Charges include rape, sodomy, sexual abuse and kidnapping in the first degree as well as unlawful use of a weapon, second-degree assault and misdemeanor menacing.
Further details on the charges are not yet available. After a review of online records by Law&Crime on Thursday, a protective order appears to have been issued concealing the victim’s identity.
Zuberi is currently awaiting trial on similar rape and assault charges, as well as interstate kidnapping charges, following his arrest in July.
The FBI in Portland reported arresting Zuberi after a sex worker he allegedly kidnapped managed a daring escape from his rental home in Seattle, Washington.
Zuberi allegedly posed as a police officer when he first came into contact with the victim, the FBI said. He is believed to have flashed a phony police badge and pointed a Taser at her to intimidate her before placing her under arrest, a federal complaint obtained by Law&Crime shows. The woman said that once she was inside the car, Zuberi assaulted her repeatedly. He also allegedly drove her more than 400 miles away from where she was kidnapped near Portland.
An FBI agent handling the case said that the woman’s hands had been bloodied as she beat on the metal door of the enclosure for hours in her desperate bid to escape.
“[The woman] briefly slept and awoke to the realization that she would likely die if she did not attempt to escape,” the complaint states. “[She] repeatedly banged on the door and was able to break the door open and escape the room. Once outside of the cell, she observed the Zuberi’s vehicle parked in the garage, opened the vehicle door, observed the handgun, retrieved it, and fled. [She] sought assistance from a passing motorist who called 911.”
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Once police got involved, they obtained a warrant and searched Zuberi’s home. They found things just as the woman had described — even her purse, court records show, was still sitting on the floor by the makeshift cell.
Police said they also turned up a disturbing notebook with messages like, “leave phone at home” and “make sure they don’t have a bunch of ppl in their life. You don’t want any type of investigation.” The document was titled “Operation Take Over.”
There was also a diagram detailing how to get rid of bodies.
“Dig a hole straight down 100 feet,” Zuberi allegedly wrote.
Zuberi goes by a number of aliases, and has lived in at least 10 states in the last decade. He is also known as “Sakima,” “Justin Hyche,” or “Justin Kouassi.” When he was indicted this summer, FBI officials said they believed it was likely he had assaulted women steadily from 2016 to 2023 and had targeted sex workers or roommates.
When Zuberi was arrested in July, police said they tracked him down using GPS and located him inside of his vehicle at a Walmart parking lot in Reno, Nevada. Zuberi’s wife was outside of the car, but their child was on his lap in the vehicle. Court records show Zuberi was engaged in a nearly hourlong standoff with police and cut himself before he was apprehended. The child was unharmed.
Zuberi then tried to escape from jail less than a month later. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said a county maintenance worker came upon Zuberi standing on top of his bunk bed, chipping away at a window with a sharp object. Law&Crime reported last month that he was transferred to another cell without any windows.
The Klamath District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to Law&Crime’s request for comment. Oregon senior assistant attorney general John Casalino appears to be the lead prosecutor on the new case. The newly docketed charges were first reported by NBC News.
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