An Oregon man is facing a slew of criminal charges after a 10-year-old girl he allegedly kidnapped from home was found duct-taped in a zipped duffle bag inside of a closet.
Vince Edgar Chavez, who’s accused of sexually assaulting the 10-year-old, also attacked the girl’s 12-year-old sister by beating her in the head with a hammer during the abduction in Canby last month, according to the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office.
Chavez, 35, reportedly pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on Thursday, November 5, following his indictment. He’s charged with attempted murder, assault, kidnapping, sexual abuse, four counts of sodomy, burglary, second-degree assault and strangulation.
Prosecutors revealed the kidnapping came months after Chavez briefly dated the 10-year-old girl’s mother.
“That relationship lasted approximately a month and ended in April,” Clackamas County Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owen said, KOIN reported.
In addition to state charges, Chavez also faces a federal charge of kidnapping a minor.
A criminal complaint filed in federal court on November 3 reveals additional details of the alleged abduction.
According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, the 10-year-old’s mother reported her daughter as missing from her home in a 911 call around 1:44 a.m. on October 28, leading to a search that lasted roughly 13 hours.
The woman awoke to the sound of someone talking and found a man in a black hoodie rushing “her daughter out the door, and then saw a white van drive off,” an FBI special agent wrote in the affidavit obtained by Us.
The mother also discovered her older daughter’s head was bleeding after the man, later identified as Chavez, allegedly attacked her with a hammer.
After the woman identified Chavez as a person of interest, investigators learned he “had previously shown a sexual interest in” her 10-year-old daughter, according to the affidavit.
A review of Chavez’s phone records linked him to a residence in Oregon City, the filing states.
Around 1:46 p.m. on October 28, FBI special agents allegedly saw Chavez exit a unit at the residence and access a white van he recently purchased before he returned inside.
“Based on probable cause and the risk to the missing child, law enforcement executed an exigent entry into the home,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon said in a November 3 news release.
Inside the home, the girl was rescued from a closet, where she was bound by duct-tape inside a duffle bag, according to the affidavit. Chavez was arrested at the scene.
The girl was taken to a hospital, where she told investigators Chavez had kidnapped her from home and forced her into a van.
In the affidavit, the FBI agent wrote that “at some point, Chavez parked the van” and “strangled and sexually assaulted her before placing her inside of a black bag and carrying her inside of the residence.”
Chavez also allegedly strangled the girl inside the Oregon City home, causing her to become unconscious, then put her in a duffle bag.
“[The girl] woke, with her arms bound with duct tape, to law enforcement executing the exigent search warrant,” the affidavit states.
Chavez is detained without bail at the Clackamas County Jail ahead of a detention hearing in his state case scheduled for December 1, per the Woodburn Independent.
An attorney representing Chavez in connection with the state charges didn’t immediately return a request for comment from Us. Court records didn’t indicate whether a hearing had been scheduled in his federal case as of Wednesday, November 11.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
