Spokane Valley detectives are investigating a reported sexual assault. A woman told officers she ran out of gas and was picked up by a man who forced her to give him oral sex at gunpoint.
Detectives report that on Saturday, March 18, at approximately 9:30 p.m., deputies responded to assist a Washington State Patrol trooper who contacted a woman who was waving her arms and screaming for help while walking on Interstate 90.
The victim told deputies she parked her truck, which had run out of gas, at the 7-11 at Division and 2nd. She began walking toward the Motel 6 on Argonne in Spokane Valley, where a friend was staying. During her walk she says a man in a tan or silver 2000s Chevrolet Cavalier stopped and asked her if she needed a ride. She accepted and got into the car.
(An example of the suspect vehicle)
The man drove onto I-90 and the woman asked where he was going because she felt it wasn't the right way to get to her friend. The man didn't say anything. The woman said she was on the phone at the time but the man grabbed the phone and tossed it in the backseat, telling her it was the last call she would ever make.
The man reportedly told the woman to remove her clothing just before exiting the highway at Argonne. Instead of turning north toward the hotel, the driver turned south and then east on Mission and drove to a secluded area with an A-frame structure north of the park next to I-90 at Bowdish Rd. The woman said she demanded to be let go, but the man shouted at her and told her to get inside the building. He then left the building and returned with a black semi-automatic pistol and pointed it at her.
The victim told deputies the man told her if she behaved she would survive. She said she was forced to perform oral sex on the man before the man went back into his car and drove away.
Afterward the woman told detectives she got dressed, jumped the fence onto the highway and began trying to flag down help.
The man was described as a white man in his 40s with shoulder length straight brown hair with a goatee and mustache.
Anyone who has information regarding this incident, can help or witnessed anything suspicious in the area of Mission Park around this time frame is asked to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233, reference #10033826.
(story: Matt Pusatory, KHQ Local News Web Producer, KHQ.com; photos: KHQ.com)