By Marlene Lenthang and The Associated Press —
NBC News
The weeklong search in Oregon for a man who kidnapped and beat a woman unconscious, and who used dating apps while on the run from police for days, to search for more victims, raises questions about these apps and how they filter — if at all—domestic abusers and criminals.
The manhunt for Benjamin Obadiah Foster, wanted in connection with a kidnapping that occurred on January 24, culminated Tuesday with the suspect's arrest after a several-hour standoff with authorities.
He died at a hospital of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Grants Pass police told Medford station KTVL.
NBC News could not immediately confirm this end.
Police said that on the days he was on the run, he actively used online dating apps to "contact unsuspecting individuals" whom he might have lured to help him with his escape or "potentially as additional victims."
Benjamin Obadiah Foster.AP
Foster was able to create a dating profile despite having one domestic violence case in 2017 and another in 2019 in which he
held his then-girlfriend captive for two weeks
in his Las Vegas apartment, tied her up and forced her to eat bleach.
Can criminals use dating apps?
Police have not said what apps Foster used, but popular platforms had tried to find his profile.
Hattersley said it was likely Foster was on the apps looking for help getting around the law.
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"His prior crimes lead us to believe that he enters into dating relationships based on charisma and appearance and then becomes controlling and violent," Hattersley said.
Bumble, Coffee Meets Bagel, Match Group, Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid and Plenty of Fish all said that, as far as they could gather using public information, Foster was not on their platforms.
Bumble officials said that when they learn of a media report about a person of interest, they work "proactively to identify if the member is within our community and take prompt action against their account."
Although Foster may have used an assumed name and photos that do not belong to him, dating apps often do not have a standard method for detecting cases of domestic violence or criminal records.
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Most applications do not investigate the criminal records of those who register.
However, companies reserve the right to perform checks to ensure that a profile follows the guidelines.
Coffee Meets Bagel, eHarmony, and Zoosk state in their terms of service that those who have been convicted of felonies or are registered as sex offenders cannot register on their platforms.
Match Group says it bans anyone convicted of or who has pleaded not guilty to a serious, violent or sexual crime from its platforms.
Even so, they don't directly select users, which means that people who sign up can technically lie.
Information is power
Last year, Match Group introduced a way for users to self-check their backgrounds using the Garbo platform, which is now offered on Tinder, Match, Plenty of Fish and Stir, a dating service for single parents.
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Garbo promotes ethical vetting and extracts records from arrests, convictions, and sex offender records, focusing on crimes that "could have a potential impact on someone's safety," such as rape, assault, robbery, and financial fraud.
The company says it excludes non-violent arrests and convictions that disproportionately affect marginalized groups, such as drug possession and traffic violations.
“Information is power when it comes to gender-based violence,” says Adam Dodge, Garbo consultant and founder of Ending Tech-Enabled Abuse, an online safety awareness group.
“The most common refrain you hear from survivors is, 'If I knew this person had this kind of history, I wouldn't have dated them,'” she said.
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Dodge said dating app users should be given the option of background checks, because it may not work as a general policy.
“Privacy is very important.
Domestic violence is a really complicated thing, with many nuances.
Very often, victims are unfairly blamed, accused, sentenced, restraining orders issued against them”, he added “it is essential that in this work we focus on the victim and offer users the option to decide with knowledge of the facts if They want to do it or not."
Dodge said dating apps should do "everything possible" to ensure that users "do not unknowingly match up with people who have a history of gender-based violence, sexual violence, and other types of violence."
There are dating apps that work hard to make their platforms a safe space.
Tinder also offers identity verification;
Match Group and Bumble offer photo verification to prevent catfishing;
Match Group has anti-harassment notices that use artificial intelligence to detect harmful language;
Bumble has a private detector AI feature to automatically blur potential unsolicited nude images;
and most apps have features to block and report matches.
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“I would like to see all of these things done pervasively across all dating platforms and sites, so we can better mitigate image-based sexual abuse, people with violent or domestic violence histories connecting with users on the app and reduce
catfishing
[lure someone into a relationship with lies],” Dodge said.
Erinn Robinson, director of media relations for the National Network Against Rape, Abuse & Incest, a nonprofit group that fights sexual assault, said it's also critical that when a user of a dating reports a partner, those reports are tracked and meticulous rules are put in place to investigate them.
That will "empower users of the platform to block and cut off contact with and harassing users — which goes a long way in giving users a greater sense of safety and online dating."
“Unfortunately, online dating is a place where sexual violence exists.
And these platforms are sometimes used by predators and by people who don't have the best intentions," Robinson added, noting that Foster's case is an example of "how these platforms can be used on the bad side."
Both she and Dodge said the best way to ensure a safe experience is for the users themselves to be vigilant.
They need to be aware of the personal information they share, watch out for
catfishing
, check that the person they match with is who they say they are, and be wary of requests for money or pressure to meet in person too soon.
History of domestic violence and abuse
Before being wanted on charges of kidnapping, attempted murder and assault in the Oregon case, Foster had two separate cases outside of Las Vegas.
In December 2017, he was charged with felony assault constituting domestic violence, according to online court records.
Then, in 2019, he allegedly held his then-girlfriend captive in her Las Vegas apartment for two weeks.
The woman suffered seven broken ribs, two black eyes, injuries from being bound with zip ties and duct tape, according to the Las Vegas police report.
She told her officers that she had been forced to eat bleach and suffocated to unconsciousness.
She was finally able to escape during a trip to a store.
Although he was initially charged with five felony counts for the kidnapping, in August 2021 he reached an agreement that allowed him to plead guilty to one felony battery and one misdemeanor battery constituting domestic violence.
A Clark County judge sentenced him to up to 2 1/2 years in prison.
The days he spent in jail awaiting trial were taken into account in his sentence, so he had less than 200 days left to serve in state custody.
He also accepted a plea deal in the 2017 case and was sentenced to time served, court records show.
On January 24, less than two years after Foster's conviction, Grants Pass police responded to a home in the 2100 block of Shane Way for a report of an assault and found a woman "who had been tied up and severely beaten unconscious."
Foster fled the scene before officers arrived, according to police.
The charging documents state that he "secretly confined" the victim in a location "where she was not likely to be found" and "intentionally tortured" her.
The victim remains in critical condition, police said Tuesday.
Authorities said Foster is not believed to have used a dating app to attack her.
If you or someone you know is facing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline for help at (800) 799-SAFE (7233), or go to www.thehotline.org for more information. States also often have domestic violence hotlines.
