Man arrested for allegedly kidnapping girl from downtown Spokane, raping her in Peaceful Valley

A man was arrested May 24 for allegedly kidnapping a 16-year-old girl from downtown Spokane and molesting her for “several hours” in his car while parked in Peaceful Valley.

The girl, who is homeless, was walking with her friend downtown about 7 p.m. when they came across Opeyemi Ekundayo, 33, and asked him for a cigarette, according to court documents. The three talked about phones, and the girl mentioned needing to upgrade hers, at which point Ekundayo said he would trade her his phone for her old phone.

Ekundayo offered to drive her to where she was staying at a downtown homeless shelter to grab her phone charger, court documents state. Instead of heading there, he drove to Peaceful Valley and parked his Oldsmobile Bravada SUV near Glover Field.

There, he apparently began fondling her, and the two spent hours “wrestling back and forth,” according to court documents. The girl tried several times to get out of the vehicle, but Ekundayo allegedly locked the doors each time and grabbed her by the arms, pulling her back into the vehicle, where he then raped her, documents state.

He also forced her to drink blue-green colored liquid, and said it “will make you go to bed,” according to the girl’s description to police. She said it had a copper taste to it.

Ekundayo, in jail Thursday, offered a different version of events during an interview. According to him, he and the girl were just “playing hand games and playing with ourselves.” He said at no point did she indicate he didn’t have her permission to touch her.

He also said he couldn’t have raped her because he was rendered impotent after an accident he sustained in 2012 while working as an aircraft engineer at Boeing in Everett.

In the interview, Ekundayo said the police and court system were conspiring to keep him behind bars and recounted acts of police brutality he claims to have experienced in the past. He also said he didn’t trust his court-appointed lawyer.

Ekundayo, who is also homeless, claims police never issued a warrant to search his vehicle or swab his mouth for DNA, which investigators used to link him to the crime.

A spokesperson for the Spokane Police Department was not immediately available for comment.

At his first court appearance last Thursday, Superior Court Judge Annette Plese set bond at $500,000. Ekundayo has no prior felony convictions in Spokane County.

He is charged with first-degree kidnapping, first- and second-degree rape, and unlawful imprisonment. His arraignment is set for Tuesday.