Man suspected of kidnapping

Acting on a tip, Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies raided a campground near Rose Lake on Tuesday morning and arrested a 57-year-old Kellogg man on suspicion of domestic battery and kidnapping. Norman Williams was arrested and booked into the Kootenai County Jail.

Police had been searching since Saturday for a man who, witnesses said, severely beat a woman at a campsite near Cataldo before forcing her into an older white Ford and driving off with her. Witnesses described the man as being in his 20s, but when deputies searched the tent where the fight was said to have taken place, they found a pay stub belonging to Williams.

Court records in Shoshone County revealed that a Western Washington woman had filed a protective order against Williams, who is said to be homeless and living in area campgrounds. That woman, 46-year-old Kathy Fitzpatrick, of Kent, Wash., was recently reported as a missing person by her daughter, police said.

Deputies were tipped that an older white Ford Tempo was parked at a campground west of Rose Lake. When they arrived Tuesday morning, they found Williams and Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick, police said, showed signs of injury from a beating.

“She was battered pretty severely,” Detective Brad Maskell said. “The thing started because Kathy wanted to leave. She tried to get away and he wouldn’t allow it.”

Fitzpatrick apparently met Williams about 18 months ago at an alcohol treatment facility near Kent, and they have apparently had a sporadic relationship since, police said.

Fitzpatrick filed a restraining order against Williams last fall when she visited the Silver Valley.

She apparently came to North Idaho recently to work temporary jobs with Williams, Maskell said.

Fitzpatrick told police that after the couple left the Cataldo-area campground, she and Williams stayed in the car in Bumblebee Campground on a tributary, known as the North Fork, of the upper Coeur d’Alene River on Sunday before going to the campsite at Rose Lake.