Woman says she was imprisoned, drugged, repeatedly raped in Spokane storage unit

A homeless woman told Spokane police she was drugged and repeatedly raped while being held captive for several days in a storage unit in east Spokane.

The woman said she met a man in Hillyard on the evening of May 22, and he offered her a place to stay for the night. They took a bus to a spot near Spokane Community College, then walked to Boone Mini-Storage, 3004 E. Boone Ave., according to court documents.

Inside a storage unit, the man had a two-seat recliner, a hot plate and a small stove. The woman told investigators he locked the door from the inside, gave her a cup of coffee and said, “drink this.”

“The next thing she recalls is (the man) removing her pants and a short time later removing her top,” police wrote in court documents. For more than 48 hours, “she was in and out of consciousness and was unable to get up and felt as if she had been drugged.”

The woman said she wasn’t given any food or water during the ordeal. On the morning of May 25, she feigned a panic attack and persuaded the man to give back her clothes so she could get some air outside. She walked to a bus stop and borrowed a stranger’s cellphone to call her sister, who came and took her to a hospital for evaluation, according to court documents.

Investigators have contacted the suspect but are waiting on the results of DNA testing to file charges. They executed a search warrant and found the storage unit as the woman described.

A manager at the storage facility said when the suspect began renting the unit about six months ago, surveillance video showed his car parked there overnight on several occasions, and he was warned against living inside. Instead of a home address, the suspect listed a post office box when signing for the storage unit, the manager said.

The suspect has a misdemeanor history that includes convictions for trespassing and harassment.