Coeur d’Alene woman sees second abductor sent to prison

A Coeur d’Alene woman was in an Oregon courtroom this week for the sentencing of a man who kidnapped, raped and tortured her in the 1980s and spent over two decades as a fugitive.

“I think it sends a good message to survivors everywhere to come forward. That’s my mission,” said Michaelle Dierich, who first told her story to The Spokesman-Review in 2007.

Paul Erven Jackson, 46, pleaded guilty last week to a long list of charges in the 1988 abduction of Dierich and a similar assault on another woman. He committed the crimes with his half-brother, Vance Roberts, who has been in prison the past 10 years.

Jackson will spend 18 years in prison. He was sentenced Tuesday in Washington County Circuit Court on eight counts of first-degree kidnapping, six counts of first-degree sodomy, six counts of first-degree rape, three counts of first-degree sex abuse and two counts of unlawful sexual penetration.

Dierich told the judge, “He pre-arranged and planned brutal, unspeakable acts of torture and terror. His behavior has left me emotionally and spiritually crippled beyond expression. … There is no closure without peace, and there is no peace without justice.”

When Dierich was 20 years old, Jackson and Roberts held her in chains for a week in a house in Hillsboro, Oregon. They repeatedly raped, sodomized and abused her before letting her go, she said.

The men also abducted 17-year-old Andrea Hood in 1990. Like Dierich, Hood has spoken out about her ordeal.

Jackson and Roberts were arrested in 1990 but vanished after their mother bailed them out. Roberts surrendered in 2006 and was convicted the following year. He is serving a 108-year prison sentence.

Jackson was arrested by Mexican immigration authorities in September at a hotel in Guadalajara, Mexico. He had changed his name, was married with two kids, and was working there for Motorola. Authorities received a tip on his whereabouts after CNN in July aired an episode of “The Hunt with John Walsh” that featured the case.

When she heard the news last fall, Dierich said, “I fell apart with tears of relief and gratitude – and love for my husband, who has supported me through all of this.”

Dierich encourages other victims of sexual abuse to contact her at michaelleonamission@gmail.com.

“If I can help anybody else I want to be available,” she said.