FBI seeks out more victims after cinderblock cell abduction, Sacramento advocates speak out
SACRAMENTO — The FBI is investigating a haunting series of events that began as an abduction in Seattle and ended in Oregon, where a woman escaped after being brutally sexually assaulted.
Negate Zuberi, 29, is jailed in Reno on a federal interstate kidnapping charge, but investigators fear there are more victims out there. The initial victim was trapped inside a makeshift cinderblock jail cell in the suspect's garage.
"The woman fought for her life, beating the doors and walls of this cell with bloodied hands," Stephanie Shark, the assistant special agent leading the FBI's Portland Field Office, revealed Wednesday. "Through her perseverance, she broke free and waved down a passing motorist asking for their help to call 911."
The FBI says Zuberi and the unidentified victim met on July 15 in Seattle when he solicited the woman for sex. He's accused of posing as an undercover cop, threatening her with a stun gun, handcuffing and locking her in leg irons. That's when Zuberi drove nearly seven hours, crossing several states to reach his home in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
"The victim's focus, actions and her will to survive triggered a law enforcement response that may have actually saved many women from a similar nightmare," Shark said.
Zuberi, who is said to have gone by different names, is now connected to at least four other assaults. He's lived in a number of states in the last 10 years, including California, where authorities have now expanded their search and are asking other victims to come forward.
The FBI's information also showed that Zuberi lived in Vacaville from Nov. 2017 to Feb. 2019.
Kristi Merrill, a survivor and leadership advocate at 3Strands Global Foundation in El Dorado Hills, says the issue of sex exploitation is not a far-away problem.
"People believe that it's just happening internationally but it's happening here in our backyards. I was trafficked out of Sacramento," Merrill said. "We hear escort or prostitution and we automatically think they are willingly doing that, and that's not necessarily always the case."
The main mission at 3Strands is to combat human trafficking through prevention and education. Merrill said the stigma surrounding sex exploitation is a reason many victims don't feel comfortable coming forward.
"I know from my own self, because I am a survivor, that was something I was extremely scared and fearful of when that time came— so I want to first start off and say how brave she was for escaping," Merrill said. "However, I understand that survivors — when they threaten their family and use force, fraud and coercion — it's a physiological hold. It's not always physical."
She said advocacy groups should work alongside law enforcement to help survivors, who may not feel comfortable going to the police, have a group they can reach out to for not only support but wrap-around services.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline is 888-373-7888. You can also text "INFO" to 233733
