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Convicted rapist arrested for trying to kidnap family near zoo
A convicted rapist who threatened a mother and her two young children at knife-point outside the Oregon Zoo Wednesday morning was arrested for attempting to kidnap the family, police said.
The incident began when a 32-year-old Portland woman was taking her two toddlers out of her car in the zoo parking lot.
The armed suspect, later identified as 49-year-old Jere Vestal Ryder, "approached the woman from behind, ordering her and her children back into the car," said Sgt. Brian Schmautz, spokesman for the Portland Police Bureau.
The mother began to fight the suspect and scream, attracting the attention of nearby construction workers at the Forestry Center. Ryder fled and was chased by the construction workers, who caught and sat on him until police arrived.
Ryder was arrested on three counts of kidnapping and one count of robbery, according to Schmautz.
"We’ve been actively trying to find this guy because he had two warrants out for failing to register as a sex offender," he said.
The mother, whose name was not released, suffered minor injuries.
"She was really traumatized," Schmautz said.
Ryder was convicted of rape and sodomy in 1974 and was in custody from that year until 2000, according to state records. He targeted adult women who were strangers; usually he entered victims' homes at night and threatened them with a knife.
