Man kidnapped near a Safeway and beaten for days in trailer, Washington cops say
A man was kidnapped behind a Safeway in Washington and held captive for days, deputies said.
The incident happened April 6 in Ephrata, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
A car drove up and told the man to get inside to get warm, deputies said.
When he did, the driver threatened his life if he tried to get out, deputies said.
The two took him to a trailer in Moses Lake where he was “tased, hit with a baseball bat, threatened with a gun to his head, and physically assaulted for two days,” deputies said.
They kept him under the primary bed, authorities said.
Then three days later, on April 9, he was taken to a rural area where he was assaulted with a baseball bat and shovel, deputies said.
Deputies said he was left there, so he started walking and someone took him to a hospital.
He saw the kidnapping suspects again two days later at a Circle K, deputies said. They tried to get him into the car, but he told a clerk to call 911, deputies said.
Deputies said they identified one suspect as Destin Johnson, 27, from Kent.
He was found in Moses Lake going through trash and was arrested on suspicion of first-degree kidnapping and second-degree assault.
Johnson and the man knew each other, authorities said, and “this is a targeted crime.”
Ephrata is in central Washington, about a 170-mile drive southeast from Seattle.
This story was originally published April 14, 2025 at 3:04 PM with the headline "Man kidnapped near a Safeway and beaten for days in trailer, Washington cops say."
