Suspect described as a ‘skinny Santa’

Leah Anaya
For Clark County Today

An attempted kidnapping took place in the middle of the street on a back road in Brush Prairie around 8:30 p.m. Friday evening.

Erica Trager was driving east on NE 174th Street having turned from NE 182nd Avenue with her 16-year-old son in the passenger seat. A black truck sped up and passed her, then slammed on the breaks, forcing Trager to stop.

The driver of the truck, who Trager described as a “skinny Santa,” got out of the truck yelling, “Are you ok?” and waving his arms around. Trager got out of her car.

“I thought he must have hit something or that something was wrong,” Trager said, “which is why I got out.”

The man approached Trager and started to assault her. “He grabbed me by the elbow, then the chest, then the neck,” she said. Trager said he was pulling her towards his truck and told her, “Get in, bitch!”

“When I say I fought like hell,” Trager said, “I’m not even kidding. Thank God my son was with me…”

As another vehicle started to approach Trager and the suspect, the man jumped back into his truck and took off. Thanks to quick thinking on Trager’s part, she was able to snap a photo of the license plate.

Trager called the police, who told her that the vehicle, a 2021 Ford F-250, was registered as a rental.

“I’ll absolutely never forget to carry from here on out,” she said. “And I want to get what happened out so other people, especially women, will know to really pay attention and not take any risks.”

The suspect was described further as a white man in his late 50s or early 60s, approximately 6-foot tall with long gray hair and a gray beard. Clark County Sheriff’s Office deputies are attempting to locate the suspect.