Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current, May 26, 2017, Page PAGE A3, Image 3

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    MAY 26, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
TEXTS: ‘My insides and
outsides literally hurt’
(Continfed from Page A1)
I am going to use the booze I brought to light
it all on fi re in your apartment. In the middle of
your bed.”
On April 9, Robison claims to have poisoned
the local heroin supply, and cautions her against
using.
“I turned a 1/4 lbs in a 1/2 lbs and now it’s
making it’s way through Salem from 4 different
routes. Don’t risk it. It’s not worth dying for,”
Robison wrote.
Robison himself later faced charges of manu-
facturing and delivering methamphetamine.
In a text to the victim’s father, on May 2, Ro-
bison uses the word kidnap for the fi rst time: I
saw her today and she was scared and angry. I
knew I should have grabbed her. I should have
thrown her over my shoulder and walked her to
my truck a (sic) kidnapped her.”
The following day, in another text to the fa-
ther, he threatens to put a tracker on the victim’s
car.
Also on May 3, Robison contacts a friend
saying he needs a “big favor from you by be-
ing my driver for 10 minutes then I jump in
my jeep, you bail in your direction and we part
ways.”
On May 5, Robison wrote to another ex-
girlfriend about his plans: “I have to get this girl.
I have to, I can’t wait any more. I have never
experienced this before. My insides and outsides
literally hurt. When I see her my heart races fast-
er than it’s ever raced.”
Robison also texted his mother on the same
day saying he is going to go out looking for the
victim.
On May 9, Robison asked another person if
he could help acquire methadone, a drug used
by heroin addicts while detoxing, and tells him
he plans to kidnap his ex-girlfriend.
On May 10 and 11, Robison has a long ex-
change with his cousin, David Elliot Cook, and
the two lay out plans for a kidnapping attempt.
Robison wanted Cook to be his getaway driv-
er. Cook would later claim he talked Robison
down and the pair worked on Cook’s car in-
stead. The messages show Robison asking Cook
to purchase black hair dye on his way to Salem,
and whether Cook’s girlfriend knows anything
about dying hair.
Cook eventually plead guilty to charges of
conspiracy to commit kidnapping and attempt
to commit kidnapping.
At the same time, Robison was writing love
PLANS,
continued from Page A3
James Young, “During inter-
views, no one said he wouldn't
do it.”
The closest it appears any-
one got to interfering with his
plans was a veiled threat from
the victim’s father on April
6, 2016, “I have made some
phone calls. I highly suggest
you stay away from my house
the apartment property and
my daughter if you call her
look at her or touch her even
one more time even think
about her it is not going to
end well for you thank you
and have a nice day.”
Robison’s roommate gave
him 10 days to move out af-
ter the victim forwarded him
emails from Robison to her.
“You’re doing crazy stalker
s—t. I can’t even bring myself
to open the emails. I was sick
to my stomach all yesterday
and today. This situation has
become poisonous to me,” the
roommate wrote.
Two months later, Robison
was still living at the same ad-
dress.
Robison tried to enlist an-
other acquaintance as a get-
away driver for the kidnap-
letters to the victim in a notebook later seized
by police. In an entry dated May 10, Robison
wrote, “My love, you mean so much to me that I
become physically sick when I think about how
I treated you and the place it drove you to."
Also on May 11, Robison asks another man
about the availability of space on a large prop-
erty he owns. He asks specifi cally if there is a
barn or shack on the property.
Additionally, he contacts the victim’s father
again trying to explain himself. He wrote, “It’s
like I have a mental breakdown several times a
day sometimes. I have never felt this messed up
about anything before.” Robison also mentions
kidnapping again later in the exchange.
On May 15, in a note to the victim, Robison
details driving around the streets of Keizer look-
ing for the victim or her car when he spots it in
front of a house that would become the site of
his fi rst arrest four days later.
Robison initially drove past and cleaned out
the front seat of his car before parking near the
Cherry Avenue home, “I didn’t want you to
have anything to hit me with if I took you. I
didn’t think I would fi nd you let alone have an
opportunity to grab you. My heart was racing
.. I seriously felt like you could hook jumper
cables to me and start a vehicle.”
Robison wrote he got as far as kneeling
down between the victim’s car and a neighbor’s
car before deciding to leave.
Sometime between May 15 and his arrest on
May 19 at the site of the SWAT team serving a
search warrant on at the 3555 Cherry Avenue
home, Robison appears to have made another
attempt to kidnap the victim. He asked a friend
and her boyfriend to drive him to the victim’s
house. Once they arrived, the woman and her
boyfriend told police that Robison hid in the
bushes while sending them to the front door.
Robison wanted them to get her outside where
he could grab her. The woman went to the door
and spoke to the victim and told her to call the
police.
Robison sent one last message admonishing
the woman and her boyfriend before being ar-
rested trying to “rescue” his intended kidnap
victim at the house on Cherry Avenue North-
east.
He makes a plea for them to understand his
mission, “The girl who owns my heart is afraid
of me because of miscommunication and lies,
and drugs. It’s(sic) honestly feels like my chest is
on fi re when I think about it for too long.”
ping, but the deal appears to to lay low and how both
have had a falling out over the men could make their escape.
drugs Robison was offering in Cook was eventually charged
as an accomplice.
return.
Finally, Robison enlisted a
When Robison confi ded
in another ex-girlfriend about friend and her boyfriend to
the turmoil he was experienc- give him a ride over to the vic-
ing and the violent thoughts tim’s apartment. The pair grew
suspicious
he was having,
of a black
the
woman
bag Robison
responded,
brought with
“Jeez! :-(.”
him, and the
The wom-
conversation
an later told
led to him
police
she
divulging his
thought Ro-
kidnap plans.
bison was just
Robison
ranting.
wanted the
Robison’s — Offi cer James Yofng
Keizer Police Department
couple to get
mother
ad-
the victim out
vised him to
of her house
get counsel-
ing. In a later exchange, Ro- so he could grab her. Instead,
bison was frustrated about his the woman went to the door
mother’s ability to understand and spoke to the victim and
the “code” he was speaking in. told her to call the police.
They left Robison hiding
“Oh ok,” was the response
from another acquaintance in the bushes and did not call
Robison told about his kidnap police themselves. When the
plans. Robison had wanted man was later questioned, he
the friend to help him get said he didn’t interfere because
methadone for his girlfriend the intended victim might
who believed he would be have needed the help.
“Every person we talked to
“rescuing” from drug abuse.
At times, Robison’s cousin, was like, ‘Oh yeah, (Robison
David Elliot Cook, appears to is) a problem. Inevitably, we’d
be helping plan a kidnapping ask them if they called the po-
attempt discussing details like lice,” Young said.
None of them had.
purchasing hair dye, where
“ Dfring
interviews, no
one said he
wofldn’t do it.”
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WITH CERTIFIED SPACE TECH
BOX,
continued from Page A1
Northeast.
When SWAT is on a scene
two perimeters are established,
one for the immediate area
where the team is operating
and a secondary, outer ring for
additional protection. While
the operation was ongoing,
Robison drove a van through
the outer perimeter, around
a police vehicle with lights
fl ashing and into a nearby
parking lot.
“He went through the
exterior perimeter and I
thought he was going to
pop back out after the driver
realized he'd made a mistake,”
Olafson said.
Robison had other ideas. He
got out of his van and started
walking toward the house
where the search warrant was
being served. Olafson got out
of his vehicle and began asking
what he was doing. Robison
told Olafson that he needed to
get to the house to “rescue” his
ex-girlfriend.
“The visual presence of the
SWAT team would be enough
to deter many, many people and
he was walking toward them,”
said Offi cer James Young, who
became the second primary
investigator on Robison's case.
The ex-girlfriend, and
Robison's intended kidnapping
victim, was known to police as
part of other investigations.
While Olafson was talking
with Robison in the parking
lot, other offi cers noticed the
butt of a handgun sticking
out of Robison's pants. At that
point, Robison was taken into
custody and he gave consent to
search his vehicle. The search
yielded a pipe that tested
positive for methamphetamine,
a can of bear spray – a type of
pepper mace – and a notebook
with details about the comings
and goings at the house being
searched.
“He was watching the house
like we would,” Olafson said.
Police also seized Robison's
phone based on the assumption
that it may have additional
evidence of stalking behavior.
Robison was taken to
the Keizer police station
and questioned regarding
his approach of the house
and motivations. Olafson left
the encounter feeling like
he had been the one under
interrogation.
Robison was taken to
Marion County Correctional
Facility and charged for the
concealed weapon and drugs,
but he had no prior record and
was likely back on the street
within 12 hours.
The Phone
Robison seemed to police
unconcerned about them keep-
ing his phone and alluded to the
possibility of trying to “wipe” it
remotely. It was kept in a pro-
tective bag to prevent such ac-
cess while Olafson applied for a
warrant to search it.
The warrant was approved
six days after police met
Robison in the parking lot and
Olafson began reviewing its
contents on May 31.
The messages included
threats to the victim and others
that appeared to show he had
attempted to kidnap the woman
at least twice in the three weeks
leading up to his encounter
with police.
Messages also revealed that
Robison had told numerous
people about his intentions and
no one had contacted police
with any concerns.
One exchange between
Robison and the victim
suggested that he had let himself
into her home and assaulted her
while trying to take possession
of her phones.
Another exchange between
Robison and a friend showed
him asking her for a ride to the
victim's apartment. When the
friend arrived, Robison had a
black bag with him containing scales to the point where we
could charge him with the
a gun and bear spray.
“Robison told (the woman manufacture and delivery of
and her boyfriend) about his methamphetamine. He was
plan to take the victim and get trying to save a girl from dope
her clean. He wanted them to while manufacturing and selling
go up to the door and get her it,” Olafson said.
Items found in and around
to come outside,” Olafson said.
When they arrived at the the home were more troubling.
“I found a bag that I described
apartment, Robison got out
of the vehicle and hid behind as a 'go-bag.' It had survivalist
bushes while the woman went books, rope, lubricants, restraints
to the door. The woman told and other types of tie-downs.
the victim about Robison's Small amounts of alcohol and
intentions and told her to call marijuana,” Young said.
A ball gag, collars and sawed-
the police before leaving.
The couple drove away with off weapons were also among
Robison still hiding in the Robison's possessions.
Olafson was standing outside
bushes and searching through
his bag. No one called the the house and noticed a large
amount of plywood leaning up
police.
“The victim didn't and the against something else. Olafson
couple thought they had done moved the plywood and found
the box.
their duty,” Olafson said.
The box, which is now in
Another kidnap attempt
occurred while police were the possession of KPD, is about
surveilling the house on Cherry fi ve foot tall and three-and-a-
Avenue. Text messages from half foot wide. It's constructed
Robison to the victim provided out of four-by-four posts and
details about her cleaning her layer-upon-layer of plywood. It
car outside the Cherry Avenue is extremely heavy. The interior
home when he drove past. space is about three-foot wide
Robison continued driving and and four feet tall.
Robison would later tell
pulled into the Keizer/Salem
Area Senior Center parking lot police that it was constructed to
so that he could clean out the keep and ship tools, but some of
front seat of his car and remove the details do not bear that out.
“You would pay hundreds
anything the victim might hit
of dollars to ship just the box,”
him with.
In text messages, Robison Young said.
Offi cers found industrial-
described returning to the
nearby area and parking before type kitchen mats with porous
approaching the home and surfaces inside. They suspect
crouching near the victim's Robison planned to put his
car. He eventually left without victim in the box while she
detoxed and the mats would
executing his scheme.
Police knew precisely when keep her from drowning in her
Robison was in the area that day own vomit if she got sick and
because surveillance notes and passed out. Additionally, bracing
brackets are on
photog raphs
the outside of
showed
the
the box where
victim cleaning
they cannot be
out her car.
tampered with
“He would
inside. If the
also
send
box was meant
her
circular
for
shipping,
u l t i m a t u m s ,”
— Offi cer James Yofng
the
parcel
Olafson said.
Keizer Police Department
would be more
“He would tell
secure with the
her that she
brackets on the
needed to text
him in the next fi ve minutes or interior.
“It was pretty clear it had
he would take it as a sign that
he needed to come rescue her.” been built for a person,” Olafson
No matter what the victim said.
Olafson was ready to call off
chose to do, it required making
the search of the house when
contact she did not want.
“The texts would get more Young opened one last cabinet.
and more descriptive and Inside he found an improvised
graphic. He would threaten explosive device. The Salem
to poison the drugs going Bomb Squad determined it was
around the Salem-Keizer area inactive in its current form, but
and caution her against using that it was likely meant to be
them,” Young said. “He would affi xed to box and detonate if
tell her to watch the news that the box was violently jostled or
night for something happening tipped over.
Things had been moving so
around where she lived, and if
something happened it was the quickly, it wasn't until the search
result of something he had done was completed that Young was
able to take stock of it all.
because of her.”
“The gravity of it didn't
Olafson and Young read
the text messages together and really sink in until we found
things like the box and the
came to the same conclusion.
“We looked at each other sawed-off weapons and the
and said we have to go fi nd her,” explosive device,” Young said.
Young said.
A Quick Plea
On July 7, 2016, Robison
Searches
Olafson and Young found pleaded guilty to many of
the victim at her father's home. the charges fi led against him.
They had badges displayed, but Olafson and Young had nothing
they were in plainclothes and but praise for how the case was
the woman would not come to handled given that Robison had
no priors.
the door.
“(Deputy District Attorney)
She later told the offi cers
she feared they were more of Jennifer Gardiner did a
Robison's accomplices sent to miraculous job of organizing
the case and presenting it. He
get her out of the home.
Eventually, the woman's plead guilty to felonies and they
father arrived on the scene convinced the judge that he
and he was able to diffuse the needed the maximum sentence
of 15 years,” Olafson said.
situation.
He said KPD offi cers take
They brought the victim to
the Keizer Police Station for a any case of stalking seriously, but
full interview, and requested the that most of the offenses involve
help of the KPD detective squad people driving by someone's
in fi nding Robison himself. home or workplace or harassing
Detectives initially tried to phone calls. Robison took it to
fi nd Robison at his Woodburn another level.
“It's like having a high school
employer, but he had called
in sick. They tried a home he baseball team up against a major
shared with a roommate next league team or one level below
it,” Olafson said. “If he had the
and found him there.
Additional search warrants opportunity he would have
were issued for a new search of taken her. He says that he just
Robison's van and the home wanted to help her get clean,
but I'm not certain she would
itself.
“In the car we found dope, ever have seen the light of day
delivery tools and packaging again.”
“ The gravity
of it didn’t
really sink in...”
pfzzle answers