Eatonville couple arrested for kidnapping of Arkansas woman

An 18-year-old developmentally delayed Arkansas woman has been returned to her family after a harrowing ordeal, and her alleged kidnappers have been arrested by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

Khanh Tan Le, 50, and Katherine Jones, 28, were arrested on warrants for “Kidnapping of an Incompetent Person,” and booked into Pierce County Jail. They were released on $15,000 bail.

On Thursday, Feb. 22, the sheriff’s office received a request for assistance from the Mississippi County Sheriff’s Department in Luxora, Arkansas. The detectives calling were investigating a missing 18-year-old woman with autism. She was discovered missing from her home in Blytheville, Arkansas around 4 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17.

In the minutes before her disappearance, the woman received and responded to a text from a Washington number. The Arkansas detectives determined the victim was contacted online by an Eatonville man who had allegedly attempted to befriend more than 8,000 children over social media.

Le had reportedly flown from Washington to Tennessee in the days prior to the victim’s disappearance with Jones. The two then allegedly rented a vehicle with fake IDs then “drove to the victim’s residence in Arkansas where they lured or abducted the victim with a possible sexual motivation.”

The suspects then allegedly drove the victim back to Washington, where detectives were able to link the suspects to an address in the 39100 block of Ski Park Road E. outside Eatonville on Ohop Lake.

On Feb. 22, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department Mountain Detachment planned to contact the residents of the Ski Park Road residence. At 4:55 p.m., a team of two sergeants, three deputies and one detective sergeant knocked on the door.

The residence, a cabin, had security cameras facing the road and there were noises inside but no one answered. At 5:02 p.m., as deputies were planning a forced entry, the residents opened the door and were taken into custody.

According to the sheriff’s department, the victim was found safely inside along with the couple’s 14-year-old son. The victim was watched that night by a deputy and then flown back to Arkansas in the care of the FBI the next morning. The 14-year-old was placed in the care of a relative in King County.