AWOL Soldier Wanted in Kidnappings, Rape

Jan. 13, 2009— -- Police in Washington state are searching for a Iraq war veteran accused of kidnapping and torturing two women and raping one of them.

Staff Sgt. Nathan Ryan Smith, 29, has been charged with kidnapping, rape, arson and tampering with evidence.

Smith's unit at the Fort Lewis Army base reported him AWOL Jan. 5. Smith, who served as a calvary scout in Iraq from September 2006 to Octobrt 2007, has military and wilderness survival skills and is considered extremely dangerous, said Ed Troyer, a Pierce County, Wash., sheriff's spokesman.

"He has no ties to the area and it's a huge state. He could be anywhere," Troyer said.

After he allegedly raped one woman, Smith told her, "I have killed several people in Iraq. I'm crazy in the head, and if I get caught by police I will come looking for you and kill you," according to a probable cause statement from Pierce County prosecutors.

Investigators say Smith is suspected in two attacks. They say a woman, bound and naked, allegedly escaped from Smith's house Jan. 3 and contacted neighbors, who called police. In both instances, the alleged victims said their attacker fit Smith's description and drove the same kind of car that is registered to Smith, according to court documents.

He allegedly grabbed one woman Jan. 1 in a Tacoma parking lot, and choked her until she became unconscious.

The woman woke up, naked and bound with zip ties in a strange house. When she tried to free herself, she allegedly heard a man say, "If you fight you'll die." The man put a butcher knife to her face and said, "If you cooperate, you'll go home," the court documents say.

The man, believed to be Smith, then allegedly gagged her, sexually assaulted her and raped her. He also shocked her with electrified clamps, the woman, identified only as J.M., told police.

"If you tell anybody, police or anyone, I will kill you and your family. I can find you. I will find you," he allegedly said.

He blindfolded the woman and drove her around for 10 to 15 minutes before releasing her, the documents say.