Woman escapes accused kidnapper after multiple day ordeal

LOGAN — A man on parole is accused of kidnapping a woman, sexually assaulting her multiple times, and beating her with a towel bar with plans of abandoning her in Idaho.

Christopher Mark Derring, 46, was booked into the Cache County Jail on suspicion of felony charges of forcible sodomy, kidnapping, aggravated assault, possession of a controlled substance, and a misdemeanor charge of driving with a measurable controlled substance, according to the police affidavit.

The Cache County Sherriff’s Office deputy, Travis Ricks, reported being flagged down by the victim on Highway 89 in Logan Canyon near the Stokes Nature Center on Sept. 11. The victim told the deputy she was kidnapped from Ogden and raped.

“I was driving through Logan Canyon,” Ricks told KSL TV. “We were training over at Bear Lake that day.”

“A lady started on the side of the road, she was trying to flag me down, and I pulled over,” Ricks said. “So she was saying, hey, this lady’s having some issues. She said she was kidnapped and had been sexually assaulted.”

Ricks reported initially, the victim gave short answers, had trouble staying awake, and had signs of physical abuse, including her hair being cut.

“When speaking with her, you could see some swelling on her face and that she, you could tell she had been in an assault,” Ricks said. “She was a little, not making complete sense at first. You could tell she was pretty traumatized.”

According to the affidavit, the victim initially said that Derring had picked her up from an Ogden Motel 6 on Sept. 8 after her friends locked her out of their room. She said that Derring offered a ride to her home in Salt Lake City, which she accepted.

“She told me that she had been in Ogden, claimed to have been kidnapped by a male, and the male had assaulted her both physically and sexually,” Ricks said of the encounter.

The victim told police that Derring actually took her to his home in Logan, where he held her captive in his apartment and repeatedly sexually abused her for at least two days. She said that she was hit with a black flashlight and a towel bar. Police said the towel bar could inflict “serious bodily injury or death.”

It wasn’t until the drive to Idaho, where Derring reportedly said he was going to abandon her, that she escaped from him and made contact with the deputy, police said.

“She identified a car a short distance away,” Ricks said. “Stayed with her and kept eyes on the suspect’s vehicle until we had the resources there to contact that suspect.

Ricks said Derring was found asleep in his car with the engine running on U.S. 89, where he was arrested without further incident.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” Ricks told KSL TV. “I don’t feel I did anything that any one of our other patrol deputies (wouldn’t) have done.”

Derring interview

In an interview with Derring after his arrest, he denied the version of events that the victim told deputies.

According to the affidavit, Derring said the victim was already beaten when he found her at Motel 6. He claimed the victim had a psychotic episode and cut her hair in his bathroom that morning.

Derring told police he took the victim to a McDonald’s in Logan and ate food in front of her. “He explained that he was done with (the victim), wanted to get away from her, and was not going to provide for her by buying her food,” the affidavit stated.

According to police, Derring threatened to take her to jail or drive her to Idaho and drop her off. He said the victim asked to be dropped off in Idaho. The affidavit stated that Derring asked for an attorney and police stopped asking him questions.

Searching Derring’s apartment

According to police, after the interview with Derring, detectives were granted a search warrant for his apartment.

Police reported finding a bed in Derring’s bedroom with several small blood stains. In the living room, police reported finding a black flashlight that matched the victim’s description.

According to the affidavit, detectives found a broken towel rack in Derring’s bathroom and a white towel with blood on it next to the toilet. Police believe the towel was used to stop the bleeding of a wound.

Police also reported finding two pairs of scissors, one with hair residue in the bathroom, hair residue in the tub, and a large clump of hair in the kitchen garbage can.

Follow-up interview with victim

On Sept. 13, police reported a follow-up interview with the victim as she wasn’t able to go into detail about the alleged events when she was found.

The victim told police that she went to the Motel 6 to visit someone but was left without a place to stay for the night.

According to the affidavit, the victim kept trying to find a way back home and was hiding under a blanket until Derring found her. She told police that Derring offered her a ride back to Salt Lake City.

The victim told police that Derring kept offering to drive her to his place in Logan, but she refused and asked to go back to Salt Lake City. The victim said the two discussed getting a hotel room for the both of them, but Derring said his place was only 20 minutes away, but she did not believe him.

“(The victim) said that she fell asleep and woke up Monday morning in Logan with Christopher pulling her out of the car and telling her to get in the house before someone saw her,” the affidavit stated.

While in the apartment, the victim initially consented to sexual activity but then told him to stop telling him “No” and “Stop.” She said she felt she was forced to have sex.

The victim told police that Derring began to physically beat her after she started to refuse to have sex with him. She said he was acting paranoid and accused her of stealing money from him.

“(The victim) said that on five or six occasions Christopher told her, ‘Go to the bathroom,’ where he would have her stand in the dark and hit her with the broken towel rack.” the affidavit stated. During one of the beatings, she used a towel to stop a nosebleed.

The victim reported several of the injuries she received from Derring, including being knocked unconscious, being hit with a black flashlight, and Derring standing on her feet to prevent her from escaping.

According to the affidavit, the victim attempted to contact friends, but Derring hid her phone several times. She said, “She thought about jumping out a window, but she knew she couldn’t run well and that Christopher would catch her.”

The victim told police that Derring threatened to kill her. He then said he was going to drive her to a remote and leave her with no clothes or possessions in a remote part of Idaho and leave her to die.

According to the affidavit, before they left, the victim wasn’t feeling well and had her head over the toilet. Derring began cutting her hair with a shaver and scissors.

Derring began flushing the victim’s hair down the toilet and putting “what he called ‘Treatment’ in her hair,” the affidavit stated. The victim said she noticed that he was placing glue and, later on, mayonnaise on her hair.

The victim told police she was forced to take a shower, and when she got out, Derring told her to get dressed. She said that he urinated on her clothing, and he made her wear the clothing.

According to the affidavit, the two began to drive to Idaho when Derring stopped to take methamphetamine. The victim said he asked her to take some of the drug with him, but she refused, which caused him not to also.

“(The victim) said that looking back, she feels that if Christopher had taken the methamphetamine and stayed awake, things could have ended very differently for her,” the affidavit stated. “(The victim) said she feels like her life was saved because of that decision.”

The victim told police that Derring passed out while they were stopped, allowing her to escape and contact a deputy.

“(The victim) said that despite her warrants and bad experiences with the police in the past she just wanted to get away from Christopher,” the affidavit stated.

Police reported that Derring was on parole for drug-related crimes and tested positive for methamphetamine, fentanyl, and prescription drugs. Police wrote that Derring presents a substantial danger to the community and believed he was likely to flee if released.

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If you have experienced sexual violence, you can access help and resources by calling Utah’s 24-hour Sexual Violence Help Line at 1-801-736-4356 (English) or 1-801-924-0860 (Spanish). You can also call the Rape Recovery Center office line during office hours at 801-467-7282 or the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 for free, confidential counseling.