Salkum Man Accused of Kidnapping, Raping Longview Woman

Posted

A Salkum man is facing charges that he raped and kidnapped a Longview woman in Lewis County over the weekend.

Joel Kaech, 25, of Salkum, was arrested at 1:47 p.m. Sunday, according to Lewis County Jail records, on suspicion of first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping and felony harassment, threat to kill.

He is scheduled to make his first appearance in Lewis County Superior Court on those charges at 4 p.m. today.

At 8:24 p.m. on Saturday, officers with the Centralia Police Department met with a woman in a parking lot in the 500 block of Harrison Avenue who reported that she was kidnapped in Longview and had been dropped off in Centralia. Officers referred the case to the Longview Police Department.

According to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, which is also investigating the incident, the victim is a 32-year-old woman from Longview.

While the incident began in Longview, it continued north to the 100 block of U.S. Highway 12 and possibly to the 500 block of Highway 12, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

No other information has been released in the active investigation.

Kaech was arrested Jan. 26 on suspicion of first-degree burglary in connection to a theft of a chain saw and other items on Jan. 12 from the 300 block of Fawn Hill Drive in Salkum. The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office declined to file charges on Jan. 27.