On March 12, 2025, Lane County Circuit Court Judge Kamala H. Shugar found Donald Wayne Johnson guilty of kidnapping in the second degree, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, and assault in the fourth degree after a one-day bench trial. Mr. Johnson will be sentenced on April 4.
On September 20, 2022, a husband and wife were driving from California to help their daughter move into the dorms at the University of Oregon. Their daughter was driving a separate car. While the wife was sleeping in the front passenger seat, the husband pulled into the Gettings Creek Rest Area off I-5 near Saginaw. He turned the car off but left the keys in the ignition so the music would continue playing while his wife dozed. The husband exited the car and went to use the bathroom.
Shortly afterward, Mr. Johnson got into the driver’s seat and started the car. This roused the wife. As Mr. Johnson backed out of the parking spot, the wife grabbed the steering wheel to stop him. Mr. Johnson elbowed her several times. She lowered her window and screamed for help. The husband left the bathroom and started running toward the car, as did another civilian who happened to hear the wife’s cries. Mr. Johnson drove over a grass median and toward the on-ramp to I-5. The husband managed to catch up to the car, dove through the passenger side window as the car was moving, and placed Mr. Johnson in a choke hold. After traveling approximately 300 feet, Mr. Johnson relented, stopped the car, and ran away. Oregon State Police troopers arrested Mr. Johnson a short distance away.
In addition to the guilty verdicts, Judge Shugar found that Mr. Johnson was on probation when he committed the crimes, which failed to deter him from committing further criminal offenses. Mr. Johnson was placed on supervised probation in three Benton County cases on March 17, 2022, for aggravated harassment, criminal mischief in the first degree, and driving under the influence of intoxicants, among other crimes.
Troopers Jonathon Padgett and Blake Preston with the Oregon State Police investigated the case. Deputy District Attorney Spencer Gwartney prosecuted the case.
