Kila kidnap victim escapes in Washington

LONGVIEW, Wash. — A Helena man suspected of kidnapping his girlfriend in Kila and critically beating her aunt was arrested following a wild high-speed chase in Kalama, Washington, Wednesday evening after he rammed two patrol cars, according to the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office.

Blood alcohol tests showed the man was at more than three times the legal limit at the time of his arrest.

Joseph Michael Crowell, 36, of Helena, is being held at the Cowlitz County Jail without bail for first-degree kidnapping, felony eluding, second-degree assault, obstructing a law enforcement officer, possession of a stolen vehicle, second-degree malicious mischief, driving while intoxicated and driving with a suspended license.

Cowlitz County sheriff’s deputies were called to the Paradise Resort and RV Park in Castle Rock at 7:15 p.m. after Crowell’s girlfriend, Amber Smelt, called 911 and told dispatchers she had been kidnapped from her Kila home the day before.

Crowell had reportedly hit Smelt with a beer bottle and forced her into her aunt’s 2015 Subaru wagon. Crowell also allegedly beat Smelt’s aunt, Linda Ravicher, according to the Cowlitz County sheriff’s report.

Ravicher, the longtime project director for the STOP Underage Drinking in the Flathead Coalition, had to be to taken by helicopter ambulance to the hospital due to her injuries, according to the Cowlitz County sheriff’s report issued by Deputy Chief Charlie Rosenzweig.

Deputies learned that a short while later Crowell eluded police in Troy, Mont., following a high-speed chase. Crowell eventually forced Smelt to drive into Washington and sometimes took control over the car himself, according to a probable cause statement filed in Cowlitz Superior Court.

Smelt escaped north of Castle Rock when she pulled the car off Interstate 5 and deliberately struck a guardrail, blocking Crowell from exiting the passenger door. She fled on foot across three lanes of traffic to the RV park and made what police described as a “hysterical” call to 911 for help.

Sheriff’s deputy Brady Spaulding spotted the Subaru and passed it to see who was inside. Spaulding got off the freeway at Kalama River Road, intending to get back on behind the Subaru. But the Subaru got off at the same exit, and pulled up behind the deputy, according to the probable cause statement.

Spaulding then got out of his patrol car, drew his gun and ordered Crowell out of the car. Instead, Crowell accelerated past the deputy and headed west on Kalama River Road. When the road dead-ended, he looped around and hit a patrol car head-on, disabling it.

Then he bolted eastbound on Kalama River Road, often in the wrong lane, at speeds hitting 80 mph. At a curve at the intersection with Norris Pit Road, he spun out and left the road. He rammed another patrol car before finally surrendering.

Crowell admitted to drinking whiskey while he was driving. Tests showed his blood alcohol level to between 0.270 and 0.275, according to official reports.

Smelt was taken to St. John Medical Center in Longview for treatment. She said her only concern at the time she was kidnapped was to get Crowell as far away from her aunt and 3-year-old son as possible, “as she was confident he would kill them if he got another chance.”

Authorities in Flathead County found Smelt’s son unattended amid obvious signs of a struggle.

According Deputy Chief Rosenzweig, Smelt told Detective Rob Stump that “Cowell had dragged her to the vehicle... after he assaulted her and her aunt... Along the way, Crowell told [Smelt] that ‘her mom was gone; you need to be gone too.’ Linda [Ravicher] is Smelt’s aunt, but Smelt was raised by Linda and calls [her] ‘mom.’”

Smelt reportedly had visible injuries after the ordeal that were described as “non-life threatening.”

The Daily Inter Lake contributed to this story.