Vince Edgar Chavez, already charged in state court with kidnapping a 10-year-old Canby girl last week to his Oregon City residence, is now also facing a federal kidnapping allegation.
A federal complaint filed Tuesday reveals that between the abduction and his arrest, Chavez allegedly strangled the girl, showed her adult pornography on his cellphone and threatened to perform similar acts with her, before binding her with duct tape, strangling her to unconsciousness and placing her inside a zipped duffel bag.
The girl’s mother had called 911 at 1:44 a.m. Wednesday to report that her younger daughter was missing, after waking to the sound of someone talking, according to the FBI affidavit filed in federal court in Portland.
She went outside and saw a man in a black sweatshirt rush her 10-year-old out the door and then saw a white van speed away, the affidavit said.
The mother also reported that her older daughter, age 12, was bleeding from her head.
The girls’ mother identified Chavez as a potential suspect, noting she had previously dated him and he had “shown a sexual interest” in her youngest daughter, the affidavit said. She described the suspect who escaped with her child as a “little heavy” with long hair and wearing a black hoodie, according to the FBI.
There was no sign of forced entry into the apartment.
The FBI obtained Chavez’s cell phone number and police discovered that Chavez was driving a white van with Washington state plates. Investigators also discovered that he was under investigation in Washington County for the alleged sexual abuse of a 10-year-old girl in Hillsboro. The complaint was reported to Hillsboro police in December 2025. The Washington County District Attorney’s office said last week it was actively reviewing the report.
The FBI, state and local police pinged Chavez’s cell phone and tracked it to a home in Oregon City, about 9 miles away from the Canby girls’ apartment. They located the van parked outside a home in the 500 block of Pleasant Avenue, and FBI agents saw Chavez exit a residence there about 1:46 p.m., the affidavit said.
A trace of Chavez’s phone indicated no activity from 1:17 a.m. until 2:55 a.m. last Wednesday, the time of the reported abduction. His phone showed he was at the Oregon City residence before the alleged kidnapping at 1:17 a.m. and back at his home by 2:55 a.m., according to the FBI.
Tactical SWAT officers raided the home about 2:40 p.m. on Wednesday and rescued the 10-year-old girl, found bound inside a zipped duffel bag in the closet of the bedroom Chavez rented on the second floor, according to the FBI.
Before she was placed in the duffel bag, Chavez is accused of strangling her to unconsciousness, the FBI said. She awakened to armed officers, with her arms bound with duct tape, according to the affidavit.
A search of Chavez’s van contained a wig and blood and other evidence, the affidavit said.
Police who responded to the Canby home found the 12-year-old sister’s head and shirt covered in blood. The older girl pointed to a hammer on the ground as the weapon the intruder used, according to the affidavit.
The hammer was found beside a backpack the suspect left behind, which contained a rope, zip ties, a black eye mask, clothing and other belongings, according to the FBI.
The 10-year-old told investigators she was struck in the head with a hammer before she was forced into the white van and it sped away.
The federal charge alleges Chavez, 36, used a car and a cellphone -instruments of interstate commerce - to commit the kidnapping.
Chavez is being held without bail at Clackamas County Jail. He’s accused in state court of attempted murder, first-degree kidnapping, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, first-degree burglary, first-degree sexual abuse and two counts of first-degree sodomy. He’s set to return to Clackamas County Circuit Circuit on Thursday morning.
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