Justine Siemens Was Beaten and Tortured for Almost Three Days by a Man With a Violent History

Most true-crime stories involve murder, and of those, many of them center on one partner killing another. From Scott Peterson to Christopher Watts, there is no shortage of gruesome tales. Common threads always seem to run through these horrific events. Inevitably friends and family can be heard saying that so-and-so was such a nice person. They didn't see it coming.

In the case of Justine Siemens, she did see the potential for darkness in a man she briefly dated. Siemens ended up doing what everyone says is the right thing, and yet she still nearly died. Sometimes you can only protect yourself so much, especially when dealing with a truly violent person. Where is Justine Siemens now? Here's what we know.

In January 2023, Siemens was tortured and beaten by a man she briefly dated. Lt. Jeff Hattersley of the Grants Pass Police Department in Oregon told The New York Times, "I’ve been in law enforcement for 32 years, and this is one of the most heinous, terrible cases I’ve ever seen." Her story is being told in Netflix's Worst Ex Ever. Siemens bravely looks back on the most traumatic experience of her life. "Torture is an understatement, of what I went through," she says.

Like all victims, regardless of their situation, Siemens said she could have never predicted something like this could have happened to her. She and Ben Foster met at the bar where they both worked and were casually dating for two months when he suddenly asked for "clean urine" in order to pass a urinalysis test. Naturally, this made Siemens uncomfortable, so she did some Googling and uncovered very alarming information about the man she was seeing.

Foster previously lived in Las Vegas where he was arrested and charged with "domestic battery by strangulation, battery domestic violence, coercion with threat or force and kidnapping, and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon," in October 2019, per the Las Vegas Sun. The incident involved Foster holding his then-girlfriend captive in her own apartment for two weeks, while he beat and tortured her. Siemens was shocked by this discovery and immediately told her boss, who let Foster go.

Siemens ended things with Foster, but a month later, he broke into her home. He was waiting for Siemens after work one day and when she sat down in her living room, he appeared and began beating her. This would continue for almost three days until Siemens was found by a friend. She now has traumatic brain injuries and had to learn how to walk again. "It’s been a lot to deal with," said Siemens. "I’m very lucky to be alive."

According to Oregon Live, neighbors said they saw Foster's car parked outside of Siemens's house for several hours on the day he broke into her home. Almost three days later, Siemens's worried friend stopped by to check on her. She ran into Foster, who said Siemens was having a heart attack and needed help. He then took off in his car as the friend went inside.

She found Siemens "facedown on her laundry room floor, bleeding profusely from head injuries and with rope looped around her ankles and limbs," reported the outlet. There was also rope tied around her neck. When police arrived, the friend was able to give them Foster's name. They immediately disseminated photos of him, warning people that he might change his physical appearance.

Foster ended up at a friend's house 20 miles away after telling them he needed a place to stay after fighting with his parents. It didn't take long for police to catch up to him, but he eluded capture until they were led to the home of a man named Richard Barron. Foster had called for a cab using Barron's landline. It's unclear how they knew each other. When authorities were able to get into Barron's house, they discovered he and a man named Donald Griffith were dead. Foster had killed them.

He then made his way back to Siemens's house and was found hiding in a crawl space beneath it. This resulted in an hours-long standoff with police who later discovered he had shot himself. Foster died hours later in a hospital.