THE CELL: Inside Negasi Zuberi’s Concrete Prison | Episode 2: The Blueprint

[0:04] Previously, on True Crime Cases, You Haven't Heard. She says, she says she was locked in a cell. She says she just escaped. On July 15th, 2023, adult victim one escaped from a concrete cell after punching her way through a metal door until her hands were bloody. Police found a document titled Operation Takeover and a targets list with women's names on it. But investigators discovered something else. Six weeks earlier, Zuberi had kidnapped another woman. And when she was in his garage, she saw cinder blocks stacked against the wall. But that cell wasn't finished yet. This is Episode 2, The Blueprint. [1:03] Before we get into the blueprint, Marcus from Chicago sent in a question through the contact form on the website truecrimeunheard.com. He asked about our episode, When You Kidnap the Wrong Person, the Detroit case where the group tried to delete evidence after kidnapping Talia. He asked, You mentioned they deleted Instagram accounts, changed usernames, and tried to wipe phones. Why didn't that work? Can't you just delete the digital evidence? [1:35] Well, so while you think you might be able to delete your trail, that's not how this works. When you send a text message, it lives on in the recipient's phone and at your carrier. When you post to Instagram, that data's on their servers. When you make a call, the metadata, the time, the duration, the location, it's all logged by your carrier as well. And here's what makes this even more significant. With modern technology, it gets even easier every year to gather large amounts of data like cell tower data and piece together a digital trail. We used to take months of manual work and now be done in days or even hours. So in the Detroit case, investigators recovered screenshots from other people's phones, metadata from cell towers, and data from Instagram servers. The defendants tried to erase their side of the conversation, but that conversation still existed everywhere else. So the same principle applies to what we're about to discuss with Zubiri. He documented everything, Amazon purchases, GPS data, his own security cameras. And that digital trail was living in places he couldn't reach. If you haven't heard that Detroit case, it's worth going back and listen to the episode, When You Kidnap the Wrong Person. [3:04] Now, let's talk about Zuberi's blueprint. [3:09] I'm Steve Rode, former police dispatcher, surveillance photographer for law enforcement, and chief pilot for public safety search and rescue operations. I've spent years responding to emergencies, coordinating searches for missing people, and understanding how investigations unfold can certainly be messy and sometimes fail. Hey, a quick disclaimer. This episode contains descriptions of kidnapping, sexual assault, and systemic failures in law enforcement response. While I avoid graphic details, some content may be disturbing. All case facts come from court documents and official records. And for educational context, I feature Dr. Patricia Wells, a fictional criminologist whose insights are based on established research and expert consultation. Feel free to download the case files at truecrimeunheard.com. [4:13] In episode one, we covered AV1s, that's Adult Victim 1. We covered her escape on July 15, 2023, and today we're going back to May 5, Cinca de Mayo, to understand how Zuberi's plan began, what happened when his first victim tried to report it, and how he spent the next two months perfecting the cell that would eventually imprison AV1. This is the story of the blueprint. All right, listen, I know it can get confusing. So before we dive in, a quick note about terminology that might seem really confusing at first. It was for me. And throughout this series, you'll hear me refer to adult victim one or AV one and adult victim two or AV two. Here's the confusing part. [5:09] AV-2 was actually kidnapped first in May of 2023. AV-1 was kidnapped second in July. I know, I know, it's confusing. But the numbering doesn't reflect the chronology of the crimes in the order they occurred. It reflects how the federal case was charged and prosecuted. A.V. 1's kidnapping became count one of the federal indictment because she was transported across state lines from Washington to Oregon making it the primary interstate kidnapping charge A.V. 2's assault was initially reported to police in Klamath Falls and later became part of the federal case So, today, when you hear A.V. 2's story first that's because it happened first Just remember, AV-2 in May, AV-1 in July. The victim numbers are legal designations from the court documents, not a timeline. I thought about giving the victims different identifiers, but I decided to stay [6:17] as close as possible to the original documentation for accuracy. Now, let's get back to where this all began. [6:30] The Pikey is an Irish pub in downtown Klamath Falls. It's the kind of place where parents take their kids to celebrate turning 21. High bar tables, shepherd's pie, strong drinks, a little Guinness. On TripAdvisor, reviewers call it welcoming and friendly. And one review even mentioned bringing their son there for his 21st birthday. On May 5th, 2023, Cinco de Mayo, it was packed. [7:03] AV2 was there celebrating with friends. 21 years old, out at a normal bar in the middle of downtown Klamath Falls. The kind of night thousands of young adults have had every weekend across America. And that's where Nagasi Zubiri found her. He approached AV2 that night. In the early morning hours of May 6th, after midnight, Surveillance footage from the pikey captured Zubari leaving the bar with AB2 at 1.08 a.m. And like AV1 would experience two months later, AB2 was soon restrained, handcuffed at her wrists and legs. Like AV1, she saw the yellow and black taser. But in her case, he used it on her. He beat her. He drove her into the countryside outside Klamath Falls, sexually assaulting her multiple times. He fired a pistol out the car window while she was inside the vehicle. He took pictures of her driver's license. He made death threats. He forced her to make a video with him engaged in sexual contact, threatening to use it against her if she reported what happened. [8:25] According to grand jury testimony He told her he planned to force women to have his children So he could raise an army, In her grand jury testimony AV2 described the terror of believing this was the end According to the testimony she thought She was going to die. [8:50] I showed Dr. Patricia Wells, our series forensic criminologist, who specializes in predator behavior. The TripAdvisor page for the pikey. Reviews from families, photos of burgers. Someone wrote about taking their son there for the 21st birthday. That's the part people don't understand. We think predators hunt in dark alleys. They don't. They hunt where prey gathers. A downtown Irish pub on Cinco de Mayo? Yes. It is a target-rich environment. Young women, alcohol, celebration, crowds that provide cover. Zuberi's GPS data showed he'd been to multiple locations. Aurora Avenue in Seattle, Quinn's workplace in Washington. This is someone who goes to places where his target demographic congregates. The pikey on Cinco de Mayo? Perfect. 21-year-old celebrating, drinking, in a public place where no one would notice a man striking up a conversation. So he wasn't there by accident. No way. He approached her at the bar. Normal, casual, just another guy at an Irish pub on a Saturday night. That's how this works. It looks normal until it doesn't. [10:04] On May 11, 2023, five days after the assault, AV2 had the courage to go to the Klamath Falls Police Department. She spoke with Officer Herbst. She had saved her bloodied clothes as evidence, and she wanted to report what happened. According to her testimony, officers were reluctant to follow up. They didn't take the evidence, and AV2 felt ignored. [10:39] As a former police dispatcher and someone who documented crime scenes, I need to pause here. When someone walks into a station with physical evidence, bloodied clothes, visible injuries, and a detailed account, I don't know, that doesn't seem like a maybe-we'll-follow-up. That's the start of an investigation. You photograph the evidence, you bag it, you document everything, you treat it like it matters, because it does matter. In this case, it mattered more than anyone realized. [11:16] May 11th, AV2 reports, Evidence not collected, investigation doesn't progress. May 15th, four days later, Zuberi purchases leg irons on Amazon. Why? Because during the AV2 assault, she struggled to walk in the rigid silver handcuffs. He was adapting and learning from his mistakes. May 17th, Zuberi makes his first trip to Home Depot. Surveillance cameras capture him purchasing more materials. Between May 17th and early July, surveillance cameras capture him making multiple documented trips to Home Depot. Concrete blocks, lumber, drywall, insulation. a circular saw blade for cutting wood and metal, a sanding respirator, hardware mesh. And in the weeks before AV1's kidnapping, he purchased a double-cylinder deadbolt. Two months, from May 11th when AV2 reported, to July 15th when AV1 escaped. Two months of construction. [12:35] AV2 reported on May 11th she had bloodied clothes. She went to Klamath Falls Police. And they didn't take the evidence. I mean, I guess they were reluctant to follow up. She felt ignored. And then what happened? Two months of construction. On July 15th, he drove to Seattle and kidnapped AV1. If they'd investigated in May... Well, the cell wouldn't have been finished. Well, the second female might never have been taken. That's what system failure looks like. Not dramatic, not cinematic. Just reluctance. And two more months for a predator to perfect his plan. And here's what haunts me. How many other women reported something in those ten states where he lived? How many were dismissed? How many were dismissed? The evidence of planning stretched back even further than May. January 26, 2023. According to Amazon records cited in court documents, Zuberi purchased a yellow and black taser, the same taser both victims described. February 2023. Messages to a friend asking about building a concrete block structure, specifically if hands could destroy it. [14:05] April 14, 2023. First concrete blocks purchased at Home Depot, 76. April 27, 2023. Three pairs of handcuffs purchased. April 27 and 28, 2023. GPS location data placed Zubiri in Seattle, on Aurora Avenue, and then traveling to Washington. And here's what makes this chilling. He went to Quinn's workplace. She worked as a bikini barista. Trial exhibits show he spent hours there over multiple nights. He spent 70 bucks over several visits. He was watching her serve coffee. He was taking notes of her schedule, her height, her build. He was shopping. [14:58] Quinn's name was on the targets list, but this wasn't just a name on paper. He was actively surveilling her, watching, and calculating. According to investigators, Quinn had no idea she was being watched. She still doesn't know how close she came. May 6th, 2023. According to court documents, he kidnapped AV2. May 7th, 2023. His own blink security cameras captured him at 2.28 a.m. Walking toward the garage carrying a blanket. In that garage, AV2 testified she had seen stacked cinder blocks against the wall. And later that day, the cameras captured him holding a pistol He was documenting his own crimes, building a record Why? Maybe he just forgot the cameras were there Maybe he thought he'd never be caught Maybe he was proud, maybe he wanted to remember Or maybe he was documenting his process, refining his method and learning. [16:12] May 15, 2023 The Leg Iron's Purchase Adapting his method based on AV2's struggle with handcuffs, Then came the big construction phase. Multiple documented trips to Home Depot between mid-May and early July. Each purchase documented on surveillance video. Concrete blocks, hundreds of pounds, thousands. Fire and sound guard insulation, 2x4 studs, drywall, metal mesh, Tapcon concrete anchors. He was building it himself, five tons of concrete and wood, a reversed security door, double deadbolts, soundproofing. And in the weeks before July 15th, he bought that final piece, a double-cylinder deadbolt that required a key from both sides. The cell wasn't completed when he kidnapped AV-2 in May, and that's why he kept her in the car in the garage. But in July, when he drove 450 miles to Seattle to kidnap AV-1, that cell was ready. [17:30] On july 16th 2023 the day after av1's escape nevada state patrol officers and reno police tracked zubiri to a walmart parking lot in reno he was in his honda pilot with alicia westfall the mother of his children the same woman he sued on judge judy four years earlier, and with his two young sons. When officers approached Zuberi, he was holding one of his children. He initially refused to exit the vehicle, and then he cut himself with a sharp object, bleeding profusely. He tried to destroy his cell phone by smashing it on the hot parking lot pavement. A hostage negotiator would later testify that Zuberi would use his own son as a human shield. Body camera footage captured the standoff. Zuberi in the vehicle with his child. Officers surrounding him. The desperate final moments of a man whose meticulously planned operation had unraveled because one woman refused to die in his cell. [18:48] According to law enforcement reports from the scene, when Zuberi finally surrendered, he told officers his life was over. The words captured in reports. I'm fucked. [19:05] Subject in custody. [19:10] Here's something that still haunts this case. The property at 1336 North El Dorado Avenue. Where Zuberi built a five-ton concrete prison cell in the garage. Wasn't owned by just anyone. It was owned by Kevin and Carol Westfall. You see, Kevin Westfall is the mayor of Klamath Falls. A serial predator built a concrete prison cell in the mayor's rental property. He made multiple trips to Home Depot buying construction materials. He spent months sawing, hammering, stacking hundreds of concrete blocks Nobody noticed, After Zuberi's arrest, the West Falls sent an email to law enforcement We are shocked and dismayed by what has occurred, They praised the woman who helped capture this person They had no idea what was going on in their rental property, On July 24th, 2023, nine days after AB1's escape, they had the cell demolished. It took a contractor with 35 years of experience, his son, sledgehammers, and more than five hours to dismantle him. The materials were taken to the dump. They weighed over 10,000 pounds. [20:34] This isn't about blame. The West Falls were property owners, not law enforcement. They couldn't have known. But it's a reminder, evil doesn't announce itself. It operates in plain sight, in rental properties, in residential neighborhoods, at Irish pubs on Cinco de Mayo, behind closed garage doors on a street that backs onto a park, and less than a quarter mile from the highway. [21:02] It all looks normal, until it doesn't. [21:10] In Zuberi's Honda Pilot, according to trial exhibits, investigators found AV-1's cell phone in his Prowler trailer stashed quickly before his flight to Reno. The yellow and black Taser, multiple sets of handcuffs, including silver rigid handcuffs with AV-2's DNA on them. Both cell phone jammers, eight antennas and 16 antennas, a backpack containing additional jammers, gloves, and a beanie, three firearms, ammunition, used condoms in a plastic bag, and aluminum foil and tape. [21:54] Back at 1336 North El Dorado Avenue. Police patches in a bedroom closet. A ballistic vest with three magazines. Handcuff keys. Keys to the cell deadbolts. The leg irons on the garage workbench. A Springfield XDM, 9mm pistol case. Ammunition cans containing more handcuff keys and a security door key. And AV1's purse in the garage. Investigators recovered footage from Zubari's own Blink security cameras, photos from his iCloud account showing the cell in various stages of construction. He had meticulously documented his own work. But perhaps most disturbing? Photos from a fitness center showing him taking pictures of license plates in a parking lot, video appearing to show him following cars home, screenshots of addresses, and evidence he'd placed a GPS tracker on a vehicle, a high school student's car. The screenshot was titled Operation One, not Operation Takeover. Operation One. [23:12] Suggesting there were others, Operation Two, Operation Three, a numbered series. How many operations were there? The documents don't say. [23:28] In the final episode, we'll cover what the jury never heard, Zubari's history of escalating violence against teenage girls, a California judge's prophetic warning in 2021, two escape attempts from jail, including one where he tried to break through reinforced glass with a screw pushed through a sandal. I'll take you inside the courtroom for the trial, the verdict, and a sentencing where Zubari represented himself and claimed, the cell was a music studio. [24:00] And we'll end with the questions that still haunt investigators. What happened to Quinn in June, the women on the targets list? Were they ever contacted? What about other possible victims in the 10 states where Zuberi lived since 2016? Well, this is True Crime Cases You Haven't Heard. I'm Steve Rode. Episode 3, The Reckoning, drops next week. Make sure that you subscribe and follow to this podcast on the platform that you're listening on right now. To access all the source documents when episode three drops, or to get on the notification list for new episodes, you can head to truecrimeunheard.com. You can also use the comment form there to send feedback or questions. I read every one and might feature your question in a future episode. Stay safe. Stay subscribed. I'll see you.