New charge filed in UC Riverside abduction

Prosecutors Friday filed a new charge that carries a potential life sentence against a man accused of abducting a UC Riverside student, who persuaded him to let her go.

During a bail-setting conference at the Riverside Hall of Justice, Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Elan Zekster submitted an amended complaint against 30-year-old Donald Earl Rosenbek that accuses him of kidnapping to commit rape, false imprisonment and assault likely to produce great bodily injury.

Along with the assault and false imprisonment counts, Rosenbek was previously charged with straight kidnapping, which carries a maximum sentence of eight years. Now he could face life behind bars if convicted.

At the request of the prosecution, Judge Becky Dugan doubled the Cathedral City bartender’s bail from $500,000 to $1 million. He’s being held at the Robert Presley Jail in downtown Riverside and is slated to be arraigned Oct. 15.

Rosenbek was taken into custody Tuesday following a months-long investigation. Police said fingerprint evidence was the key to identifying him as the alleged perpetrator of the June 8 kidnapping.

“Everything about this case is unusual,” Riverside police Detective Rick Wheeler said Wednesday. “The fact that this was done in broad daylight is very out of the ordinary.”

Wheeler said his gut feeling and the nature of the crime pointed to an intended sexual assault.

The detective praised the victim, a psychology major, for her ability to “remain calm and humanize herself with the suspect.

“She talked him down,” he said. “I am very impressed by her. This is a very sharp lady.”

The woman, whose name was withheld, told investigators she had been shopping that afternoon and was grabbed by an assailant on returning to her vehicle in the University Towers parking lot, adjacent to the UCR campus, in the 3500 block of Iowa Avenue.

The abductor grabbed her from behind and forced her into his vehicle, tying her up and placing a garment over her head to obscure her vision.

“She was grabbed by the throat and momentarily lost her ability to breathe,” Wheeler said.

The victim told police that the man drove around for close to an hour in his gray Nissan Sentra. She said that she broke free of her restraints and convinced the kidnapper that what he was doing was wrong and to take her back to her vehicle, which he did.

“Whether he targeted her for a specific reason, I don’t know,” Wheeler said. “They did not know one another.”

Detectives have alerted police agencies in California and neighboring states to determine whether similar crimes have occurred in which the defendant might possibly have been involved.

“We don’t know what he’s done or hasn’t done. Maybe there’s a progression here that we’re not aware of,” Wheeler said.

Rosenbek attended UCR a decade ago, according to the detective.

The defendant was arrested at his residence in Cathedral City. Court records indicate he has misdemeanor convictions for domestic violence and drunken driving.