PORTLAND, Ore. — A man serving a 72-year sentence for attacking a woman in the Oregon Zoo parking lot and threatening to kill her children back in 2006 died in prison on Sunday, the state Department of Corrections said.
Jere Ryder, 66, first entered DOC custody in September 2007. His earliest release date was January 4, 2077.
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Ryder was incarcerated at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton. Corrections officials said he died at the facility’s infirmary.
According to court records, Ryder held a 32-year-old woman at knifepoint while she was getting her two young daughters out of a minivan at the Oregon Zoo in late July of 2006.
With the help of some Good Samaritans, the woman fought Ryder off. She suffered a cut hand during the ordeal.
Ryder, who is a Registered Predatory Sex Offender, was wanted by police on two warrants.
Ryder was convicted of rape and sodomy in 1974. His online predator profile said he was prone to targeting women who are strangers, entering residences at night, and threatening victims at knifepoint.
