The victim said she was caught inside, outside and in the street before reaching a neighboring RV and reporting the assault.
ABERDEEN, Idaho — An Idaho woman told investigators she tried several times to escape an alleged assault, only to be tackled inside a trailer, outside it and again in the street before she fought free and reached a neighbor’s RV, according to court documents reported by East Idaho News.
Her account of repeated attempts to leave is at the center of the case against German Zamora Valdez Jr., 43. He was arrested on allegations that he battered and strangled the woman, injured her face with a collapsible table and destroyed her cellphone during a reported three-day period of violence. He faces two felony charges and one misdemeanor charge, but has not been found guilty.
The documents describe the escape not as a single movement from the trailer to safety, but as a series of efforts that the woman said were interrupted by force. She alleged that Valdez grabbed her, struck her and tackled her as she tried to create distance. The final attempt ended when she bit and scratched him, broke away and entered the neighboring RV.
A Bingham County sheriff’s deputy went to the Aberdeen property after dispatch received a domestic battery report. The information provided to the deputy said the woman had reached a neighbor and that Valdez was still near his trailer. She had reported that he hit her with a table and choked her.
The deputy spoke first with a man who said he had seen the two arguing and then walking away together. The available record does not indicate that he witnessed the alleged strangulation, the table strike or the attempts to escape. His statement instead placed Valdez and the woman together before deputies found her and began documenting her account.
The woman was sitting on a swing outside another trailer when the deputy located her. She identified herself in what the deputy called a very weak voice. The deputy reported seeing a large area of swelling near her left eye and injuries on the left side of both lips. She said her head and neck hurt.
Those observations gave deputies evidence of recent physical injury, although they did not establish by themselves who caused it. The available reports do not include medical records, photographs, a hospital diagnosis or testimony from a health care worker. They also do not say whether the woman required emergency treatment after speaking with the deputy. Her first description focused on what happened as she tried to leave. She said Valdez struck her in the face with a blue collapsible table and beat her. She attempted to reach her cellphone, but said he took it first and destroyed it. She also accused him of grabbing one of her purses and pulling it apart during the confrontation.
The woman said she found a pair of pliers and tried to use them defensively. She alleged that Valdez then grabbed her by the neck and hit her with his hands. She said he tackled her and applied pressure to her neck until she could not breathe. That accusation supports the attempted strangulation charge, though prosecutors must prove the required elements with admissible evidence.
After getting back up, the woman said she made it outside. She alleged that Valdez caught her and tackled her before she could get away. She rose and tried again, but said he brought her down a second time. On another effort, she reached the street and was tackled there, according to her statement.
The reported sequence matters because it describes both the woman’s attempt to end the encounter and the force she said was used to prevent her departure. However, the available public reports do not indicate whether prosecutors filed a separate charge related to restraint, confinement or kidnapping. The listed charges were domestic battery inflicting traumatic injury, attempted strangulation and intentional destruction of a telecommunication line.
During the final struggle, the woman said she bit and scratched Valdez. She believed she bit him near an elbow. She described those actions as self-defense undertaken while trying to escape. The records reviewed for this article do not say whether deputies observed injuries on Valdez, photographed him or obtained a statement from him about how any marks occurred.
Once the woman reached the neighbor’s RV, she was able to remain away from Valdez long enough for law enforcement to become involved. The documents do not name the neighbor or disclose whether the RV’s occupant opened the door after hearing a disturbance, saw the woman arrive or called authorities. The neighbor’s role, as publicly described, was limited to providing the place where the woman sought safety.
Deputies entered the trailer identified as the scene of the alleged violence. The deputy reported that it was in disarray and said a broken blue collapsible table, a broken phone and scattered personal belongings were inside. Those items were consistent with parts of the woman’s statement, but their evidentiary weight will depend on authentication, collection and any competing explanation offered in court. A later interview added a reported starting point for the final altercation. The woman said she wanted to clean and that Valdez became angry because she was not paying attention to him. She alleged that he pushed her onto the floor, moved the table toward her with his foot, lifted it and hit her in the face.
She also said she had used her phone to record abuse the previous night. According to her statement, that was why Valdez destroyed the device when she tried to retrieve it. Available reports do not establish whether anyone viewed the recording before the phone was broken or whether investigators were able to recover it afterward.
Other deputies located Valdez and arrested him. He was booked into the Bingham County Jail on a reported $150,000 bond. The local news organization contacted Bingham County Public Defender Andrew Hart for comment and reported that it had not received a response before publication.
The lack of an immediate defense statement leaves the woman’s account as the main public narrative, but it does not resolve the case. Police reports and probable-cause allegations are prepared early in criminal proceedings and often contain only part of the available evidence. A defendant may challenge the witnesses, physical evidence, police procedures and legal basis for the charges. The initial reports said Valdez could face as much as 26 years in prison if convicted of all counts and given the maximum penalties. Such a figure is not a prediction of the outcome. Any sentence would depend on which charges, if any, result in conviction, applicable Idaho law, the defendant’s record and decisions made by the court.
A preliminary hearing was originally set for June 25. At that stage, a judge considers whether the state has shown probable cause for felony charges to proceed. The burden is lower than the standard required at trial, and a probable-cause finding would not amount to a determination that the allegations are true beyond a reasonable doubt.
The result of the scheduled hearing and any later developments could not be verified from the reliable public material reviewed for this article. The woman’s identity remains undisclosed in those reports, and the case against Valdez remains an allegation unless resolved through a plea or proven at trial.
Author note: Last updated July 17, 2026.