Parolee Sought in Kidnapping, Brutal Attack on 2 Young Women

FREMONT, Calif. — A man just paroled from San Quentin State Prison was being sought Tuesday after two young women were kidnapped, stabbed, shot and left for dead in a rural canyon.

Police said Donald Paul Gatson, 22, got away when a parole officer recognized and arrested his alleged accomplice, Matthew Mark Koslowski, 18, on Monday.

The victims, 15 and 18, one from Nevada, one from California, were hospitalized in critical condition.

Gatson was paroled July 3 after serving time for possession of stolen property, police spokesman Dennis Madsen said. He is considered armed and dangerous, Madsen said, adding that police have evidence linking him, and Koslowski, to the crime.

Madsen said the women agreed to meet the men early Monday near Robertson High School, where they were confronted with the weapons and taken to a 7-Eleven store. They were forced to withdraw money from an ATM and driven in one of the women’s cars to Palomares Canyon, 30 miles southeast of San Francisco.

The car was found abandoned Monday. Later in the day, an officer who knew Koslowski saw him and another man getting out of a cab and arrested Koslowski. The other man, believed to be Gatson, got away.