Washington man faces kidnapping charge

COEUR d'ALENE - A Washington man is sitting in Kootenai County jail on a first-degree kidnapping charge, stemming from a reported abduction at the Coeur d'Alene Casino over the weekend.

John M. Costa, 47, was booked on a $50,000 bond Monday and issued a no-contact order with his 49-year-old female victim.

Costa took the woman from the casino after 11:30 Saturday morning to the Highway Hotel in Plummer, where he tried to convince her to drop alleged battery charges against him from a January incident while Costa was her caregiver in Washington, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department.

Deputy reports state that Costa, of Chewelah, Wash., became angry when he saw that the victim wasn't going to drop the charges and threatened her with a pocket knife.

"If you're not going to do it then I'm going to have to kill you," Costa reportedly said.

At the hotel, Costa also threw a chair at the victim, reports state, and when someone at the hotel called about the noise he told them he was only upset because he had lost money gambling.

Costa also said he was not going back to prison and that he was going out in a "blaze of glory," according to reports.

Costa began detailing the order of people the victim knew whom he was going to shoot, after which he said he would "take out a few cops," according to the report.

Around 4 that afternoon, Costa and the victim returned to the casino, where family members had been searching for her. One of the family members pushed Costa down after spotting him, and punched him in the face.

Costa was then arrested.

The victim was transported to Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene with non-life threatening injuries she received as a result of Costa allegedly battering her. Costa is also facing possible charges in Benewah County for the assault at the hotel, according to the sheriff's department.