Dispatchers could hear ‘gagged’ screams
A woman who was allegedly buried alive in the woods this week by her estranged husband managed to escape to safety from the shallow grave in Washington State, USA, authorities said.
A Thurston County Sheriff’s deputy located a frantic woman hiding behind the shed in a home’s front yard shortly before 1 a.m. on Monday, according to a declaration of probable cause filed Wednesday in the county’s superior court.
“My husband is trying to kill me,” the woman screamed, according to the court document.
“She had duct tape still wrapped around her neck, lower face and ankles,” the filing said. “There was extensive bruising to her legs, arms and head and her clothing and hair were covered in dirt.”
The woman’s husband, Chae Kyong An, is now facing a slew of recommended charges such as first-degree attempted murder, first-degree kidnapping and first-degree assault, according to the probable cause declaration.
He was booked into the county jail on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, during a preliminary hearing, a judge granted the prosecutor’s request to hold him without bail, according to the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Kyong An, 53, has not been formally charged yet, prosecutors said and his attorney was not reached for comment Thursday.
Police in Lacey, about 60 miles southwest of Seattle, responded Sunday afternoon to the woman’s home after receiving a 911 call – from an Apple Watch – of a woman “screaming” who sounded “gagged,” according to the probable cause document.
The woman later told police she was attacked in her home after talking to her husband about their ongoing divorce and money.
Kyong An tied his wife’s hands behind her back with duct tape, and duct-taped her eyes, thighs and ankles, the court document said. She told investigators she managed to call 911 with her Apple watch and sent an emergency notification when he left the bedroom.
He dragged her into the garage and broke her Apple watch with a hammer, the report said.
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