A woman in Washington state escaped being murdered after her estranged husband tried to bury her alive.
via People:
Thurston County deputies responded to a home on Tuesday at around 1 a.m., where the 42-year-old woman pounded on the residents’ door asking for help as her husband “was trying to kill her,” according to a news release from Lacey Police Department (LPD).
The woman, who was transported to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, allegedly told LPD detectives that her husband had kidnapped her from her home and driven her into the woods, where he stabbed her and buried her alive.
“After being put into the ground she could hear her husband walking around the hole and dirt being put on top of her,” according to a declaration of probable cause filed Wednesday in Thurston County Superior Court, according to NBC News.
According to the document obtained by the outlet, the woman believes she was in the grave for hours and survived by wiggling her face around to create some air pockets.
After waiting for it to get dark, she struggled free to escape, she walked for 20 to 30 minutes until finding help.
“My husband is trying to kill me,” she yelled, according to a declaration of probable cause obtained by NBC News.
“She had duct tape still wrapped around her neck, lower face and ankles,” the declaration read, according to the outlet. “There was extensive bruising to her legs, arms and head and her clothing and hair were covered in dirt.”
According to LPD’s release, the woman’s husband Chae Kyong An was arrested several hours after her rescue without incident, when a hiker spotted his 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan on a trail nearby.
The 53-year-old is charged with first-degree assault/domestic violence, kidnapping/domestic violence and attempted murder, according to Thurston County Correction Facility’s inmate database. He is being held without bail.
It is not clear if he has engaged legal representation to comment on her behalf.
LPD said in the department’s release that officers previously responded to a call from the woman’s home on Monday afternoon, during which dispatch could hear “muffled screaming and sounds of a struggle.”
Upon their arrival, officers did not locate anyone but found the garage door open and duct tape in the home, which they believed was used on the victim, according to the LPD release. A neighbor also provided surveillance footage that allegedly shows Chae pulling his van into the garage and briefly closing the door before behind him and leaving again just before the police arrived.
Shortly after, the woman’s children returned home, where they said both of their parents were before the kids left for the store about an hour prior, the LPD said.
Officials subsequently issued an Endangered Missing Persons Alert for the woman, who had a domestic violence protection order against Chae, in addition to providing a description of Chae’s vehicle.
It’s good to hear she made it out alive.
