Just before 1 a.m. Monday, residents of a home on Stedman Road in Lacey, Washington, were woken by loud banging at their front door, according to a news release from the Lacey Police Department.
They opened it to find a woman who was dirty, severely bruised and stabbed, with duct tape still clinging to her. She begged them for help, saying that her estranged husband was trying to kill her.
When police officers arrived, 42-year-old Young An threw herself at them and begged for help.
“When Young realized the deputy was law enforcement, she sprinted at them, screaming and crying for help,” the probable cause statement read, according to Fox News. “She grabbed onto the deputy frantically and said, ‘My husband is trying to kill me. Help me.’”
And she had quite a harrowing story to tell.
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Young, who lived seven miles away, said she and her husband were not on good terms, and they’d been going through a divorce. At some point, she had had a domestic violence protection order against her husband, Chae An, 53 — but it had been rescinded.
Although the two were estranged, Chae occasionally visited the house to do laundry, she said. At some point over the weekend, though, he attacked Young, using duct tape to bind her hands behind her back, she told police.
In spite of that, Young was able to use her Apple watch to dial 911 before she said her husband smashed it.
“There was just constant screaming, and it was unknown if it was medical or not,” court documents regarding the call said.
The dispatcher heard screaming, a struggle, banging and a barking dog, and then, most ominous of all, silence.
Police headed to the residence, but by the time they got there, no one was home. Within minutes of officers arriving, the couple’s children and one of Young’s friends showed up, with the children saying the couple had just been home and the friend saying she had gotten an emergency text notification from Young.
Police circulated a missing persons flyer warning locals not to approach the couple if they spotted either one.
Meanwhile, according to court documents, Chae allegedly had loaded his wife up in the Dodge Caravan and was taking her to a secluded spot in the woods, where he put her under a heavy tree and threw dirt over her.
And there she waited for hours until she managed to work off some of her bindings and made a run for it, eventually ending up at the home on Stedman Road.
Once she was safe and taken to the hospital, the search was still on for her husband. Thankfully, an early morning hiker spotted the Caravan and called police, who were able to find Chae still on the scene.
They said they also found a fresh “grave type” hole with duct tape, some of Young’s hair and a demolished Apple watch.
Chae An has been charged with first-degree domestic violence assault, first-degree domestic violence kidnapping and attempted first-degree murder, and is being held without bail at the Thurston County Jail.
Many cases like this one get too little attention too late. Thankfully, Young An was quick on her feet and managed to get away.
