Joseph Timothy O’Buckley locked a woman in a motel room, and he beat and strangled her for 11 hours, according to prosecutors. (Mugshot: Rutherford and McDowell County District Attorney’s Office)
A North Carolina man was convicted and sentenced to 37 years in prison for holding a woman captive in a motel room, beating and strangling her for 11 hours, prosecutors announced on Friday.
Authorities said defendant Joseph O’Buckley and a woman he knew were staying at a motel in Marion, North Carolina.
“O’Buckley locked the victim in a room and barricaded the door, refusing to let her leave,” the Rutherford and McDowell County District Attorney’s Office wrote. “For the next eleven hours he repeatedly beat and strangled her as he told her that he was going to kill her and that she was not going to make it out of the room alive.”
O’Buckley, however, fell asleep and the woman fled the room. She ran across the street to a residence for help.
Paramedics, McDowell County deputies and Marion police all responded. The woman was rushed to a hospital for what prosecutors described as “severe injuries.”
O’Buckley was arrested soon after. In spite of the charges, however, he kept calling the woman from McDowell County Jail and threatening to kill her if she testified against him, prosecutors wrote.
Jurors convicted him after a three-day trial and several hours of testimony from the woman. O’Buckley was convicted of attempted murder, first-degree kidnapping, assault by strangulation, assault inflicting serious bodily injury, assault on a female, intimidating a witness, and being a habitual felon.
“We are very thankful for the trust and immense courage the victim has shown throughout this process, to the witnesses who came forward to support her, to McDowell County EMS, McDowell Mission Hospital, McDowell County Sheriff’s Office, and Marion Police Department for their work in this case, and to the jury for delivering justice for the victim,” the office wrote.
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