MCDOWELL COUNTY, N.C. (WSPA) -The Rutherford and McDowell County District Attorney’s Office has announced that they have sentenced a man to 37 years in prison after beating and kidnapping a woman.
Officials said that evidence showed that Joseph O’Buckley and a woman that he knew were staying at a motel in Marion. O’Buckley locked the victim in a room and barricaded the door, refusing to let her leave.
Officials said that for the next eleven hours, O’Buckley repeatedly beat and strangled the victim and told her that he was going to kill her and that she was not going to make it out of the room alive.
Eventually, O’Buckley fell asleep and the victim ran from the room across the street to a home for help. Multiple agencies responded to the scene including EMS, McDowell County Sheriff’s Office, and Marion Police Department.
Officials said that the victim was taken to McDowell Mission Hospital for severe injuries and O’Buckley was taken into custody. However, while charged with these crimes he called the victim multiple times from the McDowell County jail and demanded that she not testify against him, threatening to kill her if she did.
O’Buckley was charged with the following:
- attempted murder
- kidnapping
- assault by strangulation
- assault inflicting serious bodily injury
- assault on a female
- intimidating a witness
- being a habitual felon
Superior Court Judge Thomas Davis sentenced O’Buckley to 37 years in prison.
