Husband buries wife alive, smashes Apple Watch to stop her calling for help

Posted:
in Apple Watch edited November 2022
A Washington state man has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder after burying his wife alive and breaking her Apple Watch with a hammer after she used it to call police.




Chae An, a 53-year-old man living in Lacey, Washington, has now pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree domestic violence kidnapping, and first-degree domestic violence assault. He allegedly committed all of these acts against his estranged wife, Young An.

According for Fox News, Chae An first attacked her, tying her up with duct tape. Despite being gagged, Young An successfully called police through her Apple Watch, but her husband abducted her moments before an officer could arrive on the scene.

"The dispatch was an 'unknown trouble call'," Sgt Shannon Barnes of the Lacey Police Department told reporters, "So he had no information about anything he was walking into."

At this point, court documents say that Chae An smashed the Apple Watch off his wife's wrist with a hammer. However, the call remained active.

Reportedly, the recording of Young An's emergency call even ends with the voice of a police officer entering the house. Chae An drove away from his wife's house with her tied up in the back, passing the police car on the way.

Allegedly, Chae An drove to woods around seven miles away, then buried her in a shallow grave, covering her with dirt and fallen branches. Prosecuters claim that at some point before this, Chae An stabbed Young An through the breast.

Several hours later, Young An escaped from the grave and ran through the woods before finding help. A deputy came to the scene and found Young An hiding behind a shed.

Police arrest Chae An

"When Young realized the deputy was law enforcement, she sprinted at them, screaming and crying for help," said the probable cause statement. "She grabbed onto the deputy frantically and said, 'My husband is trying to kill me. Help me.'"

Police later found Chae An in the woods, near the shallow grave. Fragments of Apple Watch were found stuck to duct tape recovered at the scene.

Chae An is being held without bail and is next due in court on November 16.

Young An was able to place her emergency call by first pressing down the Apple Watch's side button. By default, it then requires a swipe to confirm, although it can be configured to place an emergency call solely by users keeping the side button presssed down long enough.

The feature also sends text messages to your nominated contacts, which Young An had set up.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    I guess it's too late for marriage counselling, then. 
    InsanelyGratecg27zeus423mariowincojeffharriswatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 16
    Wtf? I mean, thanks to Apple for creating safety features, but wtf is wrong with people? 
    ramanpfaffryukyuravnorodomCluntBaby92DAalsethcg27lolliverwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 16
    OferOfer Posts: 241unconfirmed, member
    paxman said:
    I guess it's too late for marriage counselling, then. 
    Not funny. 
    mknelsonchiaravnorodomWhiskeyAPPLEciderronnCluntBaby92lolliverdoozydozenbeowulfschmidt
  • Reply 4 of 16
    sphericspheric Posts: 2,560member
    JP234 said:
    You'll take my Apple Watch when you pry it from my cold, dead wrist. From my cold. dead. wrist.
    Apparently, that can be arranged. 
    doozydozen
  • Reply 5 of 16
    Ofer said:
    paxman said:
    I guess it's too late for marriage counselling, then. 
    Not funny. 
    I'm not proud of the fact that I laughed, but I did laugh...
    zeus423spheric
  • Reply 6 of 16
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    Ofer said:
    paxman said:
    I guess it's too late for marriage counselling, then. 
    Not funny. 
    I'm not proud of the fact that I laughed, but I did laugh...
    Yeah I gotta admit I was close to posting the same thing. 
    zeus423spheric
  • Reply 7 of 16
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,667member
    Ofer said:
    paxman said:
    I guess it's too late for marriage counselling, then. 
    Not funny. 
    As a dry, off the cuff remark it's funny. A classic one liner. A quip. 

    She went through a terrible ordeal but survived. From an outside perspective and being emotionally distanced from the people and events involved the comment is fine IMO. 

    It would have been totally different if it had been designed to hurt her or her family but who would read that into the comment?

    I smiled and thought nothing more of it. 
    zeus423king editor the grate
  • Reply 8 of 16
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,362member
    1) Tied her up.
    2) Smashed her emergency communication device with a hammer.
    3) Stabbed her.
    4) Drove her away into the woods.
    5) Dug a grave.
    6) Buried her in the grave.
    7) Covered her up.
    8) Left her for dead.
    ...
    10) Pleaded "not guilty" to charges of attempted murder.

    Really?
    doozydozenwatto_cobramuthuk_vanalingamgatorguy
  • Reply 9 of 16
    Lmited amount of words in comments would be better. This is an old story. Apple does great things with its products. You can achieve more in the community with less.
  • Reply 10 of 16
    AsterusAsterus Posts: 2unconfirmed, member
    dewme said:
    1) Tied her up.
    2) Smashed her emergency communication device with a hammer.
    3) Stabbed her.
    4) Drove her away into the woods.
    5) Dug a grave.
    6) Buried her in the grave.
    7) Covered her up.
    8) Left her for dead.
    ...
    10) Pleaded "not guilty" to charges of attempted murder.

    Really?
    What if she set him up? Like she smashed her own watch and pretended to be stabbed/buried?
    king editor the grate
  • Reply 11 of 16
    The watch was left at home. The cops responded to the home.

    Meanwhile she was beaten, stabbed, bound with duct tape, and was buried in a grave and left to die. Dug herself out and ran bleeding out of the forest to find help.

    She saved her own life. Her Apple watch did not save her.

    It is a sociopathic level of grifting and consumerism that motivates someone to write a story about this crime and use it to promote the Apple watch. 
    gatorguy
  • Reply 12 of 16
    sphericspheric Posts: 2,560member
    JP234 said:
    spheric said:
    JP234 said:
    You'll take my Apple Watch when you pry it from my cold, dead wrist. From my cold. dead. wrist.
    Apparently, that can be arranged. 
    Dude, if I forwarded that to the DOJ, you'd be looking at prison time. Be more careful with your wording!
    a) I'm probably not subject to jurisdiction by the DoJ. 

    b) I was very careful, and very deliberate, with my wording. As is apparent from this article, the prerequisite "cold, dead wrists" are not necessarily something that would stop someone.
    That's what "apparently" means. 

    I put that word there explicitly so that it couldn't be construed as a threat. 
    JP234watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 16
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    dewme said:
    1) Tied her up.
    2) Smashed her emergency communication device with a hammer.
    3) Stabbed her.
    4) Drove her away into the woods.
    5) Dug a grave.
    6) Buried her in the grave.
    7) Covered her up.
    8) Left her for dead.
    ...
    10) Pleaded "not guilty" to charges of attempted murder.

    Really?
    Yeah, really, and the defense will whip out the temporary insanity plea, or the drug addiction plea, or some other “it’s not his fault, he’s actually the victim” plea. And some wacko jury might buy it too.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 16
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    JP234 said:
    spheric said:
    JP234 said:
    You'll take my Apple Watch when you pry it from my cold, dead wrist. From my cold. dead. wrist.
    Apparently, that can be arranged. 
    Dude, if I forwarded that to the DOJ, you'd be looking at prison time. Be more careful with your wording!
    Oh give us a frick’in break. No, he wouldn’t be looking a prison time but you look like a typical Karen/Kevin on YouTube. 
    sphericbeowulfschmidtjeffharrissloth77watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 16
    avon b7 said:
    Ofer said:
    paxman said:
    I guess it's too late for marriage counselling, then. 
    Not funny. 
    As a dry, off the cuff remark it's funny. A classic one liner. A quip. 

    She went through a terrible ordeal but survived. From an outside perspective and being emotionally distanced from the people and events involved the comment is fine IMO. 

    It would have been totally different if it had been designed to hurt her or her family but who would read that into the comment?

    I smiled and thought nothing more of it. 
    Probably the funniest thing in this thread is your self-serious monologue about how you don’t take things too seriously, so thanks for that lol 
    sloth77
  • Reply 16 of 16
    MizMiz Posts: 2member
    Ofer said:
    paxman said:
    I guess it's too late for marriage counselling, then. 
    Not funny. 
    It's just some kind of horror. In such situations, it is important that justice is properly done. 
Sign In or Register to comment.