Edmonds couple help woman during rape attempt
WOODWAY, Wash. -- A Snohomish County couple is still shaken up after they helped a woman, moments after she’d been beaten on the beach.
The woman had been walking by herself when she says a man came up to her and started attacking her, saying he wanted to rape and kill her.
“We started hearing screaming and it was bouncing off the cliff face,” said Geoff Hovde, who saw the woman just after the attack. “It sounded like kids at first and it got louder and then we walked up on the train tracks and that’s when we found her.”
Geoff Hovde and his wife Emily rushed to that woman. They called 911 and stayed with the victim until police arrived. They also made sure the suspect didn’t get away.
“I was scared for something else to happen, is he trying to get away or is he really set on getting someone attacking someone,” said Emily Hovde.
A judge found probable cause for charges of attempted murder and rape against Charles Fisher.
According to court documents, the victim tells police fisher approached her like he was going to hug her, and when she was yelling for help and resisting, she said he hit her with his hands and rocks from the beach, striking her numerous times during the struggle.
She then says he started to drag her into the water and she grabbed and held onto a large rock for her life.
“He could’ve kept on it if nobody was there,” said Geoff Hovde.
The Hovdes said they regret they couldn’t been there any earlier, but they know being any later could’ve been the difference between life or death.
“When we think how much it could have been or if we had been 10 minutes behind on our walk, maybe she wouldn’t have gotten a chance to get around the bend; I think it hits home because it could’ve been so much worse,” said Emily Hovde.
Police said the woman has injuries to her face, head, neck and back and needed stitches to her knee.
The suspect is being held on one million dollars bail.