Joseph O’Buckley convicted of attempted murder

Joseph Timothy O’Buckley locked a woman in a motel room and beat and strangled her for 11 hours, according to prosecutors. (Mugshot: Rutherford and McDowell County District Attorneys)

A North Carolina man has been found guilty and sentenced to 37 years in prison for holding a woman captive in a motel room and beating and strangling him for 11 hours, prosecutors said 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, barricaded the door and refused to let her go,” the Rutherford and McDowell County District Attorney’s Office wrote. “For the next 11 hours, he repeatedly beat and strangled her while telling her he was going to kill her and that she would not make it out of the room alive.”

However, O’Buckley fell asleep and the woman fled the room. She ran across the street to an apartment building to get help.

Paramedics, McDowell County legislators and the Marion Police Department responded. The woman was taken to a hospital for “serious injuries,” prosecutors said.

O’Buckley was arrested shortly thereafter. Despite the charges, he kept calling the McDowell County jail woman and threatening to kill her if she testified against him, prosecutors wrote.

The jury 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 with aggravated assault, assault on a woman, intimidation of a witness, and habitual crime.

“We are very grateful for the trust and immense courage shown by the victim during this trial, the witnesses who came forward to support her, the McDowell County EMS, McDowell Mission Hospital, the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office and the Marion Police Department for their work on this case and to the jury in bringing justice to the victim,” the bureau wrote.

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