On November 2nd , news broke of a brutal incident in Lacey, a town in Thurston County, Washington. A man attacked his ex-wife during a financial dispute, binding her with duct tape, stabbing her in the chest, and burying her alive. However, an Apple Watch feature saved her life by alerting police and allowing them to quickly arrive at the scene.
According to the Lacey police report, the man attacked his ex-wife and told her she was going to die , then buried her alive in a 19-inch-deep hole in the woods near her home. However, thanks to her Apple Watch, 911 operators heard a woman screaming and sounding gagged . They were able to pinpoint her location, and officers were subsequently able to locate the attacker.
A woman is saved by her Apple Watch from her husband's attempted murder.
It all began on October 16th, when 53-year-old Chae An went to the home of his ex-wife, 42-year-old Young An , to start a dispute over money amid their divorce proceedings. Specifically, the incident occurred in the 9900 block of Southeast Stedman Road in Lacey, Washington.
The Asian couple's home was being prosecuted for its prior history of domestic violence in 2021. Records revealed that Yong had a restraining order against her husband, Chae Kyong An.
When the woman refused, the Asian man in his fifties allegedly stated that he “would rather kill her than give her all her pension money .” As a result, in her own home, he bound her with duct tape to prevent her from moving her limbs and even stabbed her in the neck.
Despite her distress, Young An managed to activate an emergency call through her Apple Watch . 911 operators immediately received the alert after hearing the screams of a woman who appeared to be gagged. Although they were unable to establish direct contact, Lacey police officers went to the house, using location data obtained through the phone linked to the Apple Watch.
However, when the police arrived at the 42-year-old woman's home, the garage door was open and the house was completely empty . At that point, they realized that the attacker had fled with the victim, and through security camera footage, they confirmed that Chae An sped past a police car in his SUV , with the woman bound with duct tape and hidden in the back.
Unfortunately, he managed to move her to a secluded area in the woods, about 7 miles from the woman's home. There, the perpetrator laid her on the ground while digging a 19-inch-deep hole and then lowered her into it to bury her alive . For hours, the woman remained in this place, on the brink of death, covered with branches and dirt.
Although Chae An had smashed his ex-wife's Apple Watch with a hammer, hours later, an officer arrived at the scene and found Young An trying to flee behind a shed. After running for nearly 30 minutes, the woman noticed the officer, ran toward him pleading for help, and claimed that her husband was trying to kill her.
“'My husband is trying to kill me, help me. My husband is still in the woods somewhere.'”
Young An, victim of domestic violence.
At this point, the police began searching for Chae An in the surrounding forest and later found him near the shallow grave where the woman had been buried . At the same location, police found Apple Watch fragments attached to the tape that Young An had on her body.
At 7:38 a.m., a citizen walking along a trail found Chae's vehicle (a 2006 Dodge Caravan) in the woods about 200 yards from Stedman Road. Based on the citizen's report, Lacey officers quickly arrived in the area and located the vehicle.
Consequently, Chae An was arrested on October 16 at 8:02 a.m., without bail. He was booked on multiple domestic violence charges and, indeed, on November 2, was formally charged with attempted murder and kidnapping . This occurred even though the Asian man pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of his ex-wife, after burying her alive.
Meanwhile, the most helpful piece of evidence in reconstructing the event and corroborating the woman's statements was her Apple Watch . Beyond allowing her to make an emergency call to 911 and alert the police, the device's function sent an emergency notification to her configured contacts , who in this case were her daughter and her friend.
The children of the Asian couple, aged 11 and 20, informed authorities that Young Sook Chae An were getting a divorce, but Chae was still using Young's house to do laundry.
The Apple Watch safety feature that saved the woman's life
For everyone, the most remarkable aspect of this case is how a simple Apple Watch could have saved the 42-year-old woman's life during such a horrific incident. Young An managed to make an emergency call from her device simply by pressing the side button long enough to activate a 911 call.
By default, users have to swipe to confirm a call. However, this Apple Watch security feature allows it to be activated by pressing and holding the side button for several seconds.
Specifically, this feature is called “Emergency SOS” and is designed to quickly and easily alert specific contacts via the Apple Watch. It automatically initiates a call to local emergency services and even shares the user's location . As a result, the Lacey police were able to locate the Asian victim.
In addition, thanks to the ability to configure specific emergency contacts, the same function also sends a text message alert to those individuals . Beyond the notification, the contacts receive the exact location once the call with the local emergency service is completed.
“For a period of time after you enter Emergency SOS mode, your emergency contacts receive updates when you change location.”
The Apple team.
As we highlighted earlier, to activate the safety feature that saved the life of Young An, a Washington resident, simply press and hold the side button on the watch located below the Digital Crown for several consecutive seconds until the SOS call slider appears. For this mode to work, a cellular data connection or internet connection on the Apple Watch is essential.
