A telemarketer's phone call, considered a source of annoyance for many, ended up saving an Oregon woman from a vicious attack Wednesday night.
Nevada-based Americare Health and Nutrition contacted the Oregon woman for what was supposed to be a routine sales call, KLAS-TV reported. The call went through, but no one answered.
"The young lady on the other end never said, 'Hello,'" Tina Garcia, supervisor of the Las Vegas call center, told the station. "There was just a horrible whimper."
The unidentified telemarketer called Garcia over and the staff listened in horror as a man hundreds of miles away attacked the woman, with her screaming for help and the man saying "Get up," according to CBS News.
The telemarketers alerted the Linn County Sheriff's Office to the assault and police determined the woman's location.
When they arrived, a man identified as Walter Ruck was holding the victim by the neck, police said. Ruck released the woman upon seeing the officers and she ran out of the home gasping for air.
The 33-year-old was cuffed and charged with fourth-degree assault, strangulation and menacing. The victim later told police she believed Ruck would have killed her and then himself, KLAS-TV reported.
She also said she had no idea her phone, which was in her back pocket during the incident, had picked up a call.
"We were not going to hang up the phone," Garcia said. "As far as I was concerned, and as far as the people in that room were concerned, we were the only lifeline she had," Garcia told the station.
