Salt Lake City, UT: Husband accused of attempting to kill wife

By Jacob Hancock

Deseret News

Published: Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009 1:15 a.m. MDT
The estranged husband of a woman who was brutally attacked on her way into work is in jail without bail and charged with six felony counts and one misdemeanor offense.
Charles Edwin Gordon, 35, was separated from his wife at the time of the assault on Sept. 8. But prosecutors say that and a protective order against him didn't stop Gordon from attempting to kill his wife during a life-threatening, three-round struggle at her work on that Tuesday morning.
Police say Gordon followed his wife into the parking lot of her employer, Discover Card at 2500 South Lake Park Boulevard. After she noticed he was tailing her, she rolled down her window and screamed for someone to "call 911."
"He's going to kill me," she said, according to the charging document filed in 3rd District Court. She then sped up and drove down the building's fire lane as "fast as possible" in an apparent effort to get away. That's when police say Gordon rammed her car.
"(The woman) exited her vehicle and attempted to reach the building on foot, but the defendant tackled her before reaching the building and began strangling her to the point of almost reaching unconsciousness," the document stated.
Witnesses came to the woman's rescue and "attempted to restrain the defendant" while she got up and ran inside the building, according to court documents.
But police said Gordon followed her into the building, where he tackled her a second time. Again, bystanders came to her rescue by intervening.
Because Gordon reportedly "latched onto the buttocks of the victim with his teeth as he was being pulled off of her," he was charged with forcible sex abuse, a second-degree felony.
Gordon was also charged with attempted murder with injury and aggravated burglary, both first-degree felonies; stalking with serious prior history, a second-degree felony; retaliation against a witness, victim or informant, and violation of a protective order, third degree felonies; and driving under the influence, a class B misdemeanor.
Gordon admitted to drinking alcohol before driving to his wife's work. He also failed a breathalyzer test.
According to prosecutors, the violent incident was a last desperate attempt to keep the woman from testifying against him at an imminent trial in which he is accused of aggravated assault. Gordon was previously convicted of a domestic violence offence in 2008.
The woman suffered a fractured arm, a broken nose, as well as abrasion and scratches, the document stated.