A South Salt Lake man is accused of trying to kill his wife after he tackled her outside a building and attempted to strangle her at her workplace earlier this month.
Charles Edwin Gordon, 35, was charged in 3rd District Court on Tuesday with first-degree felony attempted murder, first-degree felony aggravated burglary, second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse and stalking, a second-degree felony, in connection with assaulting his wife Sept. 8 in West Valley City.
According to charging documents, Gordon went to his wife's workplace at the Discover Card Building, 2500 South Lake Park Blvd., to confront her. The couple had separated and the wife had filed a co-habitant abuse case against Gordon in June, court records show.
A judge granted the woman a protective order from Gordon in July.
The wife became frightened upon seeing her husband. She rolled down her window and screamed out to others at the building "Call 911! He's going to kill me," according to charges.
The wife then drove her vehicle down a fire lane so she could access the building faster to get away from her husband. Gordon, who was intoxicated, followed her in his vehicle, and rammed into her car while she was still inside, charges state.
The wife then ran from her vehicle and tried to get into the building, but Gordon wrestled her to the ground and began strangling her before she could make it, according to charges. Several people in the area came over to help the victim and restrained Gordon so she could enter the building.
Gordon managed to gain entrance to the building, however, and tackled the woman a second time, charges state. Witnesses intervened again and reported Gordon latched onto his wife's buttocks with his teeth as they tried to remove him off of her, according to charges.
The victim suffered a fractured arm and nose, as well as a bite mark to her buttocks and several bruises and cuts, according to charging documents. She was treated at Pioneer Valley Hospital.
She told police that Gordon had been sending her text messages from July 7 through September warning her to not testify against him in pending cases, charges state. She said two days before the attack, "[Gordon] threatened to bury me and he told me that I would lose my life if I testified against him on the domestic violence case that was currently charged against him," charges state.
Gordon was convicted in South Salt Lake Justice court on a domestic violence offense and has an aggravated assault case pending in 3rd District Court.
He is being held in the Salt Lake County jail with no bail.
