Police: Telemarketer’s Phone Call Saved Woman 900 Miles Away From Violent Attack

(Peeping Dragon Photography)

Usually a telemarketer’s call is greeted with annoyance, disdain or even outright anger. But in one recent case, that unsolicited phone call has been credited with saving a woman’s life, from 900 miles away.

Workers at a call center in Las Vegas found themselves listening to what sounded like a horrible, violent scene, reports KLAS-TV, after a phone call to a woman in Oregon was picked up, but no one answered.

The worker called over her supervisor and had her listen in.

“She said, ‘Tina, you need to hear this. I don’t think this is a joke. Something’s happening. I think this lady is getting hit,’” the supervisor said. “The young lady on the other end of the phone never said hello. There was just a horrible whimper.”

Her boss also stepped in, saying the phone call was getting “progressively worse.”

The workers didn’t hang up the phone, convinced that the “as far as the people in that room were concerned, we were the only lifeline she had.”

The workers alerted the sheriff’s office in Oregon where the woman lived, and officers were sent to the home. Once there, they said they heard a woman calling for help and a man telling her to be quiet.

Upon entering the home, deputies report that a man was holding a woman from behind, and let her go when he saw the police. She was reportedly crying and gasping for air, running past the police out the door. Officers said it appeared she had been physically assaulted and smothered with blankets and pillows during the attack.

Police say she also claimed the man had shoved a gun into her chest and put the barrel near her face, and that she was in fear for her life, thinking he wanted to either kill himself or both of them.

Her phone had apparently been in her back pocket during the entire ordeal, and she said she had no idea how someone had called the police. Deputies say the telemarketers 900 miles away are likely responsible for saving her life.

The man was arrested and booked on charges of fourth degree assault, menacing and strangulation.

Local call center hears attack, saves Oregon woman [KLAS-TV]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist