The chilling words uttered by a woman's husband before he attempted to kill her have been revealed.
Chae Kyong An, 54, has been sentenced to more than 13 years in prison for the horrifying attempted murder of his wife, Young Sook An, in October 2022.
The incident unfolded when Kyong An assaulted, stabbed, and restrained his wife before dragging her to nearby bushland, per News.com.au.
There, he threw her into a shallow grave, covering her with dirt in an attempt to bury her while she was still alive.
Miraculously, Young - a 42-year-old mother from Seattle, Washington - managed to survive the ordeal, spending a grueling 12 hours trapped in the shallow grave before freeing herself.
During Kyong An’s sentencing hearing, Young recalled her desperate pleas for mercy, begging him to consider their children.
Despite surviving the traumatic attack, Young and her children continue to live in fear, their lives forever altered by the horrifying incident.
“After that day, I and my children’s life was crushed,” she said. “I have to live my life with emotional trauma and health issues for the rest of my life.”
In a desperate bid for help, Young managed to use her Apple watch to alert family and authorities during the assault.
“Dispatch advised they could hear muffled screaming and sounds of a struggle. Officers arrived and found the garage door to the residence open,” police reported at the time of the crime.
Following her escape from the grave, Young sought refuge, knocking on the door of a nearby house and pleading for assistance.
“My husband is trying to kill me, help me,” she cried out.
During the time of the attack, Young pleaded with her husband, but his six-word response was extremely disturbing.
“Today, I’m going to kill you,” she recalled him saying.
Kyong An was later apprehended after a passerby discovered his vehicle nearby.
He entered a plea deal with prosecutors who asked that he receive the maximum possible sentence.
Kyong An lived with post-traumatic stress disorder after spending three decades working as a military intelligence warrant officer, who was homeless at the time of the attempted murder.
"Psychological testing by both the State and Defense agree that Mr. An was experiencing PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) related symptoms during the events of October 16, 2022," attorney Michael Austin Stewart wrote.
A Thurston County Judge handed down the maximum sentence of over 13 years, also imposing a no-contact order between Kyong An and Young.
Stating that he regrets his crimes, Kyong An said: "I wish that I could go back and never enter that house that day and walk away."
As reported by the New York Post, the judge said: "The crime you pled guilty to was horrific. Preventing somebody from calling for help, assaulting, restraining and burying them alive. With the plea that you offered, you acknowledged responsibility for that."
Turning the attention to Young, the judge continued: "I’m sure there’s no words that describe the physical suffering and the fear and anguish over twelve hours of thinking you might lose your life and you might never see your children again.
"You are strong and you are brave. I am hopeful that today’s hearing will be the close of this chapter, and will make it possible to focus on your emotional and mental healing for yourself and your children."
