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Telemarketing call saves woman allegedly attacked by ex

"We were the only lifeline she had," a telemarketing supervisor said.

By Frances Burns

LEBANON, Ore., Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A telemarketing worker may have saved a woman's life by calling while she was being attacked by her ex-boyfriend, police in Oregon said.

Linn County Sheriff Bruce Riley said the woman, who had her cellphone in her pocket, did not deliberately answer the call from Americare Health, a Las Vegas distributor of nutritional products. But the call somehow connected, and a sales representative on the other end could hear her screams.

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"At the very least it was lucky. At the most it might have been providence," he told the Albany Democrat-Herald.

Mario Gonzalez, president of Americare, said he got on the line and listened when the sales rep told him what was going on. He called police in Oregon and then remained on the line until officers responded.

"I could hear the lady screaming and getting hit over and over again; her screaming and begging for her life," he told the Democrat-Herald.

The company had the woman's address because she had bought items from them in the past. Gonzalez also recorded the call.

Tina Garcia, a supervisor, told KLAS-TV in Las Vegas the sales rep said the woman did not say hello but she heard a "horrible whimper." The noises appeared to be the sounds made by someone being beaten and strangled.

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"We were not going to hang up the phone. 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 said.

When police arrived at the address supplied by the marketing company, they heard a woman screaming and a man ordering her to be quiet.

Walter Warren Ruck, 33, was charged Thursday with fourth-degree assault and strangulation.

The woman told police Ruck lured her to his house Wednesday by telling her he was sick. She had moved out two days earlier.

At one point, he put a shotgun to his head with the stock on her chest and urged her to pull the trigger, she said.

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