A Wasilla man was charged with attempted murder after he allegedly attacked and choked a woman in a cemetery early Sunday, according to Alaska State Troopers.
Jeremy Matthew Bendt, 29, of Wasilla, was charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault and first-degree vehicle theft. Troopers say that he had been previously charged with a domestic violence-related crime against the same victim.
At 2:15 a.m. Sunday, troopers got a report that a woman was on a resident's porch ringing their doorbell, screaming that someone was trying to kill her. Troopers arrived to find the woman "distraught and injured." She was struggling to speak, troopers said.
Troopers say she and Bendt were in a cemetery on the Old Glenn Highway when Bendt attacked her with a knife. She fought him off, but then he punched her in the face. He choked her until she nearly lost consciousness, troopers said.
Bendt then took the woman's keys and left in her vehicle.
Bendt's first court hearing was Monday, online records show. He is scheduled to appear again Aug. 2. He's being held at the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility.