OREM, Utah, July 15, 2026 (Gephardt Daily) — A 50-year-old man has been booked into the Utah County jail after he was found at a campsite northwest of Mount Timp Park with a woman who had allegedly been choked, confined with zip ties, and cut 29 times with a micro razor by a man she said she had been dating for a year.
On July 9, Orem police were called to the site for a welfare check after a construction crew found the man and woman naked. The woman told paramedics who arrived first at the scene that the man, who fled, had been abusing her.
Eddie Cole Buckley, 50, was located and arrested Monday for investigation of:
- Aggravated kidnapping, a first-degree felony
- Object rape, a first-degree felony
- 30 counts of aggravated assault, a third-degree felony
Police arrived at about 8:25 a.m. Thursday, July 9, and hiked up the mountain to the campsite. The injured female had been put inside an ambulance.
“At first, she was reluctant to speak out about her abuse, but eventually reported her partner had choked her on 07/07/2026, at their camp,” the woman said Buckley had moved back to Utah from Georgia on July 2, and had stayed at the camp since then.
The woman said Buckley had choked her for more than three minutes, on July 7, and officers observed neck bruising and the victim’s hoarse voice and difficulty speaking. She showed officers the locations where she had cuts from a microblade.
“The victim tried kicking Eddie while he would tell her not to scream, but they were so far up the mountain she did not believe anybody could help her,” Buckley’s arrest document says.
The woman said Buckley kept her shoes from her so she would not try to flee on the rocky terrain.
“The victim told us she believed she was going to die. On-scene, restraints were observed at their camp, including a dog collar and zip ties. The victim reported Eddie using them on this night to tie her down and keep her from leaving.”
In a subsequent interview, the woman stated on the night Eddie choked and cut her, he injected her with an unknown substance.
Officers checked records and discovered Buckley had domestic violence convictions in Utah and Georgia.
He was ordered held without bail.
