Pennsylvania man, 60, charged with attempted murder after he 'rigged a tripwire at the top of a flight of stairs to the basement of his home to try to kill his wife'
A Pennsylvania man has been detained after local authorities claim that he plotted to kill his wife by rigging a tripwire at the top of a flight of stairs leading to a basement.
William Joseph Dankesreiter Jr, a 60-year-old from Derry Township, was charged with attempted murder and has been held on $500,000 bond.
The intended target was the man's 59-year-old wife, according to the Pennsylvania State Police.
'Mr. Dankesreiter put a tripwire at the top of the steps,' trooper Stephen Limani explained to KDKA.
Police said that the man tried to use a fishing line to kill the woman. While she tripped, she managed to quickly save herself.
'If she had fallen, there were about 10 steps she would have fallen down and there is a small landing area. And then another few steps, she would have been landing on concrete. I can only imagine how catastrophic her injuries would be,' Limani added.
Laura Dankesreiter told authorities that it wasn't the first time that her husband tried to hurt her.
Pennsylvania State Police said that he tied a tripwire on the top of his stairs in an effort to trip his 59-year-old wife
'That's one of the things with domestic violence,' Limani said, 'it usually increases. It starts at a low level, with verbal abuse, and escalates to physical violence.'
As troopers were talking to the woman, the suspect pulled up to the home in his pickup truck.
'It was obviously thought through,' Limani said. 'I don't know how long he was thinking this through. You could definitely see there was a line tied across. There was nothing accidental about this.'
Laura has filed a protection from abuse order from her husband.
Police currently do not have a motive.
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