NC man beat and strangled his wife, then drove her to hospital, sheriff says

A 69-year-old Iredell County man is accused of beating and strangling his 68-year-old wife and then driving her to a hospital, sheriff’s investigators said Wednesday.

Rebecca Tyson was pronounced dead at Iredell Memorial Hospital in Statesville early Monday after emergency room doctors tried to save her life, Sheriff Darren Campbell said.

Tyson died by strangulation and had several broken bones and severe bruising, an autopsy revealed Tuesday, Campbell said in a news release.

Her husband, Clarence Edward Tyson, “brutally assaulted” her in the couple’s home in the 100 block of West Iredell Circle, the sheriff said. The home is off Old Mountain Road in the more rural western end of the county.

Tyson told investigators that he drove his wife to the hospital after finding her “non-responsive,” according to the news release.

“After speaking with Clarence Tyson, deputies learned a domestic altercation had taken place at their home,” Campbell said. Deputies went to the home and secured it as a crime scene, the sheriff said.

After the autopsy, Tyson was charged with first-degree murder and was jailed without bond, the sheriff’s office said.