KINGWOOD, W.Va. (WBOY) — A man has been charged after deputies say he beat a woman in Preston County to the point where she needed to be intubated.

On Jan. 2, deputies with the Preston County Sheriff’s Department received a call reporting an unresponsive woman who “had been battered” at a residence in Preston County, according to a criminal complaint.

When deputies arrived on the scene, they observed the female victim and Leonard Baker, 47, of Tunnelton, in an outbuilding “through a window and noted it appeared they were unconscious,” deputies said.

Once inside, deputies checked the woman and “noted she had significant facial trauma including dried blood around her mouth and nose”; the victim’s “eyes were contused and swollen shut, and her nose was swollen,” according to the complaint.

Attempts to wake the woman were not successful, and deputies needed to carry her “out of the building to a safe location” and also took Baker into custody at that time, deputies said.

The KAMP ambulance service responded to the scene and transported the victim to a loading zone for an air medical service; during that time, “EMS was forced to intubate her in an effort to protect her airway to save her life,” according to the complaint.

During a conversation with Baker, he “admitted that the victim had been in his company, but wasn’t sure where she was currently,” and a witness reported that “they had given the victim a ride the previous day and they observed no injuries to her person,” deputies said.

Baker has been charged with malicious assault. He is being held in Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $500,000 bond.