Richmond County man charged with attempted murder, forcible sex offense

CORDOVA — Investigators with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office have charged a man with attempted murder in an assault case that sent a woman to the hospital.

According to a press release issued June 25, deputies responded to the Emergency Department at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital-Richmond on Sunday, June 23 in reference to an assault victim.

The woman, who was not named, reportedly told deputies that she had been held against her will and assaulted multiple times by 41-year-old Douglas Paul McKenzie over a three-day span at a home in Cordova.

No details on how the woman was reportedly assaulted or the extent of her injuries were mentioned in the release.

Warrants for McKenzie’s arrest were taken out that same day and investigators, with help from the RCSO Special Response Team, took the suspect into custody, according to the release.

He is charged with: attempted first-degree murder; first-degree kidnapping; assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury; second-degree forcible sex offense; and a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

The press release states McKenzie was initially booked into the Richmond County Jail without bond. Online jail records showed on June 25 that he is being held on a combined $2 million secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court July 8.

Online court records show McKenzie has several pending traffic citations.

McKenzie was previously convicted of assault on a female in 2021, and misdemeanor assault in 2004, according to records with the N.C. Department of Adult Correction.

Records show McKenzie was also convicted of driving while impaired in 1999 and 2012.

All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.