PORT ORCHARD, Wash. -- The man accused of hunting down and beating his ex-girlfriend over the weekend appeared in court on Monday.

Larry Buck is being held on $3 million bail as prosecutors consider filing charges of kidnapping and assault. Charges are expected to be filed on Tuesday.

Buck, 38, is accused of traveling halfway across the state to track down his 24-year-old ex-girlfriend, who was staying with her grandparents in Port Ludlow.

The young woman had moved there earlier from Pasco with her young son, reportedly to get away from the ex-boyfriend.

Buck allegedly held a knife to the woman's' throat and threatened to kill her child and family if she didn't go quietly with him. Over the next few hours, the woman told detectives, Buck beat her repeatedly.

The two drove to Port Orchard where Buck pulled into a driveway and fell asleep, enabling her to get away and flag down help.

"She came here, rang the doorbell and knocked. I didn't get here fast enough. She went down the driveway. I guess a paper carrier picked her up," said Port Orchard resident Darlene Mather.

Robert Zollna was delivering the Tacoma News Tribune when he spotted the troubled woman.

"This woman came of the woods and is waving at me to stop," he said.

Zollna said at first he was leery of stopping on a deserted lane in the early morning hours. But when he saw that she really needed help, he couldn't pass her by.

"Her face was swollen. She had a hard time talking. She was bloody. She was bleeding all over, "he said.

Deputies said the woman is fortunate someone stopped to help her given the remoteness of the area.

"That's correct. The newspaper guy stopped. He did the right thing," said Kitsap County Deputy Scott Wilson.

Mather said she was ready to help. Strangely enough, she'd lent a hand to someone else in need several years ago when another woman came to her door.

"Practically the same thing except i made it to the door and she came inside," she said. "She'd been beat up by her boyfriend."

The victim has been treated and released from an area hospital.