EVERETT — New court documents detail a woman’s account of fighting off a stranger, who she said tried to rape and kill her on a quiet stretch of beach between Woodway and Edmonds.

Prosecutors on Thursday charged that man with attempted first-degree murder and attempted second-degree rape. Charles Frank Fisher, 59, pleaded not guilty to the charges during a brief hearing Friday. He remains jailed on $1 million bail.

Fisher, of Edmonds, was arrested the day of the reported assault. A police dog tracked him to a wooded, brushy hillside near the beach. Witnesses said Fisher walked by them after a woman, screaming for help, pleaded with them to call 911. She told the couple she’d been attacked.

The woman later explained to detectives that she’d often visited the beach to sketch, paint, read a book or look for shells. On June 26, she set out for a walk along the coastline in Woodway before her husband returned home from a day trip with friends.

She parked her car near the dog park and walked south along the beach from Marina Beach Park, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Matthew Baldock wrote in court papers. She passed two men sitting separately on the rocky hillside bordering the west side of the railroad tracks. When she reached her intended destination — a stretch of beach — she was alone.

She collected shells as she strolled along the sand. Aware that the tide was coming in, she started to head back. She told police she noticed a man walking toward her. He appeared to be in his 60s, tan and fit. He wore gray sweatpants without a shirt.

They encountered each other on a narrow portion of the beach, just a couple feet wide and bordered by rocky slope and the water. The woman greeted the man. She told police that’s when the stranger stopped and widened his stance to face her. Without saying a word, he reportedly grabbed her left arm and started punching the woman in the face, hard enough to knock her down.

Fisher allegedly straddled her and repeatedly punched her in the face. She tried to fight back, but the man had her pinned on her back to the ground, Baldock wrote.

She pleaded with the man to stop. She screamed for help. She asked him what he wanted. Fisher allegedly said he wanted sex. She tried to distract him, but the woman “sensed a new fury in the man’s attack, with the punches coming harder with more intensity, (she) realized her ploy hadn’t worked so she started fighting back with all of the strength she could muster and screaming for help,” Baldock wrote

Fisher allegedly told the woman that he was going to kill her. She screamed and thrashed around, trying to hit the man. He bludgeoned her with a rock and then put her in a choke-hold to quiet her screams, court papers said. Then he reportedly told the woman he was going to drown her so she couldn’t scream, Baldock wrote.

He pulled her toward the water and the woman grabbed onto a large rock. Fisher allegedly tried to pry her hands free. When that didn’t work, he started bashing her head with a rock, court papers said.

Worried that she’d be knocked unconscious, the woman changed tactics, Baldock wrote. She let go of the rock she was clinging to, scrambled to her knees, spun around to face the man and started grappling with him, Baldock wrote. She was able to break free and ran down the beach.

She saw a couple walking toward her so she started screaming for help. She asked them to call 911. The woman told police she saw Fisher walking toward her. She climbed up the rocks from the beach to the tracks where the couple was standing. Fisher allegedly walked past the trio.

Edmonds police converged on the scene. A Lynnwood police dog followed a track that led to Fisher on a steep hillside near the dog park. His clothes were wet and sandy, Baldock wrote.

The woman suffered multiple injuries, including cuts, scratches, bruises and two black eyes. A gash to her knee required stitches.

Fisher was treated for dog bites before he was booked into the county jail. His right arm was still wrapped in a bandage Friday.

The Edmonds man’s trial is scheduled for Sept. 2, although the defendant’s attorney told a judge Friday that he’ll likely need more time to prepare. The public defender hadn’t yet received any police reports.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.