ISP investigation into arrest death delayed
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| May 21, 2011 |
The Idaho State Police investigation into the
death of a California man during an attempted
arrest early Monday morning north of Bonners
Ferry has been delayed by a more pressing
homicde investigation that broke almost
simultaneously in St. Maries.
"We initially expected a fairly quick
investigation," said Boundary County Sheriff
Greg Sprungl, "but the St. Maries case took
priority."
In the Boundary County case, a sheriff's deputy
was dispatched to U.S. 95 milepost 526 at about
12:51 a.m. Monday after a woman who lives in the
area, returning home from work, reported a
vehicle blocking the road leading to her home.
When she got out to see if help was need, an
as-yet unidentified man, now confirmed to be
from Mount Shasta, California, stepped out of
the vehicle naked.
Arriving on scene, the deputy, also as yet not
named, attempted to take the man into custody,
and during the course of that attempt, the man
collapsed. Boundary County EMTs were dispatched
to the scene, but despite their efforts, the man
was later pronounced dead at Boundary Community
Hospital.
Sprungl immediately requested an independent ISP
investigation, but as that investigation began,
a St. Maries man was reported missing after he
failed to show up at work at the Stimson Lumber
Mill. The body of Robert D. Marek, 43, was found
early Tuesday morning, shot, beaten with an iron
pipe and severely burned.
By that afternoon, Marek's niece, 26-year-old
Melisa Bates, was taken into custody at her home
in Bayview. Investigators believe Marek was
killed Sunday, May 15. |
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