ISP investigation into arrest death delayed
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.