Arrest Made Following Death of 18-Year-Old Boise Woman

Arrest Made Following Death of 18-Year-Old Boise Woman
The Associated Press
12/11/2016
Updated:
12/11/2016

A 61-year-old man has been arrested in New York in connection with the death of an 18-year-old Boise woman whose naked body was found in October, Boise police say.

Bruce Marchant was arrested Thursday on a warrant charging him with murder, rape and kidnapping.

Idaho authorities say they will seek to extradite Marchant back to Idaho. The timing of that isn’t clear.

Sierra Bush, who was in the Honors College at Boise State University, disappeared in September and her body was found in late October at an outdoor location south of Idaho City, about 40 miles northwest of Boise.

The Idaho Statesman reports (http://bit.ly/2gld5Fi) that Marchant recently lived in a home owned by Bush’s father.

Police conducted hundreds of interviews before issuing an arrest warrant on Tuesday, and learned on Wednesday he was in New York City. Boise police detectives flew there to help New York police make the arrest.

Marchant previously served 20 years in Idaho prisons following an armed robbery and assault on a police officer in northern Idaho.

Idaho Department of Correction spokesman Jeff Ray said Marchant was released on Sept. 26, 2008, after serving the full 20 years.

“We are confident that the case will be successfully prosecuted,” said Bart Green, Bush’s stepfather. “And we look forward to a successful conviction, so that it provides a measure of justice for Sierra and, hopefully, so that this individual is taken off the streets for the rest of his life — so he can never harm anyone again.”

Boise County Chief Deputy Coroner Mike Johnson said Bush’s cause of death was a type of asphyxiation, but didn’t provide additional details.

He said she died shortly after she was reported missing on Sept. 27.