A Boise man who lived with his wife at their southeast Boise home for nearly 30 years has been charged with her murder.
Bruce Macomb, 62, faces a first-degree murder charge for the strangulation of Beba Macomb, 58, early Thursday.
Police found her body after someone called 911 and asked them to check the couple at their home at 1620 W. Warren St., just east of South Federal Way, for a welfare check about 4 p.m.
Bruce Macomb walked out of the home when police arrived outside and had an injury to his neck, officers say. Police then went inside and found his wife's body.
Police say they have undisclosed evidence that Bruce Macomb killed his wife and injured himself. Bruce Macomb was taken to a local hospital for treatment for the neck wound and arrested after he was released early Friday afternoon.
Police have released no information about a possible motive in the Macomb homicide, which investigators believe is premeditated because they recommend prosecutors charge it as a first-degree murder case. Lynn Hightower, spokeswoman for the Boise Police Department, said they had other possible witnesses than Bruce Macomb, but she declined to release more details.
Bruce Macomb was booked into the Ada County Jail shortly after noon Friday. He won't be able to ask for bond until he makes his first court appearance Monday afternoon.
Public records show Bruce Macomb and Beba Macomb have lived at the Warren Street home since 1983. A woman who answered the phone at a relative’s home declined comment.
Bruce Macomb does not have a felony record in Idaho, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to a DUI charge in 1996 and has had a few traffic infractions since then.
Beba Macomb is the city’s second homicide victim this year.
The first, Matthew Mohler-Kerns, died Monday after he was shot in the head while in his car on Franklin Road. Police suspect the shooting may have occurred during a road rage incident and have a person of interest in custody who they say shot at another driver just before Mohler-Kerns, 28, was killed.
That man, Shawn Nathan Fisher, 35, has not yet been charged in Mohler-Kerns’ death but remains in jail on other charges.
On Thursday evening, crime tape closed West Warren Street between Lincoln and Michigan avenues as detectives searched the Warren St. home and neighbors stood by wondering what happened. One woman, who sat on her porch smoking, described the home’s residents as “the mystery neighbors.” She said they’d lived there for years but didn’t make much noise.
“We’re all curious, that’s for sure,” said the woman, who lives down the street and declined to give her name.
Meghann M. Cuniff: 377-6418
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