http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/articles/2008/03/04/news/news02.txt

Woman dies after beating

By Lynne Lynch and Candice Boutilier
Herald staff writers
Mar 04, 2008

Moses Lake man arrested for girlfriend's death

MOSES LAKE - A Moses Lake electrician arrested in his girlfriend's beating death over the weekend has an extensive criminal history and reportedly used 13 aliases.

Among William M. Creek's criminal history is a 2001 charge of inflicting corporal injury to a spouse, said Albert Lin of the Grant County Prosecutor's Office. During Creek's first court appearance on Monday, his attorney Carl Warring said Creek believed court officials mixed his court record up with someone else's record. Until the court finds otherwise, Judge Kenneth Jorgensen agreed with Lin and set Creek's bail at $1 million.

Creek is expected to enter his plea to a first-degree manslaughter charge on Monday. Creek, 48, was arrested Saturday for fourth-degree assault after allegedly beating his girlfriend, Elizabeth D. Bouvier, 39, of Moses Lake. The charges were upgraded Sunday afternoon when she died at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, where she was being treated for life-threatening head injuries.

The incident began in the Moses Lake Wal-Mart parking lot Saturday afternoon where witnesses called Moses Lake police regarding Creek allegedly assaulting Bouvier, Police Capt. Dave Ruffin said. The assault appeared to happen inside a vehicle. When police arrived at Wal-Mart, the suspect's vehicle, a Ford pickup, was gone. A Wal-Mart employee told police Creek allegedly became angry after the employee asked him for his receipt before pumping propane, court documents state. Creek walked to a pickup and allegedly punched Bouvier's leg three to four times, making her cry.

Soon officers received a second emergency call concerning domestic violence about four miles away from Wal-Mart on Maiers Road, Ruffin said. The officers arrived at the parking lot of Cappelli's Salon where Creek and Bouvier were inside the pickup.

Court documents state an employee of the salon saw the driver hitting what appeared to be a child in the passenger seat.

"The driver was pushing the passenger out of the truck," court documents state. "(The witness) said she was unsure what happened next, but the passenger's knee buckled and she saw the passenger go limp on the ground."

The witness told police Creek was allegedly hitting Bouvier everywhere and the hits were likely punches. Creek allegedly ran to the locked door of the salon and told the people inside to call an ambulance. Another witness at the salon told police Creek allegedly dropped Bouvier on the pavement.

"Bouvier had suffered trauma to her face and had other scrapes and bruises on her body," Ruffin said.

She was taken to Samaritan Healthcare for initial treatment and was later flown to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. Police were notified Bouvier died in Spokane Sunday afternoon, he said. Police encourage people with information concerning the incident to contact the Moses Lake Police Department at 509-766-9230.

Bouvier and Creek both denied any assault happened, according to court documents. Creek told police Bouvier was his fiancee. She was reported to be in a relationship with Creek for up to two years. Police spoke to her mother-in-law, Zepha Bouvier, of Virginia City, Nev. She said Elizabeth Bouvier showed her bruises allegedly caused by Creek. Bouvier was married to another man before her death.

About a week before her death, Elizabeth Bouvier reportedly told her husband, Marshall Bouvier, of Carson City, Nev., she believed Creek would kill her, according to court records. Police believe Creek apparently lived a transient lifestyle with arrests in Arizona, Nevada and Washington.

Creek's attorney Warring said Creek reportedly began working as an electrician for a contractor at REC Silicon's expansion site six months ago.

"There is some preliminary information from the victim's family that the suspect has exhibited a pattern of control and abuse over the victim prior to her death," court documents state. "This included moving around to keep her isolated, which would also seem to support his transient lifestyle."