Evaluation ordered in murder case

Editor’s note: this story was updated to correct the age of Bristow

By KEITH KINNAIRD

News editor

SANDPOINT — A mental health evaluation is being conducted in the case of a former Bonner County man accused of killing Tammy Rae Bristow in 1987.

Public Defender Janet Whitney moved for the evaluation of William Rey Acosta because the defense has reason to believe his mental condition will be a factor in the case, court records show.

Acosta is charged with first-degree murder and is being held at the Bonner County Jail with bail set at $1 million.

Acosta was charged with the killing last year, after DNA evidence linked him to the cold case. Sandpoint Police and the Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office reopened the investigation into Bristow’s slaying in 2016.

Bristow, 19, was found strangled in her south Sandpoint apartment. A ligature fashioned from a tent guy line was determined to be the murder weapon, according to Bonner County Daily Bee news archives.

A homeless man was initially a suspect in the killing, although he was never conclusively linked to the crime. DNA evidence collected from beneath Bristow’s fingernails was entered into the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, also known as CODIS, which produced a match with Acosta’s DNA, Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall said during a press conference at City Hall last June.

In between Bristow’s killing and his arrest, Acosta appears to have split his time between Bonner County and Arizona, where he served prison time for felony assaults. Marshall suspected those brushes with the law caused Acosta’s DNA to be entered into CODIS.

A Bonner County grand jury indicted Acosta, 50, for Bristow’s killing and he entered a not guilty plea.

Acosta is scheduled to stand trial in 1st District Court in April.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.