Murder suspect crashed into deputy’s car in Spokane Valley

William Bost was arrested on suspicion of killing his wife – a retired biology instructor at Spokane Community College – early Saturday, hours after crashing into a deputy’s patrol car in Spokane Valley.

Deputy Travis West was parked at the intersection of Dishman Road and Appleway Boulevard, working on an unrelated traffic stop, when Bost’s Nissan Leaf struck him at about 12:35 a.m. According to court documents, Bost, 59, seemed disoriented and was wearing only underwear, and the first words out of his mouth were alarming.

“She’s dead,” Bost said, according to the deputy. “Isabelle didn’t mean to do it.”

She, it turned out, was Bost’s wife, Jade, and Isabelle was one of the couple’s pet terriers.

Court documents say that within 10 minutes of the crash, three other deputies arrived at the Bosts’ home in west Spokane, 1032 S. Buena Vista Drive, to check on Jade.

Deputy Skye Ortiz looked through a window and saw her body, facedown in a pool of blood, with a butcher’s knife lying on her back and another large knife on the kitchen floor beside her. Investigators counted at least five stab wounds on her back, and there were blood droplets and stains throughout the house, including in a bathtub and on the basement floor, according to court documents. The knife on the floor was slightly bent.

Jade Bost was a biology instructor at Spokane Community College from fall 2002 until her retirement in June, a school spokeswoman confirmed Monday. Her age was not immediately available.

When he crashed into the deputy’s car, William Bost was apparently on his way to another man’s house in Spokane Valley. That man called Bost shortly after the crash and spoke to Deputy West, then arrived at the scene to retrieve Isabelle, the dog, according to court documents.

Bost was taken to Deaconess Hospital to be examined for any injuries he might have received in the crash. Court documents say his right hand was swollen and one of his left fingers was bandaged. A forensic specialist swabbed his hands for evidence.

Bost refused to talk to Spokane police detectives at the hospital. Shortly before 9 a.m. Saturday he was booked into the Spokane County Jail on a charge of second-degree murder.

Detectives also requested eight charges of illegally possessing a firearm after finding eight guns and “a large quantity of ammunition” in the master bedroom of the Bosts’ home.

Bost has two felony convictions stemming from a May 1989 robbery at a convenience store on North Hamilton Street. Court documents from that case say he held the clerk at gunpoint, fled on a motorcycle and crashed while being pursued by a sheriff’s deputy at speeds topping 100 mph.