GREAT FALLS — A Browning man is in federal custody on suspicion of killing his wife by running her over with a pickup truck.
Thomas Edward Mancha, 60, was arrested on Jan. 18 and the next day a federal magistrate found probable cause to detain him on suspicion of second-degree murder in the Jan. 1 death of Charlene Mancha, 51, on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation near U.S. Highway 2 between Browning and Cut Bank. He has not been indicted and hasn’t entered a plea.
A witness told FBI investigators that he saw Mancha assaulting his wife near a monument along the highway and that she yelled for help. The witness said he told Mancha he was calling police, but while he was on the phone with law enforcement he saw Mancha run her over with a pickup truck. Mancha then turned the truck around and drove over her a second time, court records said.
The witness said he drove back toward Browning — still talking with dispatchers — with Mancha following. He reported Mancha turned off the highway at Blackfoot.
Mancha drove in front of an oncoming train near Blackfoot, causing serious, but not life-threatening injuries, court records said. The investigator said he believed Mancha was trying to kill himself.
Mancha was hospitalized in Great Falls for five days and spent nearly two weeks in a rehabilitation center. He was arrested upon his release, the Great Falls Tribune reports.
Mancha’s public defender preserved the right to ask for a hearing on whether Mancha should remain in federal custody.