HOPE — A Bonner County woman was arrested early Sunday morning for killing her boyfriend at their home in the Cabinet Mountains.

Linda Carol Provo is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Jeffrey Lester Newton, who was found dead at their West Spring Creek Road home.

An autopsy was pending on Monday, although Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall said Newton appeared to have died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Provo, 54, made an initial appearance in Bonner County Magistrate Court on Monday via videoconferencing with the county jail.

Marshall recommended bail be set at $250,000 due to the seriousness the offense and Provo’s “bizarre behavior” prior to her arrest.

Chief Public Defender Janet Whitney recommended $75,000 bail because of Provo’s indigence and substantial ties to the area.

“She’s been in this area for many, many years,” said Whitney.

Judge Lori Meulenberg, who heard probable cause and search warrant testimony in the case, ultimately adopted the state’s recommendation.

Provo is accused of killing Newton, 57, on Saturday. A criminal complaint alleges that the slaying was committed with malice aforethought, but without premeditation.

Provo was the protected party in a court order barring Newton from having any contact with her. The order stems from a misdemeanor domestic violence case in which Newton punched Provo.

The alleged battery took place on Sept. 9 and Newton was free on $3,000 while the case was pending, court records show. Newton was scheduled to stand trial in magistrate court on Thursday, two days before he was killed. However, the proceedings were postponed because Newton was undergoing medical treatment in Santa Barbara, Calif., according to court documents.

Details surrounding the killing were hard to come by on Monday. Probable cause hearing testimony was filed under seal because a search warrant at the couple’s home at 1466 West Spring Creek Road. was in the process of being executed.

Marshall said Provo called her daughter for a ride on Friday night and was taken to the Bonner County Jail, where she apparently tried to turn herself in. Whitney said Provo was turned away from the facility.

Marshall said it was unclear Monday if Provo was indeed turned away and said that a detention deputy may not have been available to talk to her when she showed up at the facility.

A woman encountered Provo at the jail and took her to the nearby Schweitzer Sand Creek Conoco station in Ponderay, said Marshall. Marshall said Sheriff Daryl Wheeler, who had joined the search, found Provo emerging from an outbuilding on property behind the U.S. Highway 95 filling station. She was promptly arrested without incident.

Marshall said Provo made no admissions when she was taken into custody and invoked her right to remain silent.

Sheriff’s investigators were still seeking the murder weapon on Monday.

“It was a heavy weapon of some form,” said Marshall.

Newton has a history of violence against Provo, according to 1st District Court records.

In addition to the pending domestic violence charge, Newton was charged with striking Provo in the head with a framing hammer in 2014. The felony battery charge, however, was dismissed without prejudice after the state was unable to proceed to a preliminary hearing, court records show.

Newton was charged in 2006 with felony attempted strangulation and misdemeanor domestic violence in 2006, but both charges were dismissed upon motions by the state, according to online court records. The physical case file was in a remote storage facility and not available for viewing on Monday.

Provo is the first woman in Bonner County implicated in a murder since 2011, when Jennifer Garlin was charged with being an accessory to the murder of Michael Wyatt Smith. Smith was executed by Garlin’s now-estranged husband, Austin Blake Thrasher, in Cocolalla. Thrasher, 24, is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.

Lorraine Kathryn Kenitzki was accused of shooting her boyfriend to death during an altercation in a recreational vehicle parked at the Green Owl Tavern north of Priest River in 2010. She pleaded to involuntary manslaughter and received a five- to 10-year term.

Scott Spangler, 55, was shot and killed by his wife in Vay last year, although the shooting was deemed a justifiable act of self-defense and prosecution was declined. Spangler allegedly attacked and threatened to kill his wife, who called 911 and left the line open, which allowed dispatchers to hear what was transpiring in the home.