Suspect is 27 and from Newport

Investigators have arrested a man in connection with the Chelsea Bruck murder almost two years after the Maybee woman disappeared from a large Halloween party.

The suspect, a 27-year-old man from Newport, is being held in the Monroe County jail after the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office took him into custody this afternoon from his residence in the Frenchtown Villa Mobile Home Park.

“We got him,” said Maj. Jeff Kemp.

A major break in the case occurred Thursday when the Michigan State Police linked evidence from crime scenes to the suspect. During an interview with investigators, the man admitted he was involved with Miss Bruck’s murder.

Sheriff Dale Malone said he believes the man acted alone and had a chance encounter with Miss Bruck at the party and built a rapport with her. He then met up with her she left the party and was walking along Post Rd. not far from the entrance.

“We are 1,000 percent certain it’s him,” the sheriff said. “He had information about the crime that only the killer would know.”

The man’s name is being withheld pending formal charges and his arraignment in First District Court, which is expected Monday. The man is wanted on unrelated warrants and has a history of crime that includes at least 10 arrests.

Sheriff Malone stopped short of calling the suspect a predator, but said he is a person who has lived at various residences throughout Monroe County. At the time of Miss Bruck’s disappearance and murder, the man lived about two miles away from where her body was located in a remote area off Briar Hill Rd. in Ash Township.

The Wayne County Medical Examiner ruled that Miss Bruck died of blunt force trauma, but no weapon was used. That could mean she was either beaten to death or strangled. Investigators have said that her body was intact when it was located in April, 2015, about six months after she disappeared.

The MSP lab used evidence collected off Miss Bruck’s Halloween costume, which was found in the Flat Rock area.

Although the investigation is continuing, the arrest signifies a relief to the sheriff’s office, which has dedicated thousands of hours to the case, which included interviewing more than 1,000 witnesses that created a police report more than 800 pages.

“All we ever wanted was closure for the Bruck family,” Sheriff Malone said. “I want to thank them for their continued support and confidence in us.”