Posted on 07/22/2005 9:42:12 PM PDT by Marauder
WALLACE – It had been 10 years since John Rollins Tuggle last saw his daughter. She was a toddler and he was headed to prison for raping his teenage sister-in-law.
Last Thursday, July 14, Tuggle left his home in Hayden, Colo., and drove to Athol, Idaho, to see his children, according to his brother.
Tuggle, 37, told his ex-wife he was taking their daughter, now 12, on an outing to the shopping mall.
Instead, he allegedly took her to the Coeur d'Alene Mountains north of Wallace, where he left the girl for dead in the brush off the side of a mountain road, Shoshone County Sheriff Chuck Reynalds said.
The girl was found with multiple stab wounds late Wednesday in the Lost Creek drainage north of Prichard, Idaho. While medical personnel worked to save her life Wednesday night, a manhunt began for Tuggle, who authorities said may be armed with knives and should be considered dangerous. A $10 million warrant was issued for Tuggle on Thursday – an exceptionally high figure, Reynalds said, because of the severity of the crime and Tuggle's criminal history.
Sacred Heart Medical Center officials said they couldn't release information on the girl but Reynalds said she was awake Thursday morning and talking to detectives.
Reynalds said Tuggle called his ex-wife around 11 a.m. to say they were having "a good time." Reynalds said the girl was likely stabbed around 1 p.m. and spent four to five hours bleeding and alone before a family looking for a campsite off Forest Service Road 442 heard her cries.
It's about 80 miles from Athol to the field where the family found the girl, including 29 miles on the paved but curvy Coeur d'Alene River Road.
Reynalds estimates the girl had at least five or six stab wounds. He said she was weak from blood loss when she was found, and unable to walk.
The family drove the girl in their camper to Gloria's Steakhouse in Prichard. Reynalds said authorities were notified when they arrived at the restaurant about 7 p.m. She was airlifted to Kootenai Medical Center and then transferred to Sacred Heart in Spokane.
"Right now she's safe," Reynalds said Thursday afternoon. "She's in good hands. Her mother is with her."
The Spokesman-Review is not identifying the mother, to protect the identity of the victim.
The girl was discovered about 40 yards from the gravel road and not far from several undeveloped but often-used campsites. Crime-scene tape and wrappers from evidence collection swabs marked the scene of Wednesday's crime – a small clearing with hundreds of wild daisies that had been smashed to the ground.
Tuggle was sentenced on March 27, 1995, in Shoshone County District Court for the rape of his then-wife's 14-year-old sister. According to court records, Tuggle raped the teen on at least two separate occasions, in May and June 1994. Tuggle pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months fixed, and seven and a half years indeterminate time in prison for the rape.
He served all his time – nine years total – in the Idaho State Prison, never qualifying for parole.
He was eligible for parole after one year in prison, but the Idaho Parole Board was not convinced that he was a good candidate for parole, said Tracy Shearer, parole board spokesman. Shearer didn't have details on why the parole board made that decision, and it wasn't clear Thursday whether Tuggle appeared before the board again.
The Department of Corrections had few problems with Tuggle, however, writing him up for only minor disciplinary issues, said Teresa Jones, IDOC spokeswoman.
"Anybody could be a good inmate," Shearer said. "That doesn't mean they're a good choice for parole."
When Tuggle was released from prison on Jan. 30, 2004, he was not supervised and only required to register as a sex offender. He immediately moved to Hayden, Colo., near Steamboat Springs, to live with his brother, Chris Tuggle.
According to the Routt County, Colo., Sheriff's Office records, Tuggle had no trouble with the law while living in Hayden and was prompt in registering as a sex offender.
"He was one of them who would come in without having to be reminded or bothered or thrown in jail," said Elise Bennett, Routt County Sheriff's records custodian.
Tuggle found work there as a painter but had not visited his children since leaving prison, said his brother. Chris Tuggle was surprised when his brother abruptly left last week.
"He was supposed to be back Tuesday," Chris Tuggle said by phone Thursday. Chris Tuggle said he didn't know where his brother was and hasn't been able to reach him by cell phone. "I've talked to cops all day."
John Tuggle and the girl's mother were married on Jan. 13, 1993, in Coeur d'Alene, shortly before their daughter was born on Jan. 18, 1993. On Dec. 9, 1993, they had their second child, a boy, according to court records.
Tuggle was arrested in late January of 1995 for the rape of his wife's sister, and the couple separated. While Tuggle was serving time in prison, his wife filed for divorce and was granted full custody of their two children.
An 81-year-old woman who lived next door to the family for five years in Coeur d'Alene recalled the woman mentioning a few years ago that her ex-husband was being released from prison and that she was worried about her kids.
Then a month or two ago, the mother told her neighbor that Tuggle wanted to see the kids, but that the woman's boyfriend had said no.
The beginning of this month, the mother and children moved to a new house, the former neighbor added, but came back to visit the boyfriend every once in a while.
The neighbor described them as a friendly family. The kids used to help her carry groceries, and the son shoveled her snow. "They would have done anything in a moment's notice that I asked them to," the elderly woman said.
The former neighbor started connecting the dots to this incident when she heard on the news that the injured girl's father was from Colorado.
"I kept thinking and thinking, 'Oh my God, I hope it isn't that little girl,' " the neighbor said. "I can't believe how close to home that was."
This maggot has been breathing much too long.
Kinda makes me long for the days when they hung guys like these in iron cages over major throughfares and left them to die.
Why isn't *attempted* murder a capital crime?
For the first time in years, as I read this, my blood ran cold. I want this bastard to take his dirt nap ASAP; he's not fit to share the atmosphere.
I guarantee you if he's not put away for life, there's something wrong in the state of Idaho.
And if he's placed in the general population, the other prisoners should make short work of him. Otherwise, there's something wrong with them.
The press has been tiptoeing around the rape of the daughter, and in fact this story doesn't mention that. Was this reported elsewhere?
Like they did last time?
I suspect this is largely an urban myth.
I could never be a cop. Slime like this would never get to the jailhouse breathing.
Put him away for life? what?! Are you mad?!
This low-life, waste of skin needs to be D-E-A-D. Dead, dead, dead!
This evil (not insane) EVIL sat in prison for how many years and was allowed to take his daughter on an 'outing'?
I hope whoever finds this bastard has a weapons malfunction....right between his eyes.
This pervert, and all perverts like him should be sentenced to the SCHIAVO SOLUTION, and many, many little boys and girls in the future would be saved from suffering.
I agree with you about this being an urban legend. It's comforting to think these thugs would off this scumbag, but would these POS be in prison if they had a code of ethics?
W - T - F ????
HE needs to be put FULL TIME into the "general population" of a Super Max prison, let the info of his crime be known to all, AND let them have their way with him ......
A "Jeffery Dahmer" way with him !!!!
AAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHHH ...
What an awful awful thing. That poor little girl.
---I guarantee you if he's not put away for life, there's something wrong in the state of Idaho. ---
He should be hung by the neck until dead, publicly. Recently some one on Fox was asked what sort of surveillance system should be put in place to keep track of these child molesters.
"Grave markers" was his reply!
My wife caught it on TV; I think Fox News.
I agree; unfortunately, neither you nor I get to prescribe the sentence. He'd be a slam-dunk dead POS if it were up to me.
now, that's impressive....the way you some how found a way to blame the mother......
I guess they did that to protect her identity......
btw.....its estimated she will be in the hospital for a month, so he must have done major trauma to her......poor little thing....
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