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."
"How did they know where to look for her?"
They didn't look for her, she was found by a family going camping who heard her calling for help. The "dad" had called the mom at 11 am to say all was ok at the mall. The girl was stabbed about 4 hours later. Probably the crime was discovered just about the time the mother might have begun wondering where they were and why weren't they back from the mall.
As to why the mother would let the girl go off with this man, that to me is the biggest mystery of the whole situation. And as for the folks who were speculating yesterday that she had no choice, it says here that she had full custody.
Absolutely! He's guilty of the crime, but the mother's guilty of not protecting her daughter from the same man Mommy divorced a decade earlier for raping (twice) her own (then) 14 year-old sister. I bet the little girl wasn't fully informed of what her father did, and even if she was, isn't it Mom's responsibility not to leave her daughter alone with a sex offender??
It's letting the fox guard the chicken coup. Only in this case we're talking innocent, precious, children.
That's what I was looking for, a picture of the guy. My guess is the guy's in Canada, by now.
It sounds like the boyfriend would not allow the "father" to visit so the mother left the boyfriend. Is there some need in mothers to allow the children to bond with the "real father" no matter how much of a scumbag he is ?
The only thing she did wrong, that we know about, is trust him with their daughter. Divorcing him certainly wasn't the wrong thing to do.
I know plenty of women who'd say that if their loving hubby raped their little 14-year-old sister, he'd have gotten off pretty easy if all they did was divorce him and send him up the river for nine years. Down close to the Gulf Coast where I live, this guy would've long since been a scattered collection of fish turds.
She should never have let this monster anywhere near her daughter. It's not as if she didn't know his history and that leopards don't change their spots. Really stupid. Even if she'd said, okay, but only a supervised visit with me there, or several large men with baseball bats, it wouldn't have been sensible. (This monster probably followed the Groene killings on jailhouse tv.)
I know. This case has affected me as much as any other I've ever seen. It's the first time my blood ran cold since 9-11-01.
If you are checking on a gold mine and you see this guy, you may have a great place to bury him and let him assume worm food temperature.
I don't always agree with Bill O'Reilly, but his advocacy of a law to protect children similar to Florida's recent one is something I'm totally on board with. Let's start putting these scumbags away where they can't hurt any more kids, and take the sentencing options OUT of the hands of liberal puke judges.
Let's hope that one of these creeps follow the other to hell. In fact, all of them, including the puke that murdered the little girl in Forida, and the BTK waste-of-space in Kansas. Richard Allen Davis, all of them. We have to get something done to protect the kids. I for one am as sick of this as I am of the judges that allow this to happen.
I don't know, but if some P.O.S. who raped my 14 year-old sister showed up at my door a decade later asking to see my daughter, the police would be zipping him into a body bag!
So much for the concept of "rehabilitation/parole"...
Notice that the mother told the elderly neighbor that the father wanted to see the children but "her boyfriend said no".
An unrelated individual - not even a stepfather - has better protective instincts regarding the children than their own mother.
Execute the father - supervise the mother who either has the IQ of a turnip or is a total doormat (maybe both).
I would disagree with you only to this extent: The lowly real critter-type maggots serve a useful purpose in this world. They are among God's chief means of keeping the planet sanitary. I would submit that this human piece of detrius isn't fit to even be food for maggots.
That's not what I'd call safe.
"I suspect this is largely an urban myth."
I listen to a talk radio program out of San Francisco. A fellow on death row in San Quentin listens and occasionally e-mails them. If I remember correctly, he once told them it this was, in fact, not true that the general population "takes care of" child molesters. So, I suspect you are right in it being a myth. Something we would all LIKE to have happen, but in reality....
She's just as guilty. Impale them both in the public square and leave their corpses to rot on the pikes as a warning.
It is for bounty hunters, I do believe.
*sigh* I know, I know...it's a failing of mine.
;o)
Response: Tut! Tut! Tut! We must convert him with LOVE, understanding and above all tolerance! More money spent on the courts and prison amenities would have and will prevent, in the future, those 'enclosed ones' from expressing their anger against the "System" when they are released.
Apparently so...and I'd say it's closely tied in with the insanity that some women exhibit in needing to go back to abusive boyfriends "because he's really a sweet guy 'underneath'!"
That inscription should be on the tombstone of every person who returns to (and is later killed by) their abuser.
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