Sex Offender Dad Sought in Daughter's Stabbing

July 22, 2005 -- -- A manhunt is under way in the mountains of the Idaho panhandle for the sex offender father of a 12-year-old girl who was found bound, stabbed and cowering in the bushes along a rural road near Wallace, Idaho, on Wednesday.

The FBI has joined with local authorities in the search for 37-year-old convicted sex offender John Rollins Tuggle, who had been living near Hayden, Colo. Police said that before Tuggle showed up at the Idaho home where the girl lived with her mother, he hadn't seen his daughter since he was sent to an Idaho prison in 1995.

"He came to visit his daughter not seen for 10 years," Shoshone County Sheriff Chuck Reynalds said. "So he came to visit and he [was] supposed to take the young girl to the mall. Instead, he went to the mountains."

Police issued a warrant for Tuggle's arrest on a charge of suspicion of attempted murder, and said they have no other suspects in the case.

"We have the whole world looking for him," Reynalds said. Deputies interviewed the girl in the hospital where she was recovering from her wounds, and they were searching areas where Tuggle has relatives, the sheriff said.

Criminal records show Tuggle served nine years in an Idaho prison for the statutory rape of a relative and was released from prison in January 2004.

Idaho police said the girl was found near a campsite above the town of Wallace. She had been stabbed multiple times and crawled into the brush where she was left alone. There was also evidence the girl had been sexually assaulted, but that had not yet been confirmed, police said.

Police said they don't know what led to the attack.

"Anger, alcohol, we have no idea," Reynalds said.

She was stabbed at about 1 p.m. and wasn't found until about five hours later. A family looking for a campsite reportedly heard her calling for help.

"If these people had not come by, I am positive she would probably have died," Reynalds said.

A medical helicopter airlifted the girl to a hospital in Couer d'Alene about 90 miles away. The girl was then transferred to a Spokane, Wash., hospital. She was listed in critical condition following surgery Thursday afternoon, but was expected to survive.

Local police and FBI have been searching for Tuggle in areas around the campsite, but Reynalds said Tuggle is an "outdoorsy person" who might try to disappear into the rugged mountain country of the Idaho panhandle. However, he said Tuggle can run but he can't hide forever.

"We have a warrant for his arrest for attempted murder with a bond of $10 million," Reynalds said. "So any contact with law enforcement, he is ours."

After Tuggle was released from an Idaho prison, he moved to Routt County, Colo., near Hayden where he registered as a sex offender in 2004, police said.

Routt County Sheriff John Warner told the Steamboat, Colo., Pilot and Today that Tuggle worked as a painter in Steamboat and the he had fully complied with Colorado law regarding sex offenders. Warner and Hayden police Chief Jody Lenahan told the newspaper they had no problems with Tuggle.

Tuggle's brother, Chris, told the newspaper that Tuggle left on July 14 to visit his children in Idaho and he had expected him to return Tuesday.

"I knew something was wrong, like he was going to leave and not come back," Chris Tuggle told the newspaper. "But I had no idea it might be something like this."

Chris Tuggle described his brother as "pretty resourceful," saying he could likely survive a long time on his own in the wilderness.

"He always talked about going and living in the mountains," Chris Tuggle told the Pilot and Today. "I told [police] I know where he is. … He's up in those mountains somewhere."

Tuggle is described as 6 feet tall, 200 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes and numerous tattoos. He may also have a goatee.

He was believed to be driving a 1989 Ford Escort, with Colorado plate number 329-JXG. The license plate is registered to Tuggle at a Hayden, Colo., address, according to motor vehicle records.

Tuggle should be considered armed and dangerous, authorities said, as he is known to carry large knives. Anyone with information on Tuggle is asked to call the Shoshone County, Idaho Sheriff's Office at (208) 556-1114.

ABC News affiliates KXLY-TV in Spokane, Wash., and KMGH-TV in Denver contributed to this report.