Wallace, Idaho – A convicted sex offender accused of raping and stabbing his 12-year-old daughter and leaving her for dead at a remote campsite pleaded guilty on Wednesday.
John Tuggle, from Hayden, Colo., faces life in prison for his pleas on one count of rape and one count of kidnapping with a deadly weapon.
In a plea deal, the Shoshone County prosecutor’s office agreed to drop charges of attempted murder and lewd and lascivious conduct. Prosecutor Michael Peacock said the deal will protect Tuggle’s daughter from having to testify.
Tuggle, 37, was accused of taking his daughter to a campsite north of Prichard, Idaho, in July, after telling her mother they were going to a mall. He had stayed in his ex-wife’s home.
The girl was raped, stabbed and abandoned. She was rescued hours later by campers who heard her cries for help.
Tuggle, who hadn’t seen his ex-wife and two children for 10 years, had been informed less than two weeks earlier that he was being asked by his ex-wife for additional child support.
Tuggle was released from an Idaho prison in January 2004 after serving nine years for raping his ex-wife’s 13-year-old sister.
