Mother allegedly catches man in the act of raping her 14-year-old girl
Published at
Editor’s note: Some readers may find this story disturbing. Discretion is advised.
POCATELLO — A mother says she caught a man raping her 14-year-old daughter.
Tyrel Dale Gunter, 38, was arrested by the Pocatello Police Department on March 20, and has been charged with rape, lewd conduct with a minor under 16 and sexual abuse of a child under 16, according to court document filings.
The mother told police officers that she came home from visiting a friend at midnight and heard a “squeaking” sound coming from her daughter’s bedroom. When she entered the room, she said she saw Gunter in the act of raping her daughter.
She said that she screamed and then entered a “physical disturbance” with Gunter, where she scratched his face and pulled his goatee hair, and he “threw” her across the room.
“(The mother) stated she attempted to call the police, but Tyrell Gunter begged her not to and tried to grab her cell phone when she started dialing,” the arrest report says. “(The mother) said she stopped attempting to call police to de-escalate the situation.”
The mother stayed with her daughter in her room to keep her away from Gunter, she told police. She then called police once he was asleep.
Pocatello Police officers arrived at the home around 7 a.m., found Gunter asleep in the bathtub and detained him.
In her interview with Pocatello Police detectives, the mother said that she had previously confronted Gunter about deleting his search history on his phone, telling her he likes to watch “weird pornography” depicting men having sex with sleeping women.
The police report says that the daughter participated in a forensic interview that day, where she said she remembered waking up while Gunter raped her. The daughter said that he had been sexually abusing her for over a year, but she was “afraid to tell anyone because his temper scared her and he made threats to kill himself if she ever said anything because he wasn’t going to prison.”
The report also states that the daughter was taken to Portneuf Medical Center to have a sexual assault examination done.
Gunter told police he was schizophrenic and coming down from being under the influence of methamphetamine. Police said that he told them he could not remember much of what happened in the early morning beyond the mother yelling at him and being detained by officers.
Gunter’s bond was set at $250,000.
If convicted of these crimes, Gunter could face up to life in prison, as well as up to $150,000 in fines. He has an arraignment hearing scheduled on May 19.
Though Gunter has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.