Accused serial rapist, Bruce Tuck, who was arrested Sept. 2 at his parents’ home, in Gleason Tenn., after DNA evidence linked him to one of several attacks in Martin, Tenn., now faces 22 felony indictments.
Tuck was arraigned Nov. 5 in the Weakley County Circuit Court, where he was ordered to have a mental evaluation, which takes about 30 days to complete.
The investigation launched this summer by Shelby and Weakley County agencies, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, led to a manhunt for the accused serial rapist. Five women were victims of home invasion sexual assaults, within the two counties.
The victims of the attacks described the perpetrator as having a large belly, brandishing a handgun, and wearing a mask.
The first rape took place on July 24, in Martin, Tenn., when a woman was sexually assaulted after she returned to her apartment in the early morning.
Police said that during the July 24 incident, a man armed with a black automatic pistol forcibly broke into the woman’s home. Following the sexual assault, the suspect took a television and digital camera.
Tuck was indicted on two counts of aggravated rape, one count of especially aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated burglary, and one count of theft in that particular case.
In the second case, another Martin woman was attacked around 8 p.m. on Aug. 5, when she was confronted in her home by a man wearing a mask and armed with a black pistol.
In the Aug. 30 incident, which took place in the 400 block of Raven Street in Martin, a gunman broke into a residence and raped a woman after tying up two other people who were in the house.
Tuck was indicted in that case on two counts of rape, three counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual battery, three counts of aggravated robbery, vandalism, aggravated burglary and employing a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony.
Tuck is also considered a suspect in other rapes reported in Shelby County, although he has not yet been formally charged with those crimes.
The search for evidence connecting Tuck to the rape investigations, led authorities to Centre Storage, on State Highway 22, in Carroll County, Sept. 2, where a mask was recovered.
The mask found resembled the one worn by the serial rape suspect in the initial sketch released by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) this summer.
Initially, Tuck had 12 charges against him, which stemmed from the incident Aug. 30 on Raven Street in Martin, Tenn. He has been held in jail without bond since his arrest.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 7, at the Weakley County Detention Center.
