Man accused of assaulting ex’s daughter tried camping in woods to hide, officials say

A man accused of abusing his ex-girlfriend’s child for years skipped his trial and fled to a campsite in the woods to avoid prosecution, Tennessee officials said.

David Wayne Perkins, 38, has now been sentenced to 16 years in prison on four charges of aggravated sexual battery and one count of failure to appear, according to Charme Allen, the District Attorney General for the 6th Judicial District in Knoxville.

McClatchy News could not locate Perkins’ attorney information on July 26.

Perkins started dating the girl’s mother in 2016, according to a July 25 news release from Allen’s office.

He moved in with the family and began sexually abusing the woman’s daughter at locations in Knoxville, as well as in North Carolina and Florida, during his five-year relationship with the mom, investigators said.

Records show that in June 2018, on a family vacation to Pensacola, Florida, he’s accused of assaulting the then-12-year-old girl at a condominium, according to an arrest report from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

The girl came forward in 2022 at age 16 to report the incidents, according to the district attorney general. The teen said she recently learned she had a sexually transmitted disease that only could have come from Perkins, Florida authorities said.

The woman’s mother told investigators Perkins showed her daughter a lot of attention but she “never imagined he was hurting” her.

Perkins’ trial was set to begin Dec. 11, 2023, but he didn’t show up to court that day, officials said.

Instead, he fled to the Cherokee National Forest to live at a campsite he prepared, as a manhunt for him began, prosecutors said. He was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service three days later, according to officials.

He pleaded guilty to the charges in Tennessee. Officials declined to prosecute the case in Florida, records show.

“This prosecution has been a long time coming for a victim who has been abused but who told the court ... that she has not been defeated,” Allen said.