Rape suspect dies ahead of change of plea hearing

A Kila man accused of raping a 9-year-old girl in 2020 has died ahead of a scheduled change of plea hearing in Flathead County District Court.

Deputy County Attorney John Donovan filed a motion to dismiss the felony incest case against Timothy Allen Seese, 71, in district court on Aug. 28, citing the septuagenarian’s death. The case against Seese, opened in June 2020, was delayed multiple times over the intervening three years.

Authorities initially charged Seese with sexual intercourse without consent, amending it to incest in March 2022. Seese had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Detectives with the Whitefish Police Department began investigating Seese in the late spring of 2020 after a woman alerted authorities to the allegations raised by a then 9-year-old child, court documents said. During a subsequent interview, the minor described how Seese sexually assaulted her twice at her Whitefish home, court documents said.

Seese later allegedly told investigators he was blowing raspberries on the child.

Had the case gone to trial and Seese convicted, he would have faced up to 100 years behind bars with a deferred or suspended sentence unavailable for at least 25 years. He would likewise have been ineligible for parole for the first quarter century of his sentence.

Though Seese had maintained his innocence and at one point in the proceedings Judge Dan Wilson set eight days aside for his trial, he was scheduled to appear in district court on Aug. 31 for a change of plea hearing.

Wilson ordered the case dismissed at Donovan’s behest on Aug. 28.

News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.