Scalping suspect waives hearing

CALDWELL, Idaho – A Caldwell woman accused of scalping a 16-year-old Nampa girl at Kirkham Hot Springs is scheduled to enter a plea in her case March 11.

Marianne Dahle, 26, charged with aggravated battery for the Jan. 18 attack at the mountain springs, waived her right to a preliminary hearing Tuesday in Idaho City, according to Boise County court records.

This means Dahle’s case is bound over to the 4th District Court, where felonies are tried.

If convicted, Dahle could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

Boise County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Bill Braddock said the scalping was Dahle’s revenge over “a personal slight” and that she felt the 16-year-old “acted in a way (that was) disrespectful towards women.”

Dahle reportedly took the teen and another 16-year-old girl to the hot springs to party the night of Jan. 18, Braddock said.

Dahle is accused of then tying up the girl, grabbing the back of her head and slicing off a large portion of the back and top of her scalp, according to sheriff’s reports. Dahle and the girl were long-term acquaintances and considered themselves punk rockers, officials have said.

The victim wore her hair in a mohawk-style cut.

After the scalping, Dahle drove the girl to Boise and left her at St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center, where she was hospitalized for several days after the attack, Braddock said.

She has undergone two skin graft operations to repair a portion of the scalp that was removed, he said, but there is still a large wound, and treatment is continuing.

Dahle spent more than two weeks at large after the incident while Boise County deputies sought her. A flurry of newspaper and television reports after the story broke apparently prompted Dahle to turn herself in Feb. 9, Braddock said.