schsa
07-02-2005, 12:44 PM
Missing Idaho girl found alive
Man charged with kidnapping is registered sex offender
Saturday, July 2, 2005; Posted: 5:42 p.m. EDT (21:42 GMT)
Shasta Groene was found Saturday but her brother is still missing.
Image:
An Idaho child missing for 6 weeks has been found alive(7:11)
Sheriff discusses suspect in kidnapping of girl(8:14)
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Missing Children
Idaho
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Manage Alerts | What Is This? (CNN) -- An 8-year-old Idaho girl missing more than six weeks was found alive Saturday morning, and a 42-year-old registered sex offender was arrested and charged with kidnapping, according to the sheriff's department in the county where she lived.
Shasta Groene was found about 2 a.m. (5 a.m. ET) at a Denny's restaurant in Coeur d'Alene, just miles from the home where she was last reported seen, said Capt. Ben Wolfinger of the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department.
In her company was Joseph Edward Duncan III of Fargo, North Dakota, who has outstanding warrants for his arrest and may face further charges, Wolfinger said.
Shasta was taken to the Kootenai Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said. Wolfinger said she appeared "to be in generally good health."
Investigators are still searching for Shasta's 9-year-old brother, Dylan, also missing since May 16, when their mother, a brother and their mother's boyfriend were found beaten to death in the mother's Coeur D'Alene home, Wolfinger said.
But Wolfinger said, "Our best information right now is that Dylan is deceased."
They had all been seen alive at a get-together of family and friends Sunday, May 15.
Authorities described Dylan as 4 feet tall, 60 pounds, with crew-cut blond hair and blue eyes.
The coroner's office said 40-year-old Brenda Groene, her 37-year-old boyfriend, Mark McKenzie, and her 13-year-old son, Slade, died of blunt force trauma to the head and that each had been bound.
Wolfinger said while it was "too early to tell" if Duncan had any connection with the slayings, investigators were "working all the angles in this case."
Wolfinger said he was "very surprised" the girl and Duncan were found so near her home.
Several people who were inside the restaurant said they immediately recognized the girl, whose picture has been widely circulated in the media, and called authorities.
One witness said the young girl was relaxed, coloring and drinking a soda, before police arrived and detained the man.
Wolfinger said investigators had obtained a search warrant for the red 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee Duncan was driving.
He said the vehicle was reported stolen from St. Paul, Minnesota, in early May, and that the license plates were stolen in Newton County, Missouri, a few days before.
Duncan's arrest record goes back to a 1980 rape conviction in Pierce County, Washington, when he was 16. His last address was in Fargo, North Dakota, where he was a registered sex offender, but he is listed as "delinquent" on the North Dakota offenders Web page.
"One of his outstanding warrants is failure to register as a sex offender in Washington," Wolfinger said. "The other is an unlawful flight to avoid prosecution out of Minnesota for second-degree sexual offense."
According to the Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, Police Department, Duncan was charged in early March with molesting a 7-year-old boy near a middle school in Becker County in July 2004.
The department issued a warrant for his arrest when he violated the terms of release from an April 5 court appearance.
Wolfinger said Duncan runs a Web site that advocates against prosecuting sex offenders. CNN was unable to locate the site.
In his 1980 conviction in Washington, Duncan pleaded guilty to abducting and raping a 14-year-old boy at gunpoint, burning the victim with a cigarette and firing the gun -- on empty chambers -- causing him to believe he would be killed, according to a description from the North Dakota sex offender registry.
Upon turning 17, Duncan was transferred to adult court where he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, according to the city of Fargo.
He was released on parole in 1994 after serving 14 years, but returned to prison for a parole violation in 1997.
On July 14, 2000, he was released at the end of his prison term, and on July 21 he arrived in Fargo, where he immediately enrolled at North Dakota State University. (Read more)
On his personal Web site at the school, Duncan claimed he was an honor student studying computer science and expected to graduate in May.
David Wahlberg, a school spokesman, said he would not be able to check the records about Duncan's graduation until the school reopens after the July 4 holiday Tuesday.
He did say the university had been aware of the charges in Minnesota.
Man charged with kidnapping is registered sex offender
Saturday, July 2, 2005; Posted: 5:42 p.m. EDT (21:42 GMT)
Shasta Groene was found Saturday but her brother is still missing.
Image:
An Idaho child missing for 6 weeks has been found alive(7:11)
Sheriff discusses suspect in kidnapping of girl(8:14)
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Missing Children
Idaho
or Create Your Own
Manage Alerts | What Is This? (CNN) -- An 8-year-old Idaho girl missing more than six weeks was found alive Saturday morning, and a 42-year-old registered sex offender was arrested and charged with kidnapping, according to the sheriff's department in the county where she lived.
Shasta Groene was found about 2 a.m. (5 a.m. ET) at a Denny's restaurant in Coeur d'Alene, just miles from the home where she was last reported seen, said Capt. Ben Wolfinger of the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department.
In her company was Joseph Edward Duncan III of Fargo, North Dakota, who has outstanding warrants for his arrest and may face further charges, Wolfinger said.
Shasta was taken to the Kootenai Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said. Wolfinger said she appeared "to be in generally good health."
Investigators are still searching for Shasta's 9-year-old brother, Dylan, also missing since May 16, when their mother, a brother and their mother's boyfriend were found beaten to death in the mother's Coeur D'Alene home, Wolfinger said.
But Wolfinger said, "Our best information right now is that Dylan is deceased."
They had all been seen alive at a get-together of family and friends Sunday, May 15.
Authorities described Dylan as 4 feet tall, 60 pounds, with crew-cut blond hair and blue eyes.
The coroner's office said 40-year-old Brenda Groene, her 37-year-old boyfriend, Mark McKenzie, and her 13-year-old son, Slade, died of blunt force trauma to the head and that each had been bound.
Wolfinger said while it was "too early to tell" if Duncan had any connection with the slayings, investigators were "working all the angles in this case."
Wolfinger said he was "very surprised" the girl and Duncan were found so near her home.
Several people who were inside the restaurant said they immediately recognized the girl, whose picture has been widely circulated in the media, and called authorities.
One witness said the young girl was relaxed, coloring and drinking a soda, before police arrived and detained the man.
Wolfinger said investigators had obtained a search warrant for the red 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee Duncan was driving.
He said the vehicle was reported stolen from St. Paul, Minnesota, in early May, and that the license plates were stolen in Newton County, Missouri, a few days before.
Duncan's arrest record goes back to a 1980 rape conviction in Pierce County, Washington, when he was 16. His last address was in Fargo, North Dakota, where he was a registered sex offender, but he is listed as "delinquent" on the North Dakota offenders Web page.
"One of his outstanding warrants is failure to register as a sex offender in Washington," Wolfinger said. "The other is an unlawful flight to avoid prosecution out of Minnesota for second-degree sexual offense."
According to the Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, Police Department, Duncan was charged in early March with molesting a 7-year-old boy near a middle school in Becker County in July 2004.
The department issued a warrant for his arrest when he violated the terms of release from an April 5 court appearance.
Wolfinger said Duncan runs a Web site that advocates against prosecuting sex offenders. CNN was unable to locate the site.
In his 1980 conviction in Washington, Duncan pleaded guilty to abducting and raping a 14-year-old boy at gunpoint, burning the victim with a cigarette and firing the gun -- on empty chambers -- causing him to believe he would be killed, according to a description from the North Dakota sex offender registry.
Upon turning 17, Duncan was transferred to adult court where he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison, according to the city of Fargo.
He was released on parole in 1994 after serving 14 years, but returned to prison for a parole violation in 1997.
On July 14, 2000, he was released at the end of his prison term, and on July 21 he arrived in Fargo, where he immediately enrolled at North Dakota State University. (Read more)
On his personal Web site at the school, Duncan claimed he was an honor student studying computer science and expected to graduate in May.
David Wahlberg, a school spokesman, said he would not be able to check the records about Duncan's graduation until the school reopens after the July 4 holiday Tuesday.
He did say the university had been aware of the charges in Minnesota.