 | Monday, January 5, 2009 |
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Background: When three bodies were discovered at a North Idaho home on May 16, 2005, no one could anticipate the extent of the shocking story that would unfold. A weeks-long search for two missing children ended July 2 when 8-year-old girl Shasta Groene was discovered with a convicted sex offender at a Coeur dAlene restaurant. Her 9-year-old brother, Dylan, was found dead at a remote Montana campsite. A federal grand jury indicted confessed killer Joseph Edward Duncan III. Sentencing proceedings took place in Summer 2008 and included new grisly details of the Groene/McKenzie murders, including Duncan's torture video of 9-year-old Dylan. A jury of nine men and three women chose to execute Duncan. 12/7/2008 | The house that stood as a reminder of a terrible tragedy is gone. The Idaho Transportation Department on Saturday destroyed the Wolf Lodge Bay home of Mark McKenzie and Brenda Matthews Groene, bringing some closure to the couple's family and friends.
11/25/2008 | BOISE Defense attorneys charged that the FBI plied Joseph Duncan with milkshakes and gifts to manipulate him into not appealing his death sentence, but a federal judge rejected that charge Monday and tossed out the appeal. 11/20/2008 | Shoulder-high weeds obscure the front entry, but the house where a North Idaho murder spree began still stands, easily visible to travelers passing on Interstate 90 just east of Coeur d'Alene. 11/18/2008 | BOISE Joseph Duncan is appealing his death sentence to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
10/19/2008 | BOISE The foreman of the jury that sentenced killer and child molester Joseph Duncan to death in August has "no regrets" about the unanimous verdict, which jurors reached in just three hours.
8/29/2008 | BOISE Jurors who imposed the death penalty on Joseph Duncan are being offered help coping with the horrific things they saw and heard during the killer's sentencing trial. 8/28/2008 | BOISE If ever a case justified the death penalty, Joseph Duncan's kidnapping, torture and murder of a 9-year-old Coeur d'Alene boy is the one, federal prosecutors argued Wednesday. A jury of nine men and three women agreed. 8/28/2008 | Before 2005, Wolf Lodge Bay was a place to eat a steak, watch ospreys hunt fish in Lake Coeur d'Alene or find an easy campsite. 8/28/2008 | As I write this Wednesday the newsroom is abuzz with the latest on a two-legged monster.A federal jury in Boise just ruled that Joseph Duncan must die for his repugnant and rapacious acts against humanity. 8/28/2008 | Joseph Duncan likely will be transferred soon from Boise to the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. the prison where condemned federal inmates are executed. 8/27/2008 | BOISE With heartfelt testimony from the father of murdered Dylan Groene, prosecutors wrapped up their case Tuesday in the federal death penalty sentencing trial for admitted killer Joseph Duncan. 8/26/2008 | BOISE A mother sobbed on the witness stand, telling of her two murdered daughters.Glum federal jurors listened to her testimony, but several looked away from her and across the room at Joseph Duncan, who told the FBI he kidnapped the two girls on a Seattle street and killed them with a crowbar. While Duncan sat at the defense table, looking down, several male jurors watched the bearded, orange-shirted, wild-haired defendant with narrowed eyes. 8/24/2008 | BOISE As a federal jury decides whether Joseph Duncan lives or dies for his murder and torture of a 9-year-old boy, the killer's legal saga may have only just begun. 8/23/2008 | The three crimes for which Joseph Duncan was found eligible for the death penalty in 9-year-old Dylan Groene's murder: 8/23/2008 | BOISE Joseph Duncan wasn't just planning to kidnap, rape and murder one child he planned to commit such crimes over and over until he died, the convicted killer told a federal jury Friday. 8/22/2008 | Editor's note: This story contains explicit descriptions of severe abuse of a child. 8/22/2008 | Deliberations to begin in trial's first phase
The jury in the Joseph Duncan death penalty sentencing trial will start deliberations today for the first phase of the trial. 8/21/2008 | BOISE Joseph Duncan's story that his initial shooting of 9-year-old Dylan Groene was an accident was undermined in court Wednesday, when an FBI firearms expert testified that extensive testing showed Duncan's shotgun couldn't fire accidentally. 8/21/2008 | BOISE Steve Groene, father of the victim, has filed an emergency motion urging U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge to reconsider his order that a graphic video be shown in open court in the Joseph Duncan case. 8/20/2008 | BOISE Joseph Duncan repeatedly threatened to kill the two children he held captive for weeks at a remote Montana campsite in 2005, the surviving victim told police shortly after her rescue. 8/19/2008 | After nearly 30 years in the news business (yes, I really did start writing for my hometown newspaper at the age of 16), I like to think of myself as calm and fairly tough in the face of news of all types. 8/19/2008 | BOISE β Joseph Duncan was set to commit his crimes in northwestern Montana, with different children as his victims, before he changed his mind, drove to Idaho and targeted the Groene family. 8/16/2008 | BOISE Videotapes of Shasta and Dylan Groene clowning around at a Montana campsite with their abductor, Joseph Duncan, were played to the jury in Duncan's federal death sentence trial Friday. 8/16/2008 | In a day filled with tragic photos, shocking videos and the display of the shotgun used to kill 9-year-old Dylan Groene, federal jurors also were given a closer look into the troubled mind of murderer Joseph Duncan. 8/15/2008 | BOISE One of the big mysteries surrounding Joseph Duncan's murderous crime spree three years ago was resolved Thursday as the frightened, tearful voice of an 8-year-old girl explained to rescuers why after nearly two months of captivity her abductor had brought her back. 8/14/2008 | Before Joseph Duncan kidnapped and sexually abused two children near Coeur d'Alene in 2005, he stalked a musical activity school for preschoolers on Spokane's South Hill, authorities revealed Wednesday. 8/14/2008 | BOISE - Jurors frowned, pursed their lips, some reddened visibly and one gasped out loud as U.S. Attorney Tom Moss detailed the horrific tale of Joseph Duncan's crimes, intricately planned in advance, culminating in the sexual torture and murder of a 9-year-old boy and an attempt to burn beyond recognition every piece of his body. 8/13/2008 | BOISE Shasta Groene, the only survivor of Joseph Duncan's murderous rampage in 2005, may not have to testify against her attacker after all. 8/12/2008 | Opening statements will begin Wednesday in the death penalty sentencing trial of admitted killer Joseph Duncan. 8/12/2008 | BOISE Here's how high the stakes are in the jury selection under way in the Joseph Duncan case: If one juror objects in any of three different votes, Duncan would be spared the death penalty. 8/9/2008 | BOISE Joseph Duncan, acting as his own attorney, acknowledged Friday that a videotape he made of himself torturing and abusing a 9-year-old North Idaho boy he later murdered is so disturbing that it could leave some viewers emotionally scarred. 8/8/2008 | BOISE Confessed killer Joseph Duncan insisted on taking over questioning his potential jurors Thursday, sidelining his standby attorneys, but then refused to ask any questions. 8/7/2008 | BOISE Joseph Duncan's standby attorneys told a federal judge Wednesday that the confessed killer is so irrational they can't ethically follow his wishes, and they asked to withdraw from the case. 8/6/2008 | BOISE A federal judge has ordered the courtroom closed if confessed killer Joseph Duncan's surviving victim takes the stand in his death penalty sentencing trial, even though the 11-year-old girl likely would testify from another room by closed-circuit television. 8/3/2008 | BOISE When Joseph Duncan takes over as his own attorney in his upcoming death penalty sentencing hearings, it'll change the nature of the proceedings, experts say and make the confessed multiple murderer much more likely to get the death penalty. 8/2/2008 | BOISE Killer Joseph Duncan wants access to the computer files including images, video, audio and documents from the laptop that was confiscated from him when he was arrested with Shasta Groene, and from another computer confiscated from his North Dakota apartment.
7/26/2008 | BOISE Attorneys for Joseph Duncan argued Friday that the courtroom should remain open when prosecutors play graphic videotape evidence during his sentencing hearing, but that it should be closed if Shasta Groene testifies. 7/25/2008 | BOISE Convicted killer Joseph Duncan is competent enough to face death penalty proceedings for the murder of the North Idaho boy he abducted after slaying most of the 9-year-old's family, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge ruled Thursday. 7/24/2008 | BOISE A June U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the right of mentally ill defendants to represent themselves in court could affect the case of Joseph Duncan, who admitted killing four members of a North Idaho family. 7/22/2008 | BOISE U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge on Monday ordered prospective jurors in the Joseph Duncan case to check in July 30 for further instructions, suggesting the death penalty proceedings for the convicted killer may be about to resume. 7/18/2008 | BOISE Convicted killer Joseph Duncan's lawyers have filed a motion to declare him mentally incompetent which would not only keep him from acting as his own lawyer, but also would halt his federal death penalty proceedings and send him to a secure mental facility until he's found competent to return to court. 7/16/2008 | BOISE Attorneys for murderer and child molester Joseph Duncan say there's been too much secrecy in the killer's death sentence proceedings, and they are objecting to a closed court hearing planned Thursday.
5/15/2008 | BOISE The latest development in the Joseph Duncan sentencing raises a major question: What happens to the case against the confessed killer if psychological evaluations find he's mentally incompetent? 5/14/2008 | A decision on whether confessed killer Joseph Duncan should die for what he did to two North Idaho children was pushed back Tuesday when a federal judge ordered a second mental evaluation. 5/9/2008 | The public has no constitutional right to see the results of a mental evaluation of killer Joseph Duncan, a federal judge in Boise ruled Thursday. 5/3/2008 | The public should be able to know results of the psychological exam that will help decide whether admitted murderer Joseph Duncan is competent to act as his own attorney in his sentencing hearing, lawyers for Idaho and Washington news organizations said Friday.
4/30/2008 | The U.S. attorney for Idaho says the courtroom should be closed to the public during any testimony from Shasta Groene at the death penalty proceedings for confessed killer Joseph Duncan. 4/23/2008 | BOISE More than two dozen prospective jurors were waiting to be questioned, Joseph Duncan was in court, and attorneys and the judge were assembled. But Tuesday's jury selection proceedings were delayed after the defense objected to proceeding without a ruling on whether Duncan will serve as his own attorney in his death penalty hearings and the government concurred. 4/22/2008 | BOISE Convicted killer Joseph Duncan will be allowed to act as his own attorney if he passes a mental evaluation, U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge ruled Monday. 4/19/2008 | BOISE Convicted killer Joseph Duncan said Friday that his "ideology" is behind his request to act as his own attorney in his death penalty sentencing hearings for kidnapping, molesting and killing a 9-year-old boy. 4/17/2008 | BOISE Joseph Duncan wants to act as his own attorney in his death penalty hearings, his lawyers told the court Wednesday. 4/16/2008 | The public should be able to "observe all matters" considered by a U.S. District Court jury that will decide if confessed killer Joseph Duncan should face the federal death penalty, 16 media and open-government organizations argued in a legal brief filed Tuesday. 4/15/2008 | BOISE The largest jury pool ever summoned to federal court in Idaho gathered at a Boise convention center Monday to face a thin, shaggy-haired killer whose fate rests in their hands. 4/13/2008 | BOISE Three hundred fifty people will gather in Boise's convention center on Monday to start an extraordinary process: deciding whether Joseph Duncan should die for what he did to two North Idaho children.
2/16/2008 | Jurors can consider incriminating statements convicted murderer Joseph Duncan made to FBI agents as they decide whether he should be executed for his crimes, a federal judge has ruled. 2/7/2008 | BOISE Attorneys for convicted murderer Joseph Edward Duncan III are asking a federal judge to postpone his sentencing hearing on 10 federal charges until September, and to prevent the only surviving victim from testifying about the effect the deaths of her mother, older brother and family friend had on her. 2/5/2008 | BOISE A federal judge has rejected defense attorneys' motions to suppress evidence seized from the vehicle Joseph Duncan was driving when he was found with young Shasta Groene, the only survivor of Duncan's bloody attack on her family. 1/24/2008 | BOISE Shasta Groene told authorities that Joseph Duncan, during the weeks he held her captive at a remote Montana campsite, described killing at least three other children a tip that prompted authorities to investigate Duncan as a possible serial killer. 1/23/2008 | BOISE The night she was rescued from killer Joseph Duncan, young Shasta Groene gave such a vivid description of Duncan's killing of her brother, Dylan, that it left little doubt that 9-year-old Dylan was dead.
12/20/2007 | BOISE Attorneys for confessed killer Joseph Duncan are standing by their claim that Idaho's federal grand juror selection rules are unconstitutional. 12/14/2007 | U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge has set Joseph Duncan's death penalty sentencing hearings to begin April 14 one week later than federal prosecutors had requested. 12/7/2007 | BOISE Shasta Groene won't have to testify in federal court against killer Joseph Duncan under an agreement reached by both sides in the case. 12/1/2007 | BOISE Joseph Duncan, who has been charged with kidnapping two North Idaho children in 2005 and killing one of them, is scheduled to enter a guilty plea Monday in federal court.
9/29/2007 | The attorney who defended Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and child-killer Susan Smith will head Joseph Duncan's federal defense team.
8/29/2007 | Three computer forensic experts will testify at killer Joseph Duncan's federal trial about the pictures, videos and journal entries found on his computer equipment, federal prosecutors said in a court filing Tuesday. 8/18/2007 | BOISE Convicted murderer Joseph Duncan failed to reply in time to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the father of the children Duncan is accused of killing or kidnapping, according to a court finding.
7/20/2007 | Federal prosecutors can't have a log of Joseph Duncan's prison visitors, but U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge is allowing prosecutors to see some of the convicted killer's mail.
6/29/2007 | Shasta Groene will have a home next week with her own petal-pink bedroom and a Caribbean-themed playroom. 6/7/2007 | Federal prosecutors have identified the first expert witnesses expected to testify in the case against convicted killer Joseph Duncan.
5/16/2007 | BOISE Lawyers are busy filing motions. Court clerks are updating the docket. The federal case against Joseph Duncan is moving slowly toward trial.
4/4/2007 | A community effort to build a house for the lone survivor of one of the Coeur d'Alene area's most notorious crimes reached a milestone Tuesday morning.
3/23/2007 | Joseph Duncan will stand trial in January 2008, U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge said in an order issued Thursday. 3/20/2007 | BOISE Steve Groene told a federal court Monday that he's dying of throat cancer and if Joseph Duncan's trial is put off for a year and a half, as the defense has requested, Groene's daughter Shasta may have no parent to support her through the trial.
2/9/2007 | BOISE California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday demanded that convicted killer Joseph Duncan be shipped to his state to be tried for the 1997 slaying. 1/24/2007 | A decade before Joseph Duncan allegedly abducted and killed Dylan Groene, he killed two girls in Western Washington and a boy in Southern California. 1/20/2007 | BOISE Joseph Duncan was ordered Friday to stand trial in federal court in March, but his attorney says the convicted killer's defense won't be ready by then. 1/19/2007 | A federal grand jury indicted Joseph Duncan on Thursday for the torture killing of 9-year-old Dylan Groene and the May 2005 kidnappings of the boy and his sister, Shasta. 1/17/2007 | BOISE Federal prosecutors have filed their first charge against murderer Joseph Duncan, but it's not for abducting two North Idaho children and killing one of them. 1/10/2007 | A decision hasn't been made on where Joseph Duncan might be tried for alleged crimes against the youngest Groene children, Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Haws said Tuesday. 1/6/2007 | Steve Groene is looking for a nonprofit group that can raffle off his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
11/7/2006 | FARGO, N.D. The FBI is investigating whether convicted murderer and sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III might be involved in the slaying of a Montana teenager found dead in North Dakota four years ago.
10/28/2006 | The brother of murder victim Mark McKenzie is suing to prevent confessed killer Joseph Edward Duncan from making money off his crimes. 10/27/2006 | Joseph Duncan's defense team spent about $400,000 preparing for his triple-murder trial in Coeur d'Alene before the trial was canceled last week after a plea bargain. 10/19/2006 | Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas said Wednesday he feels bad for family members of Joseph Duncan's murder victims if they misunderstood key points in the plea deal that Douglas crafted and Duncan accepted over the weekend. 10/18/2006 | For one of the few times in his adult life, Joseph Duncan did something with others in mind. At least he said he did. 10/17/2006 | Justice and closure. The words were repeated again and again Monday morning as investigators, attorneys and victims' relatives reacted to Joseph Duncan's admission that he murdered three members of a Coeur d'Alene-area family.
Slideshow: Photos from the hearing 10/17/2006 | Joseph Duncan didn't throw in all his cards when he accepted a last-minute plea deal that short-circuited the need for a jury trial. As part of the unique plea bargain, the 43-year-old confessed killer must answer questions put to him by Kootenai County sheriff's detectives who investigated the grisly triple-murders at Wolf Lodge Bay in May 2005. 10/16/2006 | Jury selection in the triple-murder trial of Joseph Edward Duncan III has been canceled. The Associated Press is reporting this morning that a plea deal has been reached, citing an anonymous source. 10/15/2006 | Joseph Edward Duncan will be tried in Kootenai County without two key pieces of evidence: The murder weapon and physical proof that in May 2005 he was in the Wolf Lodge home where he's accused of having murdered three members of a local family. 10/15/2006 | If Joseph Duncan is convicted and sentenced to death, it will be a first for both Kootenai County Public Defender John Adams and Prosecutor Bill Douglas. 10/14/2006 | A hefty jury questionnaire was mailed recently to 800 Kootenai County residents summoned for the jury pool in the Joseph Duncan triple-murder trial. 10/14/2006 | The public and news media will not be allowed to watch jury selection in the Joseph Duncan murder-kidnapping trial that begins Monday in Coeur d'Alene. 10/13/2006 | Shasta Groene, the key witness in the case against accused killer Joseph Duncan, has been declared competent to testify in his triple-murder trial. 10/13/2006 | Joseph Duncan's attorney and the Kootenai County prosecutor want to pick the accused killer's jury out of view of the public and news media. 10/12/2006 | Joseph Duncan says he will plead guilty to four murders, kidnapping and other crimes against a Coeur d'Alene family if he's promised life in prison with no chance of parole. 10/10/2006 | The father of kidnap victim Shasta Groene was released from a Seattle hospital on Monday after his vocal cords and a cancerous tumor were removed, the University of Washington Medical Center said. 10/6/2006 | Steve Groene is suing to keep the man accused of killing two of his sons and kidnapping and molesting his daughter from profiting from the crimes. 10/3/2006 | The U.S. attorney general's office has given federal prosecutors the green light to seek the death penalty for murder suspect Joseph Duncan.
9/29/2006 | Jurors in Joseph Duncan's triple-murder trial can hear incriminating statements the suspected killer made following his arrest, 1st District Judge Fred Gibler ruled Thursday. 9/29/2006 | Shasta Groene is "pretty scared and nervous" about having to testify against Joseph Duncan at his triple-murder trial next month, the Idaho girl's father said Thursday. 9/3/2006 | OLYMPIA Nearly a year after he was arrested, Michael Anthony Mullen says it was an infamous North Idaho case Joseph Edward Duncan's alleged kidnapping, sexually abusing and killing of Groene family members in May 2005 that drove him to murder two Bellingham sex offenders.
8/26/2006 | Federal prosecutors want to seek the death penalty for Joseph Duncan, the U. S. attorney's office confirmed Friday. The ultimate decision on whether Duncan could face death for alleged crimes against Dylan and Shasta Groene lies with the U. 8/25/2006 | Because Joseph Duncan isn't charged with crimes against Shasta Groene in Kootenai County, his attorney says the 9-year-old must face Duncan in court when she testifies against him later this fall. 8/24/2006 | If 1st District Judge Fred Gibler finds the 9-year-old is capable of taking the stand, Shasta Groene will be in the same room as Joseph Duncan when she testifies against her alleged abductor in October. 8/23/2006 | Public Defender John Adams fought passionately Tuesday to keep statements Joseph Duncan made about Shasta Groene and crimes against her family from being used against the triple-murder suspect at his trial this fall. 8/18/2006 | Kootenai County prosecutors filed a reply to Joseph Duncan's attorney late Thursday afternoon to keep the death penalty on the table in the homicide suspect's case. 8/17/2006 | Homicide suspect Joseph Duncan is not expected to appear in court next week during two days of arguments over motions in his triple-murder case, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department. 8/16/2006 | Almost a year to the day he pleaded not guilty to the murders of three members of a Coeur d'Alene family, Joseph Duncan may be back in court next week for a round of pretrial motions from both the defense attorney and prosecutor. 8/11/2006 | Joseph Duncan isn't set to be tried on triple-murder charges until October, but his attorney is already asking for the state's protocol for lethal injection.
7/29/2006 | A federal lawsuit against a Becker County, Minn., judge has been dismissed, but attorneys for the plaintiffs plan to renew their claim that low bail for convicted sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III enabled him to kill again. 7/20/2006 | Denny's was proud of Amber Deahn and other employees after they helped rescue Shasta Groene from the clutches of sadistic Joseph Edward Duncan last July so proud that it bought a USA Today ad to salute them.
6/27/2006 | Joseph Duncan laughed at times and cried at times in the hour after he was booked into the Kootenai County Jail nearly one year ago, according to recently filed court documents.
5/13/2006 | 5/13/2006 | They were ghastly crimes in a tranquil area near Coeur d'Alene. Three dead, bludgeoned with a hammer in their home. Two children missing. 5/13/2006 | It's May again and the grass has grown high along Bob Hollingsworth's driveway. A year ago last Mother's Day weekend the 73-year-old real estate broker hired a neighbor kid to mow the green strip leading to his Wolf Lodge home. 5/13/2006 | In Washington, the state capitol is more than 300 miles from the Idaho home where the Groene-McKenzie family members were attacked, slain and abducted. But echoes from the horrific case resounded in the Olympia statehouse for months. 5/13/2006 | Coeur d'Alene attorney John Sahlin became disenchanted with the legal process early in his career. He specialized in family law, an area he said many attorneys consider "one of the least rewarding areas of practice. 5/11/2006 | Steve Groene has made it clear he doesn't want his daughter to have to take the stand and face the man accused of murdering her two brothers, her mother and her mother's boyfriend. 5/9/2006 | A request by the father of Shasta Groene to drop the possibility of the death penalty in the state murder trial of Joseph Edward Duncan III also has reached the ears of federal prosecutors. 5/9/2006 | The U.S. Senate has passed a bill designed to strengthen national sex offender registry requirements, partly in response to the Joseph Duncan case. 5/3/2006 | OLYMPIA Backers of a one-strike-you're-out sex offender law are turning to bikers and bands for help. "Eastern Washington is so on this," said Tracy Oetting, sponsor of Initiative 921. 5/2/2006 | Shasta Groene thinks it's a great idea to have a plaque memorializing her slain brother on the playground at Fernan Elementary School, her father said Monday.
4/28/2006 | Steve Groene has asked for the death penalty case to be withdrawn against the man accused of kidnapping his daughter and murdering his two sons last year, Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas said. 4/23/2006 | KIRKLAND The man glanced at the stacks of petitions and hesitated. Automatic life in prison for certain sex crimes? "It seems a little harsh," he said. A few feet away, talking to someone else, was a man to whom a "one strike" law doesn't seem harsh at all. 4/4/2006 | Dylan Groene may be memorialized with a piece of playground equipment at Fernan Elementary School. The school's principal has been contacted by a North Carolina man who wants to raise money for a Wall Ball a wall children can bounce balls off as a memorial to Dylan, who attended the school, Coeur d'Alene Superintendent Harry Amend said Monday.
3/16/2006 | DETROIT LAKES, Minn. A deadline for serving Becker County with a lawsuit over the release of accused kidnapper and killer Joseph E. Duncan III is approaching, but the county hasn't received the paperwork. 3/2/2006 | Kootenai County commissioners have asked Joseph Duncan's public defender to get pre-approval for all expenses related to the triple-homicide case. They made the request in a memo to Public Defender John Adams.
2/28/2006 | The families of homicide victims Brenda Groene, her son Slade and her boyfriend, Mark McKenzie, said Monday they want the death penalty to stay on the table in the trial of accused killer Joseph Duncan. 2/24/2006 | Joseph Duncan's triple-murder trial has been postponed until Oct. 16. "No one wants to try this case twice, including me," 1st District Judge Fred Gibler said Thursday in granting Duncan's attorneys a six-month extension. 2/23/2006 | If suspected killer Joseph Duncan gets his triple-homicide trial postponed, it could be a double-edged sword for his legal team. 2/22/2006 | Prosecutors are asking 1st District Judge Fred Gibler to consider the impact another delay in the trial of Joseph Edward Duncan III might have on Shasta Groene. 2/16/2006 | A Coeur d'Alene woman has printed hundreds of "Kill Duncan!" bumper stickers, aimed at Joseph Edward Duncan III, the sex offender charged in last May's triple homicide at Wolf Lodge Bay. 2/7/2006 | Joseph Duncan's attorneys are fighting to use the insanity defense in his upcoming triple-murder trial. But in a recent letter believed to be from the suspect, Duncan apparently says he's "not crazy." 2/2/2006 | Kootenai County Public Defender John Adams says he needs more time to prepare a defense for homicide suspect Joseph Duncan. Adams asked Wednesday that Duncan's triple-murder trial be rescheduled no sooner than mid-November. 1/28/2006 | Joseph Duncan has sent more than 60 letters from jail to people including relatives, a former neighbor and a doctor who once told a parole board he thought Duncan wasn't a threat to society. 1/25/2006 | Homicide suspect Joseph Duncan may be blogging from his Coeur d'Alene jail cell with the help of an anonymous correspondent. 1/25/2006 | Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas is using the trial of the man who murdered an Idaho State Police trooper to support his argument that an outside jury isn't needed to guarantee accused killer Joseph Duncan receives a fair trial. 1/20/2006 | Joseph Edward Duncan has been visited 240 times since he was booked into the Kootenai County Jail six months ago, but apparently not a single family member has come to see the accused killer, according to jail visitor logs. 1/18/2006 | "Massive pretrial publicity" and community hostility mean murder suspect Joseph Edward Duncan III cannot get a fair trial in Kootenai County, his attorneys said Tuesday in applying for a change of venue. 1/18/2006 | Accused killer Joseph Edward Duncan's mental state should be considered in his defense, a move that would overturn nearly a quarter-century of Idaho law, his lawyer argued in a motion filed Tuesday. 1/12/2006 | Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas is asking that Shasta Groene be allowed to testify against Joseph Duncan without facing the accused killer in a courtroom.
12/6/2005 | Just days before Shasta Groene was found, the lead detective in the case began working with a psychic investigator hired by the girl's father. Shasta was found before tips that psychic Noreen Renier provided could be used, but Renier said she's confident that she had "nailed it" and that she saw where Joseph Duncan had been holding the Groene children hostage. 12/6/2005 | The estates of two people who prosecutors allege were killed by Joseph Edward Duncan III sued Becker County, Minn. , on Monday for releasing the registered sex offender a few weeks before Brenda Groene and Mark McKenzie were slain in their Idaho home.
11/29/2005 | OLYMPIA Convicted child rapist Joseph Duncan spends his days in a jail cell now, but his presence will be felt in Olympia in January. 11/24/2005 | Joseph Edward Duncan's attorneys have been given three more months to prepare a defense for the suspected murderer. Public defender John Adams said his office needed more time to sort through the evidence in the case, which includes 17,000 pages; 125 CDs, DVDs and cassettes; and a 200 gigabyte hard drive. 11/15/2005 | Joseph Duncan's attorneys are asking for more time to prepare for their client's murder and kidnapping trial. 11/6/2005 | Convicted sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III was trying to return 8-year-old abduction victim Shasta Groene when he was captured with the girl in a restaurant, Duncan's brother told a newspaper. 11/3/2005 | Attorneys came to an agreement Wednesday that will prevent copies from being made of pornographic videos that Joseph Edward Duncan allegedly made as he held Dylan and Shasta Groene at a remote Montana campsite.
10/30/2005 | Lawyers for sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III are split over whether to press for copies of child-porn videos involving Duncan's alleged victims, Duncan's federal public defender said Saturday. 10/28/2005 | Duplicating videos that Joseph Duncan allegedly made would jeopardize an ongoing state and federal child pornography investigation, Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas said Thursday. Douglas, in a new legal brief, seeks court permission to provide details in a sealed affidavit of the ongoing but separate investigation. 10/25/2005 | Prosecutors are asking 1st District Judge Fred Gibler to reconsider his order that graphic videos seized as part of the murder and kidnapping investigation into suspected serial killer Joseph Edward Duncan be copied for defense lawyers. 10/22/2005 | The FBI said Friday that law enforcement never escorted Mark Fuhrman to Montana crime scenes where Joseph Edward Duncan III allegedly held two young kidnapping victims. 10/22/2005 | Court transcripts unsealed Friday shed more light on how authorities believe Joseph Edward Duncan III murdered three members of a Coeur d'Alene family and about the weeks that he allegedly held young Dylan and Shasta Groene at a remote Montana campsite and committed a fourth murder. 10/21/2005 | Authorities escorted former Los Angeles homicide detective Mark Fuhrman, a Spokane radio personality, to Montana crime scenes where Joseph Edward Duncan III allegedly held Shasta and Dylan Groene before the scenes were processed by investigators, according to Duncan's attorney. 10/20/2005 | Suspected serial killer Joseph Duncan used his young captives to produce child pornography videos, authorities acknowledged for the first time Wednesday. 10/15/2005 | The nation needs consistent laws for tracking and prosecuting sex offenders, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell said Friday during a stop in Spokane. 10/8/2005 | FARGO, N. D. The same week Oprah Winfrey began devoting time on her show to tracking down sex offenders, she has a collar to show for it. 10/7/2005 | COEUR D'ALENE The brother of a man who was killed with his girlfriend and her son has filed a $500,000 tort claim accusing a Minnesota judge and prosecutor of negligence in the earlier release of Joseph E. Duncan III. 10/5/2005 | Oprah Winfrey has had it with sex offenders being released from prison only to abduct, abuse and even commit murder. Shasta Groene's story out of Kootenai County was the last straw, Winfrey said during Tuesday's episode of her national television talk show. 10/4/2005 | "Kidnapped by a Pedophile: The Shasta Groene Tragedy" is the title of today's "Oprah Winfrey Show. "Steve Groene, father of the 8-year-old kidnapping victim from Coeur d'Alene, was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and will be sharing the latest information in the case, according to Winfrey's Web site.
9/29/2005 | Amber Deahn pinned a fading yellow ribbon to her shirt Wednesday afternoon a yellow ribbon that was just recently taken off a Beaumont, Calif., woman's fridge and addressed to Deahn with a note of thanks. 9/17/2005 | Joseph Edward Duncan may face several federal charges for felonies he allegedly committed in Montana while holding Dylan and Shasta Groene captive, including production of child pornography, the Idaho U.S. Attorney's office said Friday. 9/17/2005 | Long before the white cinderblock house on Frontage Road was made infamous as the scene of a triple-homicide, the nondescript rancher was Ralph McKenzie's boyhood home. 9/16/2005 | SEATTLE The man who turned himself in and confessed to killing two Bellingham child rapists plans to seek execution as quickly as possible so he can wait in the afterlife to punish the man whose crimes he says drove him to kill: Joseph Edward Duncan III. 9/16/2005 | Up until the early morning hours of July 2, Phillip "Nick" Chapman, Chris Donlan, Amber Deahn and Linda Olson were four ordinary people. The kind of people you might see at a Denny's restaurant on any given night. 9/15/2005 | Documents released Wednesday show authorities have seized a chilling collection of evidence in building their case against murder suspect Joseph Edward Duncan. 9/11/2005 | For months, anyone could follow the epic struggle in the mind of Joseph Edward Duncan III live, on the Internet. "It is a battle between me and my demons," Duncan wrote in his Web log on April 24. 9/9/2005 | The Groene family is sharing its story with Oprah Winfrey. Family spokeswoman Wendy Price said the family has agreed to avoid discussing details of the show, which they expect will air in October. 9/9/2005 | The attorney for murder suspect Joseph Edward Duncan III is asking the court to suppress statements that Duncan allegedly made during jailhouse interviews in late July. 9/7/2005 | Joseph Edward Duncan won't be extradited to Minnesota to face charges for a July 2004 assault on two children at a Minnesota playground until after the state of Idaho finishes criminal proceedings against the convicted sex offender, a Kootenai County District Court judge ruled Tuesday.
8/14/2005 | In a show of community support, hundreds of people gathered for a daylong event at the Greyhound Park in Post Falls to raise money for Shasta Groene and a 12-year-old girl who authorities say was raped and stabbed. 8/9/2005 | Three days before police say he murdered an Idaho family, Joseph Duncan bragged online about an encrypted, tell-all journal that wouldn't be broken into for decades. 8/6/2005 | Joseph Edward Duncan III, who is accused of kidnapping and murdering members of a Coeur d'Alene-area family in May, waived his preliminary hearing Friday. Duncan will face an arraignment next, at which he'll enter a plea. 8/5/2005 | Investigators are now reviewing unsolved missing children cases nationwide for possible links to kidnapping and murder suspect Joseph Edward Duncan III. Typically, the arrest of a violent sexual predator would prompt a regional review of unsolved cases, said FBI Special Agent Brent Robbins. 8/4/2005 |  Joseph Edward Duncan III, the man at the center of a multiple murder and kidnapping spree in North Idaho, may be well on his way to being identified as a serial killer one who targets children, investigators said. 8/4/2005 | After being paroled in 1994, sex offender Joseph Duncan traveled throughout the Seattle area and to several states. Here, based on state probation records, are some of Duncan's movements.
7/29/2005 | Two Denny's employees were rewarded Thursday for their role in the rescue of Shasta Groene earlier this month, but her father thinks another rescuer was shortchanged and is considering giving him his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. 7/29/2005 | The U.S. Senate on Thursday night unanimously passed legislation to pressure states to more closely watch violent sex offenders after they're released from prison. 7/28/2005 | Four workers at Kootenai Medical Center were disciplined recently for violating Shasta Groene's privacy, after they viewed her medical records even though they weren't part of her medical team. 7/28/2005 | John Tuggle walked into a convenience store on Wednesday, past his own wanted poster hanging on the door, to ask a clerk behind the counter about packaged hotdogs. 7/28/2005 | In the wake of the murders, kidnappings and sexual attacks on two minor children at Wolf Lodge, Idaho, lawmakers will be rushing to write or endorse legislation making violent sexual crimes even more illegal than they already are. 7/25/2005 | The recent murder and kidnapping case in Coeur d'Alene's back yard depressed children's advocate Tinka Schaffer, but she also saw an opportunity in the accompanying publicity to help teach children about sexual abuse. 7/24/2005 | BOISE Idaho's sex offender law has a major gap it methodically identifies the worst, most violent offenders who are most likely to reoffend, but then allows them to live unsupervised in the community. 7/23/2005 | Sitting at the end of the bar in the American Legion Post 149 in Athol, manager Shirley Hyke doesn't know what North Idaho is coming to. 7/22/2005 | DETROIT LAKES, Minn. A judge who's under fire for allowing sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III to go free on bail is regarded locally as so tough that defendants try to avoid him. 7/21/2005 | CHISHOLM, Minn. Investigators have ruled out convicted sex offender Joseph E. Duncan III as a suspect in the disappearance more than two years ago of a 5-year-old Chisholm girl, police said Wednesday. 7/20/2005 | A fund-raiser at a Stateline bar Sunday raised $36,000 for Shasta Groene's trust fund. The owner of Cruiser's bar said Tuesday that thousands of people came out to support the 8-year-old kidnapping victim and the bar is still fielding calls from across the nation from people wanting to donate. 7/19/2005 | OLYMPIA Shortly after Joseph Edward Duncan III's initial release from prison, his therapist and parole officer clashed over the appropriateness of the sex life he adopted as part of his newfound freedom. 7/19/2005 | OLYMPIA State prison records released Monday show that Joseph Edward Duncan III, as a prison inmate in Walla Walla, protested when officials there prevented him from receiving a publication that "clearly depicted child pornography." 7/18/2005 | It was a mechanized thunderstorm that lasted more than six hours on the Idaho-Washington border. Bikers, saddled on more than 500 Harley-Davidsons, converged Sunday at a small bar in Stateline to do what they could for Shasta Groene, the 8-year-old lone survivor of a kidnapping and the slayings of four family members. 7/17/2005 | When the Rev. Patrick W. Bell stands before his congregation at St. Luke's Episcopal Church today, he will preach that part of God's plan involves the bad and the good living together. 7/17/2005 | On a day that should have been filled with presents and bike rides, a grieving family and community laid Dylan James Groene to rest. It would have been his 10th birthday. 7/16/2005 | A public memorial service for Dylan Groene is scheduled for 1 p. m. today in Building 2 of Real Life Ministries, 1866 Cecil Rd. 7/16/2005 | FARGO, N. D. Joseph Duncan bought night-vision goggles here two days before renting a car in the Minneapolis area and vanishing, police documents show. 7/16/2005 | Bloggers from across the nation, often with no professional investigative training, are digging into details of Joseph E. Duncan III's history, hoping their undercover work will make an impact on the police investigation. 7/15/2005 | A public memorial service for Dylan James Groene, 9, is scheduled for 1 p. m. Saturday at Real Life Ministries in Post Falls. Dylan's death is still the subject of a federal homicide investigation, and the exact date of his death is still uncertain. 7/15/2005 |  OLYMPIA Even while in prison, Joseph Duncan III attracted advocates who lobbied for his early release, paying for lawyers, complaining to state lawmakers and browbeating state correctional officials in letters and in person. 7/14/2005 | Joseph E. Duncan III sat mute throughout his first court appearance on three first-degree murder and three first-degree kidnapping charges Wednesday. 7/13/2005 |  Joseph E. Duncan III studied the household of Brenda Groene and Mark McKenzie for two or three days before he killed them and Groene's 13-year-old son, Slade Groene, with a hammer, Kootenai County Sgt. Brad Maskell said in a Tuesday court hearing. 7/13/2005 | FARGO, N.D. A businessman wrote registered sex offender Joseph Duncan a $15,000 personal check to help Duncan make bail after he was charged with child molestation in Minnesota, police say. 7/13/2005 | Shasta Groene spent Tuesday afternoon much like any other kid. "She's running through the sprinklers and watching cartoons," said her grandmother, Darlene Torres. "She's just playing and being a kid." 7/12/2005 | Cruisers, a "drive-through" bar and grill for hot rods and motorbikes at Stateline, Idaho, has an outlet for people who want to help Shasta Groene and exercise their animosity toward her alleged kidnapper. 7/12/2005 | The Kootenai County prosecutor plans to file three counts of first-degree murder charges today against Joseph Edward Duncan III in the bludgeoning deaths of Brenda Groene, Slade Groene and Mark McKenzie. 7/11/2005 | The FBI has identified the human remains found in a rugged area of Western Montana as those of Dylan Groene, the 9-year-old North Idaho boy who had been missing since he and his sister were abducted in May from their home east of Coeur d'Alene. 7/10/2005 | FARGO, N. D. Joseph E. Duncan III lived a quiet life in this quiet High Plains town. Those who knew him say he was intelligent, courteous and a loner. 7/10/2005 | DETROIT LAKES, Minn. It was at a school playground in a rural Minnesota town where Joseph Edward Duncan III is believed to have resumed his criminal sexual behavior nearly 25 years after his last known sexual assault. 7/10/2005 | DETROIT LAKES, Minn. Attorney Stuart Kitzmann made a point of dropping by his town's courthouse early April 5 to get a look at the stranger accused of molesting two boys in a busy playground, in broad daylight on one of the busiest days of the year. 7/10/2005 | On April 5, 2005, Joseph E. Duncan III appeared in Minnesota District Court in Detroit Lakes, Minn. , where he pleaded not guilty to two felony charges of criminal sexual assault. 7/9/2005 | A dramatic week of revelations in the Groene killings and missing children's case ended quietly with officials protecting remaining details of the investigation for upcoming court proceedings. 7/8/2005 | Authorities are now backing what some kin of the triple-homicide victims thought all along that the killer had picked the Groene family at random for his crimes. 7/7/2005 | Fifteen years ago, Washington drew both fire and praise for its civil commitment law, which allows the state to hold violent sex predators even after they've served their prison sentences. 7/7/2005 |  Steve Groene called on the public Wednesday to lobby their congressmen, their senators and "even the president" to keep sexual predators off the streets. "People need to start complaining to their elected officials, and we need to get some laws changed and we need to do it quickly," Groene said during a news conference in Coeur d'Alene. 7/7/2005 | Investigators linked Joseph Edward Duncan III Wednesday to the slaying of Shasta Groene's family, saying the convicted sex offender is the only person responsible for the killings and the kidnapping of the 8-year-old girl and her 9-year-old brother. 7/6/2005 | I could sense them salivating, those television and cable news producers, those talk-show scouts, sitting in their offices in New York City and Los Angeles, watching the Shasta Groene story unfold. 7/6/2005 | TACOMA Long before Joseph Edward Duncan III crossed paths with the two Idaho children he's now accused of kidnapping, it was clear that something was seriously wrong with him. 7/6/2005 | Shasta Groene was asleep in bed the night of May 15 when her mother woke her up and took her into the living room. That's when she first encountered convicted rapist and accused child molester Joseph E. Duncan III. 7/6/2005 | ST. REGIS, Mont. The dead end of a nameless, nearly overgrown logging road deep in the backcountry of Western Montana is believed to be the site where investigators found the remains of 9-year-old Dylan Groene. 7/5/2005 |  Investigators found human remains likely belonging to missing Dylan Groene in Western Montana on Monday, according to Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson. Watson could not yet confirm that the remains are Dylan's, but they were found in one of several locations that investigators had pinpointed in their search for the 9-year-old boy. 7/4/2005 | With a suspect in custody and one kidnapping victim safe at Kootenai Medical Center, investigators are sorting through a "mountain" of new evidence in an effort to find 9-year-old Dylan Groene, authorities said Sunday. 7/4/2005 | Now that Shasta Groene has been found, the 8-year-old has the dual challenge of overcoming intense grief over her loss, and her exposure to violence, according to victims' advocates. 7/4/2005 | Steve Groene says being united with his daughter, Shasta, on Saturday was "one of the happiest moments of my life. "Groene made his comments during an exclusive interview with Fox television personality Geraldo Rivera in a live appearance Sunday evening. 7/3/2005 | Customers and workers at the Denny's Restaurant in Coeur d'Alene where Shasta Groene was rescued early Saturday say they tried to stay calm during the moments before police arrived, despite being filled with a sense of panic that the little girl might again vanish. 7/3/2005 | Joseph Edward Duncan III, the man accused of kidnapping 8-year-old Shasta Groene and a registered sex offender, was the apparent author of a blog, or Web journal, that began in January 2004. 7/3/2005 | Joseph E. Duncan III, the man found Saturday with 8-year-old Shasta Groene, was a promising computer science student with a dark secret: He was on the run from sex crimes in the Midwest. 7/3/2005 | Shasta Groene, missing for more than six weeks from a grisly murder scene near Wolf Lodge Bay, was found alive and safe Saturday, but her brother, Dylan, was still missing and feared dead.
6/29/2005 |  The possibility that drugs were a factor in the slaying of his mother and younger brother has Jesse Groene wanting to go straight, he told Judge John Mitchell in court Tuesday. 6/19/2005 | In at least one respect, Shasta and Dylan Groene were fortunate. They had two father figures who loved them very much. But a month ago, their mother's boyfriend, Mark McKenzie, was killed in their home near Wolf Lodge Bay, along with their mother, Brenda Groene, and older brother Slade Groene. 6/17/2005 | HARRISON, Idaho They wear uniforms like deputies, drive patrol cars and carry radios on their belts. They direct traffic during community events and get called out to assist in searches. 6/9/2005 |  Shasta and Dylan Groene have been missing for more than three weeks now. Their mother, brother and mother's boyfriend, who were bludgeoned to death on May 15 or 16, have been laid to rest, the national media has dispersed, and the flurry of evidence collection at the murder scene and landfill is complete. 6/1/2005 | Say the name Cooper Jones and many people in the Inland Northwest recognize it, though Cooper died eight years ago when he was just 13.
5/29/2005 | As tourists packed into Coeur d'Alene on Saturday, a half-empty Wolf Lodge Campground was enjoying a hint of calm after an unthinkable storm. The family campground, eight miles east of the city, is adjacent to the Groene home, scene of a triple homicide nearly two weeks ago, a case in which two children remain missing. 5/28/2005 | About two months ago, Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson wrote a letter to Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne complaining about the statewide Amber Alert system. 5/27/2005 | Investigators have renewed hope that two children missing from the scene of a triple homicide last week could still be alive, authorities said, after getting initial DNA results from the FBI's forensic laboratory. 5/26/2005 | The home of homicide victims Brenda Groene and Mark McKenzie was not some scene out of the "Leave it to Beaver" television show, but it also wasn't a drug den, McKenzie's family members said Wednesday. 5/25/2005 | Relatives and community members gathered in a field in Coeur d'Alene on Tuesday night to pray for three people who were recently killed near Wolf Lodge Bay and to plead for the return of the two children still missing. 5/24/2005 | Thirty more investigators from the FBI are joining the biggest criminal investigation in Kootenai County history, as a team that sometimes numbers in the hundreds assists with the search for two missing North Idaho siblings and whoever killed three of their loved ones. 5/23/2005 | Kootenai County investigators received 19 tips after a Saturday night "America's Most Wanted" TV segment on the search for two North Idaho children last seen at their home near Lake Coeur d'Alene. 5/20/2005 | Investigators still had no explanation Thursday for why three people were murdered earlier this week in a house near Lake Coeur d'Alene or who may have done it, but the Kootenai County Coroner's Office revealed what killed them. 5/19/2005 | A man called "Concrete Bob," but also known as a "person of interest" in the triple murder east of Coeur d'Alene, contacted authorities Wednesday and was detained for questioning in the murder case. 5/18/2005 |  Kootenai County authorities began a search late Tuesday for a "person of interest" in the disappearance of two young children from the scene of a triple homicide in the Wolf Lodge area along Lake Coeur d'Alene, but didn't characterize the 33-year-old Hayden man as a suspect. 5/17/2005 | WOLF LODGE BAY, Idaho -- Kootenai County sheriffs deputies are investigating an apparent homicide involving three victims at a house east of here.
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