Grandparents want death penalty for Duncan

By STEVE KADEL Western News Reporter

A registered sex offender charged with kidnapping an Idaho boy and girl should receive the death penalty if convicted, the girl's grandmother said this week.

"Absolutely," said Cheryl Morgan of Eureka. "We are afraid he will try and deal to get life."

Joseph Edward Duncan III of Fargo, N.D., was arrested July 2 after employees in a Coeur d'Alene restaurant recognized 8-year-old Shasta Groene, who was with him.

Shasta and her brother, 9-year-old Dylan, disappeared May 16 after three family members were bludgeoned to death at the Groene home in rural Coeur d'Alene. Two first-degree kidnapping counts have been filed against 42-year-old Duncan.

Officials recovered "human remains" near St. Regis on July 4. The remains were being tested this week to see if it is Dylan.

Court documents reportedly indicate that both children were molested by their captor.

Meanwhile, Morgan said her granddaughter was bouncing back as well as can be expected while being monitored at Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene.

"She's doing real good for what she's been through," Morgan said. "She's healthy, is in high spirits and laughing. She's really holding it together."

Morgan said Tuesday that she and Shasta's grandfather have visited the girl every day since she was freed. However, law enforcement officials proceeded slowly in questioning Shasta about her ordeal.

A licensed clinical social worker in Libby said that's the only choice.

"With any trauma victim, particularly a child, you certainly don't want to push them," said Ann Brownback. "One of the main objectives is to not re-traumatize them. Going slowly and calmly and steadily is the only reasonable way to approach things."

Also, a child in Shasta's situation might not immediately have the answers police are looking for, Brownback added.

"They may block things that are too terrible," she said. "Any of us would. When we go through dreadful experiences, we struggle to avoid and pull away."

Once memories start to return, they might be hard to turn off, Brownback noted.

"They will come back unbidden," she said.

While grandmother Morgan and grandfather Rocky Torres have rejoiced over Shasta's safe return, their happiness is tempered by not knowing about Dylan. Many people have told them that finding out the truth, even if it's bad news, will at least give family members some closure.

Morgan rejects that sentiment, as well-meaning as people intend it to be.

"A lot of people are saying it's bittersweet," she said, "but I'm so sick of the word 'closure.'"