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tybee204
05-24-2005, 02:07 PM
Please post all media links on this thread.
mysteriew
05-24-2005, 04:23 PM
"We have no evidence to implicate Steven Groene as a suspect or even a person of interest," said Capt. Ben Wolfinger,
spokesman for the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department.
Wolfinger said Steve Groene volunteered to take a lie detector test Sunday.
"He thought he was a suspect," Wolfinger said. "I think there are some people pointing fingers and he just wanted to clear himself. This is a parent's worst possible nightmare."
Steve Groene said Sunday night that an FBI agent who administered the polygraph said he failed portions of the test.
In a written statement to The Press on Monday night, Groene said he appreciated Wolfinger's comments.
"I am confident that they will bring to justice the animal or animals who beat to death my 13-year-old son Slade, his mother Brenda and Mark McKenzie," he said.
He said suspicion and gossip is adding to the family's loss.
"I can assure you that neither any family members nor I could ever possibly be so barbaric and evil," he said.
Wolfinger said there is no person of interest in the case, although investigators are starting to develop "viable leads" with assistance from more than 20 FBI agents from evidence obtained so far.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/05/24/news/news01.txt
mysteriew
05-24-2005, 04:24 PM
Whoever killed the Groene family could be regretting his actions even as the hunt continues for two missing Fernan Elementary School children.
But that doesn't mean he's going to walk into Sheriff Rocky Watson's office and say, "I did it."
"Whether or not they regret it will depend on what kind of personality and life experience they had to begin with," said Twin Falls forensic psychiatrist Dr. Richard Worst.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/05/24/news/news02.txt
mysteriew
05-24-2005, 04:27 PM
The father of two children missing from a home where three people were killed failed parts of a lie detector test, but is not a suspect in the case, authorities said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/24/AR2005052400553.html
mysteriew
05-24-2005, 04:28 PM
It's pretty devastating to have to hear somebody say that they think you know something about this," the father said on Fox's "At Large with Geraldo Rivera."
Wolfinger told reporters a polygraph "measures the physiological response" of the subject.
"This man is extremely emotional, and very understandably so," he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/24/idaho.amber/index.html
5/19/05
Son says family is loving, caring
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:XmINia4r4JkJ:www.spokesmanreview.co m/idaho/story.asp%3FID%3D70405+groene+family&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
5/20/05
Victims in CdA homicides were bludgeoned
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:ukjTgFyfLHMJ:www.spokesmanreview.co m/idaho/story.asp%3FID%3D70581+groene+%2B+spokesman+review&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
First District Judge John Mitchell on Tuesday ordered the son and brother of Wolf Lodge Bay murder victims Brenda and Slade Groene released from jail for six hours to grieve with the rest of family and attend services today.
Also, investigators said they will search the Fighting Creek landfill Thursday or Friday, looking for evidence that might have come from the Groene home.
Jesse Steven Groene will be released to the custody of his father, Steve, at noon to attend a private viewing of his mother and brother, then a memorial service at 3 p.m. at Real Life Ministries church in Post Falls. Mitchell said Jesse Groene must be back in jail by 6 p.m.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/05/25/news/news05.txt
Charlotte Kraus, Brenda's great aunt from Whitefish, Mont., said the vigil gave families, friends and the community a chance to give each other strength and dedicate the time to Dylan and Shasta.
"Everybody's been so grief-stricken and worried about what's going on with the law enforcement and the whole tragedy of the situation, we needed a time for everybody to just get together," she said. "This whole community is just mourning. We just felt like we needed to bring the community together and hold a candlelight vigil and hopefully just light their way home."
She called on the public to keep looking for Dylan and Shasta.
"I just have a feeling the kids are out there, they're alive. Maybe they just don't know that everybody is looking for them," she said.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/05/25/news/news01.txt
Watson has speculated there was more than one killer because all the victims were bound. Officers also suspect the killer was known to the victims, because there was no sign of forced entry.
Public suspicion has centered on Steven Groene, 48, ex-husband of Brenda and father of the three children. But deputies insist he is not a suspect, even though he has no alibi for the night of the slayings, failed a lie detector test when asked if he knew the whereabouts of the children, and issued a puzzling public plea to the abductors.
"Please, please release my children safely," Groene said last week. "They had nothing to do with any of this."
Officers could not say what "any of this" referred to.
Because their home was close to Interstate 90, just west of a pass in the Rocky Mountains, investigators have said it is possible that a motorist committed the crimes at random and then jumped onto the highway heading toward Montana or Seattle.
The Groene family lived on the edge of this Idaho Panhandle community, both physically and financially. Coeur d'Alene is a booming resort and retirement town, thanks to its postcard lake and abundant golf courses. Like many resort areas, it is also home to people like the Groenes, struggling to get by on low-paying jobs.
Steven and Brenda Groene were married in 1986 and had five children before they divorced in 2001. Steven Groene said in a TV interview that they had squabbled over issues such as visitation rights as recently as a few days before the slayings, but otherwise got along.
Steven lived with his former mother-in-law, and Brenda lived in the home owned by McKenzie, who is her cousin. Slade, Dylan and Shasta lived with her. Of the two older children, Jesse, 18, is in jail on burglary charges. Vance, 20, had a juvenile record. Both older brothers have had problems with drugs.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050525/ap_on_re_us/idaho_slayings_8
Wednesday 5/25 Press Conference Video
http://www.ktvb.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=www.ktvb.com/missingkidswednesday.wmv
Groene Funeral Video
http://www.ktvb.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=www.ktvb.com/groenefuneral.wmv
"Those who hurt children, God will take care of," Pastor Bill Putnam said during the service at the Real Life Ministries church. "I tell ya, hell's a long time."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=791709&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
mysteriew
05-26-2005, 03:27 AM
Candles burned bright Tuesday night in honor of the Groene family as friends and family gathered at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds to mourn three murder victims and pray for the safe return of two missing children.
http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/krem2_052505_candlelight_vigil.2ac7201a0.html
mysteriew
05-26-2005, 03:30 AM
''There will be thousands of people going to national forest lands and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) lands around the Coeur d'Alene area,'' sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger told a news conference Tuesday. ''We ask if anybody camping in those grounds sees anything suspicious, please don't touch it. Contact law enforcement.''
An extensive search of the heavily wooded area around the family's white cinderblock home eight miles east of Coeur d'Alene has yielded nothing.
''We have to think outside of our general area,'' Wolfinger said. ''National forests are a natural area for disposal of evidence.''
The FBI is sending 30 additional employees to help in the search, including experts in child abductions, Wolfinger said. They will join some 40 investigators from various agencies already on the case.
FBI investigators will don hazardous substance protection suits later this week to sort through trash from the area in the county landfill, the Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash., reported Wednesday.
http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=7&id=23854
Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, has seen nothing like it. Despite Amber Alerts, rewards topping $100,000 and nonstop news reporting, these children are among the latest youths gone missing, two out of nearly 800,000 children in America. Ironically, May 25 is National Missing Children's Day.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/05/26/grace.missing.children/index.html?section=cnn_latest
Her son, Jesse Groene, excused from serving time at Kootenai County Jail for about six hours on Wednesday to attend a private viewing of his mother and brother and the memorial, read a poem he wrote about Brenda.
"I'll never forget you're the beautiful woman who made me," Jesse said. "I'm glad I had you as my guardian angel. You never gave up, mom, and why should I?"
Prior to reading the poem, Jesse thanked friends and family for their support during the tragedy.
"The person who did this will be found and will be dealt with," he said.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/05/26/news/news01.txt
Shortly after the three were discovered bound and bludgeoned to death, investigators checked nearby Dumpsters and found their contents were already collected. Wolfinger said authorities contacted landfill officials, who determined in which section of the site the garbage was dumped and closed it off.
It was not known how long it would take to search the dumpsite.
Wolfinger also said the sheriff's department continues to hold out hope Brenda Groene's two youngest children will be found safe and have pulled out all the stops to find them.
"Like the sheriff said on Monday, 'We scrimp pennies all the time to save budget. This is the time to spend the resources we need to spend to find these children.'"
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/05/26/news/news02.txt
mysteriew
05-26-2005, 07:01 PM
Preliminary DNA tests showed no traces of the blood of two missing children in the home where three other people were slain, raising hopes that Dylan and Shasta Groene are still alive, officials said Thursday.
Only the blood of the three murder victims the missing children's mother and older brother and the mother's boyfriend was found at the scene, according to initial analysis by the FBI.
"There is no indication that any of the blood is from the children," Kootenai County Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said. "It bolsters our feeling the children are alive and we'll recover them and bring them home."
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=794196
Latest News from North Idaho 5/26
http://www.krem.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=www.krem.com/crime/052605_groene-wrap.wmv
Wolfinger said he also has no information about any possible associates of those connected to the family being involved in the killing.
Wolfinger said investigators are still waiting for the return of the fingerprint package, which could allow them to determine who was in the home that night.
Partygoers who attended a Sunday gathering already have been interviewed and printed.
Meanwhile, Kootenai County Coroner Dr. Robert West would not narrow down the time of killings to any time less than between sometime Sunday night, May 15, and when the bodies were found at 6:15 p.m. the following day.
Wolfinger also said the search of the Fighting Creek landfill began on Thursday.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/05/27/news/news01.txt
Whoever killed three people in Wolf Lodge Bay mapped out the slayings in advance, Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson said Thursday.
"The item used to tie them up was not in the house," Watson said. "He brought it with him."
Watson said he also believes more than one person was involved in the brutal crime, since all three of the victims were bound before they were bludgeoned with an instrument that he still will not disclose.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/05/27/news/news04.txt
Collectively, it clearly has cast a pall over the community at a time when we are usually preparing to celebrate the unofficial start of summer.
Law enforcement agencies typically are issuing requests at this time for safety and restraint -- to avoid drinking and driving over the festive three-day weekend.
This year, they have issued quite a different Memorial Day request. Kootenai County Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger has asked holiday campers and hikers to be vigilant while enjoying the national forests and report any evidence they might find that would help solve the murders or find the missing children.
That's what we really need to help get us past the pain -- evidence and answers to the mystery. However, that seems unlikely, at least in the near future.
The best we can do for now is take advantage of this holiday to try to get back on track.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/05/27/editorials/edit01.txt
mysteriew
05-27-2005, 11:23 PM
Meanwhile, Wolfinger said Thursday afternoon that nobody connected with the killings has been completely ruled out as potential suspects.
Already, Brenda Groene's ex-husband, Steve, and sons Vance, 21 and Jesse, 18, as well as a former person of interest and family friend Robert Lutner, 33, have all been ruled out as suspects, at least for the time being.
"There is no evidence to support them being named suspects at this time," Wolfinger said, stressing "at this time."
Wolfinger said he also has no information about any possible associates of those connected to the family being involved in the killing.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/05/27/news/news01.txt
But the slim facts made public by authorities and through independent investigation so far generate more questions than answers:
• Brenda's oldest son, Vance, said last weekend his mother and McKenzie were using methamphetamine for much of the past year, but reports from the autopsies' preliminary toxicology screening show only that illicit drugs were in the system, with no specifics as to what drugs they were or what quantity.
Brenda's only arrest for a drug-related offense was for possession of drug paraphernalia, and authorities have not announced any indication so far to theorize that the murders were drug-related.
~~
Also, one search warrant investigators were granted has been returned to the county clerk's office, but has been sealed from public view by order of Magistrate Judge Scott Wayman. Wayman's office would not comment on the reason it was sealed or who asked to seal it.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/05/28/news/news01.txt (http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/05/28/news/news01.txt)
SUSANSTARR
05-28-2005, 02:18 PM
http://http://idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050519/NEWS01/505190390
Also, there was a dispute between the ISP and State Communication officials on whether an Amber Alert should have been issued in the first place — a question that kept the descriptions of the missing children from being issued to TV stations for at least 90 minutes Tuesday morning.
The ISP put out the Amber Alert at 7:30 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time (6:30 a.m. in Coeur d'Alene). But the State Communication Center didn't send it out to Treasure Valley TV stations and other media until around 9 a.m. MDT.
Susie from Texas
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/tools/story_pf.asp?ID=70180
"...The victims’ neighbor, Bob Hollingsworth, was the first to start asking questions and is still wondering what became of Shasta and Dylan.
“I loved those little kids,” Hollingsworth said. “I don’t have very much faith in them being alive … I always waved to them and talked to them.”
On Sunday, Hollingsworth hired Slade to mow the grass alongside his driveway. He didn’t have the proper change to pay the boy, so he stopped by the house Monday to give him $10, Hollingsworth said.
“They usually run out – I beep my horn,” he said. When there was no response, Hollingsworth went to the door and knocked. The house was dark. A dog inside barked, and he noticed that both cars were there, and car doors were open.
“I got suspicious,” he said, and went home to call the Sheriff’s Department.
Hollingsworth said he also had called the department to report a strange pickup parked at his barn. On Tuesday, detectives impounded the pickup and had it towed...."
SUSANSTARR
05-29-2005, 09:02 PM
http://http://idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050519/NEWS01/505190390
Also, there was a dispute between the ISP and State Communication officials on whether an Amber Alert should have been issued in the first place — a question that kept the descriptions of the missing children from being issued to TV stations for at least 90 minutes Tuesday morning.
The ISP put out the Amber Alert at 7:30 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time (6:30 a.m. in Coeur d'Alene). But the State Communication Center didn't send it out to Treasure Valley TV stations and other media until around 9 a.m. MDT.
Susie from Texas
Property records list a Mark McKenzie as a neighbor of the Groenes.
http://http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/632/05-18-2005/913e0015f2211a27.html
mysteriew
05-30-2005, 12:24 AM
• Investigators said Lutner, who passed a polygraph test, told them there was a "typical Sunday barbecue" party at the home the night before the bodies were found.
But Kootenai County Coroner Dr. Robert West said there was no alcohol found in the systems of any of the victims.
• There is still no explanation made public what Steve Groene meant when he said "they have nothing to do with anything" when pleading with his children's potential abductor.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/05/28/news/news01.txt
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho Kootenai County Sheriffs investigators are hoping a new family photo and an updated description will help them find Dylan and Shasta Groene (GROH'-nee).
Sheriff's Captain Ben Wolfinger says the family of nine-year-old Dylan has provided new photos of the boy to post on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Childrens Web site.
They also have updated the description of eight-year-old Shasta. Her weight is now listed at 54 pounds.
http://www.kbcitv.com/x5154.xml?ParentPageID=x5155&ContentID=x51828&Layout=KBCI.xsl&AdGroupID=x5154&URL=http://localhost/apwirefeed/d8ad8fog1.xml&NewsSection=StateHeadlines
SUSANSTARR
05-30-2005, 10:13 PM
SR.com: Search near children's home ends (http://spokesmanreview.com/idaho/story.asp?ID=70877)
“Steven Groene plays in a regional blues band, Blue Tattoo, that's been together a few years with changing lineups and has organized an annual benefit for Project Safe Place in Coeur d'Alene, said Ted Todd, who hosts a radio blues show and edits Inside Blues for the Inland Northwest Blues Society.”
http://https://secure.spokesmanreview.com/onlinesub/login.aspx?referrer=http://www.spokesmanreview.com/idaho/story.asp?ID=70877&ReturnUrl=http://www.spokesmanreview.com/idaho/story.asp?ID=70877
... He plays in a regional blues band, Blue Tattoo, that's been together a few ... has organized an annual benefit for Project Safe Place in Coeur d'Alene, ...
spokesmanreview.com/idaho/story.asp?ID=70877 - 30k
I have posted several links here because you have to sucribe to view article with all the information in it. With the links I have posted you can piece it together.
http://http://www.makart.com/cdafire/safeplace.html
Here is what to do:
- Walk in. Tell the first available employee that you are there because you need help.
- Let the employee know what the problem is (to whatever extent you are comfortable).
- The employee will find a comfortable place for you to wait while he/she calls the local youth shelter.
- The shelter will call the location back to let you know the name of the volunteer who will come to meet with you.
- Within minutes the volunteer (always the same sex as the youth) will arrive to talk with you and transport you to the shelter if you want counseling and a safe place to stay
http://http://www.makart.com/cdafire/index.html
Coeur d'Alene Fire Department
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, USA
http://http://www.bluetattooband.com/Biography.htm
After several months of exhaustive searching for just the right combination of talents with the same attitudes and feelings for the blues, it all came together and Blue Tattoo was born. The band was formed in early 2000. Even though the band is just over a year old, they are quickly becoming a favorite of the blues scene in the Pacific Northwest.
http://www.bluetattooband.com/images/Steve_small.jpg (http://www.bluetattooband.com/images/Steve.jpg) Fronting the band is Steve Vincent on vocals, guitar and harmonica. His gritty vocals and howling harmonica gets your attention immediately. Steve grew up in the L.A. area and has fronted bands since the mid 70’s such as “Southern Select”, “Krystal Bitch” and “Styff Tool”. He worked for James Harman in the early 80's where on tour he roomed with Hollywood Fats. Hanging out with the L.A. blues musicians expanded his musical tastes to go along with his rock and southern rock background.
He said they didn't receive a single call from Memorial Day weekend campers with tips.
"Which is encouraging in a way. We didn't get calls saying there's a body, but we didn't get that clue either," Wolfinger said.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/05/31/news/news03.txt
Wolfinger said there are no concrete leads for either facet of the investigation.
He said the Oregon caller reported getting a partial license plate number of 209795, but no county designator.
Wolfinger said a check through Idaho's Department of Motor Vehicles database turned up just one match, licensed in Twin Falls County, but the vehicle description didn't match.
Still, Wolfinger said investigators are continuing to follow the leads in Oregon and Twin Falls.
"They did it right," he said. The caller notified local authorities, who issued an attempt-to-locate call.
"Then they called us later," Wolfinger said. "That's by far the best way to do it."
Meanwhile, investigators slogging through the Fighting Creek landfill also got a break with the cooler weather.
In past days, authorities said temperatures in the 80s combined with the stench of the landfill was enough that some of the investigators had to be cut out of their hazardous materials suits.
Now, with overcast skies and moderating temperatures, Wolfinger said the investigators will work longer days and complete the search of the dumpsite by Thursday.
No evidence so far believed to be linked to the crime has been found.
The call center is still receiving tips, now more than 1,500, including "one just up the road from the house."
Wolfinger said a caller reported smelling something rotting on the side of the road.
"They thought it might be a body," he said, so they called.
He said it turned out to be a dead moose.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/06/01/news/news05.txt
The search of a landfill has ended with no clues found in the bludgeoning deaths of three people and the abduction of two children from a home.
The Kootenai County Sheriff's office said today that F-B-I agents sifted through some 800 tons of trash at the landfill, looking for clues that might have been dumped into garbage cans near the Groene family's rural home.
Officers have already conducted about 400 interviews in the case. Officers say a possible sighting of the children in Wallowa County, Oregon, turned out to be a mistake.
http://www.kbcitv.com/x5154.xml?ParentPageID=x5155&ContentID=x51828&Layout=KBCI.xsl&AdGroupID=x5154&URL=http://localhost/apwirefeed/d8aevhb80.xml&NewsSection=StateHeadlines
Article from Friday, 5/27/05:
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/tools/story_pf.asp?ID=71855
For reference sake, this staff writer, Susan Drumheller, is thus far, the only one reporting what the illicit drugs were that were found in Brenda and Mark's systems.
In this article, family members speak out to give us more details about Mark McKenzie, than has exposed thus far.
5/27/05
Families share fond Memories
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:08Q4YJZU2R0J:www.spokesmanreview.co m/idaho/story.asp%3FID%3D71643+Obituaries+%3D+Mark+McKenzi e&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
close_enough
06-02-2005, 03:43 PM
transcript from Dan Abrams tv show, May 19th
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7921158/
FBI agents investigating a North Idaho kidnapping and triple murder say they are running out of tips to investigate. Dylan Groene, 9, and his sister Shasta, 8, were last seen at their Wolf Lodge Bay home more than two weeks ago, the night before authorities found their brother, mother and her boyfriend brutally beaten to death.
One local advertising company is stepping up to help keep the faces of the missing children out in the public. On Friday, Lamar Advertising says it will put up three billboards with Dylan and Shasta's pictures. One sign will be north of Coeur d'Alene on Highway 95, while two others will be in Spokane -- one on Sprague Avenue and another on Market Street.
http://www.kxly.com/common/getStory.asp?id=44025
Investigators are nearing the end of their third week on the case since the killings, but still, little information had leaked out of the investigation.
Except for the report that the trio was bound with plastic zip ties, then bludgeoned, information on a possible motive or plausible theories has been virtually nil.
In addition to 70 investigators working the case, Wolfinger said Thursday volunteers have put in more than 3,000 hours helping the sheriff's department with the case. More than 1,500 calls have been made to the department's tip line and investigators have conducted more than 400 interviews.
The home at 12725 Frontage Road has been combed for forensic traces, and a U-Haul van has been filled with evidence and shipped to the FBI crime lab in Virginia. Only now, the first results of the testing have begun to trickle back to Coeur d'Alene.
The grounds around the home have been thoroughly searched, as was a landfill, where 800 tons of garbage from Dumpsters collected near the crime scene were deposited.
If investigators have any solid leads, they aren't saying so.
"We're in the eye of hurricane right now," Wolfinger said, "it's the slow, tedious work."
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/06/03/news/news05.txt
mysteriew
06-03-2005, 08:59 PM
A Spokane billboard company has donated advertising space to keep the pictures of two missing Wolf Lodge Bay area kids in front of the public.
On Thursday, Kootenai County Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said Lamar Outdoor Advertising had donated space on three billboards -- two in Spokane -- showing the faces of Dylan and Shasta Groene.
The children have been missing since their mother and brother and mother's boyfriend were murdered May 15 or 16 at their Frontage Road home.
"That just shows how the public has really stepped up to help us with this," Wolfinger said.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/06/03/news/news05.txt
chicoliving
06-04-2005, 12:00 AM
We are switching gears now, leaving Santa Maria, California, and taking you back to a case out of Coeur d`Alene, Idaho. Two young children, Dylan and Shasta Groene, still missing tonight, and there have been wire reports that the search is ending. Tonight, with us on the phone from Kootenai County, we have with us a spokesperson from the "Spokesman- Review," Susan Drumheller (ph).
Link (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0506/03/ng.01.html)
Andrew Vachss, a New York City author and attorney who specializes in studying crimes against children, is intrigued by the case.
He said the killers apparently had complex motives because they bound and likely interrogated the murder victims. That could indicate a dispute over drugs or money that exploded in a rage of violence, he said. There was likely more than one killer since the victims were bound, he said.
He does not think the children were deliberately abducted to be sold for sex or into slavery, because the perpetrators of such crimes would not likely draw extensive attention to themselves by killing three people.
Vachss said another possible scenario is cult activity. Perhaps the adults had betrayed leaders of a cult and were killed, while the smallest children were considered innocent and salvageable, Vachss said.
Wolfinger said cult connections were not considered likely. Bob Price of Tacoma, brother-in-law of Steven Groene, said the family is satisfied that law enforcement is doing all it can. "The agonizing part is for the two missing kids," said Price, whose wife Wendy is Groene's sister.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050604/ap_on_re_us/idaho_slayings_1
Few Clues about Idaho Children's Whereabouts (http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/nation/11816344.htm)
The father of Shasta and Dylan Groene is offering his $25,000 Harley Davidson motorcycle. Steve Groene is hoping the added reward will be incentive for someone to come forward with information. His children have been missing for more than three weeks. We're hoping that that there is somebody out there that knows where they are, and they need to step up, make the call, the lives of two small children are at risk here,” said Steve Groene. Detectives are in their fourth week of the investigation and still have no leads.
http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-june0705-groene_reward.2f0c2a849.html
Older cached version of article but I don't see it listed.
Search near children's home ends (http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:P2eKafi07qcJ:spokesmanreview.com/idaho/story.asp%3FID%3D70877+yates+funeral+home+%2B+mark +mckenzie&hl=en&ie=UTF-8)
Watson said they had spoken to friends, people who attended a party at the white cinderblock home Sunday, and "psychics, devil worshippers and dreamers."
A private service for McKenzie has been arranged through Yates Funeral Chapel, but details were not released. English Funeral Chapel is handling arrangements for Brenda and Slade Groene, but the funeral home said services had not been scheduled.
Cached version of "Parents can take positive steps" (http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:KppKR9JDmosJ:www.spokesmanreview.co m/idaho/story.asp%3FID%3D73194+spokesman+review+%2B+diffic ult+for+Steve+Groene,+the+missing+children%27s+fat her&hl=en&ie=UTF-8)
Updated photos of Shasta and Dylan were put up Friday on two Lamar Outdoor Advertising billboards in Spokane, and a third is going up on U.S. Highway 95 in Garwood Monday or Tuesday, said a Lamar representative.
Every day that passes is more difficult for Steve Groene, the missing children's father. He said Friday that parents should use "any tool that can be utilized to protect kids from this happening."
But for the family of the victims, the wait for information is just as frustrating as it is for the general public.
"Half of me is content that (investigators) are doing everything they can to solve this," said Bob Price, Dylan and Shasta's uncle and the brother-in-law of their father, Steve Groene.
"But the other half is saying if it was the three law enforcement officers killed and two missing, would it be done any differently?" he said. "I do think in that case, it would be done to a higher state of conclusion."
Price said it was frustrating and difficult to "maintain my composure" because the family is getting little if any specifics about the investigation.
He said he hopes investigators have the best intentions in withholding information they can't share with family, but was led to believe authorities would have conducted more regular briefings with the family. He said the last formal meeting he knows about was during the first weekend after the killings.
Rollins said the case is far from becoming a "cold-case file."
"Everybody still understands the urgency of the case," Rollins said, especially because the two youngest Groene children are still missing. "It's on the front of everybody's radar screens."
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/06/09/news/news03.txt
Lead me to this NWCN article (http://www.nwcn.com/statenews/washington/stories/NW_060905WABgangraidsJK.2f981783c.html).
Massive raids net alleged motorcycle gang chiefs
As many as 40 members of the Bandidos motorcycle club were arrested Thursday in a massive series of simultaneous raids in three western states including eight cities in Washington. >>>more at link + video footage
Law Enforcement Puts the Brakes on Outlaw Motorcycle Gang (http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050609/clth077.html?.v=10)
SEATTLE, June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Today more than 300 federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement officers have teamed up to execute 21 search warrants and 32 arrest warrants across the Northwest. This investigation centered in Bellingham, Washington, addresses federal firearm and narcotic violations and other violent crimes including kidnapping and witness tampering, allegedly committed by members or associates of the Bandidos Outlaw Motorcycle Organization. Additional search and arrest warrants were executed in the states of Montana & South Dakota.
ATF Special Agent in Charge Kelvin Crenshaw stated, "This investigation does not end here." >>More at link
I stumbled upon this Krem news link (http://www.krem.com/news/police/vitindex.html) that lists a plethora of stories and videos related to this case. You must sign in at the member center first
You can use this as your entry data:
Email: krem@dodgeit.com
Password: kremkrem
Happy trails! :)
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/06/12/editorials/edit01.txt
Calls, e-mails and letters to The Press have had a similar message: Why is the media ignoring the story of two missing children?
The children, of course, are Shasta and Dylan Groene of Coeur d'Alene. Almost a month ago, their mother, Brenda Kay Groene; brother, Slade; and friend, Mark Edward McKenzie, were found murdered in their Wolf Lodge Bay home. As horrifying as the bloody murders were, much of the nation has been gripped in a deeper anxiety about the whereabouts and welfare of the two missing children.
Read further at link above.
It's a long ways from a cold case or a dead end," Watson said Wednesday. "Every day there can't be breaking news. This is what makes investigators and investigations, when they keep the enthusiasm on the boring, tedious portions of it."
Watson described the dozens of investigators, who are broken up into teams chasing different leads, as dogged about pursuing every possible lead. Still assisting Kootenai County are Idaho State Police and FBI investigators.
"There's always something to keep enthusiasm or motivation going," he said. "They've got leads following all traditional paths and there's a lot of leads."
Sheriff's officials still are reluctant to release many details of the murder of Slade, his 40-year-old mother, Brenda Groene, and Brenda's 37-year-old boyfriend, Mark McKenzie. Details that only the murderer would know are more valuable to the investigation when only the detectives know them, he said.
Watson said his opinion – not necessarily backed by the evidence, he cautioned – is that the crime was premeditated because the killer or killers brought items to the scene to carry out the crime.
"It wasn't spontaneous," he said. Still, it doesn't fit any traditional crime scenes in his experience, he said.
"It was a highly emotional crime scene, a violent crime scene," he said. "Real violent crimes are usually driven by love, money or drugs."
But Groene and McKenzie didn't have a lot of money, nor did they appear to be heavily involved in drugs, he said. While the two adult victims did have methamphetamine and marijuana in their systems, according to the autopsy, Watson described them more as recreational users.
"This is what I would expect (from) a Colombia drug lord sending a message to a dealer," he said. "But these people didn't have big drug or money issues."
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:W0c9LHXCJ94J:www.spokesmanreview.co m/idaho/story.asp%3FID%3D74077+Groene+children+site:spokes manreview.com&hl=en
Gracelin
06-13-2005, 03:23 PM
Groene kids missing but sure not forgotten
Posted: Sunday, Jun 12, 2005 - 09:18:30 am PDT
Calls, e-mails and letters to The Press have had a similar message: Why is the media ignoring the story of two missing children?
The children, of course, are Shasta and Dylan Groene of Coeur d'Alene. Almost a month ago, their mother, Brenda Kay Groene; brother, Slade; and friend, Mark Edward McKenzie, were found murdered in their Wolf Lodge Bay home. As horrifying as the bloody murders were, much of the nation has been gripped in a deeper anxiety about the whereabouts and welfare of the two missing children.
The simple answer to the difficult question is that nobody is ignoring the story; there just isn't any news to report.
Certainly, we get the occasional tip that someone has spotted two children who look like Shasta and Dylan, but so far, every tip has proved fruitless. We also believe authorities know more than they're telling. We don't blame them for that, either. If the integrity of the investigation hinges on only partial disclosure of the facts, then this is a rare case in which the public's desire to know must be superseded by a greater good.
We certainly understand and empathize with tormented family members like Bob Price, Dylan and Shasta's uncle. Price recently told this newspaper that he isn't convinced law enforcement is doing everything it can to crack the case and find the kids.
"Half of me is content that they are doing everything they can to solve this," Price said. "But the other half is saying if it was the three law enforcement officers killed and two missing, would it be done any differently? I do think in that case, it would be done to a higher state of conclusion."
With all due respect to Mr. Price, we think that frustration is misdirected. Sheriff Rocky Watson, Capt. Ben Wolfinger, members of the Idaho State Police and many others we know have worked literally around the clock on this case for nearly a month now. If anything, the quest to save two young children has been motivating them beyond anything they've ever done before. We know for a fact that nobody hurts more than the investigators with each day that passes, a day that could mean the difference between life and death for these two children.
Until a jubilant headline declares that Dylan and Shasta Groene have been found safe and sound, we all must endure these periods of silence, hoping and praying that no news is good news.
http://cdapress.com/articles/2005/06/13/editorials/edit01.txt
mysteriew
06-15-2005, 01:16 AM
idaho children are still missing update
http://newscenter.ninn.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=11224
Gracelin
06-15-2005, 10:23 PM
Never forget
Shasta Groene, 8, and Dylan Groene, 9, have been missing from their Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, home for almost a month. Authorities have called off the Amber Alert, clues are dwindling and the media has all but dropped the story.
But Sue Torres, the children's great aunt, doesn't want you to forget them.
http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2005/06/15/news/news1.txt
mysteriew
06-16-2005, 02:42 PM
Nearly 1,900 tips have been given to officials so far
So far, Watson said some 700 interviews have been completed in the case, with another 400 people on the list left to go.
"There's a lot of firm leads in this case," Watson said. "We just can't share them with you."
It's like that with most of the information reporters are asking sheriff's officials for.
Watson told a reporter that even if he knew the time of death, "I would not give it to you."
He said while nobody has come forward with a confession -- false or otherwise -- other callers have phoned in tips, claiming to have "personal knowledge" of the killings.
Watson said FBI crews work in teams to perform specific tasks. Three teams of 10 were called in to sift through the Fighting Creek landfill. Other teams conducted document searches, and others are called in to perform other tasks.
"When we have a project, they send us a team," he said. "When the specialized tasks are done, they go home."
He said FBI agents are paired with local investigators. Fresh investigators from different areas come in and replace those who have worked the case, nearly to exhaustion.
"We burn them out fast," he said. "We're working long hours."
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/06/16/news/news03.txt
Gracelin
06-19-2005, 08:32 PM
Dad's Day wish is for kids' return
Family members commend investigators, even as Shasta and Dylan Groene remain missing
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/stories/2005/jun/19/id_groene.IMG_06-19-2005_R24QIGL.jpg
Steve Groene
Tip lines
Rewards offered
Three different rewards are being offered for information leading to the safe return of Shasta and Dylan Groene.
Shasta, 8, is 3 feet, 10 inches tall and 54 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes. Dylan, 9, has blue eyes and short blond hair, is 4 feet tall and weighs 60 pounds.
Steve Groene, the children's father, is offering $10,000 and his 1997 Harley Davidson Heritage Softtail Classic motorcycle as a reward for the tip that leads to the safe return of both children. The phone number for tips only is (208) 818-0318.
The FBI also has an award of up to $100,000 for information leading to the children's safe return, while anonymous tips that lead to an arrest are eligible for a $7,500 reward through the Secret Witness program. Kootenai County's tip line is (208) 446-2292. Tips can also be e-mailed to kcgovtips@hotmail.com (kcgovtips@hotmail.com).
Susan Drumheller (http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news/bylines.asp?bylinename=Susan Drumheller)
Staff writer
June 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.
And as this Father's Day approached, their biological father, Steve Groene, continued to wait by the phone for some word on the whereabouts of Shasta and Dylan, who were missing when Sheriff's deputies discovered the bloody crime scene.
"That's pretty much all I do, is I sit and wait for that phone call," Steve Groene said Thursday, the one-month anniversary of the three killings and children's disappearance.
Groene was hoping for the ultimate Father's Day gift – the safe return of his children. But he won't be surprised if he's disappointed.
"I was pretty confident the first couple of weeks that we were going to find these kids, and they were going to be OK," Groene said. "Then the next couple of weeks, every day that they weren't found, it kind of hit that there's the possibility that they may never be found."
More than 40 investigators from the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department, the Idaho State Police and FBI continue to work on the case from Coeur d'Alene, according to Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger.
They've conducted more than 700 interviews, received more than 1,800 tips, and continue to get results back from the FBI's forensic laboratory in Quantico, Va. The sheriff's Emergency Operations Center was initially set up to receive the hundreds of calls to the tip line, but it now serves as a nerve center of sorts for detectives working the case.
Forensic experts from the FBI, ISP and Department of Justice have developed positive leads in the case, which are among several "viable leads" that are being exhaustively pursued, according to Sheriff Rocky Watson. Still, authorities have not announced a break in the case, nor have they named any suspect.
But Ralph McKenzie, Mark's father, said he's not frustrated with the wait or the lack of news from the investigators.
"They gotta have all their ducks in a row to win 'cause when they go to court, I want them to win," he said.
Authorities never named Steve Groene as a suspect, but he thinks he was considered as one initially.
"Unfortunately, there are people out there that do this kind of thing to their family," he said. "I would think they weren't doing their job if they didn't consider me a suspect."
Speculation about his involvement was fueled also when Groene made a plea to the kidnappers to let his children go because "they had nothing to do with any of this."
All he meant by that, Groene said, was that Shasta and Dylan, ages 8 and 9 respectively, couldn't be involved in anything dangerous enough to result in the killings.
"They were innocent victims in this, as I'm sure Slade was also," he said.
Groene said he knows no more than anyone else outside the investigation as to what triggered the heinous crimes against his family.
"It wasn't a domestic abuse situation because Mark and Brenda were both there," he said. "So far none of the family members can come up with anything as far as owing anybody anything or drugs in such a volume that would" result in such a bloody retribution.
Watson also has said as much and discounted rumors that the household may have housed a methamphetamine lab. Besides, he said, people who run meth labs don't mow their lawn and plant flowers. He described Brenda Groene and Mark McKenzie's drug use as "recreational."
Brenda Groene was putting in a vegetable garden and planted flowers in makeshift tire planters around the yard. The lawn was mowed, the fence recently painted, and she had plans for more fixing up, said Mark McKenzie's family members.
Now the grass is tall, and crime scene tape still surrounds the property, which is guarded by a Sheriff's deputy. A cluster of plush teddy bears, deflated balloons and flowers – some now wilted or dead – surround the mailbox on Frontage Road.
Nearby, friends and family of McKenzie erected a banner in tribute to him.
"Mark did not say the wedding vows, he lived the wedding vows, dying with his family … " it reads in part.
McKenzie was the family's provider, holding down a steady job, bringing fresh venison home for the freezer, and cutting firewood to heat their home. He took the kids fishing and to Wolf Lodge Creek to catch crawdads, and he was teaching Slade how to hunt, according to his brothers.
"They did a lot of things together," said Steve McKenzie, Mark's brother. "It was a really nice place for kids to play, catch snakes and catch frogs, walk up and down the creek and play."
This time of year Steve McKenzie and his son spent a lot of time at Mark and Brenda's house, Steve McKenzie said. Steve, Mark and their father all have birthdays in June. Reminders of the tragedy are constant, he said.
"It's like you're hurt again day after day. You can't stop thinking about it. It makes it difficult to move on," he said. "But as far as the work the investigators are doing, fantastic. They are working so hard, I can't be frustrated with them."
Brenda and Steve Groene, who had five children together, moved to the house out in Wolf Lodge in 1994. They later divorced due to "irreconcilable differences," Steve Groene said.
They had joint custody of the children, but Steve Groene didn't get to see his kids that often. He worked all week at a Spokane Valley recycling center and often was playing gigs on the weekends with his blues band, Blue Tattoo.
The last time he saw Shasta and Dylan – and Slade alive – was about three weeks before the killings, he said. The three kids spent the weekend with him. Dylan and Slade liked to play games on a Playstation 2.
"Shasta would cuddle on the couch with me and we'd watch TV," he said.
Steve Groene is on a leave of absence from work and sleeps sporadically. He's not playing with his band, but instead stays home most of the time, waiting for the phone to ring, he said.
A personal tip line he set up, with the promise of a $10,000 reward and his 1997 Harley Davidson custom motorcycle for information leading to the return of his children, hasn't brought in any helpful tips.
Even though he didn't see his children very often, he misses them terribly.
"I need Shasta and Dylan," he said, "and they need me."
https://secure.spokesmanreview.com/onlinesub/login.aspx?referrer=http://www.spokesmanreview.com/idaho/story.asp?ID=75870&ReturnUrl=http://www.spokesmanreview.com/idaho/story.asp?ID=75870
Gracelin
06-23-2005, 10:04 PM
House keeps its secrets
Posted: Thursday, Jun 23, 2005 - 07:58:43 am PDT
By LYNN BERK and
MARC STEWART
Staff writers
http://www.cdapress.com/content/articles/2005/06/23/news/news05.jpg
JASON HUNT/Press
The Groene family house where three people were killed remains an active crime scene five weeks after the slayings.
Home is still guarded 24 hours a day to keep crime scene sterile
WOLF LODGE BAY -- Five weeks later, a light still burns through the attic window.
On the lawn, wash still hangs on the line -- a blanket and a rug, neatly folded over a clothesline strung between two redwood posts.
But as each day passes, the grass grows taller and the brush grows wilder around the Groene house at Wolf Lodge Bay.
Not many people stop here anymore, although two FBI agents prowled the perimeter Monday while sheriff's deputies continue to keep watch 24 hours a day. But the curious are gone, and, largely, the media. A lawnmower that was there the day of the slayings is gone. So are two baby swings that had been affixed to a front yard tree.
Even the teddy bears tied to the mailbox and the flowers are drooping, casualties of the summer heat and a case that remains unresolved.
"The manpower dedicated to the case hasn't changed," said Sheriff Rocky Watson. "It's far from being a cold case, and we've had a lot of activity."
He said he understands people living in the Wolf Lodge area might be nervous: The bloodiest crime he's seen in 20 years of law enforcement has changed his own behavior.
"It has to be very disturbing for a neighbor to live close to an event that drastic," Watson said.
"It's a wake-up call to our little community. It doesn't belong here. I am locking my doors at night, and I've never done that before," said Watson.
Kootenai County Sheriff Deputy J.A. Burns volunteered for guard duty on Monday morning. The spectacular weather had him thinking about fishing or working in the yard. Yet there was a job to do. The fish would have to wait.
But he's also been there at midnight sometimes, when the traffic roaring by on Interstate 90 dies down and the customers at the Wolf Lodge Inn go home and the families in the houses tucked in and around the hills turn off the lights and go to bed.
Burns shrugs off any intimation of unease at staying there in the dark, where three people were bound and slaughtered -- and where two children went missing -- on May 16.
"I've been doing this job for 16 years," he said. "And I worked in Tacoma.
"I've seen this before."
He stands on the frontage road, near a lone pinwheel that spins erratically in front of a banner honoring murder victim Mark McKenzie.
"Still, it's strange," Burns said, "when you think about those kids.
"That's the strange part."
Still hopeful
Someday, Watson and Capt. Ben Wolfinger think, 8-year-old Shasta and 9-year-old Dylan Groene will come home.
"I'm optimistic," Wolfinger said. "You have to be. It comes back to the fact that if they were going to kill the kids, they would have done it right there. Why would you take the risk of taking them somewhere else and then killing them?
"That's why I believe they're still alive."
Seven hundred and fifty interviews later, police are sorting through diminishing calls and tips, hoping that one day they'll find their trump card.
"We keep grinding away," Wolfinger said.
If there is anything new at all to the case, it's the $100,000 reward that Wolfinger wants waved like a red flag. It's a large enough sum of money that maybe its possibilities will rekindle a forgotten memory, a reluctant witness, a new hope.
No fear
Steps away from Bob Hollingsworth's wood-slatted deck, a splintered old bench perches on the edge of a bluff that falls away into a tangle of trees and brush.
Framed dead-center in his view from that bench, maybe a quarter-mile away, is the Groene house, its windows boarded shut except for a tiny square of glass at attic-level.
But Hollingsworth doesn't let that bother him when he looks around his acreage. In fact, he's quite firm about that.
"I've been involved in death a number of times," he said. "I just throw it out of my mind."
But it was Hollingsworth who first led the police to that house in his line of sight, after he'd gone down to pay 13-year-old Slade Groene for mowing his lawn. In his call to 911, Hollingsworth reported blood on the door and the steps.
"I'd like to see a conclusion to this," he said Monday. "It's a sad state of affairs."
He said he wasn't close to the Groenes. But when they crossed his property to get to the creek, they asked for permission.
"They were courteous to me," he said. "Their boy, Slade, helped me. He'd help me run the wood splitter, put fences up.
"He was courteous, and shy, and always helpful. Dylan was going to help with some stuff too, but..."
From his driveway, he pointed down to a ragged line of trees.
"We used to be able to see that house pretty clearly," he said. "But we planted some trees there."
With his dog and with the constant security of sheriff's patrols, Hollingsworth said he's never been afraid, before or after the slayings.
"We're probably safer now than we were before," he said.
And he thinks the case will be solved.
"It may take a long time," he said. "But sooner or later, they'll figure it out."
Down the street, at the Wolf Lodge Campground, manager Sue Harris said the murders came as a shock.
"We were here when they were killed," she said. "We were in our apartment, and we never heard a thing."
The specter of the homicides hasn't stopped the flow of campers arriving daily. Some ask about what happened in the small home less than a mile away. Harris, a registered nurse, and her husband, a retired firefighter, keep their eyes open, looking for people who don't belong, or perhaps the return of the two missing children.
"That morning, well, it was a shock," she said.
"We're from a small town in Wisconsin, and this is something we never expected."
Not giving up
The house -- and that wide, wild lawn -- will remain a crime scene as long as a judge extends the search warrant to preserve it. Watson said the home will be returned to the property owners after the FBI completes all of its tests.
But for now, that bright yellow tape stays.
"It's not so much what they're looking for now," Wolfinger said. "But if something comes up and the crime scene investigators need to go back in, they'll need a sterile scene.
"It's too important a scene to be haphazard about it. We're working it hard.
"We're not giving up on this thing."
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/06/23/news/news05.txt
Investigators are analyzing a van full of evidence. Hundreds on horses, all-terrain vehicles and on foot have scoured back roads and uplands near the scene. Searchers have sifted through 800 tons of garbage. Nothing.
Some are despairing that the homicides will be solved. In an online Coeur d'Alene Press poll, only 41 percent of 1,277 respondents were confident that the slayings would be solved. It's foolish, however, to seek hope in statistics alone. For hope, it's better to turn to the words of Wendy Price, an aunt of the missing children, Dylan, 9, and Shasta, 8.
"I'm frustrated because this hasn't been solved," Price told The Spokesman-Review, "but encouraged that the FBI is on this full force. I have faith in the authorities that this case will be broken."
Indeed, family, friends and well-wishers should be inspired that 40 investigators from local, state and federal law enforcement remain on the case.
Their unrelenting effort and reward money of $107,500 could be the keys to solve the homicides and find the children. Someone knows what happened. Somewhere, the story will be told by a drunken or drugged tongue. Or the children will be sighted. Or the reward money will turn the killers' associates against them.
Also, it's heartening that none of the blood found at the gory crime scene belonged to the missing children.
For further comfort, concerned citizens should recall the solid local detective work that solved Carissa Benway's July 2000 murder at the hands of an ex-convict and his son. Beginning with a jaw bone found by hunters, investigators identified the remains and slowly built a case that brought Benway's killer to justice.
DNA evidence takes 72 hours to process – not a few minutes, as it's done on television. Warrants must be obtained to conduct legal searches. Every "i" must be dotted to ensure that evidence is admissible in court once the culprits in the Groene case are caught.
It's a time-consuming process. It has to be done right.
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:--9CkoSvSk4J:spokesmanreview.com/opinion/story.asp%3FID%3D76396+Groene+children+site:spokes manreview.com&hl=en&start=4
This is a update on everything that has happened in the case of 2 missing abducted idaho children we incourage (sic) you to still be on alert for these 2 missing children.
http://newscenter.ninn.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=11518
There is an error in this update. The children were last seen on Sunday, May 15th, not on Monday. A neighbor(s) reported seeing the children getting off the school bus on Monday, but attendance records showed that the children were not in school that day. The last verified report is that the children were at the Groene house on Sunday night. Robert Lutner stated they were there on Sunday night.
Steve Groene said he doesn't believe authorities consider him, or any family member, a prime suspect in the case. But he said he doesn't think the cloud over him has lifted.
"There's people out there who still think I had something to do with this," he said. "All I can say is: Get a life. Try to worry about yours."
Authorities continue to say nobody has been eliminated as a suspect, but there's no evidence yet to link anyone to the killing.
"I would think I'm as much a suspect as any other family member or any acquaintance or any friends that they had."
Groene failed a portion of a lie detector test conducted a week after the killings, dealing with the possible location of the two youngsters. Authorities attributed it to the mental stress he was undergoing.
Groene said he would agree to take another polygraph test "although I would have a list of about 30 names that they would have to prove to me have taken their first before I take a second."
Groene said investigators have kept him in the dark as much as anybody in the case.
"You guys (reporters) probably know a lot more than I know," he said after Jesse's sentencing on Tuesday. "We get the standard answer every time we ask:
'We're still following credible leads;'
'We're still getting calls on the tip line;'
'We're still getting evidence back from Quantico;'
"That's the answer I've been getting for the last month," he said.
"Maybe if I knew some of the stuff that they know, I'd have some direction that I could go or get my own investigator or a private detective."
But he questions if a private detective would have access to any of the evidence.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/06/29/news/news02.txt
A brother of Dylan and Shasta Groene said drugs might have been involved in their disappearance and a triple murder last month near Wolf Lodge Bay.
First District Judge John Mitchell said Tuesday he would reluctantly agree with a plea deal to sentence Jesse Steven Groene to prison, but bring him back in six months to see if he can be placed on probation.
Groene, 18, was sentenced to six years in prison for felony burglary and five years for damaging a lock at the Kootenai County jail.
Mitchell ordered the sentences to run concurrently and allowed the first six months to be served at Cottonwood, where Groene would undergo in-patient drug treatment. Mitchell told Groene if he is to succeed on probation in six months, he will have to stay away from people, maybe even family members, connected to a lifestyle which includes methamphetamine use.
"You are the one who bears the responsibility" for the future, Mitchell said.
During the sentencing, Groene said he's grown up in the past six weeks and has seen how drugs have affected his life.
"I do not know for sure, but I think (the killings and abductions) has to do with drugs," Jesse Groene said.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/06/29/news/news03.txt
(Jesse) Groene, 18, was charged with burglary and grand theft after he was caught shoplifting from the Post Falls Wal-Mart and found with a stolen Jeep on Feb. 9. He also was charged with injury to jail when he kicked a door at the jail while in custody and damaged the locking mechanism.
While being interviewed by Post Falls police officers, Groene said he had been under the influence of marijuana and methamphetamine for five days before the shoplifting incident.
Those two drugs were found in the bodies of Brenda Groene and McKenzie following their murder. Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson, however, has said that the two were not drug dealers and appeared to be only recreational users.
As part of a plea agreement, Jesse Groene pleaded guilty to the burglary and injury to jail charges. The grand theft charge was dismissed. Mitchell sentenced Groene to two years in the state penitentiary, with four more years possible.
Mitchell, however, retained jurisdiction, which means that Groene will attend a six-month program at the state Department of Corrections facility in Cottonwood, Idaho, and if he's successful, he'll be put on probation. If he fails, he could serve out the entire sentence.
But Mitchell made it clear that he has reservations about the deal, saying that Groene may need a year-long drug treatment program. If he gets out on probation in six months, he'll have to figure out how to stay clean while on probation.
"Where are you going to live? Who are you going to avoid for the rest of your life?" Mitchell asked him. "You have a lot of people to avoid. Some of them might be family until they can get their addictions taken care of."
In the courtroom watching were Jesse Groene's father, Steve Groene, and his older brother, Vance Groene, 20, who has spent time in jail for burglary.
Last month, Mitchell granted Jesse Groene a furlough from jail for an afternoon to attend his brother and mother's funeral. Mitchell asked whether Groene had visited a tattoo parlor that day, when he was supposed to be at only the funeral home, the service or a family gathering.
"Jesse was with me the whole time," Steve Groene said from the gallery.
Jesse Groene said someone must have mistaken his brother, Vance, for him. Vance Groene also has a shaved head, and he apparently had his mother's and brother's names tattooed on him the day of the funeral.
"That was on my neck when I went to jail," Jesse Groene said, indicating the letters NFP that are tattooed on the back of his neck. The letters reportedly stand for the North Francis Pimps.
Shortly before, Mitchell had asked him what the North Francis Pimps are.
"A lot of people think it's a gang, but really it's not," Jesse Groene answered. "It's just a group of friends who are there for each other. … It's nothing near a gang."
They don't wear gang colors or do drive-by shootings, he explained to Mitchell. Mitchell said he would be looking into it further.
During an interview following the sentencing, Steve Groene discounted speculation that the North Francis Pimps could somehow be involved in the killings.
"It's probably more a group of bored Idaho teenagers" whose activities are unlikely to infuriate some rival gang, he said.
Steve Groene said he doesn't have any one theory for who killed his son Slade, his ex-wife and her boyfriend and then disappeared with his youngest children. He said he didn't know his ex-wife's circle of friends, and had he known they were into drugs, he would have gotten his children away from the household.
As it was, he didn't see his children often because he worked all week and often played with his blues band, Blue Tattoo, on weekends. It was common for him to have disagreements with Brenda over his visitation with the kids because he'd often request a visit at the last minute when he knew he was available, he said.
"I know there are a lot of people out there who think I'm involved," he said. "All I can say is, get a life."
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/tools/story_pf.asp?ID=77545
"Our best information right now is Dylan is deceased," Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said Saturday afternoon.
"I don't know what they are basing that on," said Dylan's father, Steven Groene. "We're still hoping he's out there OK."
He also was grateful to those who called authorities Saturday morning.
"The whole family would like to thank the people who saw Shasta, made the call and did everything they did," he said.
Meanwhile, the sheriff's department is now asking for the public's help to find a killer.
Shortly after Brenda Kay Groene, 40, her son, Slade Groene, 13, and live-in boyfriend, Mark Edward McKenzie, 37, were found bound and bludgeoned and Shasta and Dylan missing sometime late May 15 or May 16, the sheriff's department opened tip lines for information about the two missing children.
Now, call-takers' roles have shifted.
Wolfinger asked the news media to circulate the picture of the man Shasta was found with at the Denny's, along with the stolen red Jeep they came to the restaurant in.
"Once those are available, we'll be opening up the tip lines again with more staff," Wolfinger said. "So if somebody saw those two in this region in the last six weeks, we want to hear from them.
"It's really kind of looking back," Wolfinger said. "There are a lot of leads to follow at this time."
The tip line numbers are 208-446-2292 and 208-446-2293.
Wolfinger said Shasta was in relatively good shape when police found her.
"She was at Denny's eating a meal," he said, "so she was obviously in somewhat good health."
Steve Groene said his daughter is doing well.
"She seems to be fine," he said.
He said he didn't ask his daughter where she and Dylan have been.
"I'm not questioning her about anything," he said.
Both Wolfinger and Watson said they were somewhat surprised Shasta was found in Coeur d'Alene, after a nationwide search turned up nothing.
"I was very excited she was found, period," Wolfinger said.
Authorities said that while they're thrilled at the recovery of Shasta, the likely death of Dylan has cast a pall over that.
"We're very happy that Shasta's here. It just reemphasizes the beliefs we had all along," Wolfinger said. "We're going to continue to work through this thing."
Still, Wolfinger said there will be no rush to judgment.
"We've done everything very diligently from the get-go," Wolfinger said. "We're not going to change anything now."
Earlier, FBI Special Agent in Charge Timothy Fuhrman said the return of Shasta has revitalized investigators.
"We're going to do methodical investigations like we would do with any other case," Fuhrman said.
Wolfinger said the investigation has shifted back to full speed.
"Everybody who was available was called in, and I mean everybody," Wolfinger said.
Neither Wolfinger nor Fuhrman would say if Duncan's name came up in the investigation before Saturday.
Duncan is being held without bail in the Kootenai County jail on charges he kidnapped Shasta, as well as a federal hold on an unlawful flight to avoid prosecution warrant and a fugitive warrant from Minnesota for failing to appear at a May 16 court hearing on charges of molesting a 7-year-old boy.
Duncan is a Level 3 sex offender who was released from prison in 1994 after serving 14 years for the rape of a 14-year-old Tacoma, Wash., boy in 1980.
Most recently, Duncan failed to appear at a hearing in Becker County, Minn., on charges he molested a 7-year-old boy near a middle school.
He will make a first appearance on the new charges as well as the fugitive warrants in magistrate court on Tuesday.
Wolfinger said investigators have already begun processing the evidence in the car, which was reported stolen from St. Paul, Minn., with license plates stolen from Missouri.
After Shasta was placed into protective custody, she was taken to Kootenai Medical Center for a checkup.
There, she met with family members, including Steve Groene.
Saturday afternoon, Groene and his eldest son, Vance, left the hospital without Shasta.
Groene, Watson said, was out of state when he was told of Shasta's return. Wolfinger would not say which state he was in, but Groene himself said he had just arrived in Tacoma when he heard the news and had to turn around and come back.
Groene said he was in Tacoma to visit his sister, Wendi Price.
Groene said he doesn't know who Duncan is.
"I never heard the name before," he said.
Wolfinger said investigators have been working leads as a possible location for Dylan, "but until we get something solid, we're not going to speculate."
Since her return, Wolfinger said investigators have been talking with Shasta.
He said as of early afternoon, investigators had talked with Duncan only briefly.
"They are following a ton of leads right now," Wolfinger said.
The focus has shifted for Steven Groene as well.
"The whole family is extremely elated she is back," he said. "Now we have to focus on getting Dylan home."
http://cdapress.com/articles/2005/07/03/news/news01.txt
According to police documents obtained by The Forum newspaper in Fargo, N.D., Duncan is 6-foot-1, 150 pounds and is the fourth of five children. His father was a career serviceman and as a result, the family moved often, both in Europe and the United States. They lived in Germany and California twice before settling in Fort Lewis, Wash. By the time he was 16, his parents were divorced and he was living with his mother.
Duncan dropped out of high school in January 1980. He told officials he has since completed his GED and received an associate of arts degree.
He first came to the attention of law enforcement officials at age 15, when he took a vehicle without the owner's permission, led police on a high-speed chase and tried to ram a police car blockade. He was placed at a boys ranch, put on probation for a year and ordered to do 150 hours of community service.
In January 1980, a month before he turned 17, he was arrested for raping a 14-year-old male.
According to Pierce County Sheriff's Department investigators' reports, Duncan, then living in Tacoma, Wash., broke into a neighbor's home and stole four semi-automatic pistols and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition, then pulled a gun on a 14-year-old boy walking home from school with his brother. Deputies said Duncan took the 14-year-old to a wooded area and forced the boy to have sexual contact with him. Duncan also beat the boy with a branch and burned him with a cigarette lighter, deputies said.
Duncan was charged with first-degree rape, first-degree burglary and third-degree statutory rape. He pleaded guilty to an amended charge of first-degree rape while armed with a firearm and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Then, following the recommendations of a Pierce County parole and probation officer, the judge suspended the sentence and ordered Duncan to enter the sexual offender program at Western State Hospital.
While there, he said he began to act out sexually at age 8. He also told doctors he had his first homosexual and heterosexual experiences when he was 12, forced a 9-year-old to have sexual contact with him at gunpoint when he was 15, and tied up six boys, ages 6 through 10, and forced them to have sexual contact with him when he was 16.
However, several years later he told doctors that he'd made up that sexual history to be accepted into the state hospital's program and avoid prison.
Doctors at the state hospital diagnosed him as a passive-aggressive with schizoid features and sexual sadism.
In March 1982, state hospital officials declared that Duncan was no longer amenable to treatment. They said he left the hospital grounds twice the previous month, once peeping in the windows of nearby homes.
A judge revoked his suspended sentence and Duncan began serving his time in a state penitentiary.
During his first two years in prison, he was cited for assault, possessing a weapon and substance abuse.
In 1993 a psychologist said Duncan showed no obvious signs of emotional or thought disorders or suicidal or homicidal tendencies.
Duncan was paroled in September 1994 but the parole was revoked two years later after he was caught smoking marijuana and possessing a firearm. But instead of sending him back to prison, the parole board reinstated his parole after imposing additional conditions on him.
He did end up back in the penitentiary following the 1997 parole revocation, which was for several violations, including failing to obtain permission from his parole officer before having contact with minor children in Seattle on three occasions in 1996 and 1997, smoking marijuana, leaving the state without permission and failing to register as a sex offender in Kansas City, Mo., where the FBI arrested him in August 1997, five months after he left Washington.
In 1999 prison officials cited him for fighting in prison. The same year a psychologist rated the risk of him repeating his crime or being violent as medium.
He was released from prison July 14 and registered as a sex offender in Fargo 10 days later.
Duncan was the subject of a community notification meeting after he moved to Fargo and began attending North Dakota State University, where he was a senior this year. At the time, he was one of two Level 3 offenders with addresses registered in Fargo.
Duncan made the dean's list in fall 2000 and spring 2001 and is a member of Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society, an academic excellence fraternity.
Duncan also keeps a work address registered for Teleforce Inc. in Fargo, where he started as a market researcher shortly after his move there.
A co-worker described Duncan to The Forum as a wonderful employee two months after he began working there.
In April of this year, Duncan was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct and attempted criminal sexual conduct, after Duncan allegedly approached a 7-year-old boy and his 9-year-old friend with a video camera July 3, 2004, at a middle school playground.
According to the complaint, Duncan pulled down the shorts of the younger boy and touched him. He tried the same thing with the other boy but wasn't able to, the complaint says.
The younger boy described the man and his car to police, who matched the descriptions to Duncan and his red Pontiac Grand Am through a sex offender database, and the boy identified Duncan in a photo lineup.
Becker County authorities issued an arrest warrant after Duncan failed to check in with his probation officer the week of April 18.
Duncan last checked in with the agent the week of April 11.
The key tag recovered in Wyoming belonged to a red 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee rented in Duncan's name from a St. Paul rental agency on April 15. The truck was due back April 20.
When he failed to make his May 16 court hearing, Becker County District Court Judge Michael Jesse issued another bench warrant for his arrest and ordered that his $15,000 cash bail be forfeited.
http://cdapress.com/articles/2005/07/03/news/news03.txt
mysteriew
07-03-2005, 06:41 PM
Capt. Ben Wolfinger said evidence from the stolen red 2005 Jeep Laredo had been sent to the FBI for further analysis.
Finding Dylan "one way or another" is now the department's No. 1 priority, Wolfinger said.
Earlier, authorities released tapes of two 911 calls -- one from a customer at the Denny's and one from the restaurant's manager -- reporting the presence of a girl they thought might be Shasta.
The vehicle he was driving was reported stolen in early May in St. Paul, Minnesota The license plates on the vehicle were stolen in Newton County, Missouri, a few days before
He apparently was no longer living at his last listed address in Fargo, and both the North Dakota and Washington state registries of sex offenders listed him as delinquent.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/07/03/idaho.children/index.html
mysteriew
07-03-2005, 06:43 PM
There was no sign of the boy when Shasta was found Saturday with Joseph Edward Duncan III of Fargo, N.D. Wolfinger said investigators fear he met the same fate as the three people found bludgeoned to death in the family's home.
Other questions, he said, are "Where have Duncan and Shasta and Dylan been the last six weeks? Was Duncan involved in the triple homicide? Were other people involved? Is so, who and where are they?"
Across the country, officials faced another tough question: Why was the man accused of kidnapping Shasta released on bail?
http://www.ktvb.com/news/topstories/stories/070305cckkcwnaGroene.6d33a2d7.html
mysteriew
07-03-2005, 06:49 PM
"Our initial information is that he may be deceased," Kootenai County Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said, adding that officials were continuing the search for him. He said investigators believe Dylan was alive when the children disappeared.
He apparently stole a Jeep Cherokee in St. Paul this spring that is being searched in Idaho for any evidence from Shasta and Dylan, as well as any links to the murders of their mother and brother, according to news reports.
It was not yet known where the girl had spent the past six weeks. She was being interviewed at a medical center but appeared physically well.
"She's a little girl," Wolfinger said. "Obviously she's been through a pretty traumatic time."
Shasta's father, Steve Groene, and her oldest brother, Vance, spent much of the day Saturday at a hospital with Shasta. They did not make any statements to reporters, but when asked when he was driving away from the hospital if he was relieved, Vance Groene said, "more than relieved."
"We don't have any idea who Duncan is, other than a very, very sick individual. Sick and stupid to go to a Denny's at 2 a.m. with a child," Bob Price, Shasta Groene's paternal uncle, said by telephone from Tacoma, Wash.
Duncan was charged with kidnapping and was being held without bond, Wolfinger said. He said more charges could be added.
A Fargo telephone number listed under Duncan's name in NDSU's online directory was disconnected.
When he moved to Fargo in 2000 and enrolled at NDSU, Duncan was one of the first high-risk sex offenders who sparked a community meeting to inform residents he was living in the area.
Kerstin Haugen, who lives in an apartment building next door, said she had not seen Duncan for several months. Police stopped by looking for him, she said.
Duncan wrote on his personal Web site at NDSU that he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, a prestigious academic society indicating high grades.
He also said he was the media coordinator for the NDSU Karate Club. "I also like to snow ski in the winter and scuba dive in the summer as well as numerous other outdoor activities," he said. "I am a 'go-getter,' and I believe in the power of computers to help mankind achieve its potential, tinkering in amateur philosophy as I may. I like to develop Web pages in my spare time for various small groups and organizations."
Duncan was a senior at NDSU in April, majoring in computer science and expected to graduate in May, according to his personal Web site on NDSU's Internet server. "I hope to relocate to a southern state, possibly the Kansas City region," Duncan wrote on his NDSU Web site.
But once he appeared in Becker County court in Detroit Lakes in April, Duncan apparently left the area.
According to Fargo police spokesman, Lt. Todd Dahle, in May, it seemed Duncan had left Fargo because a key tag for a vehicle rented in his name was found in a national park in Wyoming. Becker County authorities issued a warrant for his arrest the first week in May after he failed to contact his probation officer.
In early April, Duncan visited the Fargo police station to register a new address for a second job he had recently got in West Fargo, Dahle said.
Fargo police did not know until April the nature of the charge against Duncan in Becker County, Dahle said.
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/12045001.htm
mysteriew
07-03-2005, 09:09 PM
The man with Shasta, Joseph Edward Duncan III, was arrested and charged with kidnapping, but he has requested a lawyer and is refusing to talk to authorities, Kootenai County Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said Sunday.
Duncan won't be appointed a public defender until a court hearing Tuesday, Wolfinger said.
In the meantime, the search for Dylan continues, though investigators say the information they have points to the boy being dead.
"Our goal is to find Dylan one way or another," Wolfinger said.
Investigators haven't revealed what they believe happened to Dylan or how long they believe the boy was alive after the children's mother, 13-year-old brother and their mother's boyfriend were bludgeoned to death in their home on May 16.
Shasta spoke at length with investigators on Saturday, but authorities are treating her gently, Wolfinger said.
"She's a little girl who's been through who knows what in the past six weeks," he said.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/07/03/troubling_questions_surround_idaho_case/
mysteriew
07-04-2005, 12:08 AM
"Our best information right now is Dylan is deceased," Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said Saturday afternoon.
"I don't know what they are basing that on," said Dylan's father, Steven Groene. "We're still hoping he's out there OK."
Wolfinger asked the news media to circulate the picture of the man Shasta was found with at the Denny's, along with the stolen red Jeep they came to the restaurant in.
"Once those are available, we'll be opening up the tip lines again with more staff," Wolfinger said. "So if somebody saw those two in this region in the last six weeks, we want to hear from them.
"It's really kind of looking back," Wolfinger said. "There are a lot of leads to follow at this time."
The tip line numbers are 208-446-2292 and 208-446-2293.
Wolfinger said Shasta was in relatively good shape when police found her.
Steve Groene said his daughter is doing well. "She seems to be fine," he said.
He said he didn't ask his daughter where she and Dylan have been. "I'm not questioning her about anything," he said.
Neither Wolfinger nor Fuhrman would say if Duncan's name came up in the investigation before Saturday.
Saturday afternoon, Groene and his eldest son, Vance, left the hospital without Shasta.
Groene said he doesn't know who Duncan is.
Since her return, Wolfinger said investigators have been talking with Shasta.
He said as of early afternoon, investigators had talked with Duncan only briefly.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/07/03/news/news01.txt
mysteriew
07-04-2005, 06:59 AM
As officers gingerly questioned 8-year-old Shasta Groene about the time she spent with a convicted sexual predator charged with her kidnapping, hopes faded for her still-missing brother.
Kootenai County Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said Sunday that deputies believe 9-year-old Dylan is dead, based on information from Shasta and evidence from the stolen vehicle the suspect was driving.
"When I walked in the door, her face just lit up," Groene told Fox News, choking back tears. "She put her arms out and said 'Daddy, Daddy!' It was one of the better moments of my life."
"She looks real good," he said. "Very upbeat. She acts just like the little girl I saw three weeks before she disappeared."
Groene said police had instructed him not to ask Shasta questions about what had happened. He said he had never heard of Duncan before Saturday and still did not know much about the man. Authorities weren't telling him much about the evidence involving Dylan, either, he said, but they didn't tell him to give up hope.
"Obviously, in the case of Shasta, someone can be missing a long time and still come back safe," he said.
With no apparent connection to the Groene family, Wolfinger acknowledged that his arrest has brought many questions.
"Where have Duncan and Shasta and Dylan been the last six weeks? Was Duncan involved in the triple homicide? Were other people involved? If so, who and where are they?" Wolfinger said.
"I think why is probably the biggest question we have," he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050704/ap_on_re_us/idaho_missing_children%3b_ylt=A9FJqap5EMlCBU0A9QtI 2ocA%3b_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl
mysteriew
07-04-2005, 07:57 AM
A sex offender who fled Minnesota and is accused of kidnapping an 8-year-old Idaho girl was a computer geek who didn't stand out in his Fargo, N.D., neighborhood. But in postings on his Web log, he sought forgiveness for his past and said he was troubled by "demons" that he wrestled with.
A neighbor described Joseph Edward Duncan III, 42, as a nondescript man whose interests included computers and camping.
"He just seemed like a regular, geeky guy," said Brett Person, who said he wasn't familiar with Duncan's past.
Authorities believe Duncan, who was raised in Tacoma, Wash., stayed in the region with the children during the six weeks they were missing.
Kootenai County Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger hasn't said if Idaho authorities believe Duncan was involved in the slayings, and it wasn't known if he had any connection with the victims.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5489134.html
The man found with missing 8-year-old Shasta Groene has invoked his right to remain silent, a sheriff's spokesman said on Sunday.
Joseph Edward Duncan III, 42, of Fargo, N.D., said he won't talk to investigators about the disappearance of Shasta and her brother, Dylan, 9, or the three murders at Wolf Lodge Bay without a lawyer.
But in the meantime, investigators are sorting through all the new leads. "Investigators are continuing to follow up on the mountain of information they've gotten in the last 24 hours," said Kootenai County Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger, "especially with the recovery of Shasta and arrest of Duncan."
Duncan is being held on local kidnapping charges as well as fugitive warrants and will make a first court appearance on Tuesday.
Wolfinger said again on Sunday investigators believe Dylan is dead, although they won't say why they believe it.
Shasta Groene was found alive shortly before 2 a.m. Saturday sitting with a longtime registered sex offender at a booth at the Coeur d'Alene Denny's. Dylan was not with her.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Tim Furhman said nobody has yet filed a claim of the $100,000 reward the federal government posted for information leading to the return of the children and the killers.
On Saturday night, the husband of waitress Amber Deahn, who recognized Shasta, said his wife didn't even know there was a reward. Shasta's father, Steve Groene, also put up his $25,000 motorcycle as an added incentive.
"We're not going to take his motorcycle," her husband said.
After a brief moment of joy when the children's grandmother told reporters that Dylan was alive Saturday morning, Wolfinger said they believe the boy is dead.
"I'd be more than happy to stand up here and say that it's not true," Wolfinger said.
But he said information from interviews with Shasta and other sources "in totality, led us to believe that Dylan is dead."
He would not say at what point in the abduction he was apparently killed.
Still, "Dylan is the No. 1 priority in this case," Wolfinger said. "Investigators are still trying to locate Dylan and they are optimistic they will find him."
http://cdapress.com/articles/2005/07/04/news/news02.txt (http://cdapress.com/articles/2005/07/04/news/news02.txt)
Police announced Monday afternoon that investigators found what they believe to be "human remains" in western Montana during their search for missing Idaho boy Dylan Groene.
The remains are being sent to the FBI headquarters in Virginia to confirm their identity.
Kootenai County Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said earlier that police had found enough evidence to believe 9-year-old Dylan is dead.
As officers Sunday gingerly questioned 8-year-old Shasta about the time she spent with a convicted sexual predator charged with her kidnapping, hopes faded for her still-missing brother.
http://www.krem.com/topstories/stories/NW_070405IDNgroeneEL.72d34fde.html
close_enough
07-04-2005, 05:32 PM
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/04/national/main706113.shtml
Peabody
07-04-2005, 05:33 PM
Here is a link to "Human Remains Found in Missing Boy Search"
The link has a video of Steve regarding the return of Shasta and also a slideshow of the case
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050704...issing_children (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050704/ap_on_re_us/idaho_missing_children)
May God give comfort and healing to Steve, Shasta and all those who have been hurt by this senseless tragedy.
Bring Maura Home
www.mauramurray.com (http://www.mauramurray.com/)
www.spbowers.com\mauramissing.html (http://www.spbowers.commauramissing.html/)
mysteriew
07-06-2005, 10:27 AM
Eight-year-old Shasta Groene said her nightmare began when she was awakened, tied up and carried with her 9-year-old brother to a waiting pickup truck. Police said that by the time her ordeal ended six weeks later, Shasta would be repeatedly molested by a convicted sex offender and become the only apparent survivor of the five people in the home.
Shasta Groene's statements to police place Duncan inside the rural home near here where the girl's mother, older brother and mother's boyfriend were bound and bludgeoned to death. Their bodies were found on May 16.
The tiny girl told authorities the man repeatedly molested her and her brother Dylan. Her ordeal finally ended Saturday morning when people at a Denny's restaurant here recognized her and called police
The intent of the crimes, court documents said, was to rape, seriously injure or commit a lewd and lascivious act on a child under 16 years old. Duncan has not been charged with anything other than the kidnapping counts, which can carry the death penalty or life in prison.
"Shasta and Dylan were repeatedly molested," Kootenai County Sheriff's Sgt. Brad Maskell wrote in a terse, handwritten affidavit released Tuesday. "Shasta saw Mr. Duncan molest Dylan."
The girl told Maskell she had never seen Duncan before.
She was awakened at her home and watched as her mother Brenda Groene, 13-year-old brother Slade and Mark McKenzie, her mother's boyfriend, were tied up, the document said. She and Dylan were also bound and placed in the pickup truck. The children were later transferred to a stolen red Jeep and taken to the first of three campsites, she said
The affidavit does not mention the beating deaths of the girl's family or whether she witnessed the killings. It also did not say if she witnessed what happened to Dylan.
Shasta told officers that Duncan did not have an accomplice. Despite her statement, investigators were still trying to determine if Duncan acted alone, Wolfinger said.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/07/06/affidavit_details_abuse_in_idaho_abduction/?page=2
Shasta's aunt, Misty Cooper, told (javascript:vlaunch('clip=/media/2005/07/06/video706735.rm&sec=201&vidId=201&title=IdahoKidsFamilyTalks&hitboxMLC=national');) The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith Wednesday that Shasta "seems to be doing really good right now. She looks real good, and she seems to be doing OK for the most part at this time."
But Cooper, who holds out hope for Shasta's future, says the family doesn't speak with Shasta about her ordeal. "We just go on with everyday normal things," she reports.
Shasta's grandmother, Darlene Torres, tells Smith that Duncan was a stranger: "Nobody in the family has ever seen this man before. Ever."
She adds that the murders and abductions have been "devastating. It's been very, very hard. Very hard."
Torres says it's surprising Shasta was brought back to Coeur d'Alene, noting, "It's almost like he wanted to get caught."
Shasta is seen on a surveillance videotape in a convenience store hours before a waitress spotted her in a Denny's restaurant with Duncan and authorities were called.
"It's hard to see it," Cooper says, "but you know, nobody recognized her or anything, with all the flyers, our T-shirts and everything that we've done to have her face known out there, that nobody recognized her, it really does hurt. And it's really hard for us."
"As far as we're concerned," Torres remarks, "the man should have never been out on the streets. It sounded like this wasn't the first time this had happened. …And if he wouldn't have been (free), maybe this would never have happened."
Torres says her murdered daughter, Shasta's mother, "was a wonderful person. She really was. She was a great cook, she had a garden going, she had her flowers. She was always outside working in her yard. Her children were her life. I mean, it's just a terrible thing. It was a family torn apart."
But Cooper sounded a note of hope: "As far as the family's concerned, (Shasta) has a great future because, with all the love from us and everybody, I'm sure that, now, it will help her out tremendously."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/06/earlyshow/main706740.shtml
Investigators said today that a man suspected of abducting two Idaho children is “the only person responsible” for the crimes related to the disappearance.
Joseph E. Duncan III is the only suspect in the abduction of Shasta and Dylan Groene, as well as the killing of the children’s mother, brother, and the mother’s boyfriend, Kootenai County Sheriff’s Captain Ben Wolfinger said today…
Duncan is being held without bond on kidnapping charges. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 19.
Steve Groene, Shasta and Dylan’s father, is expected to make a public statement at 2:30 this afternoon, Wolfinger said.
http://spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?submitDate=20057611517 (http://spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp?submitDate=20057611517)
Authorities said they believe Dylan is dead. They expect DNA tests of human remains found at a rural campsite in western Montana on Monday will confirm their theory.
Results of those tests could be back late today.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/07/07/news/news01.txt
(Jesse)Groene was notified of his sister's rescue Saturday, and was able to telephone her in the hospital, he said.
"I said 'I love you, I miss you' and that's it," he said. "I didn't ask where she was; I didn't want to bring that moment back to her mind."
As for his still-missing 9-year-old brother, Jesse said he believes the boy is dead. Remains discovered at a campsite in western Montana are believed by investigators to be Dylan Groene.
"Inside I know it is him because Shasta led them (police) there," Jesse Groene said. "They just need the investigators to confirm it."
Groene said he's never heard of Joseph Edward Duncan III.
Shasta Groene later told investigators that Duncan raped and repeatedly molested her and her brother as they traveled to at least two campsites.
"I hope this guy is dealt with accordingly," Jesse Groene said about Duncan. He later added, "I wish they'd put him in my cell for a minute."
It's unlikely, however, that Groene and Duncan will ever share the same roof, said Shoshone County Undersheriff Mitch Alexander. Groene was moved to the Shoshone County Jail specifically to avoid confrontation between the two parties, Alexander said.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/07/07/news/news03.txt
(Dr. Alan A.) Abrams doesn't believe Duncan's Web site was a cry for help so much as a symptom of compulsive behavior that satisfied a need for Duncan to bring attention to himself.
"Unfortunately, I suspect that instead of focusing on the entirety of the problem of child abuse and the enormous destruction it creates in our society, the media will use this case as yet another 'proof' that sexual re-offending is inevitable, and that all sexual offenders need to be locked away forever," Abrams said.
"Mr. Duncan's anger about his being damaged as a child and teen in prison was never satisfactorily addressed; perhaps he was too damaged to help. Preventing child abuse would seem to be the best response to the horror of what happened to the family."
Domitor said the biggest problem in a case like Duncan's is that he was out in society in the first place.
"These are not people who have had a bad day. These are hard-wired predators," Domitor said. "They may get all dressed up and find the lord and my hat's off to them, but that doesn't mean their behavior has changed."
Domitor said people like Duncan "con" judges and legislators and there aren't severe enough penalties and mandatory long-term treatment for many high-risk sex offenders.
"The idea of 'treatment' that Duncan alludes to is wrong. There's no quick fix," Domitor said. "We cannot guarantee any given person treatment. Given that, the community must bear the risks and that is wrong.
"You can understand some of the reasons why someone gets this way.
"But that has nothing to do with the protection of society."
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/07/07/news/news02.txt
mysteriew
07-07-2005, 04:28 PM
A computer crimes expert says prosecutors will likely use the blog in their case against Duncan.
Duncan doesn't reveal his identity online, but authorities have traced the online journal back to his computer. People who know him say he's the author.
http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=3567623
The worst might be over for 8-year-old Shasta Groene, who spent nearly seven weeks in captivity with a convicted sex offender. But what’s ahead for the little girl is anyone’s guess.
http://www.showmenews.com/2005/Jul/20050707News009.asp
Richard Forno, a computer crimes expert in Washington, D.C., said prosecutors will likely use Duncan's blog as they prepare the case against him.
"This type of information in his blogs, where he's telegraphing things and revealing some of his other issues, certainly that is relevant in a case like this," said Forno.
Duncan's began his "Blogging the Fifth Nail" online journal - the title is an allegorical reference to a fifth nail intended to end Christ's suffering on the cross - in January last year.
Police concluded that Duncan was the author of the journal based on interviews of people who knew him and on the Internet Protocol address - an identifying number specific to a computer - that was used to establish the blog. The entries each include the tag line, "Posted by: Joe."
In sporadic entries usually posted in the middle of the night, Duncan used the digital soapbox to vent his anger over the social stigma of being a convicted sex offender.
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/24hour/nation/story/2540680p-10932098c.html
mysteriew
07-07-2005, 04:37 PM
In Idaho there are thousands of registered sex offenders.
Only a few are classified as dangerous as Joseph Duncan, the man accused of kidnapping two north Idaho children and the primary suspect in three homicides. Duncan was a Level Three sex offender.
The systems are different in each state. Idaho does not categorize by level.
In Idaho offenders are not classified by levels, but by two categories -- sexual offender and violent sexual predator.
Meanwhile, starting July 19, Idaho will be one of 20 states to join a federal sex offender website.
http://www.krem.com/news/police/stories/krem2_070705_ID-offenders.824448b8.html
mysteriew
07-07-2005, 04:45 PM
An Idaho sheriff says he thinks a convicted sex offender accused of kidnapping two children, killed three people at the family's home to acquire the boy and girl for sex.
Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson told KREM-TV of Spokane, Wash., that Joseph Duncan had "a very detailed plan.''
Dylan Groene is missing and feared dead. Human remains found in western Montana are believed to be his. A conclusive identification isn't expected before next week.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5494758.html
Aunt Blabby
07-07-2005, 08:33 PM
Check out this article in the Duluth MN newspaper.......
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/12073266.htm
mysteriew
07-08-2005, 01:10 PM
"He finds he can be successful in 'programming' himself," a psychologist wrote in July 1987.
That was how Duncan, then 24, quit his pack-a-day smoking habit inside Washington's McNeil Island Corrections Center. It was how he tried to build his body so others wouldn't call him "skinny."
And it was how he tried to control his fantasies, wrote S.C. Sloat, the psychologist.
Duncan, who was serving 20 years for the 1980 rape of a 14-year-old boy, was improving, but his chances for long-term success were in doubt, the doctor wrote.
"While he probably is enough in control not to re-offend in the immediate time after he is released, I would not want to predict beyond that period," Sloat wrote.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/07/08/news/news03.txt
mysteriew
07-08-2005, 01:12 PM
Three members of a Wolf Lodge Bay-area family were killed with a hammer, sources familiar with the investigation said on Thursday.
But earlier in the investigation Watson said the items used in the slayings were brought into the home by the killer.
Watson said the evidence shows that Joseph Edward Duncan III planned the abductions of Shasta Groene, 8, her brother, Dylan, 9, and the slayings.
Authorities said evidence indicates that Duncan acted alone.
"The victims were selected at random," Watson said, "but this was not a spontaneous act. He planned it."
Watson also said the killings appeared to be sexually motivated.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/07/08/news/news02.txt
mysteriew
07-08-2005, 01:15 PM
Experts said the girl, who survived when most of her family was kidnapped or killed nearly eight weeks ago, will likely suffer emotional scars forever. But family members believe her personality and upbringing will carry her through.
"To be able to go through what she did, then to tell police what happened right after we got her back is amazing," Price said. "There are a lot of adults who couldn't do that."
"If she did witness the murder of four people, or even just her brother, that makes it more horrific," said Dr. Mark I. Levy, a Mill Valley, Calif., forensic psychiatrist who specializes in psychological trauma and sexual and psychological abuse.
While Shasta is being characterized as a victim, others have said what she's done since she was rescued from the clutches of Joseph Edward Duncan III borders on the heroic.
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2005/07/08/news/news01.txt
mysteriew
07-08-2005, 01:34 PM
A Web log posting by sex offender Joseph E. Duncan has prompted investigators to explore the possibility that he may be involved in the disappearance of 5-year-old LeeAnna Warner from Chisholm, Minn., in June 2003.
Chisholm Police Chief Scott Erickson said Thursday that federal investigators are retracing Duncan's movements over the past few years after a Jan. 4, 2004, posting on his Web log.
FBI special agent Paul McCabe said the agency is retracing Duncan's steps through hotel and motel records, travel receipts and computer files to determine whether he may have been close to Chisholm the day LeeAnna disappeared.
"We're looking at Duncan, as probably is every law enforcement agency in the Midwest with an unsolved criminal sex case or child abduction case."
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5495975.html
LinasK
07-09-2005, 04:08 AM
Thursday, July 7, 2005 - Page updated at 12:20 PM
By Mike Carter (mcarter@seattletimes.com) and Jonathan Martin (jonathanmartin@seattletimes.com)
Seattle Times staff reporters
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Joseph E. Duncan III recanted r