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Sad developments today - but, the end of a long chapter for the family of six-year old Adam Walsh. He is the son of America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh and was murdered 27 years ago in Florida. The details of his kidnapping and murder are particularly gruesome. Today, investigators announced they have finally solved the case - and, with the announcement of Adam’s killer, I am even more sad for what that little boy went through.

Shortly after Joseph Duncan’s arrest, I started getting emails from people wondering how many other child deaths Duncan could be responsible for. A few of those speculators thought Duncan could be responsible for Adam’s death. However, I checked through piles and piles of Duncan’s court and prison records and determined Duncan could not have been responsible for Adam’s death. Today, investigators announced another monster is responsible for Adam’s death. He’s an admitted serial killer named Ottis Toole who died in prison in 1996. He apparently confessed to Adam’s murder twice, but later recanted the confession. As of this writing, they have not released any information about why they now think Toole is the man responsible. But, if you read this background info on Toole and his life and crimes, you may shudder - as I did - thinking about the end of Adam’s life.

I’m thankful the Walsh’s have closure on this, though I doubt this revelation will bring them any peace.

It’s been a verdict that many in the community have waited with baited breath for months and it came down to three hours of a Boise jury’s time to decide that Joseph Duncan should face the death penalty for the murder of 9-year-old Dylan Groene.

Since the beginning of the sentencing phase of the federal case KXLY.com has provided numerous opportunities, especially through our live blog, to give people the chance to ’sound off’ on this story and now we’d like to offer you one more opportunity. Please feel free to drop us a line in the Comments section below and let the rest of the community know what your feelings are about the death penalty decision.

To see our extensive archives of this case please check out the following online resources:

Tomorrow morning in Boise, 12 men and women will begin what will be either the easiest or the toughest discussion of their lives. They will sit in a room and decide if another human being should live or die. While this case has been extremely one-sided since the beginning (Joseph Duncan has not put on a defense), don’t assume you can guess what this jury will decide. If capital cases have taught us anything, it’s that you can’t predict what a death penalty jury will do.

I was shocked last week at how quickly the jury decided Duncan was eligible for the death penalty. Perhaps you weren’t, considering one of the last images they were left with was one of Duncan torturing Dylan Groene. Oh, and don’t forget: right before they began deliberations, Duncan told the jury he hated them and that his intent was to rape and kill as much as he could. Still, it’s a death penalty case and they had a lot of jury forms to fill out. Either way, that decision was likely the easy one.

Duncan’s jurors now have to sit in a room and say, “Yes, I think this man should die.” That’s a heavy repsonsibility for anyone. And, in some of the nation’s most notorious cases, even one juror has made the difference between life and death.

In Chicago last year, a jury chose life in prison without parole instead of the death penalty for a man who killed seven people in a restaurant. It only took them two hours - and, in that case, it was a single juror holding out that kept Juan Luna alive. Many death penalty opponents held that case up as an example, saying if Luna didn’t get the death penalty, no one should. In a more high-profile case, jurors rejected the death penalty for so-called 911 Mastermind Zacarias Moussaoui. Despite the strong evidence and Moussaoui’s frequent courtroom outbursts, the jurors spent 41 hours over seven days and decided Mousssaoui should get life in prison instead. Some cases, though, play out a little more like you would expect they would. A jury in Colorado spent 11 hours deliberating before sentencing Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh to death. There’s a key difference between Duncan and all of these other cases, though; in this case, Duncan represented himself and never once offered a defense for his crimes or reason for his actions. He never once looked at those jurors and asked them to spare his life. He has one more chance tomorrow in his closing arguments.

I won’t begin to guess at what this jury will decide and how long it will take them to do it. On our live blog last week, we asked how many people believed Duncan should be put to death. The repsonse was overwhelming in favor of the death penalty. Then, we asked how many people could decide if another person should live or die. The response to that question was much more balanced.

We will soon find out if Joseph Duncan will be executed or spend the rest of his life behind bars.  It’s a decision so many people have been waiting for.  Today, both sides in the sentencing trial rested.  Duncan did not make any arguments or call any witnesses, which is no surprise given his track record during the hearing.  Duncan did however make an expression he very rarely makes during the trial: he smiled and raised his eyebrows.  He made this expression while his ex-girlfriend walked into the courtroom-it was almost as though he was excited to see her and was trying to get her look over at him- she didn’t. 

 Perhaps the most emotional part of the day was when Dylan’s grandma, aunt, dad, and third grade teacher took the stand.  The testimony gave jurors and myself a much better picture of who Dylan was before he died.  Dylan was not just Duncan’s vicitm, he was a boy who loved monster trucks, matchbox cars and Shasta.  Steve Groene told jurors Dylan was Shasta’s gaurdian angel.  Tim Marks, Dylan’s third grade teacher told jurors about Dylan’s stash of cheap cologne in his desk at school-just about everyone laughed for the first time since this began-it was refreshing.

Tomorrow morning jurors will be given their instructions and then they head into deliberations.  We don’t know how long it will take for the 12 member panel to decide.  It could take 2 hours or 2 days, we just don’t know.  Tim and I, along with the other media representatives will most likely be camped out in the media room until a decision is reached.

Today was one of my toughest days as Executive Producer at KXLY. A little background: part of my job is approve scripts and decide what content will go in the newscasts and what will not. Today, I had to decide what details we would and would not report from the graphic videos shown in the Joseph Duncan trial. It was not easy - though, I had an easier job that most people involved in that case today.

Our photographer Tim Martin was in court for the video today - not because he wanted to or because we forced him to, but because he felt it was his duty as a journalist to be in that courtroom and report what he saw. That must have been the toughest decision he’s ever had to make, but Tim did an amazing job relaying the information. Tim didn’t just focus on the video, he focused more on the reaction of those in court. We needed to know what the jury would do when they saw the video, as they are the ones who will ultimately decide Duncan’s fate. Tim took detailed notes about their reaction and Duncan’s reaction and was able to pass that information to those of us not in the courtroom.

Tim told me everything, it was up to me to decide what we would air. I’ve known a lot of of the information for about three years, but we’ve chosen not to report it because it was not part of the official court record. Today, as Tim read me his notes, I realized how much we didn’t know. I had no idea Duncan was walking around yelling at God after he tortured Dylan. That, to me, shed more light on Duncan’s mental state than anything I’ve heard in three years covering this case. However, even though Tim passed on the information in detail, we only reported about 1/1oth of what was there. So much of it is so explicit, I could never sleep at night knowing I passed on  that information to others.

I’m sure a lot of people watched my story at 5:00 and were upset at how graphic it was. It was a fine line we walked today and I understand that. But, some of it is absolutely germane to the case. In every other murder case we cover, we release information about what happened, how the person died, etc. While we do use extra sensitivity in this case, it’s still important to report the facts. I hope our coverage reflects both the obligation we feel to covering the case and the overriding feeling that sometimes, there is such thing as too much information.

There is horrific evil in this world. We prefer not to have to face it and most often we manage to avoid confronting it. In a Boise federal courtroom over the last few days that wasn’t possible. Unimaginable horror and evil at its darkest was portrayed by prosecutors who want convicted killer Joseph Edward Duncan III to die for his crimes against an innocent family and against humanity.

Jurors cringed, barely able to stand witnessing the images on a video tape Duncan used to record his sexual abuse and torture of a nine year old boy at a remote campsite in a forest in Western Montana.

The video was probably unnecessary. Descriptions by Shasta Groene, also on video tape, given to law officers only hours after she was removed from Joseph Duncan’s custody, said all that jury would need in order to call for the defendant’s death. The older sister of Dylan was forced to watch as this demon of a man abused and killed her brother.

Joseph Duncan is perhaps the most grotesque form of evil personified on this planet yet, sadly, he is not a rare monster.

This evil is plentiful and takes many forms. It is a serial killer, an abusive father or mother, a tyrannical dictator, an international terrorist. It exists in millions of awful people. It prowls through the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Consider that killing Joseph Duncan, which I think is inevitable, may provide us with a sense of justice and relief, but his demise brings about the end only one of the devil’s foot soldiers.

This morning the moment we have all been dreading became a very vivid reality: federal prosecutors played the horrific video tapes of Joseph Duncan molesting and torturing young Dylan Groene. From the beginning I have said I want nothing to do with that video, I simply don’t want to see it. Today, as the moment got closer I questioned myself and thought “ok, maybe I can do, just maybe.” But, when Judge Edward Lodge made an announcement, warning anyone who can’t control their emotions, to not return to the court room-my decision was easy-I’m not going back. Tim Martin, a photographer and blogger extrodinaire volunteered to go in for me,- not because he wanted to see the videos but because we needed to know how Duncan and the jurors reacted. I am so thankful for his sacrifice. The past seven days have been tough- already I am replaying certain phrases and images in my mind, I don’t need to add the video to that list. Even though I know deep in my gut I made the right decision, it was still a little awkward to be one of two reporters NOT in the courtroom. I am also thankful for the supportive team of colleagues back in Spokane. Melissa Luck didn’t question my decision once. Thank you for understanding.

In October in the mountains of Montana, the air is cool, but the landscape is beautiful. The colors have, by then, long since changed and you can’t help but be in awe of the quiet stillness around you. I grew up in Montana and while I’m not someone who spends a lot of time in the great outdoors, I can appreciate why they call it God’s country. However, a trip to the Lolo National Forest in October of 2005 shattered any image I had of the peaceful wilderness. All because of a cabin changed forever by Joseph Duncan.

I have written hundreds of news stories in my career - many of them, I don’t remember at all. But in some cases, I remember specific lines that I wrote that - to me - define the story. In the story I wrote about a visit to that cabin, I wrote, “As the leaves start to change in the Lolo National Forest, it’s easy to see why some call this God’s country… a glimpse of heaven, high in the trees. But, for two Coeur d’Alene children held captive here for weeks, this forest became hell on earth.” I remember that line - because I remember feeling that exact emotion as we drove up an old logging road to the cabin. I was with a photographer named Brian - and, I was glad to be with Brian for a lot of reasons. He’s a friend, first of all. He’s also the biggest, strongest photographer we have. If I broke down up there (mentally/literally!), I wanted Brian there with me. While we drove up to that cabin, though, I told Brian I needed to tell him why we were going there. I needed him to know what happened in that cabin, so he would understand my reaction when we got there. Brian has two young boys and he didn’t want to know. I told him anyway (he probably has never forgiven me for that).

When we pulled up to the cabin, it took a few minutes for either of us to get out of the car. When we did, we each walked our separate ways and stayed by ourselves for a few minutes. Brian did not immediately take his gear out of his car and start shooting. I have always admired him for that. I don’t know what Brian was thinking about that day - we never talked about it. But, I’m sure he was thinking about his sons. I didn’t have kids, so I thought about Dylan. I thought about what happened there and I tried to imagine how Dylan must have felt - not during the torture, but when he first got to the cabin. It’s a teetering, abandonded mining cabin. The wood is weathered and it’s empty inside. On site - especially for a little boy - it must have been absolutely terrifying. By the time we got there, some of the cabin elements had been removed, presumably for evidence. It wasn’t really cold that day, but the wind up there blew a little colder than it did on the rest of the mountain. We shot our video, we spent a few more minutes alone in silence and we left. It was the quickest, quietest shoot I’ve ever been on - and, I’m glad.

I’ll never forget that shoot - and, I’ll never forget that cabin. There are countless others all over the Montana woods and I will never look at another one the same. What was built as a refuge for miners became a torture chamber an innocent little boy had no prayer of escaping. Today in court, jurors are going to see the “other” videos shot at that cabin. The video they’ve been dreading since hearingt the opening statements. I pray for each one of those jurors, all the court officers and the members of the public who came to the trial today. At least my memory is just of an empty cabin and what’s in my imagination. They’ll see the real thing - and, they’ll never be the same.

For a week or so now, we’ve been doing a live blog about the Joseph Duncan sentencing. Our photographer, Tim Martin, is sitting in the media room, writing about what’s happening as it happens. We’ve had tremendous response, with people from all over the country and even relatives of Duncan’s victims logging on to follow the progress. We’re getting a lot of repeat questions about the case and it has a tendency to distract from what’s going on in court. So, I’m writing this page of Frequently Asked Questions - ones that pop up most on the blog every day. I hope it helps - and, I hope you’ll join in on the live blog.

 –

Q: Why is this case happening in Boise? A: It’s a federal case and that’s the biggest federal courthouse in the area. This became a federal case when Duncan crossed state lines with the Groene children. Also, Dylan’s murder happened on federal land.

Q: Didn’t Duncan already get sent to prison? Why are we going through all of this again? A: Duncan pleaded guilty in Kootenai County (state charges) to killing Brenda and Slade Groene and Mark McKenzie. For that case, he got three life terms in prison. However, Kootenai County prosecutors said if Duncan doesn’t get the death penalty in the federal case, they’ll bring him back to Kootenai County for sentencing and they will seek the death penalty. Duncan’s attorneys agreed to this and the judge signed off on it.

Q: Doesn’t Duncan want to die? Why are we going through all of this? A: Duncan has said in the past that he wants to die. However, the feds can’t just execute him because he says that’s what he wants. Also, a judge can’t sentence someone to death. A jury has to decide.

Q: Isn’t Duncan insane? How can he be allowed to defend himself? A: When Duncan asked to represent himself, the federal judge ordered several mental evaluations to see if Duncan was mentally competent. Those doctors determined Duncan had “no known mental condition” - so, he was allowed to act as his own attorney. He won’t be able to use “inadequate defense” as part of an appeal - and, his original defense team is standing by, in case a judge orders them to step in.

Q: Why can’t we see what’s going on in court? A: Cameras and other recording devices are not allowed in federal court. In this case, there’s a separate media room, where reporters who aren’t in court can listen and file their stories (but, they can’t record what’s going on).

Q: Isn’t Duncan facing charges for other murders? A: He’s already charged with a child murder in California (10 year old Anthony Martinez was killed in 1997. Duncan’s fingerprints and confessions have linked him to that crime). He’s also a suspect in the murders of two sisters in the Seattle area in 1996. He’s never been charged with those crimes, but reportedly confessed to killing the girls.

Q: Even if Duncan is sentenced to death, won’t he just sit on death row forever? A: Not necessarily. He gets one automatic appeal. Generally, the time spent on federal death row between sentence and execution is shorter than it is in state cases. The feds have executed 3 people since 2001.

Q: How long is this sentencing going to take? A:  It depends. In this first phase, the jury has to decide if Duncan’s case fits the criteria for the death penalty. They have multiple factors to consider (past crimes, pre-planning, etc.) Attorneys for each side call witnesses and present evidence in this phase and do closing arguments, like any other case. Then, the jury will deliberate and decide. If they decide that this case fits the criteria, they go on to the second phase, in which they decide if Duncan should get the death penalty. In this phase, we’ll hear more emotional testimony from family members, etc. Duncan has not indicated that he plans to present any defense or any witnesses in either phase. He has the right to do that, though, until he rests his case.

Q: How are the surviving family members doing now? I don’t know all these names, who are the family members? A: Brenda Groene was mom to Shasta, Dylan, Slade, Vance and Jesse. Duncan killed her in May 2005 in order to kidnap Shasta and Dylan. She has a large extended family in the area that has rallied around Shasta since she was found. Mark McKenzie was Brenda’s boyfriend. He was also killed in the Wolf Lodge home. He was a father-figure to the children and has a large family in the area that has supported Shasta as well. Slade Groene was 13 years old when he was killed in the Wolf Lodge home. Steve Groene is the childrens’ father. He is Shasta’s guardian and has been in court almost every day of the trial. Steve has had extensive health problems, but has stayed active in  the case throughout. Jesse and Vance Groene are Shasta and Dylan’s oldest brothers. They were in the Coeur d’Alene area when the murders happened and frequently spoke out while the search for their siblings was underway. Jesse was in jail when the murders happened and has had some problems off and on since the crimes occured.

Q: What about Duncan’s family? A: Duncan’s family has not spoken publicly since his arrest, except for his brother, Bruce. Bruce went on a national talk show after Duncan was arrested and did not defend his brother’s actions at all. He passed away suddenly about two years ago and no one from the family has spoken out since.

I hope this helps. For even more background, please read this background piece I wrote a couple weeks ago. I will also answer any and all of your questions if you email me: MelissaL@kxly.com

       If you’re on this blog, you likely know KXLY4 and the stories we cover. Thus, you’re aware of the Joseph Duncan sentencing case underway in Boise right now. And you’re aware of what he admits to doing… kidnapping, torturing, raping, and killing. We’ve been covering the story since 2005, when Duncan broke into the Groene home in Wolf Lodge, which is why I must admit I’d almost grown immune to the story. I don’t like admitting that.   It makes me feel guilty.  It makes me sad. It makes me feel disconnected.

       But after following this week’s case in Boise, being disconnected seems like a good thing. It’s a much worse feeling knowing exactly what Dylan and Shasta Groene endured in that Montana Wilderness… what happened to Dylan… what Shasta saw. It’s a much worse feeling knowing the extent to which Duncan plotted and planned his murders. It’s a much worse feeling seeing the letters written by those children to their dad, assuring him they were okay and that they would return home safe. Now, disconnected seems like a happy, safe place. Disconnected seems like a place that many following this case would like to be… the media, the jurors, and especially the victim’s families.

       The case taking place inside that courtroom this week doesn’t allow us that leisure. We are consumed, absored, enthralled with what this human being did to an innocent family. I am dumbfounded as I sit at my computer reading opening statements and looking at evidence submitted into the court… letters written by Shasta and Dylan, zip ties used to bind their family members before they were killed, duct tape. Much of the information revealed so far, we knew. However, when you see it, when you read it, when you open yourself up… the feelings are overwhelming, exhausting even.

It was another rough day in the courtroom.  We heard a conversation between Shasta and a Coeur d’ Alene Police officer recorded just moments after she was found at Denny’s.  And, we read letters Dylan and Shasta wrote to their dad and each other while being held captive.  The saddest part about these letters? Dylan was so hopeful he would be able to go home.  Reading through the letters it sounds like Duncan kept telling Dylan he would take him home.  Can you imagine?

 I was also amazed today about how much Joseph Duncan was concerned for the two family dogs inside the Groene/Mckenzie home.  I love dogs, don’t get me wrong, but it appears Duncan was more worried about not injuring the dogs than he was a human life.  How can that be? Sgt. Brad Maskell with the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department says Duncan loaded his shotgun with a bird  shell, so it would only injure (spray beebees) the dogs and not seriously hurt them.  Yet, he makes sure to have a different kind of shell for Mark Mckenzie.  I just don’t get it. 

Duncan made a few statements in court as well.  He cross examined an FBI agent and the manager at Denny’s. He asked the Denny’s manager about how the restaurant typically serves its milkshakes.  And, asked the FBI agent if he noticed the police car in the surviellence video of Duncan and Shasta at a Conoco station in Kellogg.  The conversations were brief.

 Here are a few tidbits from today that I didn’t get to share in my story:

-It took six days for ISP to process the Wolf Lodge home where Brenda and Slade Groene and Mark Mckenzie were murdered.

-Sgt. Brad Maskell has investigated more than 400 death scenes in the past decade.

-When Duncan went into the Groene home the family pit bull ran out the door like a “bullet.” No one has ever seen the dog since.

Hearing resumes tomorrow at 9 AM.

When the Valley View Fire hit, we were inundated with information as the fast-moving blaze roared through Spokane Valley neighborhoods. As soon as we were posting one element of the story to the website it was being overrun with information that made what we had just published outdated.

It was a case where the story was changing faster than our ability to publish it. I made a snap decision to stop publishing until there was a lull in the fire, a point where we could take a long pause and evaluate what was happening. Until we got to that point, I decided we were going to live blog.

We’ve had a Twitter page for well over a year where we could have posted updates, but that seemed kind of slow and we didn’t have a really easy way to incorporate Tweets into our front page. The other thing is, well, Twitter has been known to crash. That wouldn’t serve us well in a breaking news situation.

We could’ve gone with our regular blogs but it just didn’t convey the sense of urgency we wanted to convey. The situation was fluid, changes were coming in every minute and so I turned to Cover It Live, a live blog solution that allows us to post updates using a dynamic interface to a blog window that we could then drop onto a page on our site using an iFrame.

Here’s one additional reason why we went with the live blog: Near-real-time communications between the community and the media. While people could leave comments in our live blog, sharing their thoughts and feelings and in some cases their eyewitness observations of the fire lines, it also proved to be a community service as it gave people a place to get their concerns answered in a timely fashion. KXLY.com’s live blog became an emergency switchboard, with several of us manning that switchboard working to answer every question and concern as quickly as possible.

Suddenly the story was no longer being written by our staff. The story was being written by the community, with our staff as moderators, as they shared their perspectives with us and each other. The live blog became a community-generated, dynamic story, told from a variety of different perspectives, and you had no idea where the story was going to take you. One minute the story was one person’s concerns about the burned out homes and the next minute it was a relative of someone who lived in the fire zone who was checking in from San Diego to find out if everyone was OK.

It became a place where people could share and collaborate on what became the first news story about the community that was also written by the community.

So now we’re manning the switchboard again with the Joseph Duncan sentencing hearing. KXLY4 Photojournalist Tim Martin is sitting in a room adjoining the courtroom live blogging each update he hears about from the courtroom where testimony is being given. Tim was the photjournalist KXLY sent out to the Groene home the day they were discovered murdered. Back here in Spokane Melissa Luck and I are backing Tim up; while Melissa has reported the story on-air I’ve been writing the story online since that day back in May of 2005. And when the court goes into occasional recesses reporter Annie Bishop is coming out of the courtroom and filling in Tim on the things she’s seeing from the gallery to help add to his running commentary of the proceedings.

Again, as with the Valley View Fire, there are questions being raised with each new detail Tim is posting to the live blog. Community members are asking about the sentencing and appellate process, and some are offering up their own first-hand knowledge of this case, one of the most horrific crimes committed in Inland Northwest history.

The Joseph Duncan story can’t be told like a one-way lecture from the media to the community; from day one it has been a gripping, tragic story that the community has had a stake in.

It’s only fair we live blog the proceedings so the community can help tell the story.

  As Melissa Luck and Annie Bishop have detailed in their excellent blogs posted below, this has been an exceptionally difficult day for journalists covering the Joseph Duncan death penalty hearing.  Ultimately, KXLY made a choice to leave out some of the most gruesome details of the case described in today’s opening statements by the prosecution. 

  Other media outlets have chosen to report those details, and there are certainly legitimate reasons to do so, given that this is an exceptionally high-profile case with so much at stake, namely, the life of a killer and justice for the victims and their families.  (The Spokesman-Review, whose coverage has been exhaustive since this story began, has posted the complete transcript of today’s opening statements.  Read at your own risk, and I say that in all sincerity.) 

  After much discussion, we decided to omit some of those details.  Though they were being presented for the very first time, I don’t feel they provided additional insight into what took place, except perhaps to make an already heinous crime somehow seem even more so.  In my mind, certain details of what the Groene children endured are so profoundly disturbing, it would be borderline unconscionable to present that information either on TV or our website, where anybody - children especially - might innocently stumble upon it.  Some may say that’s overly protective.  Maybe being the parent of three young girls has made me overly sensitive.  Still, I don’t regret our decision.

As journalists our number one goal is to be objective, weigh both sides of a story and leave your emotions out of it.  Of course you can’t be objective and emotional at the same time, at least when you are writing a story.  Today, that rule went right out the window.  As I sat in federal courtroom #2 today, I couldn’t control my emotions.  As I sat there and listened to United States District Attorney Tom Moss reveal shocking details about Joseph Duncan and what he did to Shasta and Dylan Groene I had shivers up my spine and goose bumps down my arms.  As a reporter, I often hear or see disturbing things, but nothing-and I tell you nothing- can prepare you for what I heard in court today.  So what exactly did Mr. Moss talk about? Some of the details are too disturbing to write about,  but I can tell you Joseph Duncan planned his attack more than we ever thought before. 

Today it was revealed Duncan bought a pair of shoes a few sizes too big so if he left footprints investigators wouldn’t be able to connect him to the murders.  We also know he was in Spokane a few days before he attacked the Groene family and Mark Mckenzie.  We know this because Mr. Moss told the court a GPS system in the stolen Jeep Duncan was driving put him near a kids music center.  In fact, Duncan marked several potential targets in that same GPS system.  Some of the GPS “marks” were near a bus stop and day care center in Montana.  A few other “marks” put him near homes that all had young children living or playing nearby.  Moss says while Duncan drove from Fargo to Coeur d’ Alene he found several young children he was interested in.  Moss says Duncan referred to those children as “flowers-” at one point Duncan told investigators he tried to “pick two flowers” but the parents in the car became suspicious and drove to a police station. 

 In addition to outlining the case, Moss warned jurors they will have to watch several sexually explicit videos Duncan took of Dylan in a remote cabin in the LoLo National Forest.  I do not want to see those videos.  I can’t imagine what the jurors are thinking right now.  At leat one juror was visibly upset today.  It’s going to be a tough couple of weeks.

 Tomorrow: Federal prosecutors will call their first witness @ 9 AM. 

We’ve been covering the Joseph Duncan case for three years and three months now. Over that time, we’ve produced countless stories on Duncan’s background, criminal history, ideology, etc. Now that we’re on the eve of opening statements in his sentencing, I wanted to comply for you some of the basic background information you may have missed or forgotten about over the years. Before you read this, I want to respond to an irate message I received on my voicemail this morning. A woman was extremely upset that we’re even covering this case. She says we’re making Dunacn a hero and a celebrity by putting him on the news. I disagree. I feel like the only way to honor the victims whose lives Duncan has destroyed is to show what’s being done to bring justice in their cases. If we ignored Duncan and this case, we’d be doing a disservice to the victims. So, if you aren’t interested in seeing the coverage, I apologize. But, you’ll be seeing a lot of it (here and in other local media) in the coming weeks and days. That said, here’s some basic background information, to help guide you through what’s ahead.

*Joseph Duncan is originally from Western Washington. In 1980, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison for raping a young boy at gunpoint.

*Duncan had problems with other inmates in prison, by his own accounts and what is shown in his Department of Corrections records. He was moved around to several facilities in Washington state.

*Duncan was released in 1994 and moved to Seattle.

*In 1996, two young sisters in Duncan’s neighborhood went missing and were later found dead. Duncan’s home was less than a mile from where they disappeared. His place of work was less than a mile from where their bodies were found eight months later.  Police never released information about a suspect. When Duncan had Shasta Groene in Montana, he reportedly confessed to her that he killed those two girls. They are referred to in court documents as possible victims of Duncan, but he has not been charged.

*In 1997, Duncan violated his parole and, police later learned, went to California. While there, police say he kidnapped a young boy named Anthony Martinez, killed him and dumped his body in the woods. Police never connected Duncan to the crime until his arrest in Kootenai County. Duncan’s fingerprints match those left at the Martinez crime scene. He has been charged with Anthony’s murder.

*Duncan was later arrested in Missouri and sent back to prison for violating his parole.

*In 2000, Duncan was released and moved to Fargo, North Dakota. He enrolled in North Dakota State University. He majored in computer science and had two jobs working in computers.

*In 2004, Duncan was accused of molesting two boys in a public park in Detroit Lakes, MN.

 *In April 2005, a wealthy businessman gave Duncan money to pay his $15,000 bail. The check bounced and Duncan skipped town. He left behind notes on the walls of his home in Fargo, North Dakota and asked a neighbor to take care of his cats.

*Before leaving town, Duncan went to a Wal-Mart in Fargo and bought night-vision goggles and other items later used in the Groene/McKenzie murders.

*Duncan rented an SUV from the airport in Minneapolis. He never returned it and it was reported stolen. Duncan was driving that red Jeep Cherokee when he was arrested in Coeur d’Alene in July, 2005.

*According to his own statements, Duncan was driving along I-90 outside Coeur d’Alene when he spotted Dylan and Shasta Groene playing outside. For the next couple of days, Duncan stalked the family using those night-vision goggles. On the night of May 15, Duncan broke into the Wolf Lodge home, killing Brenda Groene, her 13-year old son Slade and her boyfriend, Mark McKenzie. He kidnapped Shasta and Dylan and took them to a remote campsite outside of St. Regis, Montana. An Amber Alert was issued and a nationwide hunt for the children and their abductor began.

*In the early morning hours of July 2, 2005, Duncan and Shasta walked into a Denny’s restaurant in Coeur d’Alene. A waitress and several patrons thought it was odd to see a child there at that time of the morning - and, also recognized the little girl from the pictures hanging all over town. To keep Duncan and Shasta from leaving, waitress Amber Deahn stalled them by making Shasta a milkshake. When police arrived, Shasta admitted who she was and took Duncan into custody.

*After his arrest, investigators discovered Duncan’s blog, on which his writings became increasingly erratic. He talked of wanting to “harm society as much as he can and then [wanting to] die.” He also talked of demons that had taken over. The last entry was written two days before the Wolf Lodge murders.

*We learned after his arrest that Duncan held the Groene children for six weeks off a remote logging road near St. Regis, Montana. On several occasions, Duncan took the children into St. Regis, but no one recognized them as the missing children from Coeur d’Alene. Sometime during that six weeks, Duncan explained to Shasta how he killed her family. Also during that six weeks, Duncan took pictures and videos of the children, including a video of himself abusing Dylan in a remote Montana cabin. Those videos will be allowed in court - and, the courtroom will be open to public when and if they are shown.

*Duncan later said he wanted to return Shasta to reunite her with his family. He referred to her as an angel.

*While in jail, Duncan started blogging again. He was writing letters to someone “on the outside” who was posting them on Duncan’s behalf. Shortly after it was reported in the media, the blogging stopped.

*Days before his trial was set to begin in Kootenai County, Duncan pleaded guilty to the murders at Wolf Lodge. He was sentenced to three life terms without the possibility of parole. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors in Kootenai County said that if Duncan did not the death penalty in the federal case, he would be returned to Kootenai County for sentencing and they would seek the death penalty. Duncan was transferred to the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Boise and held in protective custody.

*December 3, 2007: Duncan pleads guilty to the federal charges against him. That includes kidnapping Dylan and Shasta Groene and killing Dylan. For these crimes, the sentencing begins August 13, 2008.

As you can imagine, there’s a lot more to the case than just this. These, though, are some background facts you may not hear about in our coverage of the sentencing. This case is very unusual - both locally and nationally. Rarely do you see federal death penalty cases in which defendants represent themselves. Also, as I wrote on this blog a few weeks ago, it doesn’t appear Duncan will try to sway the jury against sentencing him to death. I have long believed he wants to die rather than spend the rest of his life in prison. Whatever happens, I hope more than anything that the only surviving victim, Shasta, gets to see justice for her family and for the horrific crimes she’s endured.