Sunday, July 03, 2005

Shasta Groene, Alive!

I was so happy so hear that this eight-year old was found alive. The last six weeks of her life have been tragic, to say the least. She may have seen her mother, brother, and her mother’s boyfriend bludgeoned to death. She may have seen the death of her other brother.

Early Saturday morning, she was taken to a Denny’s in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, only two miles from her home. The man with her removed a flyer with her picture on it when they entered the restaurant. That didn’t keep the wait staff and a customer form recognizing her however. The waitress kept them busy while the customer called police. I won’t call the waitress or the customer heroes, but I’m sure Shasta and her father do. I hesitate to call them heroes only because what they did took very little effort on their part. They did what they knew to be right and faced no repercussion for doing so. That being said, what I call them doesn’t matter. They are good people who deserve to feel very good about themselves for what they did. They deserve the accolades they get. And I hope they get the reward that has been offered.

Unfortunately, Shasta’s brother Dylan is still missing. While being interviewed, Shasta referred to her brother as “being in heaven” but authorities were unsure whether she meant Dylan or her older brother Slate, who was murdered along with their mother. Shasta spent last night in the hospital with her father watching over her. I’m sure it will be sometime before he is able to let her out of his sight.

At this time, no details have been released whether Joseph Duncan, the man arrested for kidnapping Shasta, is responsible for the deaths of Shasta’s mother, brother, and the mother’s boyfriend. He’s a fugitive from Wisconsin wanted for fleeing a charge of molesting a young boy. He stole a car in Wisconsin, license plates in Missouri, and has been living in Fargo North Dakota for some time. He served time for molesting another young boy years earlier. He’s what would be known in Florida as a sexual predator. Apparently, he’s asked for an attorney and hasn’t made a statement.

Even if he had nothing to do with the murders, and he didn’t kidnap or harm Shasta in any way, he’s guilty of interfering with parental custody. He had Shasta and didn’t turn her over to her father or to the authorities who have been looking for her for the past six weeks. Knowing his criminal past, I doubt that he had the best of intentions.

We’ll have to wait to see what happened to Shasta over the last six weeks. I sincerely hope he didn’t touch her in any way. I sincerely hope Dylan will be found safe and sound. And, if it’s found that Joseph Duncan killed her family or harmed either child, I sincerely hope that Idaho has a death penalty.

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