Free Republic

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) — Family members of victims say they don’t want the state to make a deal with Joseph Duncan III that would let him avoid the death penalty, even though a trial could be difficult for lone survivor Shasta Groene. Duncan’s public defender, John Adams, said last week a plea agreement would be easier on Shasta because she wouldn’t have to testify at trial, but could only be made if the state didn’t seek the death penalty against Duncan. Duncan, 42, has pleaded innocent to three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree kidnapping in...

ONGOING COVERAGE: GROENE INVESTIGATION Background: When three bodies were discovered at a North Idaho home on May 16, no one could anticipate the extent of the shocking story that would unfold. A weeks-long search for two missing children ended July 2 when 8-year-old girl Shasta Groene was discovered with a convicted sex offender at a Coeur d’Alene restaurant. Her 9-year-old brother, Dylan, was found dead at a remote Montana campsite. Joseph Edward Duncan III stands accused of committing these crimes.

Megan Kanka, Jessica Lunsford, Shasta Groene.These girls, all believed to be sexually molested by men and two of them killed, have generated headlines, prompted states to stiffen penalties against offenders and caused many parents to fear their child could be next.Yet gut-wrenching as these high-profile cases are, they don't tell the whole story of sex offenders in America. They don't reflect the surprisingly good news: Sex crimes against children have dropped dramatically in the last decade. An online national sex-offender registry was launched in July. And recent research shows doctors can better predict which offenders may strike again. "There's a...

STATELINE, Idaho (AP) - Well-wishers arrived on more than 500 Harley-Davidsons and other motorcycles to empty their pockets on behalf of the biker's daughter who survived a horrific abduction. About 1,000 people attended the six-hour benefit Sunday to aid Shasta Kay Groene, 8. Cash poured into a box at the front door of Cruiser's bar and grill, a biker hangout in this town just east of the Washington state line. Total receipts were not announced. ''I watched one guy walk up, open his wallet and dump everything but $5 into the box,'' said Prospect Bryce, who guarded the donation box...

Per Fox News...

Not posted yet... Girl was missing from Idaho, found alive

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) -- Detectives who questioned a man in the killings of three people ruled him out as a suspect Thursday and said they still had no idea where two children missing from the family's home were. The man, Robert Roy Lutner, 33, of Hayden, voluntarily took and passed a polygraph test during a seven-hour interview with investigators, Kootenai County sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said. Lutner said he saw the three alive when he attended a "barbecue-type get-together" at their rural home Sunday night, less than 24 hours before the bodies were found. "He had nothing to do...