Man accused of kidnapping 2 Idaho children to face charges in killing of 3 people found at home

In these undated family photos provided by the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department, show Shasta and Dylan Groene. Human remains found at a remote campsite in Montana last week have been identified as those of 9-year-old Dylan Groene, the Idaho boy who was kidnapped seven weeks ago, authorities said Sunday, July 10, 2005. Shasta was rescued July 2. (AP Photo/Kootenai County Sheriff's Office)

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — A convicted sex offender, already facing kidnapping charges in the abduction of two Idaho children, will be charged in the slayings of three people found dead at the children's home, prosecutors said.

Joseph Edward Duncan III, 42, was expected to appear in court Tuesday for a probable cause hearing, Kootenai County prosecutor Bill Douglas said.

Duncan is being held in the alleged kidnapping of Dylan and Shasta Groene, who were declared missing in May after police found the bound and beaten bodies of their mother, her boyfriend and the children's older brother in their home.

Eight-year-old Shasta was spotted July 2 in a Coeur d'Alene restaurant with Duncan, who was arrested. The body of Dylan, 9, was found at a remote campsite in western Montana last week after Shasta gave authorities information about where the children were held.

Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson has said he believes the victims in the house were killed so the perpetrator could kidnap the two young siblings for the purposes of sex. He has said the victims were apparently chosen at random, although the killings were carefully planned.

Authorities believe Duncan is also the sole person responsible for the deaths of Brenda Kay Groene, 40; Slade Groene, 13; and Mark Edward McKenzie, 37.

Shasta has been released from Kootenai Medical Center to her father, Steve Groene.

Duncan was released on $15,000 bail earlier this year in Becker County, Minn., after being charged with molesting a 6-year-old boy. Police in Fargo, N.D., where Duncan lived, had been looking for him since he failed to check in with a probation agent there in May.

Police said he got the $15,000 from a Fargo businessman, Joe Crary, 51, who said he became acquainted with Duncan on bicycle trails around Fargo.

"In my contact with him, I saw him like many others apparently did — he was polite, soft spoken, and seemed sincere in turning his life around," Crary said in a statement faxed Monday night to The Forum newspaper of Fargo.

"I was trying to help him get things straightened out, just like I have tried to help many others over the years," he told the newspaper.

Crary said Duncan told him he was working on a college degree and holding down two jobs. "Furthermore, he assured me he was innocent of the charges in Becker County," Crary wrote in his statement.