Man sought in disappearance of 2 children

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- Kootenai County sheriff's officers said late Tuesday they're seeking a "person of interest" in the disappearance of two children missing from a house where three people were found slain.

Robert Roy Lutner, 33, of Hayden, Idaho, was reportedly driving either a 1975 silver Ford pickup or a 1990 white Toyota pickup, sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said.

"He's just a person of interest at this time," Wolfinger said. "He was known to be at the residence Sunday evening. He's maybe our best source of information. We're just having a hard time tracking him down right now."

Information on the man and the vehicles was relayed to other police agencies, including the Washington State Patrol.

An Amber Alert has been issued for the missing 9-year-old boy and 8-year-old girl. The children's mother, their 13-year-old brother and an adult man were found slain Monday evening in a house located along Interstate 90 about eight miles east of Coeur d'Alene.

Missing were Shasta Groene, 8, who is 3-foot-10 and 40 pounds with long auburn hair and hazel eyes, and her brother Dylan Groene, 9, who is 4 feet and 60 pounds, with a blond crewcut and blue eyes. Both children lived at the house with their mother.

Earlier Tuesday, authorities used a helicopter and dogs to search a forested area for the children.

"Our main concern right now is the two children we cannot find," Sheriff Rocky Watson said.

The FBI was assisting, while neighboring Spokane County, Wash., sent sheriff's officers and police detectives to assist at the crime scene, Watson said.

Watson could not say for certain the children were abducted.

"We just know there are two children who are normally in that house who are not," Watson said.

The victims in the house were identified as Brenda Groene, 40; Slade Groene, 13; and Mark McKenzie, 37, of Coeur d'Alene, Watson said. Watson did not know the relationship between McKenzie and the others. A Mark McKenzie is listed as a neighbor of Brenda Groene, according to property records.

Watson said the deaths were not a case of a murder-suicide.

Wolfinger said the bodies bore obvious signs of traumatic injury but he did not elaborate.

The children's father, Steven Groene, is not a suspect, Watson said. Investigators have talked with him and described him as distraught.

"The lead detective told me he was ruled out," Watson said. "I didn't ask for details of why he was ruled out."

Steven and Brenda Groene were separated in 1998 and divorced in 2001. Brenda Groene had custody of the three younger children and her husband had custody of two older children, Vance Robert, now 20, and Jesse, 18, court records showed.

Neighbor Janie Riley, who with her husband owns a nearby campground, said the younger children often played at the campground. She did not recall any obvious signs of trouble at the house.

"But there was a lot of activity going on there," Riley said.

Kootenai County court records indicate family members have had minor scrapes with the law, including a June 2003 arrest of Brenda Groene for investigation of drug possession.

Jesse Groene is currently in the Kootenai County Jail for investigation of assault, battery, burglary and possession of stolen property, according to a jail employee who refused to give his name.

Authorities were called Monday evening by a neighbor who had gone to the house to pay the 13-year-old for mowing his lawn over the weekend and noticed something was amiss, Wolfinger said.

The neighbor, Bob Hollingsworth, said he grew suspicious because dogs were barking and the door of one vehicle was open while none of his neighbors were in sight.

"I had a bad feeling," he said. "There was always a kid or dog or something that comes out of there."

Wolfinger said the two missing children were not at school Monday.

Watson hired a helicopter to fly over the area Tuesday, taking thermal images in an unsuccessful search for body heat. Officers could be seen poking with sticks into thick brush around the modest home, which is at the base of a timbered hillside.

The Amber Alert covered all of Idaho, plus Spokane and Malheur County, Ore. A message board on I-90 about two miles from the family's home was flashing the alert Tuesday.

The alert system for children who may have been abducted and in imminent danger is named for 9-year-old Amber Hagerman of Arlington, Texas, who was killed after being kidnapped while riding her bicycle near her home in 1996.

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