Dad isn't suspect in Idaho killings

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- The father of two children missing for more than a week from a home where three people were killed is not a suspect in the case, even though he failed portions of a lie detector test, a sheriff's spokesman said Monday.

Steve Groene told television news personality Geraldo Rivera on Sunday that he lacked an alibi and failed portions of a voluntary polygraph test administered by the FBI.

But Kootenai County sheriff's spokesman Capt. Ben Wolfinger said that does not make Groene a suspect.

"There is no evidence linking Steve Groene to this crime, to make him a suspect or a person of interest," Wolfinger said, attributing the polygraph outcome to Groene's emotional state since his ex-wife and a son were slain, and Dylan James Groene, 9, and his 8-year-old sister, Shasta Kay Groene, disappeared.

The younger children became the subject of an Amber Alert issued after the bodies of their mother, older brother and mother's boyfriend were found May 16 at their home outside of Coeur d'Alene.

The polygraph measures a person's "physiological response to their emotional state," Wolfinger said. "Steve Groene is very distraught and upset."

Wolfinger said the FBI lab in Quantico, Va., is beginning to provide new leads through its analysis of evidence found at the crime scene, but there is no suspect yet in the deaths or in the disappearance of the children.

Meanwhile, the FBI on Monday offered a $100,000 reward for information about the children, in addition to a local reward of about $7,500. At least 20 FBI employees are working on the case.

"We've brought in agents to conduct investigations and interviews," said FBI agent Tim Fuhrman, who announced the reward. "We've brought in intelligence analysts."

The assistance is welcome to Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson, whose department has been stretched so thin by the weeklong investigation that retired law enforcement officers are manning telephone lines and sorting and prioritizing tips.

"They've got national resources we can only dream of," Watson said of the FBI, and extensive expertise in finding missing children.

About 900 tips have been phoned in, Wolfinger said. The FBI has also sent profilers to look for clues.

The children's mother, Brenda Kay Groene, 40, her boyfriend, Mark Edward McKenzie, 37, and her son, Slade Vincent Groene, 13, were found bound and beaten to death in the white cinderblock home. There were no signs of forced entry. Initial toxicology reports showed Brenda Groene and McKenzie had used illicit drugs.

Officers believe the missing children were inside the home when the crimes occurred, Wolfinger said.

Officers for a time focused on finding the people who attended a barbecue at the home on May 15, the last time the victims were seen alive. Wolfinger said all of those people have now been contacted, although he would not say if any had been cleared of the crimes.

The children were last seen May 15 at the rural home eight miles east of Coeur d'Alene.

In an interview with Fox News Channel's "At Large with Geraldo Rivera" Sunday, Groene said he was home watching TV, talking on the phone and sleeping from 10 p.m. on Sunday, May 15, until he left for work at 6 a.m. the next day. The woman Groene lives with -- his former mother-in-law -- was asleep and could not vouch for his whereabouts, Groene said.

According to Groene, the FBI believed he was lying when he said he does not know where the children are. Groene told Rivera he volunteered to take a polygraph and submit to DNA and urine tests to clear his name.

"Well, it's pretty devastating to have to hear somebody say they think you know something about this," Groene said, according to a transcript of the show.

Groene also acknowledged he and Brenda Kay had an argument the Friday before the killings. Groene wanted the children to stay with him Saturday night; Brenda Kay Groene refused.

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