Idaho kidnap suspect to face 3 murder counts

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- Three counts of first-degree murder will be filed against convicted sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III, who already faces kidnapping charges in the abduction of two children from the crime scene at a rural home, Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas said Monday.

Duncan, 42, will make a court appearance today for a probable cause hearing, Douglas said.

The charges "are for the premeditated murders of Brenda Groene, Slade Groene and Mark McKenzie," Douglas told KREM-TV of Spokane, Wash., and other television reporters. He did not say when the murder charges would be filed and did not return repeated Associated Press calls for comment.

The three were killed in their home near here sometime late on May 15 or early May 16. Shasta Groene, 8, and Dylan Groene, 9, were abducted from the home.

Shasta was spotted July 2 in a Coeur d'Alene restaurant in the company of Duncan, who was arrested at the scene.

Dylan's body was found at a remote campsite in western Montana last week after Shasta gave authorities information about where the children were held. Kootenai County officials have said they believe Duncan is the sole person responsible for the crimes.

Shasta Groene did not learn that Dylan was dead until last weekend, according to the children's father. Officials announced Sunday that DNA analysis of remains found at the site showed they were those of the little boy. The family was informed before the news was made public.

"She asked me last week in the hospital if I knew what had happened to Dylan," Steve Groene, who was divorced from Brenda Groene, told The Spokesman-Review.

The public will be invited to a memorial service for Dylan in coming days, Steve Groene said. Hundreds of people attended an earlier memorial service for the 40-year-old woman and her 13-year- old son Slade.

McKenzie, 37, was Brenda Groene's boyfriend.

Duncan, a convicted sex offender who was raised in Tacoma but had most recently lived in Fargo, N.D., has already been charged with two counts of first-degree kidnapping in the case. That crime can bring the death penalty in Idaho.

He is being held without bail in the Kootenai County Jail. His public defender has not responded to repeated Associated Press phone calls for comment.

Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson has said he believes the three people in the house were killed so the perpetrator could kidnap the two children for the purposes of sex.

Watson has said the victims were apparently chosen at random, although the killings were carefully planned.

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