Shasta: One strike and you're out
<p>This image of police officers near the house in Wolf Lodge where Shasta Groene and her brother Dylan were kidnapped from in 2005 was published on a change.org petition created by Shasta Groene. The petition calls for Idaho lawmakers to create harsher penalties for sexual predators.</p>
<p>Shasta Groene</p>
Shasta Groene wants her voice to be heard on the issue that viciously changed the course of her life.
The 19-year-old Groene, who was kidnapped as a child from her Wolf Lodge home in May 2005 by serial killer and sex offender Joseph Duncan III, has created an online petition labeled “Slade and Dylan’s Law.” As of Tuesday, the petition on change.org had generated more than 7,000 signatures.
Its premise: Sex offenders should be locked up for life after their first offense.
"He was charged many times before my situation and was let out again and again," wrote Groene, who noted that Duncan was a Level III sex offender before the murders. "I would like this petition to change that. One strike for a sex offender should be enough! Never let them back on the streets to reoffend."
Groene was 8 when she and her 9-year-old brother Dylan were kidnapped by Duncan after he murdered their mother, stepfather and 13-year-old brother, Slade. Duncan later killed Dylan at a campsite near St. Regis, Mont., before returning to North Idaho. He brought Shasta to Coeur d’Alene, where he was arrested in July 2005 after being spotted at the Denny's restaurant on Fourth Street.
Groene, who now lives in Nampa, plans to deliver the petition to Gov. Butch Otter and Sen. Mike Crapo. Idaho has more than 4,400 registered sex offenders, according to the Idaho State Police, and the majority are out of prison.
“This isn’t a disease! It’s a sick, twisted person who cannot be helped or fixed,” Groene wrote. “The system failed me and my family and I’m going to do whatever it takes to put an end to the psychos running the streets.”
Duncan was 42 when he attacked the Groene family. He’s on death row after being sentenced in 2008. He also pleaded guilty to the death of a 10-year-old California boy and was linked to the 1996 murders of two young half-sisters in Seattle.
Before his Idaho murders, Duncan, who was convicted of various sex crimes in Washington, was also on the run from a child molestation charge in Minnesota.
• • •
Shasta’s petition can be found by visiting http://bit.ly/2dGUkG6.