We are cheering for you Shasta Groene!

Shasta Rae Groene spent much of her adolescence in Juvenile Detention. In April of 2018 Shasta Rae Groene pled guilty to two misdemeanor counts of injury to a child and was ordered to serve unsupervised probation through October 2019. Court records say she endangered a 1-year-old child in her custody by leaving methamphetamine where the child could have ingested it, and that she also left the drug in close proximity to a month-old baby. A Canyon County judge declined to sentence her to jail time, instead again instituting 18 months of probation — but supervised this time.
Why was she given a deal?
Former Detroit Lakes MN sex offender, and serial killer, Joseph Edward Duncan III kidnapped Shasta Groene when she was 8 years old and murdered her family. 
At one point Joseph Duncan asked this young girl to choose how she was going to die. He asked if she wanted to be choked to death with a rope or shot to death. She chose the rope but managed to talk him into letting her loose.

Where was Joseph E. Duncan before he came to Detroit Lakes?

Duncan committed his first recorded sex crime in 1978 in Tacoma, Washington, when he was 15 years old. In that incident, he raped a 9-year-old boy at gunpoint. In 1979, he was arrested for driving a stolen car. 
In 1980, at age 16, Joseph Duncan, stole guns and ammo from a neighbor in Tacoma. Then, he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy at gunpoint. For that, Joseph was sentenced to 20 years, serving 14 years before being released on parole in 1994. However, he was sent back after violating his parole restrictions. 
Carmen Cubias and Sammiejo White
In 1996, 9-year-old Carmen Cubias and 11-year-old Sammiejo White lived with their mother at a motel in Seattle, Washington. One night, they went out to a restaurant nearby but never returned. Their skeletal remains were found more than a year and a half later. Joseph admitted in prison he kidnapped the girls from a street, assaulted them and hit them in the head with a crowbar. He confessed to this murder, after he was arrested for kidnapping Shasta Groene.

In April of 1997, Anthony Martinez, age 10. was playing with his younger brother Marcos, and a couple other boys in the neighborhood in Beaumont, California. Joseph Duncan came along and offered them a dollar each to help them find his cat. When Duncan got the kids away from their yard, he pulled a switchblade, grabbed Tony and dragged him to in his car. 
Anthony “Tony” Martinez as a child and his brother Marcos as an adult. “I still remember seeing that man drive away with my brother,” Marcos Medina said in tears before a crowd. “But I also remember Lt. John Acosta and Lt. Mitch White, the care and dedication they had for my family.”
Tony’s body was found by a park ranger in the wilderness with wrists and ankles bound with duct tape. He had been sexually assaulted and murdered. There was a fingerprint on the duct tape that would years later be matched to Joseph Duncan.
In 2000, Joseph moved to Fargo, North Dakota. Duncan enrolled himself at a university, but in 2004, he molested a 6-year-old boy at a playground in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. A Fargo pediatrician gave Duncan $6500 for an attorney, and a Fargo real estate developer gave Duncan $15,000 to bail out of jail in Detroit Lakes. When Joseph was released on bail, he absconded and was eventually caught in Idaho with Shasta Groene. The authorities would eventually find a blog  written by Duncan. In it, Joseph claimed not to be a pedophile because he was molested many times as a child and thought it was normal. The Idaho families would eventually sue Becker County in Minnesota for releasing Duncan. I could not find the results of this lawsuit. (It’s possible that the county settled out of court.)
After Joseph Duncan skipped bail he began driving west on I-90. Her marked homes all along the way, which he identified as good sites to kidnap children. In Idaho, Duncan spotted two children playing in their swimsuits in the yard of a home next to the freeway. He pulled off the road and started surveillance of the home, later breaking in with night-vision goggles.
Brenda Groene              Shasta Groene In May of 2005, Shasta age 8 at the time, was woke by her mother, Brenda Groene. When Shasta entered the living room, her mom’s boyfriend, Mark McKenzie, 37, was tied up on the floor. Joseph Duncan tied up Brenda and her 13-year-old son Slade. Duncan walked Shasta and her older brother Dylan, age 9, out of the house, zip tied them and left them wait at the edge of the woods. He returned to the house. Shasta heard thumping and Mark struggling. Her brother Slade, age 13, somehow got his feet loose and came running out of the house disoriented and bloody. Duncan chased him and struck him repeatedly with a hammer. Shasta remembered Slade looking her in the eyes as he fell to the ground. Dying, Slade made his way back to the house and died lying next to his already deceased mother.  Slade Groene                    Mark McKenzie Duncan then kidnapped Brenda Groene's other two children: Shasta and her 9-year-old brother Dylan. He took them into the wilds of western Montana, where he tortured and sexually abused them for weeks before killing Dylan. Duncan made the children call him dad. Duncan told the kids they would be allowed to live if they did what they were told. 
Duncan kept them in the woods for weeks, chained to trees, when he had to leave. Shasta remembered trying to calm Dylan by telling him she’ll help him survive this. Joseph Duncan told the 2 children that if they caught the squirrel that kept coming into their campsite, they’d get to go home. Dylan caught the squirrel, and they began packing up. Duncan then shot Dylan in the stomach. Duncan then walked over to Dylan and shot him in the head. Shasta remembers feeling like she let her brother down. Shasta later shared, “I promised Dylan I’d get him out of there alive. That’s why to this day, I don’t make promises.” The cabin where Joseph Duncan held Shasta captive.
Dylan Groene Realizing it was her only chance of surviving, Shasta began telling Duncan that she trusted him. After 2 months of being held hostage, Shasta convinced Duncan, she wanted him to know more about her. She talked Duncan into taking her back into her hometown, Coeur d´Alene, so she could show him where she went to school. Duncan stopped to eat with Shasta at a Denny’s. On July 2, 2005, A waitress recognized Shasta and called the police. Joseph Duncan was arrested at Denny’s.
Joseph Duncan
A review of Duncan’s laptop showed he had recorded himself sexually abusing his child victims. He can be heard saying as he abused the children, “The devil is here boy, the devil himself… The devil likes to watch children suffer and cry.”
Shasta was able to tell investigators that Duncan had told her about other victims he had out of state. 
While on death row, Joseph was diagnosed with stage IV brain cancer and underwent surgery in 2020. Later, he refused chemotherapy and radiation. Since the cancer was in advanced stages, a doctor in November 2020 estimated Joseph would not live beyond a year. He died during the early hours of March 28, 2021, at a hospital in Indiana at the age of 58.

Shasta Groene survives…, but you don’t come out of a bad situation unscathed.
Here is Shasta Groene at age 8, with her father, Steve Groene in July of 2005 not long after being rescued. 
Steve Groene died of cancer in 2019. Shasta asked for prayers to help her deal with the loss of her father.
After hearing the news of Joseph Duncan’s death in 2021, Shasta stated: 
'I woke up feeling like my soul was finally free'
Shasta Groene is now 25 years old and the mother of 4. A 5th child is due in August. She has been trying to live a normal life. Shasta is a housekeeping supervisor at a hotel.
We wish the very best to you and your family Shasta, as you continue your recovery.

Thanks for listening,

Frank
Black and Blue presentations and book signings through June of 2022:
Thank you all for your kind support of my work!

Friday, June 24, 2022, Forensic Psychologist and True Crime Mystery Author, Frank F. Weber will be at Barnes and Noble in St. Cloud signing his newest book Black and Blue from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Black and Blue is a thrilling mystery based on the murder of a police officer’s 19-year-old fiancé in Minneapolis. “I feel Black and Blue is my best book to date. I took a chance and offered this book for a highly respected Kirkus review before I had finalized the book.” The Kirkus review of Black and Blue stated: “Weber largely succeeds at demonstrating how issues of race and policing are intricately related.”  Barnes and Noble is located on Division at Rainbow Village, 3940 Division Street, St Cloud, Minnesota, 56301.
 
Saturday, June 25, 2022, Forensic Psychologist Frank Weber will be at Angry Inch Brewing in Lakeville, Minnesota, from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. signing his newest book, Black and Blue.  He’ll speak from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. about forensic psychology and writing True Crime mysteries.  Black and Blue is a thrilling mystery based on the murder of a police officer's 19-year-old fiancé in Minneapolis. Learn about new forensic techniques and find out what they get wrong on crime shows and movies. It’s a great time to get questions about forensics answered while enjoying a cold beverage. This is going to be a blast and there is no cost. Angry Inch Brewing is located at 20841 Holyoke Avenue Lakeville, Minnesota, 55068.
 
Sunday, June 26, 2022 from 10:00 to 4:00 p.m. Frank will be at Arts in the Park in Brainerd selling and signing all of his books. The event is at Gregory Park 424 North 5th Street, Brainerd, Minnesota.
 
Thursday, June 30, 2022,  Forensic Psychologist and True Crime Mystery Author, Frank F. Weber will be at Badger Hill Brewing in Shakopee signing his newest book Black and Blue from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Black and Blue is a thrilling mystery based on the murder of a police officer’s 19-year-old fiancé in Minneapolis. Frank will share the intriguing circumstances that led to this true crime thriller. “I feel Black and Blue is my best book to date.” Frank will present from 6:00-6:45 on forensic work and the writing of True Crime mysteries You will receive a live demonstration on the polygraph examination so you can see how lie detection works (volunteer a friend). There will be a guest appearance by cover model, Kloe Kapsner.  Stop in and have a cold beverage and ask the questions you’d love to ask about forensic work or forensic shows. Badger Hill Brewing is located at: 4571 Valley Industrial Boulevard South #500, Shakopee, Minnesota. 

​