Joseph Duncan - Murders of Sammiejo White & Carmen Cubi
Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - Page updated at 11:48 AM Prosecutors say Duncan admits to slaying two girls abducted from Seattle hotel in 1996 By JOHN MILLER The Associated Press BOISE, Idaho — Federal prosecutors said today that convicted killer and child molester Joseph Edward Duncan III has confessed to killing two children in Washington state in 1996 and a California youngster in 1997. Prosecutors today also filed a formal notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Duncan in a separate case in which he's accused of kidnapping two northern Idaho children and killing one of them. They say Duncan should be put to death because he killed Dylan Groene, 9, in front of his sister, then-8-year-old Shasta Groene, after kidnapping them from their home near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; because he's acknowledged killing three children in 1996 and 1997; and because he'd be a serious threat to others, if he's allowed to live. "The defendant has engaged in a continuing pattern of violence, attempted violence, and threatened violence," according to prosecutors. Duncan "is likely to commit criminal acts of violence in the future that would constitute a continuing and serious threat to the lives and safety of others." The U.S. attorney's office said Duncan told prosecutors that he killed Carmen Cubias, 9, and Sammiejo White, 11, in Washington state in 1996 and Anthony Martinez, 10, in California in 1997. The two girls were kidnapped from the Crest Motel in Seattle in July 1996. Their skeletal remains were found 17 months later in Bothell. Martinez was forced into a white car in Beaumont, Calif., in April 1997 as his friends watched. Sixteen days later a forest ranger found the boy's nude, bound body about 70 miles to the east. A federal grand jury returned an indictment against Duncan last Thursday, charging him with 10 felonies, including kidnapping, kidnapping resulting in death, sexual abuse and firearms charges. In those counts, Duncan is accused of kidnapping Dylan and Shasta Groene during a nighttime attack on their family's home in May 2005 for the purpose of sexually abusing them. The children's mother, Brenda Groene, her fiance, Mark McKenzie, and the younger children's 13-year-old brother, Slade Groene, were bludgeoned to death with a hammer during the attack, crimes for which Duncan is already serving life in prison. The U.S. attorney's office alleges Duncan then took Dylan and Shasta into the Lolo National Forest near St. Regis, Mont., where he held them and tortured them for nearly seven weeks before shooting Dylan. Duncan was arrested July 2, 2005, with Shasta at a Coeur d'Alene restaurant. In October, Duncan pleaded guilty in Idaho's 1st District Court to first-degree murder and kidnapping for three slayings at the family's home. A state judge sentenced Duncan to life in prison without parole for the kidnappings, but sentencing on the murder counts was deferred while the federal government prepared its charges. If federal prosecutors fail to win a death sentence in their case, Duncan will be returned to the Idaho state court, where a jury will be impaneled for a death penalty hearing on the murder confessions. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003537538_webduncan23.html?syndication=rss

Tuesday, January 23, 2007 - Page updated at 11:20 AM Timeline of Sammiejo White and Carmen Cubias case July 6, 1996: Sammiejo White, 11, and her sister, Carmen Cubias, 9, disappear after leaving the Crest Motel on Aurora Avenue North in Seattle shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday to get cigarettes at a nearby restaurant for an older brother. Police said they do not know whether the girls ran away or are victims of foul play. Feb. 10, 1998: The remains of Sammiejo and Carmen are found by a transient living in an abandoned barn near Northeast 195th Street and 120th Avenue Northeast in the North Creek area of Bothell. The King County Medical Examiner's Office says the girls probably were killed very soon after they disappeared. July 2, 2005: Joseph Edward Duncan III is arrested at a Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, diner after he is seen with kidnap victim Shasta Groene, age 8. Duncan is later charged with killing Shasta's mother, brother and her mother's boyfriend in their Idaho home on May 16, 2005. He is also accused of kidnapping Shasta and her brother Dylan, 9, and sexually abusing them for seven weeks before killing Dylan. August 2005: Duncan provides the FBI with details about the slayings of Sammiejo and Carmen, but does not give an outright confession to the crime, said King County sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart. October 16, 2006: Duncan pleads guilty in Idaho's 1st District Court to first-degree murder and kidnapping for three slayings at the Groene home. A state judge sentenced Duncan to life in prison without parole for the kidnappings, but sentencing on the murder counts was deferred while the federal government prepared its charges. If federal prosecutors fail to win a death sentence in their case, Duncan will be returned to the Idaho state court, where a jury will be impaneled for a death penalty hearing on the murder confessions. Today: Federal prosecutors say Duncan has confessed to killing Sammiejo and Carmen as well as a Southern California youngster in 1997. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003537574_webduncantimeline23.html?syndication=rss

Dispute remains about Duncan 'confession' to Wash. slayings By Gene Johnson ASSOCIATED PRESS 6:39 p.m. January 24, 2007 SEATTLE – Contrary to the interpretation of federal prosecutors, local investigators maintained Wednesday that statements Joseph Edward Duncan III made about the deaths of two little girls a decade ago do not constitute a confession, and they are not ready to seek charges. “We cannot file charges based on the information he provided,” King County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart said Wednesday. Nevertheless, Duncan remains “a viable person of interest,” he said. Duncan, 43, currently faces federal charges in Idaho that accuse him of kidnapping two young children after a murderous attack on an Idaho family in May 2005. Prosecutors say Dylan Groene, 9, was later killed at a remote Montana campsite while his then-8-year-old sister Shasta Groene watched. Duncan was arrested at a Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, restaurant in July 2005 as he ate with Shasta, the sole survivor of the attack on her home. Last October, Duncan pleaded guilty in an Idaho state court to first-degree murder and kidnapping for fatally bludgeoning Dylan and Shasta's mother, the mother's boyfriend, and the children's 13-year-old brother. After his arrest, Duncan made statements to the FBI concerning the deaths of two half-sisters whose remains were found in a north Seattle suburb in 1999, more than two years after they disappeared. At the time Duncan made the statements, federal authorities portrayed them as a “confession,” but King County sheriff's investigators and a prosecutor who advised them disagreed. The statements revealed some knowledge of the case, but Duncan could have gleaned that from a fellow inmate or elsewhere, Urquhart said. Duncan is serving a life prison term in the Idaho state case, but on Tuesday, federal prosecutors in Idaho filed a notice of their intent to seek the death penalty in their case. In support of their motion, they claimed he had confessed to killing half-sisters Carmen Cubias, 9, and Sammiejo White, 11, as well as a 10-year-old California boy, Anthony Martinez. California authorities have charged Duncan in the Martinez case; they said a partial fingerprint was matched to Duncan. But the King County sheriff's office was taken aback that the U.S. attorney's office in Boise had claimed in court documents that Duncan had confessed to killing the half-sisters. When apprised that the documents had been filed Tuesday, Urquhart said that perhaps the federal agents had obtained a more explicit confession from Duncan; but if so, the feds had not turned it over to the sheriff's office, the lead agency on the case. By Wednesday, the sheriff's office had its answer. “We have spoken with the federal prosecutors in Boise,” Urquhart wrote in an e-mail. “They tell us the 'confession' they refer to in their court papers was the one obtained by the FBI from Duncan in 2005. They confirm he has said nothing new on the two homicides since then.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson in Boise has declined to discuss Duncan's statements in detail. “I can't elaborate on what evidence” the death penalty notice “is based on,” she said. The King County prosecutor's office in Seattle also declined to comment. Urquhart said his office is particularly concerned about a perceived lack of communication from the federal prosecutors in Idaho. “We were not notified and therefore were unable to even attempt to notify the family” that the court papers were being filed, he said. “Secondly, characterizing what Duncan said as a 'confession' has a huge impact on the family. They think the case has been solved and that we know who killed their kids. But we don't know that for sure, and we continue to investigate.” AP reporter John Miller contributed to this report from Boise, Idaho. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20070124-1839-wst-duncanslayings-seattle.html