Joseph Edward Duncan

Joseph E. Duncan III (born February 25, 1963 in Pyongyang, North Korea) is a sex offender who recieved national attention after being arrested in connection with the kidnapping of Shasta Groene, age eight, and her brother Dylan, age nine.

Duncan has a long history as a violent sexual predator, and was clinically diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder in 1980, while in prison for raping a younger boy at knifepoint.

Minnesota police believe Duncan was also involved in the May 2005 murders of Dylan and Shasta's family: Brenda Groene, 40, Slade Groene, 13, and Mark McKenzie, 37. According to Shasta's report, an intruder tied her family members up, and then she and her brother were taken into a 2000 Jeep Cherokee.

A camera in a convenience store, approximately forty miles outside of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, recorded Shasta wandering the aisles while Duncan read a newspaper. Later on, in the early morning hours of July 2, 2005, Shasta was found in Duncan's custody. The two had entered a Denny's restaurant in Coeur d'Alene. A waitress recognized Duncan from a "Wanted" poster that had been posted earlier in the restaurant. The waitress, Amber Deahn, worked with her manager to delay the suspect and contact local police. Deahn stalled the order until the police arrived and made a positive ID on the stolen rental car {2000 Jeep Cherokee} that also displayed stolen Missouri State license plates.

Police later entered the restaurant and arrested Duncan, removing Shasta to a local hospital for observation and care. She is now in the custody of her biological father.

Shasta told investigators her mother called her into the living room, from her bedroom where she had been sleeping, and she saw Duncan wearing black gloves and holding a gun. Her captor tied her mother's hands with nylon zip ties, and did the same to her mother's boyfriend and an older brother. Dylan and Shasta were removed from the house and placed inside the stolen rental car. While she waited with her brother, she heard her mother's boyfriend scream out and then saw her injured older brother staggering away from the entrance to the home. Both Shasta and Dylan were removed to other locations, where they were repeatedly raped and molested for six weeks. She said that they drove long distances and had stayed in various campgrounds, while Duncan bragged of having beaten family members to death with a hammer.

Dylan's remains were found in a remote, woodland area in Montana days after Shasta escaped.

Duncan appeared in court on July 6, 2005 during his arraignment on two counts of first-degree kidnapping. His trial is set to begin on January 7, 2006.

"The Fifth Nail"

Duncan recorded many of his antisocial sexual fantasies, even to the extent of becoming a sex offender advocate working for the repeal of sex offender law. He published his ideas on the Internet. He titled it "Fifth Nail," which is also the URL for his personal website. According to lore, in addition to the four nails used to pierce the body of Jesus Christ as he was hung upon the cross, there was a fifth nail that was taken away and hid by Gypsies. Duncan adopted the name for his own website and blog. The website depicted Duncan's day to day life as well as a sex offender. Together with his many years of incarceration, Duncan expressed his feelings of persecution.

Investigators are also considering the possibility that a "Minnesota girl" mentioned in his online diary could be related to another minor who is listed as missing.

"The Fifth Nail" advocates for sex offenders and contained material that called for the legal reform law aimed at sex offenders, calling them, "State Sanctioned Discrimination." Duncan was particularly angered by the requirement for sex offenders to participate in a public registry. Criminologists and psychiatric researchers are studying the blog to better understand the mind and behaviors of a sociopath.

External Links

• Fifth Nail blog