Duncan videotaped abducted kids' abuse, federal indictment says

BOISE, Idaho — A federal indictment is shedding light on what happened at a remote Montana campsite in 2005 where convicted killer and child molester Joseph Edward Duncan III allegedly videotaped his abuse of two kidnapped children.

The indictment handed up Thursday charges Duncan with 10 felonies, including kidnapping and sexual exploitation of Dylan Groene, 9, resulting in the boy's death. Dylan's sister Shasta, 8, was rescued. In a separate case, Duncan also was charged Thursday in California with kidnapping and killing a boy.

A federal judge here Friday entered a plea of not guilty for Duncan, 43, at a hearing in U.S. District Court. Federal prosecutors say they'll ask for the death penalty.

According to the indictment, Duncan on or around May 16, 2005, kidnapped Dylan and Shasta from their home near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and took them deep into the Lolo National Forest near St. Regis, Mont.

During nearly seven weeks of captivity at a primitive campsite, Duncan allegedly produced sex and torture videos, "knowing that such visual depictions would be transported in interstate and foreign commerce," the indictment said.

"In the course of committing this offense, Joseph Edward Duncan III did engage in conduct that resulted in the death of" Dylan Groene, the indictment said. Duncan "committed the offense in an especially heinous, cruel, and depraved manner, in that it involved torture and serious physical abuse."

Duncan shot Dylan with an unregistered Browning Arms 12-guage shotgun, according to the indictment.

The tapes, as well as digital video and computer equipment, were part of a high-tech arsenal found in Duncan's vehicle when he was arrested July 2 at a Coeur d'Alene restaurant with Shasta. Duncan has said in court documents he'd returned to the city to give the girl back to her father.

The children's mother, Brenda Groene; her fiancé, Mark McKenzie; and their 13-year-old brother, Slade Groene, were bludgeoned to death with a hammer, crimes for which Duncan is already imprisoned.

In October, Duncan pleaded guilty in Idaho's 1st District Court to first-degree murder and kidnapping. As part of a plea bargain, a state judge sentenced Duncan to life in prison without parole, but deferred sentencing on the murder counts while the federal government prepared its own charges.