Images: Still frames from surveillance video showing Shasta Groene in the company of Joseph Edward Duncan. Taped a short time before Shasta was recognized at a Denny's restaurant and rescued.
What strikes me, as I study these surveillance frames, is the number of people all around. I cannot help but wonder: How many times have I walked over a threshold with a missing person right beside me? How many times have I literally brushed arms with someone I could save?
And I cannot help but notice Shasta's posture: head down, shoulders slumped, arms folded across her chest. Imagine: walking into a busy convenience store, your kidnapper directly behind, and not crying out for help. Only sheer terror can buy that kind of silence.
Imagine: not being noticed by the customers, clerks, and people waiting in cars.
Updates in the case against Duncan:
(CORRECTED)
According to CNN, Shasta has told investigators that she was
woken up by her mother on the night of May 15/16 and taken to the
living room, where she saw Joseph Duncan. She had never seen him before. He tied up the entire family.
Shasta
and her brother, Dylan, were taken from the home and placed in a pickup. Later, they were transferred to the now-famous red Jeep and driven to campsites in Montana. Both Dylan and Shasta were raped. Shasta
was raped repeatedly. (Note: According to one report by Rusty Dornan of CNN, Shasta never used the word rape, but the details "make it clear" that is what she meant. Another CNN television report used the word rape. Sadly, I believe that is exactly what happened.)
News reports have not clarified whether
Shasta and Dylan witnessed the brutal bludgeoning of their oldest
brother, their mother, and her boyfriend. Dylan remains missing,
although remains have been found in Montana and are being DNA-tested as
I type.
Shasta's story places Joseph Duncan at the murder scene. Finally, this predator is looking at life in prison (and possibly the death penalty.)
You can view free video clips at cnn.com
