More To The Story...

Let me preface this post by saying that it truly saddens my heart to see stories like that of Shasta and Dylan Groene. The above picture shows Shasta and her father Steve, shortly after she was saved after seven weeks in the hands of a fugitive sex offender who probably killed her mother and two of her brothers before kidnapping her. This innocent child was repeatedly molested in various ways over the period, and will deal with the emotional scars that her captor left her with for the rest of her life. That said...

The national media has painted this picture that Joseph Edward Duncan III, a stranger to the Groene family, randomly entered their home, killed Shasta's mother, mother's boyfriend, and one of her brothers, kidnapped Shasta and her brother Dylan, molested them, and probably killed Dylan prior to being caught in a North Idaho Denny's restaurant. My hometown is 15 minutes from that Denny's, and they're hearing a much different story than you'll find on Yahoo.

What the national media has neglected to mention, is that at the time the crimes took place, Shasta's family was participating in an all-to-common Eastern Washington/North Idaho/Western Montana tradition: a Meth party. Those members of Shasta's family who weren't already in prison or fugitives to the law were cooking, selling, and using household chemical and urine-based methamphetamines, and hosting unknown individuals like it was a Meth Block Party. Just the kind of party that Joseph Edward Duncan III frequented. In fact, it wouldn't be a surpise if he had seen Shasta and Dylan before...

So as ugly as this sounds, Shasta Groene probably had a slew of emotional, mental, and physical issues that she would spend her life working through prior to being abducted by Joseph Edward Duncan III. She had likely been molested by her pervert older brothers in one of their many drug-induced zombie episodes. She had potentially been touched inappropriately by her mother's boyfriend. She had certainly witnessed a drugged out, abusive, violent relationship between her mother and father prior to their divorce. Poor, sweet Shasta never had a chance.

Joseph Edward Duncan III, who's fucked up thoughts can be viewed at his blog, the Fifth Nail, should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. At the very least, this guy needs to spend the rest of his life in a padded room talking to counsellors for 8-12 hours a day. He's a mess. And he admits it.

But the real villians in this story are the people who gave Shasta life, only to take every opportunity to ruin it for her. She was born a beautiful baby girl, who's only need was to be loved; and while at the core, her family may love her unconditionally, they didn't do a great job of showing it.

It's sad, but the reality is that we allow our families to breed hate, pain, and emotional wreckage; but it takes some sick fuck-up to do something illegal before anyone cares about the child. We watch families tear each other apart, and attribute what we see as family struggles that everyone goes through, so we choose not to get involved.

In reality, is it more shattering to an 8 year old to be abducted and molested by a "stranger", or to be abused and neglected by the family that is supposed to love and nurture you? Is Joseph Edward Duncan III the worst of the villians in this horrible event, or should we be upset that Shasta's mom invited him over to take some of her drugs?

I haven't forgotten that Shasta is the victim. I will pray for her. I will hope for her. And God knows if I ever have a child of my own, I will ABOVE ALL realize my responsibility to show unconditional love and support, and to instill some sense of morality in them.

Here's to you, Shasta...