TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — A federal death row inmate who admitted to killing five people, including a 10-year-old California boy he abducted at knifepoint, died Sunday awaiting execution for his crimes.
Joseph Edward Duncan III, 58, died at a hospital in Terre Haute, Indiana, the Riverside County District Attorney’s office confirmed in a news release.
Although a cause of death was not disclosed, prosecutors confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that Duncan had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
According to The Press-Enterprise, Duncan pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison by state courts for the murders of 10-year-old Anthony Martinez of Beaumont, California, and four other people from Idaho. His death sentence stemmed from a separate federal case related to the 2005 kidnapping and death of 9-year-old Dylan Groene, 9, one of the four Northern Idaho residents he killed, the outlet reported.
Duncan was accused of kidnapping Dylan Groene and his 8-year-old sister Shasta Groene, after using a claw hammer to bludgeon to death the siblings’ mother Brenda Groene; her fiance, Mark McKenzie; and her 13-year-old son, Slade Groene, inside their rural Idaho home. Dylan Groene’s body was later found at a Montana campsite, the Times reported.
Shasta Groene was reportedly with Duncan when he was taken into custody at a Denny’s in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, The Press-Enterprise reported.
Duncan reportedly told FBI investigators about his involvement with Martinez’ murder in Riverside County following his 2005 arrest, the Times reported.
According to The Press-Enterprise, Duncan forced Martinez into a car at knifepoint near the child’s Beaumont, California, home on April 4, 1997. The child’s body was found, more than two weeks later, in Berdoo Canyon.
“There is less evil in this world,” Martinez’s younger brother, Marcos Martinez, said Sunday in a statement. “Nothing can bring my brother back, but now Duncan can never hurt anyone ever again.”
Cox Media Group
