A notorious serial killer who was on death row for murdering seven people during a nine-year period died following a battle with brain cancer. Joseph Edward Duncan III was convicted for kidnapping, torturing, and murdering a nine-year-old boy and his entire family.
In May 2005, Duncan kidnapped Dylan and Shasta Groene from their home in Idaho. He murdered the boy's older brother, his mother, and her boyfriend.
He tortured Dylan before eventually killing him as well. Duncan let Shasta live, and she was found several weeks later near a local restaurant, leading to Duncan's arrest. While in custody, he admitted to killing other children, including ten-year-old Anthony Martinez, who was abducted and from his neighbor's yard in Beaumont, California, in 1997.
Duncan also spent 14 years in jail after admitting to raping a 14-year-old boy at gunpoint when he was 16. While seeing a court-order psychiatrist, he admitted to raping other boys as young as 12.
He was released in 1994 but ended up back in jail several times for failing drug tests.
Duncan was convicted of the gruesome murders in Idaho and sentenced to death in 2008.
"This crime was horrendous, and its impact on the families, the community, the jurors, court staff, our litigation team, and law enforcement were far-reaching," Acting US Attorney Rafael M. Gonzalez Jr. said in a statement. "While his death will not bring back the lives cut so tragically short or remove the indelible memories of his unspeakable acts, perhaps death will now allow space for some degree of healing, peace, and closure."
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