Idaho abduction, killing done by one?

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — A convicted sex offender accused of kidnapping 8-year-old Shasta Groene and her brother is also believed to be responsible for the May killings of three people at the family's home, authorities said Wednesday.

"When we get the pieces together, we'll find out what the motive is," Kootenai County Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger said at a news conference.

Joseph Edward Duncan III, 42, of Fargo, N.D., a fugitive from an earlier child molestation charge, was arrested Saturday at a Denny's restaurant with Shasta, believed to be the sole survivor of the attack and its aftermath.

The bodies of Shasta's mother, older brother and mother's boyfriend were found May 16, bound and bludgeoned at the home outside Coeur d'Alene, and authorities have said they believe her brother Dylan, 9, also is dead.

Their father, Steve Groene, held a news conference Wednesday in which he said Shasta, who remains hospitalized at the Kootenai Medical Center here, is doing well.

"That's certainly more than we could have hoped for. She's very upbeat, seems to be pretty healthy, and she's really glad to be home," Groene said.

Groene also expressed frustration that Duncan was allowed to be free despite his sex crimes record, and he urged people to demand action from their elected officials.

"People need to get on their congressmen, their senators and even the president. This needs to change, now," he said.

Groene had a new tattoo on his upper left arm marking the death of his older son in the mid-May attack: "In loving memory, Slade Vincent, 13."

Duncan has been charged only with kidnapping, which can carry the death penalty or life in prison. Wednesday was the first time authorities have said they believe he is also responsible for the three deaths.

Human remains found in western Montana, believed to be the boy, will probably not be conclusively identified until next week, Wolfinger said.

Officials said they have found no connection between Duncan and the family, raising the possibility the attack and kidnapping were random. Wolfinger declined to say whether Duncan had a gun or speculate how he might have overpowered the five people at the house.

"Nobody in the family has ever seen this man before. Ever," Shasta's grandmother, Darlene Torres, told CBS' "The Early Show" Wednesday.