Feds: Duncan confesses to killing 2 children in Wash state, 1 in California

BOISE, Idaho — Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that convicted killer and child molester Joseph Edward Duncan III has confessed to killing two children in Washington state in 1996 and a California youngster in 1997.

Prosecutors filed a formal notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Duncan in a separate case in which he's accused of kidnapping two northern Idaho children and killing one of them.

They say Duncan should be put to death because he killed Dylan Groene, 9, in front of his sister, then-8-year-old Shasta Groene, after kidnapping them from their home near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; because he's acknowledged killing three children in 1996 and 1997; and because he'd be a serious threat to others, if he's allowed to live.

"The defendant has engaged in a continuing pattern of violence, attempted violence, and threatened violence," Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson wrote. Duncan "is likely to commit criminal acts of violence in the future that would constitute a continuing and serious threat to the lives and safety of others."

Roger Peven, Duncan's attorney, said he had not yet seen the filing and could not immediately comment on it. Peven had met with Duncan early Tuesday, but declined to comment on the meeting. Duncan is being held in a state prison near Boise.

The U.S. attorney's office said Duncan confessed to killing Carmen Cubias, 9, and Sammiejo White, 11, in Washington state in 1996 and Anthony Martinez, 10, in California in 1997.

The two girls were kidnapped from the Crest Motel in Seattle in July 1996. Their skeletal remains were found 17 months later in Bothell, a Seattle suburb.

Martinez was forced into a white car in Beaumont, Calif., in April 1997 as his friends watched. Sixteen days later a forest ranger found the boy's nude, bound body about 70 miles to the east.

Duncan was charged Thursday in a California state court in Martinez death. Prosecutors there said they also intend to seek the death penalty.

Duncan is a Tacoma, Wash., native who spent most of his adult life in Washington state prisons for sexual crimes against children.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment against Duncan last Thursday, charging him with 10 felonies, including kidnapping, kidnapping resulting in death, sexual abuse and firearms charges.

In those counts, Duncan is accused of kidnapping Dylan and Shasta Groene during a nighttime attack on their family's home in May 2005 for the purpose of sexually abusing them.