She survived a serial killer kidnapping. Now her house burned down. She’s asking for help
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Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman
BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Shasta Groene, the woman best known for being the sole survivor of a kidnapping by an Idaho serial killer in 2005, is asking for the community’s help after her home burned down in a house fire earlier this week.
A friend of Groene’s, Robbin Lassen, set up a GoFundMe on March 6. The fundraiser’s goal is $100,000, and by early Monday morning on March 11, over $30,000 had been raised.
“The funds will help Shasta and her children with much-needed relief and support as they navigate this traumatic time,” the GoFundMe description reads. “Contributions will secure temporary housing, clothing, daily necessities, and eventually, the rebuilding of their home.”
Lassen told the Idaho Statesman that one of Groene’s five children alerted her to a fire in one of the bedrooms. Groene, all five children, and the family dog safely escaped the house but couldn’t prevent the fire from spreading.
Firefighters told Groene that, although it can’t be confirmed yet, the fire likely started from the furnace, according to Lassen.
“She had stuff in that house that is irreplaceable,” Lassen told the Statesman. “Things from her parents, her brothers that were murdered. It’s just so heart-wrenching.”
Groene’s parents and older brother were murdered by a man named Joseph Edward Duncan in 2005 at their home about 8 miles outside Coeur d’Alene. Groene, who was 8 years old at the time, and her brother, Dylan, were kidnapped by Duncan, but the burned remains of Dylan were later found by the side of a Forest Service road.
Groene was saved 48 days after the killings and kidnapping when a Denny’s waitress recognized Groene with Duncan at a table in Denny’s and called the police.