WeBlogy

A woman who was gifted a house after she was kidnapped and molested as a child is fighting to keep it for her cancer-stricken father.

Shasta Groene was just eight years old in May 2005 when Joseph Duncan beat her mother Brenda, stepfather Mark and 13-year-old brother Slade to death with a hammer in their Coeur d'Alene, Idaho-area home. 

Duncan then took off with Shasta and her nine-year-old brother Dylan, and over the next two months he raped them repeatedly. Dylan was eventually killed but Shasta was rescued after a Dennys waitress spotted her with Duncan and called the cops.

Shasta Groene who was gifted a house after she was kidnapped and molested as a child is fighting to keep it for her cancer-stricken father (she is pictured as a child with father Steve)

Shasta Groene (left)  was just eight years old in May 2005 when she was abducted by Joseph Duncan (right)

Following the ordeal, Shasta community members raised money to build a house for her, which has been held in a charitable trust on her behalf. She and her father, Steve Groene, moved in, in 2007, when she was 10 years old.

Now the trust is trying to evict Steve, who is battling throat cancer, because Shasta, now 21, moved out and is living in Boise.

One of the three trustees, Midge Smock, said Friday the trust has cashed out all of its other investments and need to sell the house to continue supporting Shasta. The trust also pays for Shasta's rent in Boise and her nursing school tuition in Nampa.

'She hasn't lived there for years,' Smock said. 'In order to provide for her, we have to cash in her only asset. It doesn't matter what her dad wants her to do.' 

But in a notarized letter she signed and sent to her father for use in the eviction case, Shasta asked the trust to let her father remain at the property.

'I have always considered it to be our home, not just mine or the trust's, and it is my wish that my father continue to reside there as long as he wishes,' the letter states. 

'In return I will release the trust and its trustees from any obligations it may have to me, as the trust's beneficiary, concerning the house. I am very grateful for the support the community, through the trust, has given me, but I am at a point in my life where I no longer need that support and would rather my father have a place to live.'

Her father Steve (pictured outside the home) who has been battling cancer, says he fears he'll be homeless after the trust threatened to kick him out the house

Steve Groene (L) holds up a message from family members after Joseph Edward Duncan III entered into a plea agreement during a hearing in the court room at the Kootenai County Jail October 16, 2006 in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho 

'I could be homeless in three weeks,' her father added. 

The 1,300sq ft home at 2323 E. French Gulch Road, is worth around $240,000. 

Shasta is supposed to assume ownership of it when the trust expires on her 25th birthday, unless the trust have already sold it. 

A judge is expected to rule on whether Steve, who lives on disability payments of less than $1,000 a month, will be able to stay in the home.

The trust has covered all property taxes, maintenance, utility and insurance costs for the house, according to court documents.

They asked Steve to start contributing $600 a month towards rent, or move out and allow the trust to rent out the home for $1,200 a month or sell it.

Shasta lived with Smock and her husband, Don 'Pepper' Smock, on a few occasions during her childhood. The couple, who have clashed in the past over Shasta's care, even became licensed foster parents to allow them to care for Shasta full time.

Steve argued 'I have always been under the impression that this house was built for me and Shasta.'

He also said that he hadn't been given enough time to prepare a defense - especially in the wake of his cancer battle. He said he suffers from a short attention span and other side effects of chemotherapy.

During a hearing last week, Judge Rich Christensen ordered Steve and the trust to submit closing arguments in writing.

The deadline is August 31.

The 1,300sq ft home at 2323 E. French Gulch Road, is worth around $240,000 

Shasta got a taste of celebrity after her case came to light in 2005.  

Her abductor, Duncan, was sentenced to death, a punishment he is currently trying to appeal.

She has revealed she struggled to cope with what happened to her, and her sudden fame, and turned to drugs and alcohol to deal with the trauma.

Shasta says that immediately after she was rescued, she became a well-known figure in the area for all of the wrong reasons.

'I couldn't really live my life or go out without someone recognizing me,' Shasta said. 

'Everywhere I went it was 'Oh, there's Shasta Groene,' as if I were famous, and I didn't like that. I was like 'I'm a normal girl, treat me like a normal girl.''

Every time someone recognized her, it brought up the old memories and at the time she still felt responsible, which is common for the survivors of traumatic experiences.

'There were years and years where I felt that what happened was my fault,' she said. 'Like I could have done something to change what happened… I had my innocence taken from me. I felt really ashamed of that.' 

Shasta says her life took a turn at age 12, when she got drunk for the first time, and by 14 she tried meth and started getting high every day with a group of older teens. 

The bodies of Shasta's mother Brenda, left, stepfather Mark McKenzie, center, and 13-year-old brother Slade, right, were found beaten to death with a hammer inside their home in May 2005

Nine-year-old Dylan James Groene was abducted with Shasta but eventually killed

Eventually, her addictions landed her in a juvenile detention center in February 2014, and she was sentenced to stay in the prison for a year - something she believes saved her life. 

While in the detention center, Shasta says she was able to soberly process what had happened to her, all while making friends and meeting her future fiance.

Now 21, Shasta says she's finally moving in a positive direction in life. She knows that she will never be able to forget what happened to her, so instead she embraces it by celebrating her mother's and brothers' birthdays, trying to remember them for the good memories instead of the bad.

She also welcomed her child into the world in 2016.

Shasta says she considers her baby a miracle since she thought the injuries she sustained enduring weeks of sexual assault at the hands of Duncan may have prevented her from conceiving.

'I almost feel like this is a miracle baby.'

As for Duncan, she has a message for him as he rots behind prison walls.  

'I'd want him to know that he doesn't control me, and he doesn't control how I feel,' Shasta said. 'He's the person who took away my family and my innocence, but I don't ever really think about him. It's just my family. And I want him to know he doesn't have any power right now, because he's the one sitting in prison while I'm out living my life.'

Duncan was originally sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, after taking a plea deal before trial. But then he was indicted on separate charges in federal court and the conviction for those charges resulted in him getting the death penalty. He is attempting to appeal that conviction.  

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCmmZmhe6S7ja6iaKaVrMBwrdGtoJyklWKDcnySaWlyZ3uesa%2Btz2atopuknrpursSnnJ%2BZk6m8s7%2BMfo2Ce4RisKK6wp6pZqulm7Omvsinnmaekam1pr6NoaumpA%3D%3D