COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Steve Groene, the father of kidnapping victim Shasta Groene, has passed away, a spokesperson for the family confirmed to KREM. He was 62 years old.
A family spokesperson issued a statement Tuesday on behalf of Shasta saying, "Shasta is devastated at the death of her father after a long battle with lung cancer. Despite tragedy and distance, Shasta loved Steve with all of her heart, and she is asking for prayers for her family during this difficult time."
The Groene family became the focus of national media attention in 2005 after a convicted sex offender named Joseph Duncan murdered Shasta's brothers, mother and mother's boyfriend. Shasta was the only victim to walk away alive.
Steve lost both of his sons, Slade and Dylan, in the attack.
In May 2005, Brenda Groene, her boyfriend Mark McKenzie and Brenda's son, Slade, were brutally killed in a rural North Idaho home. The two youngest children, Dylan and Shasta, were kidnapped and sexually assaulted.
At the time, no one knew the children were being held captive in a remote campsite in the Lolo National Forest in Montana. Steve Groene pleaded on television for their safe release.
Dylan was murdered at the campsite but Shasta miraculously escaped six weeks after the initial attack, when Duncan took her to a Denny's restaurant in Coeur d'Alene and she was rescued.
Shasta's testimony helped convict Duncan in the murders. Duncan was also implicated in three other murders. He was sentenced to death and remains on death row.
An outpouring of community sympathy and donations followed the case; enough to establish a legal charitable trust. Using that money, a home was purchased in Coeur d’Alene for Shasta to live in and recover from her trauma. For many years, she and Steve both lived in the house, until Shasta moved away to Nampa, Idaho.
In 2018, a judge ordered Steve to leave the home after the trust wanted to sell the house to provide financial support to Shasta.
A family representative said Steve and Shasta were able to spend time together in October 2018, when Shasta got married in North Idaho.
Steve Groene had also battled throat cancer for years, and talked with a robotic device since having surgery.
A family spokesperson said Steve often talked about seeing his sons Dylan and Slade in heaven one day.