Joseph Duncan had been convicted of raping and torturing a 14-year-old boy in Tacoma, Washington. On the Internet he proudly boasted of his perversions. But the system turned Duncan loose, and no one would stop him from committing an even more horrifying act...
This time, he prepared meticulously. He chose his getaway car. He chose his murder weapon and loaded a video camera. Then, when he saw young Shasta and Dylan Groene playing outside their Idaho home, he struck--killing their mother and her boyfriend, and their older brother…and vanishing into the night with Shasta and Dylan.
Detectives pored over the bloody murder scene. The FBI scrambled to find the children and the abductor. And even when Duncan was finally located, the story was not yet over: Dylan was still missing…and the depth of one man's evil was still coming horribly to light….
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A KNOWN SEXUAL PSYCHOPATH. Joseph Duncan had been convicted of raping and torturing a 14-year-old boy in Tacoma, Washington. On the Internet he proudly boasted of his perversions. But the system turned Duncan loose, and no one would stop him from committing an even more horrifying act...
AN INNOCENT FAMILY. This time, he prepared meticulously. He chose his getaway car. He chose his murder weapon and loaded a video camera. Then, when he saw young Shasta and Dylan Groene playing outside their Idaho home, he struck--killing their mother and her boyfriend, and their older brother…and vanishing into the night with Shasta and Dylan. A CRIME THAT SHOOK THE NATION Detectives pored over the bloody murder scene. The FBI scrambled to find the children and the abductor. And even when Duncan was finally located, the story was not yet over: Dylan was still missing…and the depth of one man's evil was still coming horribly to light…. With 8 pages of alarming photographs
About the Author
For the last 20 years, author Gary C. King has been one of America's foremost true crime writers. Over 400 of his stories have appeared in crime magazines across the United States, Canada, and England, including True Detective, Official Detective, Inside Detective, Front Page Detective, and Master Detective. An active member of the Mystery Writers of America, he lives in Las Vegas.
Gary C. King, a freelance author and lecturer, is regarded by readers and critics alike as one of the world's foremost crime writers, a reputation he has earned over the last 31 years with the publication of more than 400 articles in true crime magazines in the United States, Canada, and England. King took over Ann Rule's job as Pacific Northwest stringer for True Detective, Official Detective, Inside Detective, Front Page Detective, and Master Detective magazines, writing hundreds of articles under various names until those magazines ceased publication in the mid-1990s. More recently he has found alternate venues for his stories, including TruTV's Crime Library. He has published several "classic" true crime stories for Investigation Discovery, which can be found on their website. He is also the author of several true crime books including: Blood Lust: Portrait of a Serial Sex Killer, Driven to Kill, Web of Deceit, Blind Rage, Savage Vengeance (with Don Lasseter), An Early Grave, The Texas 7, Murder in Hollywood, Angels of Death, Stolen in the Night, Love, Lies, and Murder, and An Almost Perfect Murder, which is about the murder of Nevada State Controller Kathy Augustine by succinylcholine poisoning administered by her husband, critical-care nurse Chaz Higgs. King also wrote Butcher, about Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton, which was published by Pinnacle Books in April 2009. King recently finished work on Rage, about millionaire Reno, Nevada businessman Darren Mack, who murdered his wife, Charla, in 2006 and then shot and seriously injured their divorce judge, Chuck Weller, with a high-powered rifle from a parking garage facing the judge's chambers. Rage is scheduled for publication by Pinnacle Books in July 2010. King also wrote The Murder of Meredith Kercher, which was published by John Blake Publishing, Ltd., in January 2010.
Driven to Kill, the story of serial child killer Westley Allan Dodd's killing spree, was published in April 1993 by Pinnacle Books and was nominated for an Anthony Award in the Best True Crime Book category at Bouchercon 25.
Blood Lust: Portrait of a Serial Sex Killer, details the bizarre case of Dayton Leroy Rogers, Oregon's worst serial killer to date. Blood Lust was published in December 1992 under NAL/Dutton's Onyx imprint as an original paperback. A German language edition of Blood Lust was published later, in 1995. Both Blood Lust and Driven to Kill were chosen as featured selections of Doubleday's True Crime Book Club.
King has also written articles on several celebrated cases that include: "Son of Sam" David Berkowitz; the Hillside Stranglers; Jim Jones and the Guyana Massacre; D.B. Cooper; Gary Gilmore; John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman; and Seattle's bizarre Chinatown Massacre in the 1980s. He has also contributed to several true crime compilations books with various publishers.
The subjects of King's other books include: Blind Rage, about suspected serial murderer Darren Dee O'Neall, published by Dutton-Signet under their Onyx imprint in August 1995, and was reprinted in 2001 by the Mystery Writers of America/iUniverse. Savage Vengeance, co-written with Don Lasseter, was published in 1996. An Early Grave, published by St. Martin's Press (SMP), is about the mysterious death of Las Vegas casino scion Ted Binion; The Texas 7: A True Story of Murder and a Daring Escape, (SMP) about the infamous Texas prison break in which a dedicated cop with a family was brutally murdered; Murder in Hollywood, (SMP) about the murder of Bonny Lee Bakley, actor Robert Blake's wife; Angels of Death, (SMP) a story detailing the murder of Terry King in Florida, purportedly committed by King's 12- and 13-year-old sons, Derek and Alex King; and Stolen in the Night, (SMP) about the horrific Joseph Edward Duncan III case out of Idaho. Love, Lies, and Murder is about the riveting Perry March case, the shady Nashville lawyer who was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of his wife, Janet, and for plotting the murders of Janet's parents, from Pinnacle Books.
King's television appearances have included Entertainment Tonight, Larry King Live, Inside Edition, Court TV, MSNBC's Headliners and Legends, E!, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Extra TV, and several other programs. He also frequently provides radio interviews. Upcoming interviews include an episode of Biography about serial killer Robert "Willie" Pickton, the subject of Butcher, and an episode of Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice called "Strange Bedfellows," about the murder of Nevada State Controller Kathy Augustine and the subject of King's An Almost Perfect Murder.
King is an active member of the Authors Guild, Mystery Writers of America, American Crime Writers League, American Society of Journalists and Authors, The Crime Writers' Association (U.K.), National Press Club, Society of Professional Journalists, International Thriller Writers, Investigative Reporters and Editors (I.R.E.), and the International Association of Crime Writers.
King is represented by Peter Miller of PMA Literary and Film Management.
This review is from: Stolen in the Night: The True Story of a Family's Murder, a Kidnapping and the Child Who Survived (Mass Market Paperback)
This is the first book that I have read by Gary C. King. I can only hope that this wasn't one of what is considered to be his better works as I found the writing to be only mediocre and barely able to keep my attention.
I disappointed that the background of the victims was only brushed over, and the background information on the convicted, Joseph Duncan III, was little more.
While reading this book, I reached the epilogue thinking that the writer had completed his work and rushed to publishing before we knew the resolution of this particular case. Instead I found that King placed the resolution, along with "editoral" about sex offenders, in the epilogue. This practice is quite unusual for true crime and, quite frankly, was confusing.
Overall, I would choose to read the book when there seemed to be nothing else to read. There are plenty better, but there are just as many worse.
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This review is from: Stolen in the Night: The True Story of a Family's Murder, a Kidnapping and the Child Who Survived (Mass Market Paperback)
The author of this book clearly didn't do his homework. The book seems to be hastily written and it's doubtful that he even left the comfort of his chair. Copy/paste from crime detailed websites, glaring errors and lack of history make this book an easy candidate for the trash can.
Googling some of the phrases used in the book, the reader will find that the author copied a majority of the book.
Apparently the author was too busy copy/pasting to bother to research much in depth. For had he done his homework, he would have known without a doubt that Duncan was born in Fort Bragg, NC. Instead, the author of this book cites three locations where Duncan "might" have been born. Any person with even the slightest knowledge of the Groene/MacKenzie murders knows that Duncan was in fact born at Fort Bragg.
The author could have added several interesting chapters to this book,had he done at least some small fraction of his homework. History on Duncan's involvement with Wacksman over the years as well as Crary, past girlfriends and his childhood would have added a great deal to the interest of the book.
If you're looking for a book that details the life and crimes of Duncan, don't bother with this book... save a tree, save your money and read about it on the internet.
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This review is from: Stolen in the Night: The True Story of a Family's Murder, a Kidnapping and the Child Who Survived (Mass Market Paperback)
This true crime story heartbreakingly conveys the story of the anniliation of a family. Sexual psychopath Joseph Edward Duncan II brutally murdered a mother, her older son, and her boyfriend. Duncan then kidnaps the murdered woman's other 2 children, young Shasta and Dylan Groene from their idyllic Idaho home.
Millions of people watched the horror of this case unfold on the evening news. Detectives and the FBI scrambled to find the missing children, and the nation held it's collective breath, hoping for the best, anticipating the worst.
Told with an unerring eye to detail, Gary King's book takes the reader on this heartrending story, from harrowing twists to the tale of a courageous little girl who manages to survive against all odds. You feel the righteous indignation that comes with knowing that a bragging sexual predator was allowed to escape his punishment for earlier crimes, the horror faced by the young girl who he sexually brutalized, and the brother she knows he murdered. This story will haunt you long after you finish reading it, as much from the experiences of the family as from knowing that the system didn't work, and that this monster was allowed to go free.
Mr. King writes with great detail, and shares much of the case, the work involved, and the background story that allowed this horror to exist in the first place. I came away knowing more about the faults of our justice system, and what made this psychopath "tick". Knowing that Shasta has been reunited with her father, and is receiving psychological help to deal with her ordeal, brings the book to a decent conclusion. There is no happy ending to this story, and Mr. King doesn't try to paint a picture of one. It's handled with tact, well-meaning and compassion.
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First Sentence:
IDAHO-A STATE PERHAPS BEST KNOWN FOR ITS NATURAL beauty, with a topography that consists of mountains reaching elevations of eight thousand feet or more and areas, like that of Hells Canyon, where the terrain plummets to fifteen hundred feet, or Snake River Canyon, which Evil Knievel tried and failed to jump on his motorcycle. Read the first pageKey Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
fifth nail, violent sexual predators, violent sex offenders, zip ties
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Kootenai County, Steve Groene, Joseph Edward Duncan, Brenda Groene, North Dakota, Frontage Road, Shasta Groene, Amber Alert, Dylan Groene, Sheriff Rocky Watson, Captain Ben Wolfinger, Jesse Groene, Anthony Martinez, Associated Press, Prosecutor Bill Douglas, Detroit Lakes, Happy Joe, Post Falls, Slade Groene, Becker County, Bonners Ferry, Idaho State Police, Kansas City, Whatcom County, Amber Deahn
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