Human remains found may be missing boy’s

Nicholas Geranios, Coeur D’Alene

Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson said that “possible” human remains had been found at a site in western Montana, and would be sent to the FBI crime lab in Virginia for DNA analysis. That is expected to take three days.

Mr Watson declined to answer questions, but the fact he called a press conference at the place where reporters were following the Groene story indicated officials believe the remains were related.

“Unfortunately we believe Dylan to be deceased,” Sheriff’s Captain Ben Wolfinger said after Mr Watson’s announcement.

But until the remains are identified, they could not be certain, he said.

Dylan and Shasta, eight, had been missing since May 16, when the bound and bludgeoned bodies of their mother, older brother and mother’s boyfriend were found at their rural home.

Shasta was spotted by employees and customers early Saturday morning eating breakfast with a man at a Denny’s restaurant in Coeur d’Alene.

Officers arrested the man, Joseph Edward Duncan III, 42, on suspicion of kidnapping and other charges.

Duncan, from Fargo, North Dakota, is a violent sexual predator who has spent much of his adult life in prison.

Authorities planned to formally charge Duncan with kidnapping and being a fugitive from justice, and have said more charges were possible. A judge ruled on Monday there was probable cause to keep Duncan in jail until an initial court appearance yesterday.

The sheriff’s office released a photo showing a smiling Shasta hugging her father at Kootenai Medical Centre. Another photo showed her holding a doll.

The photos do not show any apparent injuries from her nearly six weeks in captivity.

“She’s a much happier little girl right now,” Mr Wolfinger said.

Officers have interviewed the girl a couple of times, but details of what happened to the children are agonisingly slow in coming.

Duncan has refused to cooperate, officials said.

Major questions include: Was Duncan involved in the three initial slayings? Have the children been with him the whole time? And, if so, where have they been hiding?

“We’ve got a lot of questions left unanswered,” Mr Wolfinger said, and some 60 investigators from the local area, the Idaho State Patrol and the FBI are working the case. Watson said the remains were found at “one of the possible locations in western Montana,” but did not elaborate about the site.

A registered high-risk sex offender, Duncan was released on $15,000 bail earlier this year.