Four share reward for saving Shasta

Posted: Thursday, Sep 15, 2005 - 11:33:00 pm PDT
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By DAVE TURNER
Staff writer 

JASON HUNT/Press Amber Deahn speaks with Idaho State Police Capt. Wayne Longo following a news conference where she and three others were given $25,000 rewards from the FBI as well as "Heroes Awards" from the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday. The four people whose actions helped rescue 8-year-old Shasta Groene and capture sex predator Joseph Edward Duncan III each received checks Thursday from grateful FBI agents.

Waitress, manager, two patrons also given FBI 'Heroes Awards'

COEUR d'ALENE -- Four Coeur d'Alene residents were called heroes for their role in the rescue of Shasta Groene and the arrest of the man who abducted her and her brother.

"Today is a day of celebration," said Timothy Fuhrman, the FBI's special agent in charge of the Salt Lake City office.

The four -- Denny's waitress Amber Deahn and her manager, Linda Olson, as well as patrons Nick Chapman and Chris Donlan -- split a $100,000 reward offered by the FBI for the safe return of the children and arrest of their abductor.

Olson called police while Deahn stalled Joseph Edward Duncan III, who brought Shasta into the eatery early the morning of July 2.

Chapman and Donlan were customers at the restaurant who also called 911 when they recognized Shasta from missing persons pictures, and wrote down the license plate of the Jeep Laredo Duncan was driving.

"These four individuals were going about their daily activities when they decided to make a difference," said Fuhrman. "All four decided that Duncan would not leave the restaurant that night with Shasta."

The agent said: "It is entirely possible that but for their actions, Duncan may never have been apprehended and Shasta may never have been recovered."

In addition to the $25,000 checks each received, the U.S. Department of Justice presented the four with "Heroes Awards" from the department's Office of Victims of Crime.

The FBI offered the reward for information after Shasta Groene, 8, and her 9-year-old brother, Dylan, were abducted in mid-May from their home near Wolf Lodge Bay, where their mother, Brenda Kay Groene, 40, another brother, Slade Groene, 13, and mother's live-in boyfriend, Mark Edward McKenzie, 37, were killed.

After Shasta was rescued, her brother's body was found in a remote Montana campground.

Deahn, 24, got most of the attention for stalling Duncan until police arrived. She offered Shasta a milkshake as a dessert, and then named all the flavors the girl could order.

She is planning on splitting her part of the reward between caring for her family and establishing a Web site to help other missing children return home.

She said she is planning to return to work at the restaurant once her maternity leave is over. She delivered a son, James, on Sept. 7.

The boy was born five weeks premature last week and is in the intensive care unit at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. Deahn does not have health insurance.

"I can't hold him and take him home yet," she said.

Olson, 58, declined to comment on what she would do with her share of the reward money.

Chapman, 21, also said he didn't know what he would do with the cash. But already, Chapman, unemployed at the time he saw Duncan come into the restaurant, is now working a full-time job.

And Donlan, an alternative high school student at Project CDA, said he would use part of the money to pay his tuition at North Idaho College where he is planning to study diesel mechanics.

"I can't thank them enough," said Steve Groene, Shasta's father.

Duncan remains held in the Kootenai County jail without bail, charged with three counts of first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping.

Dave Turner can be reached at 664-8176, ext. 2009 or at dturner@cdapress.com.