COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) — Rescued kidnap victim Shasta Groene and her father will move into a donated, brand-new home this week.
After months of fund-raising and work, the house — built entirely with donations for Shasta and Steve Groene — is nearly completed.
Crews were installing pavers for a backyard patio, an irrigation system and a security fence Thursday as Kathy Jacobsen and Midge Smock, who led the fund-raising effort, addressed the finishing touches inside the home.
"I have been so overwhelmed with the generosity of this community," Jacobsen said. "Spokane, too. Everyone has been amazing."
"It's great. It's a very nice house," Steve Groene said.
In May 2005, registered sex offender Joseph Duncan invaded Shasta's home, killing her older brother Slade; her mother, Brenda; and her mother's fiance, Mark McKenzie, so that he could kidnap and molest Shasta and another brother, 9-year-old Dylan, whom authorities say he later killed at a remote Montana campsite.
Shasta, now 10, was rescued when a waitress at a Coeur D'Alene restaurant recognized her on July 2, 2005.
The second anniversary of the murder spree has been difficult, Groene said, but he and Shasta are doing well.
Registered sex offender Joseph Duncan has been convicted in state court of the killings at the Groene home. He's charged in federal court with kidnapping and with Dylan's murder. The trial is set for January 2008.
Family friend Midge Smock, of the Windermere Foundation, launched the effort to build Shasta a home after learning last year that the family was homeless. Proceeds from numerous benefits and fund-raisers and donations from across the country helped pay for the lot the house was built on.
Everything else except for a bit of cement used in construction was donated, Smock said.
Todd Stam, owner of Aspen Homes, volunteered early on to manage the construction project.
He and his wife called people they had worked with in the past, and Smock and Jacobsen contacted others they knew in the community.
"I just call people and ask and they say yes," said Jacobsen, who was busy on her cell phone Thursday trying to make arrangements for furniture. Most has been donated already, but Smock said there's still a need for mattresses.
The house is equipped with a top-of-the-line security system.
"I could tell you more than 100 stories," Smock said. "About the neat letters I've gotten from people, people that have just given when it hurts."
One couple sent $1,000 to help with living expenses. Smock used it to prepay the utility bill.
Steve Groene has throat cancer and receives disability payments, Smock said. Some money has been raised to cover part of the property taxes, but Smock wants to raise additional funds to pay for insurance and other expenses.
The home is being held in trust for Shasta until her 25th birthday.