Joseph Edward Duncan III, the Fargo man charged with kidnapping an Idaho girl, started a Web journal to fight discrimination against registered sex offenders like him.
Based on initial public reaction, it's a lonely battle.
Within hours after news broke that 8-year-old Shasta Groene had been spotted in a Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Denny's with Duncan, angry and anonymous bloggers posted messages to his site, fifth nail.blogspot.com.
"You should die for what you have done to Shasta Groene and that family," one wrote.
Another referred to Duncan, 42, as a "sick scumbag."
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Shasta and her brother, Dylan, 9, had been missing since May 16, when their mother, her boyfriend and an older brother were found bludgeoned to death in their rural Coeur d'Alene home.
Dylan, too, is feared dead, Idaho officials said Sunday.
It is not known whether Duncan has a connection to the victims, but people posting comments on The Forum's Web site expect the worst.
"How many more lives will it take before they start to realize these people (violent sex offenders) are a danger and need to be kept locked up ..." someone wrote.
Duncan has a long history of sex crimes.
He faces charges of molesting a 6-year-old Detroit Lakes, Minn., boy. In April he was released on $15,000 bail but didn't appear at a May 16 Becker County court hearing. He also failed to meet his parole agent, as promised.
He was a registered Level 3 sex offender for raping a 14-year-old boy in Washington state 25 years ago.
Most people who posted opinions on The Forum's Web site had no empathy for Duncan and wondered why he was ever allowed outside a jail cell. They said Level 3 offenders, who are the most likely to re-offend, should never be allowed to leave jail.
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"They should be given life at the minimum or be given the death penalty," wrote one woman, who identified herself as a mother of four and a grandmother of three. "Our children should come before them always."
Rick Anderson of Bismarck is a private investigator and owns a bail enforcement business called Fugitive Locator.
He wants courts to privatize the bond process. Instead of allowing people to leave jail on a personal bond paid to the court, they should be required to use a bondsman, he said.
Because bondsmen are financially accountable if the charged person doesn't appear in court, they are strongly motivated to find the fugitive, usually by hiring professional recovery agents or bounty hunters, he said.
"Duncan just became our poster child," he said. "Law enforcement doesn't have the manpower to go after people like him. As a profession, we're a lot more efficient."
Readers can reach Forum reporter Erin Hemme Froslie at (701) 241-5534
