Joseph Edward Duncan is one of the most vicious sociopaths in the history of the term. Before the crimes which landed him his death sentence, he had already raped and murdered at least four children, most of them boys, in various places in California and Seattle. He claims to have raped at least 13 boys by his 16th birthday, most at gunpoint. He has been diagnosed with what is now referred to as “malignant narcissism,” “antisocial personality disorder,” and a violent hatred for society in general. His final crimes were the brutal bludgeoning murders of the Groene family in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho in May, 2005.

He broke into the home of Brenda Groene and Mark Mackenzie, clubbed them and Brenda’s teenage son, Slade, to death with a hammer, then kidnapped her other children, Shasta, 8, and Dylan, 9, taking them into the Idaho and Montana wilderness. For the next 7 weeks or so, he filmed himself torturing Dylan by hanging him by his wrists to trees, stripping him naked, punching and kicking him all over, especially his genitals, burning him with cigarettes, all while shouting at him that, “God is nowhere listening, Dylan! I am the Devil!” He finally shot Dylan dead, after raping him multiple times over the course of those 7 weeks, during which time he raped and beat Shasta, also. He was apprehended in a Denny’s Restaurant in Coeur d’Alene, when a waitress recognized Shasta. Duncan was eventually given three death sentences and nine life sentences. He frequently smiled when facts of his crimes were read in court. After his sentencing was read aloud, he was asked if he had anything to say. He smirked and recited Ezekiel 21:31, “And I shall deliver thee into the hands of brutish men.” He defined himself as the brutish man, indicating a lack of remorse. He confided to his lawyer that “he only regretted being caught, and that he would try his best to escape prison and kill as many people as he could get his hands on before going back to prison.” For this reason, he is held at ADX Florence in Colorado, south of Denver, one of the most secure facilities in the United States.