The Complexity of Surviving an Abduction
Shasta Groene’s abduction ordeal urges us to rethink Stockholm syndrome.
Updated August 31, 2025 | Reviewed by Abigail Fagan
When we hear about children who’ve survived brutal abductions, we expect that once they’re back with their loving family and have had some therapy , they’ll be okay. However, it’s not that simple.
The story of Shasta Groene in Gregg Olsen’s book, Out of the Woods , is tough to read. Molested and exploited by multiple people, she seemed to have caught few breaks. Her first post-abduction treatment program was itself abusive, and her father was a thief. Burdened with unrelenting guilt over her brother’s death, she made multiple poor choices and dug herself in deeper.
Just because you’re alive doesn’t mean you survived, not in the sense that you’ve healed.
It was the night of May 15, 2005, when three members of the Groene-Mckenzie family were bludgeoned to death in their home in Idaho, and Shasta and Dylan were kidnapped. She was eight and her brother was nine. They seemed to have just vanished. Seven weeks went by. Then, thanks to the Amber Alert program, people recognized Shasta in a restaurant and called the police. Her abductor was arrested, and Shasta was rescued.
She told police that she and her brother had been repeatedly tortured and sexually assaulted while chained up in a remote camp in Montana. Their kidnapper had photographed and videotaped everything. He’d finally shot Dylan, forced Shasta to help burn his remains, and then taken her with him to keep moving. He'd told her he’d have to kill her too. He'd tried, then backed off. Shortly thereafter, help had arrived. Shasta bravely led police back to the campsite. They found Dylan’s remains.
The abductor was 42-year-old Joseph Edward Duncan III, a convicted child molester who’d told his captives to call him “Jazzy Jet.” His criminal history from the age of 15 included a string of assaults against children, as well as at least seven murders. Duncan had gone to prison for 14 years for one incident. His parole conditions stipulated that he stay away from kids. He didn’t.
After another arrest, Duncan purchased weapons and stole a Jeep, then fled to Idaho. He claimed to have spotted Shasta in the yard of their home. Once he got the terrified children to the campsite, he subjected them to horrific descriptions of his treatment of other kids. He also tortured and raped them multiple times each day. He blamed both demons and God for his actions, as if none of it was his fault.
Shasta noticed that Duncan focused his wrath on her brother, who sank into a numbed withdrawal. She vowed to protect Dylan, directing Duncan’s attention when she could to her . Having learned from earlier sexual assaults how to lessen harm by pleasing the sadist , she managed to survive. She even developed some sympathy for Jet, who’d been abused himself as a kid and who told her that she’d taught him to love. She was the only one, he said, who’d ever understood him.
“Shasta’s conflicted feelings about the man played with her head,” Olsen writes. “The abuse. The letters. The stories he told about his sad life. Jet was a monster, no doubt. At the same time, he was also the only one that could keep her and Dylan alive.”
A New Concept for Trauma
Some would view this counterintuitive rapport as Stockholm syndrome, but in an insightful Afterword , psychologist Rebecca Bailey appeals to readers to reject this simplistic label. Bailey is a nationally recognized expert in abduction, complex trauma, and victims of torture. She wants us to understand that, despite the appearance by survivors of an emotional attachment to their abductors, it’s actually an adaptation to a life-threatening situation: they’ve learned to appease their abductors to minimize the violence. The longer they’re kept captive, the more automatic this behavior becomes because their biological system shifts into defensive mode. It’s not authentic human connection. Shasta did not “understand” Duncan. She watched for cues for self-protection. “Stories like Shasta’s challenge us to expand our understanding of survival after traumatic events.”
Over the two decades since Shasta’s abduction, her continued difficulties show that survivors remain captive to some degree to the trauma. Their inner conflicts affect their future relationships. Thus, Bailey says, we need a more informed approach—one that erases prior notions that invite harmful expectations. “Shasta’s story is a call to listen without judgment…and to understand that survival is never straightforward, never simple…”
This is a tough tale to read. Olsen admits it was difficult to write, and not just because of Duncan’s behavior, sickening as it was. In an Author’s Note , he says he didn’t think he was up to the task of doing Shasta’s story justice. What she’d already endured in her family by the age of eight became a “blueprint” for adapting to Duncan’s treatment. She’d learned how to tell adults what they wanted to hear to buy time and to hope for eventual safety. But for most of her life, safety and stability have eluded her, sometimes by her own hand. “Her trauma was as much part of her as her skin,” Olsen says. “Always there. It had been like water, always finding a way to seep inside of the little spaces, reminding her about the murders of her mother, Slade, and Mark. Mostly, and most triggering, were the thoughts she carried about Dylan.”
This book makes a significant contribution to the literature of trauma. It’s masterfully structured for emotional impact, while also urging us into better-informed discussions. Victims won’t gain relief if we listen through filters based on flawed perceptions.
Bailey, R., Dugard, J., Smith, S. F., & Porges, S. W. (2023). Appeasement: Replacing Stockholm syndrome as a definition of a survival strategy. European Journal of Psychotraumatology , 14 (1), 2161038. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2022.2161038
Brodwater, T., & Kramer, B. (2005, Oct. 22). Transcripts detail murder, kidnapping case. The Spokesman Review .
Olsen, G. (2025). Out of the woods: A girl, a killer, and the lifelong struggle to find the way home . Thomas & Mercer.
Share this post Facebook Bluesky Linkedin Email
There was a problem adding your email address. Please try again.
By submitting your information you agree to the Psychology Today Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy
Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D., is a professor of forensic psychology at DeSales University and the author of 69 books.
Get the help you need from a therapist near you–a FREE service from Psychology Today.
This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.