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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

‘I recall because it’s something I could never forget’

Mark Medina was just six years old when Joseph Duncan, a tall, thin Caucasian man in a white car, pulled up into the alley behind a neighbor’s house where he was playing with his 10-year-old brother, Anthony Martinez, and three other friends. Medina is now 17, and a U.S. Army soldier who’s just completed basic training; he appeared in court in his full dark-green dress uniform. Asked if he remembers something that happened on a particular day when he was just 6, Medina told the court, “I recall because it’s something I could never forget.”

Medina said he, his brother Anthony and three friends were playing in the back yard, which was chain-link fenced, when Duncan’s car pulled into the alley. “He approached the fence and called us forward,” Medina told the court. “We came and he showed us a picture of a cat. … He offered us each a dollar if we helped him look for his cat.” The boy who lived at the house then went back inside with his little sister, but the other three boys agreed to hunt for the cat. After hunting a while in the alley, the kids went back to Duncan, who was standing in front of his car, and told him they couldn’t find the cat. “He gave us each a dollar,” Medina told the court. “The next thing I remember is seeing a knife being drawn. … The next thing I remember is he had my brother … the knife to his head. … He was being taken away and put in the car. That was the last time I ever saw him.”



Eye On Boise

News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.