The serial killer convicted of killing a family of five in Idaho and linked to three other murders had passed away after suffering a terminal brain tumor, reports said.
58-year-old Joseph Edward Duncan was pronounced dead at 2:30 a.m. Sunday at a Terre Haute, Indiana hospital months after undergoing brain surgery.
Doctors had predicted last November that Duncan would not live long after being diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma. He refused to receive chemotherapy and radiation treatment for his cancer.
Back in 2005, Duncan was arrested after slaughtering an Idaho family of five and kidnapping their two small children whom he later killed after weeks of torture.
He was linked through DNA to the 1997 murder of 10-year-old Anthony Martinez in California and the 1996 killings of siblings Sammiejo White and Carmen Cubias, 11 and 9, in Seattle.
“The sun is a little brighter today,” Anthony Martinez’s mom said following Duncan’s death. “The world is a more beautiful place without the evil that is Joseph Duncan.”
“God chose to make his end a long-suffering and I believe that is fitting. The horror of his thoughts consumed him.”
Anthony’s father added: “While I would’ve liked to witness his execution, knowing he is now standing before God being held accountable for what he has done, what he did to my son and the horrible crimes he committed to others, that is the real justice.”
