Shasta, now 9, is the sole survivor of the carnage at her family's home outside Coeur d'Alene last May.

"I'm happy to be here and happy to be doing this," Shasta told KREM-TV of Spokane in a brief interview broadcast Wednesday night. It was her first public comment since she was rescued last July 2 at a Denny's restaurant in Coeur d'Alene after seven weeks of captivity. "Slade's my brother and I want to do this for him."

Family members gathered at the home on Wednesday and released balloons for Slade.

Shasta said she wrote a note to Slade, to her mother Brenda, 40, her 10-year-old brother Dylan and to Mark McKenzie, 37, her mother's boyfriend.

"Hopefully we'll get to see them again," Shasta said.

During the interview with the television station, Shasta made no reference to Joseph Edward Duncan III. Duncan, 42, has been charged with binding and bludgeoning to death Brenda and Slade Groene and McKenzie at the home, so he could kidnap Shasta and Dylan for sex.

He allegedly took them to a primitive campsite in Montana for seven weeks. Dylan was killed at some point. Shasta was recognized by staff and customers at the Denny's and police arrested Duncan.

He is to be tried in November for the killings, and is being held without bail in the Kootenai County Jail. If convicted, he faces the death penalty. The federal government plans to file charges after the state case in the kidnapping of the children and the slaying of Dylan.