He grew up, got married and had two kids. But when Parnell kidnapped another young boy, this time 5-year-old Timothy White, Steven knew he couldnt let another child be subjected to the abuse and torment he had faced for years. Jens couldn't accompany them on this trip because he needed to prepare for an upcoming business trip. Crazy Credits Her mother had been dating him and he had decided to kill them on Valentines Day. Cary looked out for Steven, according to Cary Stayner's former classmate Jack Bungart. The dramatic story was told in the 1989 television movie, I Know My First Name Is Steven.. Woman recalls moment family learned they were target of 1999 In May 2002, Stayner pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1999 murder of Pelosso and the Sunds. The two brothers of the Stayner family are both famous - one experienced horror in the hands of a child molester, Steven, and the other, Cary, the serial killer in Yosemite. Cary Stayner, the serial killer convicted in the grisly murders of four women near Yosemite National Park, is born on August 13, 1961. He walked naked and and smoked pot, he could find the peace that he so desperately needed. Caroles parents, Francis and Carole Carrington, appeared on the Good Morning, America TV show, to ask for the prayers of Americans and their help in locating their daughter and the children. Whites stepfather, Roger Gitlin, said White died April 1, 2010, of an apparent pulmonary embolism. I did murder Carole Sund, Juli Sund, Silvina Pelosso and Joie Armstrong None of the women were sexually abused in any way.". It then came out that Steven had been kidnapped by Parnell, who had been sexually abusing Steven while also posing as his father and forcing him to go by the name Dennis Parnell. The death-penalty trial of Cary Stayner was moved from Mariposa County to Santa Clara County, CA. Stayner, 38, has been charged with murder in the July 21 death of naturalist Joie Armstrong. Investigators searched his truck and confiscated his backpack for examination. Cary, as the older brother, had a very strange relationship now with his younger brother, Steven, who was getting all of this attention and who was a different person, former KNTV reporter Ted Rowlands told ABC News. After a couple of weeks, he upped the sum to $300,000. Billy Joe Strange, 39, an El Portal parolee who worked at the Cedar Lodge lounge and restaurant, where the murdered women were last seen. Steven Stayner helped another child escape from a pedophile, after enduring years of abuse and not wanting to see the child experience the same fate. By Friday, July 23rd, Stayner, in the meantime, had disappeared from the area, by the time agents came to arrest him. Cory gets emotional as she describes how he fell through the cracks of familial or institutional care. Although the Merced police department launched a full-fledged investigation at the time of Stevens disappearance, they werent able to find any significant leads. He was known to take refuge in nearby Yosemite, where hed drive up and get lost in nature. WebCary Stayner was convicted of the 1999 Cedar Lodge Killings near Yosemite National Park. She also happens to have a front row seat to two true crime narratives in her own family. The judge said there was overwhelming evidence against Stayner and that the devastating emotional toll justified execution. But, to no avail. Out of respect for his family and the victim's family, we don't want to say anymore." In order to prevent Steven from escaping, Parnell was constantly moving the two of them from town to town in California. In a jailhouse interview with a television reporter, he said he did not rape any of the women. For FBI agent Jeff Rinek, it was the climax of a 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. While he attended his meeting, the women were to tour the Grand Canyon. "The only time Steve would kill anything like a fish is because we were gonna eat it. Upon examination by the FBI Laboratory, some items have yielded trace evidence. Hastings rejected new defense claims that juror misconduct prevented a fair trial. In this, he calmly reviewed how he strangled 16-year-old Silvina Pelosso in the motel bathtub and how he sexually assaulted Juli Sund for hours before brutally cutting her throat. Cary Stayner went from being the brother of child abductee Steven Stayer to a full-blown serial killer. But why doesnt my dad hug me anymore? On July 23, when Cary Stayner was released from custody for his marijuana charge, he quickly packed up and left for Laguna del Sol, a nudist colony, according to The suspect, Cary Stayner, 37, had been one of the people questioned after the triple killings in February, but, at that time no evidence linked him directly to the crime and he had been released. On Dec. 4, 1972, Steven, 7, was walking alone to his familys home in Merced, California, when he was coaxed into the car of convicted child rapist Kenneth Parnell, who was posing as a minister. Knives were used in the slayings and the weapon suspected in Ms. Armstrong's death was recovered.". On March 1, 1980, Steven waited until Parnell was at work and then fled the house with Timothy. He usually ate lunch and dinner at the motel restaurant. | They no longer want you.. "He was spunky. Im just horrified when I think of what happened in that room, what my daughter felt when she realized she was in serious trouble, said Carole Carrington as she asked the judge to sentence Stayner to death. In mid-July of 2002, the trial began in Judge Thomas C. Hastings courtroom. Or certainly, nothing noticed by his colleagues at the motel. During an off-camera jailhouse interview in Sacramento following his arrest, Cary admitted to Armstrong's murder as well as the murders of Carole Sund, 42, her He had given the FBI details "only the killer would know in such specificity that agents were able to recover evidence confirming his confession. The other Sund children believed their mother and sister Juli would be returned. When Steven didnt return from school that afternoon, his parents sounded the alarm. How frightened the girls must have been when he cut their clothes off.. Soundtracks. Check-out had apparently been done in advance and the keys were left on the room desk. He was buried Thursday in the town of Newhall, where he had worked as a Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy. To the dismay of the Stayner family, the case went cold. On December 4, 1972, at the age of seven, Steven was approached after school by Edward Ervin Murphy, who claimed he was collecting money for the church. That same day, Stayner allowed himself to be interviewed by a reporter from KNTV. And in 1999, the Stayner family was back in the news but this time, for a less than positive reason. William Mapother is a cousin of, The unsub bears some similarities with Cary Stayner, older brother of infamous kidnapping victim Steven Stayner (. Im so proud of the way Carole and Juli lived, and Im so ashamed of Stayner.. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. "'Deep in my heart I know something my mind does not want to learn,' said Gina,13. The hire car company confirmed that Carole had never returned the rented Pontiac, nor told them that they were extending their agreement. Unfortunately, less than a decade after his incredible escape, Steven Stayner died in a motorcycle accident at the age of 24, leaving behind a wife and two children. Parnell was convicted on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges. Larry Duane Utley, 41 an associate of Dykes and Larwick, first picked up during a March parole sweep. The Stayner family was made up of two brothers, three sisters, and parents Kay and Delbert. Sandy Cox, whose husband owned the window company where Stayner worked for in Atwater, says, "We've known Cary since he was a little boyIt just doesn't match up. Timothy Lee White, 5, gets a piggyback ride from 14-year-old Steven Stayner at a news conference in Ukiah, California, in 1980, Kenneth Parnell stops the car and goes to a payphone, he comes back and tells Steven, Your parents, I just spoke to them. For four weeks, police, family, and volunteers searched the area in and near Yosemite National Park by helicopter, foot, and skis. Cary, the motel handyman and champion underachiever who was arrested at a nudist colony, said in a jailhouse interview that voices told him to kill Carole and Juli Jeffrey Wayne Keeney, 32, of Modesto. This time, agents detained him and forced him to answer more questions. Despite this, he never appeared to behave lewdly nor perversely in public. ", Stayner's apartment was searched later in the day and the authorities discovered evidence that linked him to Armstrong's murder. She was seen that day at the Institute offices and was planning to visit a friend in Sausalito, California, that day but never made it. In a voice that seemed relieved to be unburdened from its depth a long-kept secret, Stayner blurted, "I am guilty. Steven told the police what happened to him and Timothy and he was also able to tell them his real name was Steven, not Dennis. Very seldom did he get into trouble. | It was not animated or digitally created; a stunt driver put the truck into a full controlled jackknife in front of the camera. The inn staff claimed that when they cleaned the room the next morning, they had detected no evidence of foul play or anything that made them suspicious. Cary Stayner, now 57, was convicted of the murders of Armstrong, the Sunds and Pelosso, and sentenced to death for all except Armstrong's. He remains on death row at San Quentin Penitentiary. The FBI Laboratory has also found possible bodily fluid stains on a bed sheet taken from her residence. Then there was another murder. Cedar Lodge, 9966 CA-140, El Portal, CA 95318. Cary was off anybody and everybody who met him will tell According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "(A witness claimed that) Stayner was angry about authorities seizing his backpack after he was questioned earlier that day. Web6,597 views Jan 24, 2019 56 Dislike Share ABC10 172K subscribers On July 26, 1999, former ABC10 reporter Tim Daly went down to the Cedar Lodge where Cary Stayner I want a movie-of-the-week made about my story,'" There was a movie made about his brother, Steven Stayner, and he wanted the same and for the world to take notice. Cary didnt emerge as a suspect during the initial investigation, and the FBI actually believed they had the people responsible for the killings in custody. It was then that Steven's nightmare began as Murphy brought him to Kenneth Parnell, a known pedophile. How can one family, contain two completely contrasting children? The issue was no longer who committed the murders but whether Stayner was insane at the time and whether the confession to the FBI agents was coerced. ", Steven Stayner with his kidnapper Kenneth Parnell. He was arrested in May on an unrelated crime charge but was soon released. That evening, the group grabbed some videos from the lodge's service desk to watch in their room. A relatively quiet, but friendly, a motel handyman called Cary Stayners only passions seemed to be nude sunbathing and hiking. They were looking for the missing red 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix as well as the women. You know, hung out with him, played with him.. Parnell worked at the Yosemite Lodge, located about two hours away from the Stayner home. The California Highway Patrol verified the car's license plate as the Sunds rented vehicle and immediately notified the FBI. The FBI also seized clothing stained with blood from her body. After the fourth murder, the FBI went looking for Cary Stayner to interview him, but initially as a witness. The Sund family's worst fears were confirmed when a hiker wandered onto the site of a burned-out red 1999 Pontiac, hidden off Highway 108, in the Stanislaus Forest region on March 18. I never did tell anybody about it, but I remember wishing on a star that my little brother would come back home. He has been questioned about any involvement. Part of TV News Archive. 'I try to stay strong because I know that's what you'd want your baby to be, but, Mommy, I don't want you to leave me.'". He also exhibited some behaviors that made others uncomfortable, including, as he later admitted, exposing himself to his sister's friend. By the end of June, the FBI had reviewed the testimonies and the evidence linked to the suspects in custody. He demanded that his parents be given the reward money, that he be incarcerated at a prison near his parents home, and, to Stayners detriment, that he be given a large cache of child pornography. The FBI task force investigating Yosemite issued a federal warrant for her arrest after she failed to appear in Stanislaus County drug court in June. You could see that he wanted to play and be with kids and be normal. But, says Delbert, puberty-aged Cary endured some emotional hardships because of that incident. Shortly after Stevens death, an uncle with whom Cary Stayner was very close was shot and killed in a home they shared together. But it took less than six months for another murder in the area to show them that the killer was still at large this time, the victim was 26-year-old naturalist Joie Armstrong. Vacuum sweepings were taken from inside Joies house, where Stayner claims to have bound her with duct tape, yielded hair evidence. But seven years later in February 1980, Steven miraculously reappeared. Connections Kenneth"Soldier" Stewart, 24, a former cellmate of Dykes who was charged with attempted murder. Cary Stayner was sentenced Thursday to die for committing three murders near Yosemite National Park in 1999. In February 1980, Parnell decided to kidnap a new victim. The two hitchhiked to Ukiah, California. Cary always wore a hat because he was compulsively pulling his hair out. Stayner said he thought he had gotten away with the earlier crimes, but could not resist the urge to kill Armstrong after he struck up a chance conversation with her. Her body was next to a stream and head within the water that she and her friends used for drinking water. Convicted in 1978 for rape and robbery, he was jailed on March 14 for failing to register as a sex offender. Timothy White, the kidnap victim, was only 35 when he died. Jens had scheduled to meet them at the San Francisco airport that evening on his way to Arizona, to where the others were to accompany him. They lived in the farming town of Merced, California, the Gateway to Yosemite. The FBI pushed for Strange's arrest, but he denied any part in the triple murders. Against the odds, he flourished there. By this point, Cary Stayner had a couple of nervous breakdowns. ", Steven Stayner and Cary Stayner in the baseball cap in the background. All of its been bad, Delbert Stayner said of his familys life. Stayner said to investigators I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. She was working for the Yosemite Institute for the past year and had worked on education programs through a partnership with the National Park Service. The boys were still in elementary school when on December 4, 1972, a man named Kenneth Parnell took seven-year-old Stephen, whilst walking home from school on Highway 140. He befriended a co-worker named Ervin Murphy to assist him in the abduction. Silvina Pelossos mother, Raquel, said, I just cannot understand how so many peopledidn't realize that maybe (Stayner) was the man since I heard that he was interviewed some time ago. WebCary Stayner, the handyman at their hotel, confessed after being arrested for beheading another victim, female nature guide Joie Armstrong. Management found him a hard worker and honest. He also struggled in high school where he was bullied for the abuse he had endured. In his interview, Stayner claimed that hair from his body was left on the bedspread in their motel room, but he returned later and changed the bed. "Her mother, sisters, and a family friend had been missing for a month by the time Gina Sund read her poem in front of a thousand or so people who gathered in Modesto," writes Time. where Stayner was employed as a handyman. In 1997, Stayner got a job as a handyman at the Cedar Lodge, seven miles from the gate of the national park, where he worked for 2 years before the murders.. So while Parnell was at work, Steven ran away with Timothy, and the two hitchhiked to a police station in Ukiah, California. In 1972, Stayners On Saturday, July 24, FBI agents announced at a press conference that a man was in custody on strong suspicion of murder and that a "significant announcement" would be made shortly. He abandoned the group's rental car with the bodies of Carole and Silvina inside, returning two days later to burn the evidence and retrieve the wallet, which he dumped in Modesto to confuse authorities. Ive never seen anything thats so close to black and white and evil and good as Stayner and our children, said Francis Carrington, the father of Carole Sund and grandfather of Juli. The American Court TV (now TruTV) television series Mugshots released an episode on the Stayner case titled "Cary Stayner The Cedar Lodge Killings". [29] In 2018, the Reelz channel aired an hour-long documentary about the murders titled Yosemite Park Killer. Stayner was already serving a life sentence for the murder of Joie Ruth Armstrong. "Privately, some members of the Sund-Pelosso task force were saying the same things to the media. Steven was told his new name was Dennis Parnell and was enrolled in school. For years, Parnell traveled around California with Steven. What followed turned out to be one of the most shocking crimes in both National Park and American history, involving a man whose family had already been involved in a notorious crime, literally the two faces of evil. By the time Steven was 14, he had been abused and manipulated by Parnell for seven years and Parnell and Steven together realized that Steven was growing up and that he was no longer going to be controlled by Parnell and they would need to find someone else that they could sexually abuse. By mid-April, those who had been arrested were ordered to testify in front of a grand jury in Fresno, California. Items included in the Television News search service. But instead of seeking mental health treatment, he moved to Yosemite. I was the oldest and all that. On February 15, the ladies hiked into Yosemite National Park on one of the many trails. Concluding the interview, he addressed the victims' families: "I am sorry their loved ones were where they were when they were. The trio stayed at the lodge in February 1999, during which time Cary talked his way into their room, where he sexually assaulted and murdered all of them. Ashley Stayner is a self-professed true crime fan. Over the next few weeks, a task force including FBI agents and law enforcers from four surrounding counties, arrested several known sex offenders, drug users, and ex-convicts with a record of violence from within a 75-square-mile area between Modesto and Sonoma. I got put on the back burner, you might say," Cary told J.P. Miller, a filmmaker who wrote a screenplay about Steven's abduction. | He was sentenced to seven years in prison but only served five, less time than he held Steven captive. In his capacity, Stayner performed technical and housekeeping duties, everything from fixing electrical and mechanical breakdowns to delivering extra towels and bedding to guests. Carole and her husband, Jens, 43, owned a realtors business in the Stockton area. Steven Stayner was just seven-years-old when he was abducted a few blocks from his home in Merced, He had no criminal record and his only encounter with the law was for marijuana use in 1997. 51K views 3 years ago 20/20 Extra: For the first time, 20 years after the Yosemite murders, Lenna speaks out exclusively on what she learned about Cary "We never really got along that well after he came back All of a sudden Steve was getting all these gifts, getting all this clothing, getting all this attention. He paid a local kid to ride with him to the town of Ukiah, California and he told to go and find him a boy. However, there were warning signs during his younger years. I wish I could have controlled myself and not done what I did. Steven Stayner had a new father figure, and it was Kenneth Parnell, who by day, was his father, and by night, was his rapist. According to Special Agent Christopher Hopkins , both the FBI's Evidence Response Team and the Mariposa County Sheriff's Office collected items of potential interest from Room 509 at the Cedar Lodge Motel, the room in which Stayner sexually assaulted Juli Sund and Silvina Pelosso and murdered both Carole Sund and Silvina. Cary Stayner confesses to killing four innocent women in 1999: Part 9 Two FBI agents were eating pizza with Stayner when he suddenly admitted he murdered Joie In the Bureau's mind, this time it had the right man. He remains on A woman named Lenna learned in 1999 that her mother, her sister and her had nearly been murdered by Cary Stayner. In (the) interview, Stayner said he had fantasized about killing women for the last 30 years and described in detail how he murdered all the women, He had strangled Pelosso and Carole Sund in their rented cabin in the Cedar Lodge motel, then took Juli Sund to a lake, where he killed her early the next morning.