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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. Although most of the stains were likely to include Armstrong's blood, Stayner was observed to have a laceration on his hand during his interrogation, and therefore may have been cut and bled during the attack. Parnell and Murphy were driving towards town when Stephen was lured into their vehicle and abducted. Steven was told his new name was Dennis Parnell and was enrolled in school. He is currently in his 60s and still on death row while incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison. He loved his brother. On the way to his police interview he confessed to a detective in the car to murdering Joie Armstrong, describing the brutal killing "as if he was reading a soup label," said John Boles, another FBI agent on the case. 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. Billy Joe Strange, 39, an El Portal parolee who worked at the Cedar Lodge lounge and restaurant, where the murdered women were last seen. 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. Despite this, he never appeared to behave lewdly nor perversely in public. You could see that he wanted to play and be with kids and be normal. They no longer want you.. However, given Californias statewide moratorium on capital punishment, it doesnt appear that hell be executed anytime soon the states last execution was held in 2006. It was dark when they arrived and Timmy could remember where he lived so they went to the police station. 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. They were looking for the missing red 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix as well as the women. I wish I could have controlled myself and not done what I did. "And I did that almost every clear night from then on until Steve finally came back home. | Unofficially, Jens Sund offered a $250,000 reward for information that would lead to the return of the missing women. Soundtracks. The Bureau relocated its headquarters from Yosemite to Modesto at this point and, on February 28, twelve days after the women's disappearance, hinted that was is no longer treating the Sund incident as a missing persons case, but as murder. Parnell, along with Murphy, took Steven to a cabin in Catheys Valley, where he was brainwashed to believe his parents no longer wanted him. ", Steven Stayner and Cary Stayner in the baseball cap in the background. Among other things, the FBI Laboratory has found hairs in vacuum sweepings taken from Room 509 and possibly body fluid stains on a blanket (and) a latent palm print from the window sill. I did murder Carole Sund, Juli Sund, Silvina Pelosso and Joie Armstrong None of the women were sexually abused in any way.". Then on March 25, Juli Sunds body was discovered near Lake Pedro in Tuolumme County. Michael "Mick" Larwick, 42, of Modesto, part of a vagabond group of methamphetamine drug users and friends centered in the Modesto area. While he attended his meeting, the women were to tour the Grand Canyon. However, when they found Cary at a nudist colony nearby and brought him in for questioning, he quickly confessed to Armstrongs murder, and soon after admitted he was also responsible for the first three killings. Four men were considered the main murder suspects in the initial inquiries. During the session, an unexpected event occurred. Although the Merced police department launched a full-fledged investigation at the time of Stevens disappearance, they werent able to find any significant leads. I never recognized either one of them.". In a jailhouse interview with a television reporter, he said he did not rape any of the women. Ken Parnell went back to what he had been doing for years. After they stopped trying to teach me the fundamentals all over again, it got better. You know, hung out with him, played with him.. He said, I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. Cedar Lodge, 9966 CA-140, El Portal, CA 95318. On days off he would escape to Laguna Del Sol, a nudist colony in Sacramento County. In the Bureau's mind, this time it had the right man. 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. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. Many local residents were convinced that no one person could have created so much horror, "'The logistics of it say it had to involve more than one person, said Letty Carolyn Barry, owner of the Yosemite Rosebud Lodge, west of Cedar Lodge. 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. He had a long criminal record and had been questioned extensively by the FBI. Her body was next to a stream and head within the water that she and her friends used for drinking water. The FBI Laboratory has also found possible bodily fluid stains on a bed sheet taken from her residence. The Cedar Lodge hired him as a handyman in 1997 and gave him the use of a small apartment on the top floor. 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 death-penalty trial of Cary Stayner was moved from Mariposa County to Santa Clara County, CA. 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. Specifically, the media scrutiny seemed to affect his older brother Cary, who clashed with his brother after his return. By the end of June, the FBI had reviewed the testimonies and the evidence linked to the suspects in custody. Angelia Dale, who testified before the federal grand jury. Then all of a sudden it's gone. He then carried Juli to a vista point near Lake Don Pedro, pledged his love, and then cut her throat as the sun rose. 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. 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.. Cary Stayner Span of crimes FebruaryJuly 1999 Country United States State (s) California Date apprehended 1999 7 more rows Agents had interviewed Stayner, a handyman at the Cedar Lodge where the tourists had stayed, and later dismissed him as a suspect. Initially, the police didn't have any solid leads as to who killed them. Cary Stayner was sentenced Thursday to die for committing three murders near Yosemite National Park in 1999. where Stayner was employed as a handyman. Parnell worked at the Yosemite Lodge, located about two hours away from the Stayner home. To the dismay of the Stayner family, the case went cold. The FBI also seized clothing stained with blood from her body. He was buried Thursday in the town of Newhall, where he had worked as a Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy. The California Highway Patrol verified the car's license plate as the Sunds rented vehicle and immediately notified the FBI. One brother was subjected to just unspeakable horror for years, but by all appearances, he was a happy-go-lucky, jovial kid with a girlfriend. Steven Stayner had a new father figure, and it was Kenneth Parnell, who by day, was his father, and by night, was his rapist. 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. They lived in the farming town of Merced, California, the Gateway to Yosemite. Real Crime 1.23M subscribers Join Subscribe 6.7K 562K views 1 year ago Also known as the Yosemite Park Killer, Cary Stayner murdered four women in 1999 She was subpoenaed because she is a friend of Dykes and Larwick. When Cary Stayner was questioned by FBI agents, he immediately confessed to the four Yosemite Park murders and provided a detailed accounting of his crimes. A woman named Lenna learned in 1999 that her mother, her sister and her had nearly been murdered by Cary Stayner. WebCary Stayner was convicted of the 1999 Cedar Lodge Killings near Yosemite National Park. "Privately, some members of the Sund-Pelosso task force were saying the same things to the media. 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. One of those arrested, and later released, was Cary Stayner, who worked at the Cedar Lodge as the handyman. 5-year-old Timothy White walking home from school and they quickly snatched him. In 1999, Carole Sund, 42, her daughter Juli Sund, 15, and Juli's friend, Silvina Pelosso, 16, went missing while visiting Yosemite Park. In the end, Stayner confessed without the promise of child pornography or reward money for his parents. "He had a great personality," said Lori Duke, who dated Steven in high school but knew him as Dennis. Steven and Cary Stayner: The tale of two brothers' horror - ABC On Good Morning America in March 1980, Steven shared with host David Hartman that it felt "great" to be home. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but only served five, less time than he held Steven captive. The other Sund children believed their mother and sister Juli would be returned. Concluding the interview, he addressed the victims' families: "I am sorry their loved ones were where they were when they were. 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. Upon release, the FBI warned him not to leave El Portal. For two weeks, Steven watched Timothy suffer the separation from his family. 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 For FBI agent Jeff Rinek, it was the climax of a The trivia item below may give away important plot points. Teresa Kay Gray, 36, of Modesto. I never did tell anybody about it, but I remember wishing on a star that my little brother would come back home. But, says Delbert, puberty-aged Cary endured some emotional hardships because of that incident. Crazy Credits It was the last time the women were seen alive. But by the middle of March, their hopes faded. In his capacity, Stayner performed technical and housekeeping duties, everything from fixing electrical and mechanical breakdowns to delivering extra towels and bedding to guests. Out of respect for his family and the victim's family, we don't want to say anymore." According to court documents filed Monday, Cary Stayner told the FBI he assaulted Silvina Pelosso and Juli Sund before killing them. Quotes In December 1972, a 7-year-old Steven was kidnapped by Kenneth Parnell, a man who worked at the Yosemite Lodge at the national park near Stevens hometown of Merced, California. All of its been bad, Delbert Stayner said of his familys life. 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. By Friday, July 23rd, Stayner, in the meantime, had disappeared from the area, by the time agents came to arrest him. How can one family, contain two completely contrasting children? For four weeks, police, family, and volunteers searched the area in and near Yosemite National Park by helicopter, foot, and skis. I wouldnt think that he would think of himself as one, but he is a hero.". That same day, Stayner allowed himself to be interviewed by a reporter from KNTV. Cary was 11 years old at the time, and deeply upset about his brother's disappearance. Chief James Maddock said he himself questioned whether the Bureau could have done anything to prevent Armstrong's killing. "He was spunky. Because of the discovery of Sund's wallet in suburban Modesto, police, and FBI searched "the logical routes in and out of that spot, interviewing homeowners and business owners and others who may have seen them." 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. 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. "The only time Steve would kill anything like a fish is because we were gonna eat it. I want a movie-of-the-week made about my story. There was a movie made about Steven Stayner. He also struggled in high school where he was bullied for the abuse he had endured. 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. A relatively quiet, but friendly, a motel handyman called Cary Stayners only passions seemed to be nude sunbathing and hiking. Previously, the defense had maintained that the FBI had coerced the confession. Knives were used in the slayings and the weapon suspected in Ms. Armstrong's death was recovered.". Robyn Lively is a step sister of Blake Lively. Alternate Versions Acting on a tip from a caller who was worried about the whereabouts of his friend, Joie Ruth Armstrong, 26, park rangers found her decapitated body on the morning of July 22, 1999. "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. And in 1999, the Stayner family was back in the news but this time, for a less than positive reason. Connections The two hitchhiked to Ukiah, California. Steven was a national hero. A large search turned up nothing. The car was hidden off a spur road where locals dump old refrigerators, cars, and washing machines. It seemed as though he had a compulsion with trying to get close to women or be sexual with them, but he was unable to develop any sort of interpersonal relationships with any women. He remains on Check-out had apparently been done in advance and the keys were left on the room desk. Stayner said to investigators I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. 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. He had talked his way into the room under the guise of fixing a leak, and then sexually assaulted both girls and brutally murdered Carole Lund and Silvina Pelosso in the room. Soon after, he confessed to murdering Carole Sund, Juli Sund, and Silvina Pelosso once in custody. Cary always wore a hat because he was compulsively pulling his hair out. 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. 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. Concluding the interview, he addressed the victims' families: "I am sorry their loved ones were where they were when they were. Tragically, Steven Stayner was killed in a 1989 motorcycle accident at the age of 24. ", Steven Stayner with his kidnapper Kenneth Parnell. But he was surprised that did not find his wife at the airport and assumed she had flown ahead, The next day, he tried to contact them again and failed and he called the police. The hire car company confirmed that Carole had never returned the rented Pontiac, nor told them that they were extending their agreement. And he wanted the same treatment. After several days, the bodies were identified as Carole Sund and Silvina Pelosso through dental records. Whites stepfather, Roger Gitlin, said White died April 1, 2010, of an apparent pulmonary embolism. Then he took action. Special agent Maddock said, "During the last 24 hours, we have developed specific information linking Stayner (also) to the Sund-Pelosso murders.". The brothers, four years apart in age, shared a room, but didnt get along, Steven didn't understand the rules that he was now expected to live by. 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. William Mapother is a cousin of, The unsub bears some similarities with Cary Stayner, older brother of infamous kidnapping victim Steven Stayner (. Parnell was convicted on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges. Woman recalls moment family learned they were target of 1999 He had no criminal record and his only encounter with the law was for marijuana use in 1997. Maria Ledbetter, 24, of Modesto, an admitted methamphetamine addict and former girlfriend of Dykes, about whom she was questioned extensively. The prosecution team was headed by George Williamson and the defense team was headed by Marcia Morrissey. When she did not appear as planned, her would-be host had phoned the park. He did feel, however, that the FBI spared nothing to investigate the earlier killings. This time, agents detained him and forced him to answer more questions. Jeffrey Wayne Keeney, 32, of Modesto. Stevens death, along with the death of his uncle soon afterward, reportedly had a serious impact on Cary Stayners mental health and well-being. 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. 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. It was badly decomposed and her throat had been cut. Larry Duane Utley, 41 an associate of Dykes and Larwick, first picked up during a March parole sweep. The new three-part Hulu docuseries Captive Audience explores the tragic story of the Stayner family specifically the fraught lives of their two sons, Steven Stayner and Cary Stayner. 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. You know what I mean? 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. 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. | Eugene "Rufus" Dykes, 32, also of Modesto and Larwick's half-brother was arrested in March. Cary was off anybody and everybody who met him will tell 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. At that time, the Bureau stated that, while no one had yet been charged, it felt that those responsible for killing the three women at Yosemite were already behind bars. | After Steven said his mother would be interested in donating, Murphy offered to take the boy home. He had given the FBI details "only the killer would know in such specificity that agents were able to recover evidence confirming his confession. Vacuum sweepings were taken from inside Joies house, where Stayner claims to have bound her with duct tape, yielded hair evidence. 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. After a couple of weeks, he upped the sum to $300,000. Against the odds, he flourished there. He walked naked and and smoked pot, he could find the peace that he so desperately needed. She had probably been murdered on the evening of Wednesday, July 21. By the end of that evening, the FBI felt it had gathered enough evidence to arrest Cary Stayner for murder, Sunday morning, they rushed him to Fresno to officially lodge a complaint, then to Sacramento on Monday where he was put before the courts. Im so proud of the way Carole and Juli lived, and Im so ashamed of Stayner.. Stayner's father, Delbert, admitted that he thinks son Cary may have suffered a trauma at age 11, when younger brother Steven, then seven, was abducted in 1972, disappearing for eight years. Something was clearly very, very wrong. At that time, Steven had been forced to endure sexual abuse by his kidnapper, whom he finally turned in to the police. 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. 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. The initial suspicion was that they may have wandered off the main hiking paths and got lost in the park. Decades later, Stevens older brother, Cary Stayner, made headlines when he was arrested and convicted of the serial slayings of four females. They finally caught up with him at the Laguna Del Sol nudist colony, which he frequently visited. Agents arrived at the scene early on the 19th and upon opening the trunk, investigators found two charred bodies. 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. Her mother had been dating him and he had decided to kill them on Valentines Day. Connecticut Serial Killer William Devin Howell Describes The Shockin It was discovered beyond a campground adjacent to her living quarters in the Foresta community, a group of 30 cabins for use by park workers. She also happens to have a front row seat to two true crime narratives in her own family. They had been hosting Silvina, who was a foreign exchange student from Argentina and a friend of Juli's, She was spending three months with the family. Agents descended on the colony and returned him to El Portal on Saturday where he was put through a more lengthy interrogation. The dramatic story was told in the 1989 television movie, I Know My First Name Is Steven.. 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 Campbell, when first arrested on mail fraud charges, had in her possession Carole Sund's checking account and automated teller machine numbers. 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 Steven Stayners fame was short-lived. Jens couldn't accompany them on this trip because he needed to prepare for an upcoming business trip. Latent fingerprints were also been lifted from the interior of Joie Armstrong's truck, which Stayner admits to touching during his encounter with her. He was a good student, a For years, Parnell traveled around California with Steven. You have the other brother who's left at home. 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. When Steven didnt return from school that afternoon, his parents sounded the alarm. In February 1980, Parnell decided to kidnap a new victim. . Steven later said in an interview, I returned almost a grown man, and yet my parents saw me at first as their seven-year-old. He received the death penalty for killing four women, three of whom had been staying at the Cedar Lodge, where Stayner was employed as a handyman. Cary Stayner, now 57, was convicted of the murders of Armstrong, the Sunds and Pelosso, and sentenced to death for all except Armstrong's. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. I guess seven years changed him, too. 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. He was arrested in May on an unrelated crime charge but was soon released. 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. "I remember going out one night after Steve disappeared and wishing on a star that my brother would come back home," Cary reportedly told Mike Echols, author of the book I Know My First Name Is Steven. 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. 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. The interview was conducted off camera and reported Monday on the late news. At the time of the murders, Cary was working as a mechanic at the Cedar Lodge, which is where he met his first three victims Carole Sund, her daughter Juli Sund, and her friend Silvina Pelosso.
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