I went to ask if Cary wanted to talk, reporter Ted Rowlands said. On days off he would escape to Laguna Del Sol, a nudist colony in Sacramento County. He wanted the world to take note.. 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 told Hartman that his parents "didnt change that much," but his brother and sisters, "they changed a lot. 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. 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. He was buried Thursday in the town of Newhall, where he had worked as a Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy. "Thats when I told him, 'You need to go to a doctor, Cary.'" ", Steven Stayner and Cary Stayner in the baseball cap in the background. 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 was sentenced Thursday to die for committing three murders near Yosemite National Park in 1999. By this point, Cary Stayner had a couple of nervous breakdowns. 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. Parnell worked at the Yosemite Lodge, located about two hours away from the Stayner home. Out of respect for his family and the victim's family, we don't want to say anymore." Darrell Gray Stephens, 55, Strange's roommate. Cory gets emotional as she describes how he fell through the cracks of familial or institutional care. After first flying to San Francisco, where Carole rented a red 1999 Pontiac Gran Prix, they stopped in Stockton, where Juli took part in a cheerleading contest at the University of the Pacific. "And I did that almost every clear night from then on until Steve finally came back home. Goofs Woman recalls moment family learned they were target of 1999 After they stopped trying to teach me the fundamentals all over again, it got better. At that time, Steven had been forced to endure sexual abuse by his kidnapper, whom he finally turned in to the police. In mid-July of 2002, the trial began in Judge Thomas C. Hastings courtroom. He did feel, however, that the FBI spared nothing to investigate the earlier killings. He usually ate lunch and dinner at the motel restaurant. 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. FBI agent Nick Rossi said on February 26, "At this point, we have not yet uncovered evidence to allow us to determine conclusively whether this was a tragic accident or a criminal act. Two weeks later, FBI agent James Maddock, now placed in charge of the investigation, told the press, "We feel almost certain that the women were victims of a violent crime.". Despite this, he never appeared to behave lewdly nor perversely in public. 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 She had probably been murdered on the evening of Wednesday, July 21. 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. He had a long criminal record and had been questioned extensively by the FBI. He denied any role in the Yosemite slayings. 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. Cary looked out for Steven, according to Cary Stayner's former classmate Jack Bungart. Maria Ledbetter, 24, of Modesto, an admitted methamphetamine addict and former girlfriend of Dykes, about whom she was questioned extensively. "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. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Stevens death, along with the death of his uncle soon afterward, reportedly had a serious impact on Cary Stayners mental health and well-being. WebThe story of Steven and Cary Stayner will leave you in absolute disbelief. 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. Chief James Maddock said he himself questioned whether the Bureau could have done anything to prevent Armstrong's killing. 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 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. In February 1980, Parnell decided to kidnap a new victim. Cary was off anybody and everybody who met him will tell WebCary Stayner was convicted of the 1999 Cedar Lodge Killings near Yosemite National Park. Then Carole's wallet turned up in Modesto, which included money and credit cards. 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. Something was clearly very, very wrong. Had no interest in girls, had no interest in people, he was just a creepy loner. He befriended a co-worker named Ervin Murphy to assist him in the abduction. Then he took action. The California Highway Patrol verified the car's license plate as the Sunds rented vehicle and immediately notified the FBI. You could see that he wanted to play and be with kids and be normal. 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. Larry Duane Utley, 41 an associate of Dykes and Larwick, first picked up during a March parole sweep. On Monday, July 22, the court heard Stayners taped confession, which he had given to FBI agents. They no longer want you.. Steven was told his new name was Dennis Parnell and was enrolled in school. Items included in the Television News search service. By the end of June, the FBI had reviewed the testimonies and the evidence linked to the suspects in custody. For four weeks, police, family, and volunteers searched the area in and near Yosemite National Park by helicopter, foot, and skis. "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. The 1999 murders of four women near Yosemite National Park were already a big story before Cary Stayner confessed in an FBI interview. WebCary Stayner, the handyman at their hotel, confessed after being arrested for beheading another victim, female nature guide Joie Armstrong. Its manager had seen a story on television, recognized Stayner's photo as one of his guests, and notified the FBI. Eugene "Rufus" Dykes, 32, also of Modesto and Larwick's half-brother was arrested in March. | Michael "Mick" Larwick, 42, of Modesto, part of a vagabond group of methamphetamine drug users and friends centered in the Modesto area. From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. In a jailhouse interview with a television reporter, he said he did not rape any of the women. 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. On Good Morning America in March 1980, Steven shared with host David Hartman that it felt "great" to be home. 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." The Stayner family was made up of two brothers, three sisters, and parents Kay and Delbert. 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. After the fourth murder, the FBI went looking for Cary Stayner to interview him, but initially as a witness. "He stated that he felt like jumping in a truck, driving it through the shop and killing the boss and killing everybody in the office, and then torching the place," friend Mark Marchese said in 1999. "I've struggled with that issue for the last 24 hours and continue to do so," he confessed. 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. Investigators searched his truck and confiscated his backpack for examination. On February 15, the ladies hiked into Yosemite National Park on one of the many trails. And he wanted the same treatment. "He was spunky. While Steven was a freshman at Mendocino High School, some 300 miles to the south, his older brother Cary was an upperclassman at Merced High School. In 2002, Cary Stayner was convicted of first-degree murder on four counts and sentenced to death. The initial suspicion was that they may have wandered off the main hiking paths and got lost in the park. However, there were warning signs during his younger years. | Parnell was convicted on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges. They were looking for the missing red 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix as well as the women. I want a movie-of-the-week made about my story. There was a movie made about Steven Stayner. 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. In 1972, Stayners Timothy White, the kidnap victim, was only 35 when he died. 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.'". After a couple of weeks, he upped the sum to $300,000. 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.. By Friday, July 23rd, Stayner, in the meantime, had disappeared from the area, by the time agents came to arrest him. Arrested on an unrelated drug charge, he has been questioned about the Yosemite case. Check-out had apparently been done in advance and the keys were left on the room desk. The FBI Laboratory has also found possible bodily fluid stains on a bed sheet taken from her residence. Tragically, Steven Stayner was killed in a 1989 motorcycle accident at the age of 24. While he attended his meeting, the women were to tour the Grand Canyon. After several days, the bodies were identified as Carole Sund and Silvina Pelosso through dental records. where Stayner was employed as a handyman. Soon after, he confessed to murdering Carole Sund, Juli Sund, and Silvina Pelosso once in custody. Teresa Kay Gray, 36, of Modesto. Steven Stayners fame was short-lived. Stayner said to investigators I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. Jens couldn't accompany them on this trip because he needed to prepare for an upcoming business trip. More than a thousand leads, they confessed, produced nothing. Very seldom did he get into trouble. 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. 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 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. Steven and Cary Stayner: The tale of two brothers' horror - ABC 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. To the dismay of the Stayner family, the case went cold. 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. Connections Emotionally, Cary Stayner had a tough time during his childhood. The Cedar Lodge hired him as a handyman in 1997 and gave him the use of a small apartment on the top floor. Rachel Lou Campbell, 36, of Modesto, was charged in April with stealing checks and credit cards, and converting them into cash and merchandise worth $365,000. Im so proud of the way Carole and Juli lived, and Im so ashamed of Stayner.. "The only time Steve would kill anything like a fish is because we were gonna eat it. Steven was a national hero. She was subpoenaed because she is a friend of Dykes and Larwick. 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 Concluding the interview, he addressed the victims' families: "I am sorry their loved ones were where they were when they were. Ken Parnell went back to what he had been doing for years. Knives were used in the slayings and the weapon suspected in Ms. Armstrong's death was recovered.". 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. "He had a great personality," said Lori Duke, who dated Steven in high school but knew him as Dennis. It was badly decomposed and her throat had been cut. Cary Stayner, the serial killer convicted in the grisly murders of four women near Yosemite National Park, is born on August 13, 1961. Carole and her husband, Jens, 43, owned a realtors business in the Stockton area. "'Deep in my heart I know something my mind does not want to learn,' said Gina,13. ", Steven Stayner with his kidnapper Kenneth Parnell. It was then that Steven's nightmare began as Murphy brought him to Kenneth Parnell, a known pedophile. He was a good student, a He grew up, got married and had two kids. He also exhibited some behaviors that made others uncomfortable, including, as he later admitted, exposing himself to his sister's friend. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but only served five, less time than he held Steven captive. The judge said there was overwhelming evidence against Stayner and that the devastating emotional toll justified execution. 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. Soundtracks. Curtis Cousin Eddie Smith Claims Alex Murdaugh Made Him A Fall Guy, Morgan Doughty Filed A Lawsuit Against The Murdaugh Family, Buster Murdaugh Testified For The Defense At His Fathers Double Murder Trial, Randy Roth From 'A Rose For Her Grave' Is Still In Prison, Get Even More From Bustle Sign Up For The Newsletter. After the fourth murder, the FBI went looking for Cary Stayner to interview him, but initially as a witness. On February 12, 1999, Carole Sund, 42, her daughter Juli 15, and Silvina Pelosso 16, left their home in Eureka, California to go on vacation in the area near Yosemite National Park in the same state in the United States. In the Bureau's mind, this time it had the right man. In a voice that seemed relieved to be unburdened from its depth a long-kept secret, Stayner blurted, "I am guilty. Agents had interviewed Stayner, a handyman at the Cedar Lodge where the tourists had stayed, and later dismissed him as a suspect. He loved his brother. But by the middle of March, their hopes faded. In the end, Stayner confessed without the promise of child pornography or reward money for his parents. There, they got a room with a plan to stay for a few days. The trivia item below may give away important plot points. "I'm confident we've done everything that could be reasonably done.". 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. She also happens to have a front row seat to two true crime narratives in her own family. 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. Four hikers visiting Yosemite National Park had been brutally murdered, and Cary Stayner had confessed to the crimes. Jeffrey Wayne Keeney, 32, of Modesto. 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 finally caught up with him at the Laguna Del Sol nudist colony, which he frequently visited. Then all of a sudden it's gone. It was dark when they arrived and Timmy could remember where he lived so they went to the police station. Agents arrived at the scene early on the 19th and upon opening the trunk, investigators found two charred bodies. When she did not appear as planned, her would-be host had phoned the park. A relatively quiet, but friendly, a motel handyman called Cary Stayners only passions seemed to be nude sunbathing and hiking. Specifically, the media scrutiny seemed to affect his older brother Cary, who clashed with his brother after his return. Cary Stayner went from being the brother of child abductee Steven Stayer to a full-blown serial killer. 5-year-old Timothy White walking home from school and they quickly snatched him. He died in jail in 2008 at the age of 76. Against the odds, he flourished there. 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. He was arrested on March 5 when he allegedly reported to his parole officer with liquor on his breath. 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 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. 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. Larwick, who grew up in Tuolumme County near where the bodies of Carole Sund and Silvina Pelosso were found, was jailed on March 16 after he allegedly shot a Modesto police office. Previously, the defense had maintained that the FBI had coerced the confession. He was convicted of four brutal murders in 2002. I wish I could have controlled myself and not done what I did. Upon release, the FBI warned him not to leave El Portal. 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. 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. So while Parnell was at work, Steven ran away with Timothy, and the two hitchhiked to a police station in Ukiah, California. For FBI agent Jeff Rinek, it was the climax of a Angelia Dale, who testified before the federal grand jury. All of its been bad, Delbert Stayner said of his familys life. He also struggled in high school where he was bullied for the abuse he had endured. Her mother had been dating him and he had decided to kill them on Valentines Day. In a 2003 jailhouse interview with The Chronicle, Parnell admitted that he had tried to buy the boy to experience the "love and respect" that a son has for a father. ", The FBI was reluctant to finger Stayner because, they, and many others, did not believe that Stayner acted by himself, given the brazen killing of the three women in the Cedar Lodge Motel and the disposal of the bodies. 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. Those sources say it is difficult for some investigators to believe Stayner could have gotten the jump on all three women without any help, let alone dispose of their bodies.". 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. 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 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. His attempt was foiled when other people were at the house at the time he was planning to commit the crimes. And in 1999, the Stayner family was back in the news but this time, for a less than positive reason. "Privately, some members of the Sund-Pelosso task force were saying the same things to the media. 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. See the latest list of Exclusive members-only articles on StrangeOutdoors.com, See more StrangeOutdoors True Crime Stories, The horrific rape and murder of Sophie Louise Hook whilst camping in her Uncle's garden, The miracle rescue of Alan Lee Phillips at Colorados Guanella Pass - the man who turned out to be a serial killer, The chilling story of Thomas Lee Dillon - the Ohio Outdoorsmen killer, https://casefilepodcast.com/case-161-the-yosemite-sightseer-murders-part-1/, https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/stayner-cary.htm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cary_Stayner, https://abcnews.go.com/US/steven-cary-stayner-tale-brothers-horror-heroism/story?id=60529944, https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/me-timothy-white10-2010apr10-story.html, https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/a26040174/cary-stayner-steven-yosemite-murders/, https://abcnews.go.com/US/video/july-25-1999-cary-stayner-arrested-murder-yosemite-60263995, https://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-recalls-moment-family-learned-target-1999-yosemite/story?id=60364987, https://www.theunion.com/news/local-news/stayner-sentenced-to-death/, Tagged: The Yosemite National Park Sightseer Murders, Carole Sund yosemite murders, Juli Sund yosemite murders, Silvina Pelosso yosemite murders, Cary Stayner yosemite murders, Yosemite park murders, Joie Ruth Armstrong, Sign up now for a one-time fee for access to over 55 exclusive member articles, The Yosemite National Park Sightseer Murders and the two faces of evil, Exclusive members-only articles on StrangeOutdoors.com, The Yosemite National Park Sightseer Murders, The miraculous escape of the Brazilian and German backpackers at Salt Creek in South Australia, Robert Hansen Butcher Baker - the Alaska Serial killer who hunted his victims in the wilderness, The shocking unsolved Keddie Cabin murders, The disturbing death of Fiona Torbet in the Scottish highlands, The unsolved Williams and Winans camping murders in Shenandoah National Park, The real Wolf Creek - The Backpacker Murders in the Australian Outback, The disturbing story of David Shearing and the Wells Gray Park camping murders, The mysterious death of Carol Laughlin in Yosemite National Park, The frightening case of the Trailside Killer David Carpenter, The mysterious Koh Tao - Death Island in Paradise, The disturbing disappearance of the Beaumont children on Glenelg Beach, The Kamloops Triangle - The British Columbia murders and disappearances, The Delphi hiking murders - Abigail Williams and Liberty German, The Peter Falconio disappearance in the Australian Outback, The unsolved murder of Scott Lilly on the Appalachian trail, The disturbing case of James Jordan - The Appalachian Trail Murderer. Stayners father, Delbert Stayner, said his son was deprived of a fair trial by a kangaroo court and a judge who ignored defense arguments.
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