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. The revelation came in a six Special agent Maddock said, "During the last 24 hours, we have developed specific information linking Stayner (also) to the Sund-Pelosso murders.". Whites stepfather, Roger Gitlin, said White died April 1, 2010, of an apparent pulmonary embolism. Woman recalls moment family learned they were target of 1999 The judge said there was overwhelming evidence against Stayner and that the devastating emotional toll justified execution. Cary looked out for Steven, according to Cary Stayner's former classmate Jack Bungart. Soon after, he confessed to murdering Carole Sund, Juli Sund, and Silvina Pelosso once in custody. Steven was told his new name was Dennis Parnell and was enrolled in school. He was a good student, a 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. 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. You know what I mean? He was arrested on March 5 when he allegedly reported to his parole officer with liquor on his breath. The interview was conducted off camera and reported Monday on the late news. In order to prevent Steven from escaping, Parnell was constantly moving the two of them from town to town in California. I did murder Carole Sund, Juli Sund, Silvina Pelosso and Joie Armstrong None of the women were sexually abused in any way.". He was also angry about how his truck had been searched. After the fourth murder, the FBI went looking for Cary Stayner to interview him, but initially as a witness. She also happens to have a front row seat to two true crime narratives in her own family. Out of respect for his family and the victim's family, we don't want to say anymore." "Thats when I told him, 'You need to go to a doctor, Cary.'" Steven Stayner had a new father figure, and it was Kenneth Parnell, who by day, was his father, and by night, was his rapist. He was known to take refuge in nearby Yosemite, where hed drive up and get lost in nature. Four hikers visiting Yosemite National Park had been brutally murdered, and Cary Stayner had confessed to the crimes. By mid-April, those who had been arrested were ordered to testify in front of a grand jury in Fresno, California. Connecticut Serial Killer William Devin Howell Describes The Shockin 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. It was then that Steven's nightmare began as Murphy brought him to Kenneth Parnell, a known pedophile. You could see that he wanted to play and be with kids and be normal. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. For FBI agent Jeff Rinek, it was the climax of a "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. Cary Stayner was sentenced Thursday to die for committing three murders near Yosemite National Park in 1999. I want a movie-of-the-week made about my story. There was a movie made about Steven Stayner. 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. For four weeks, police, family, and volunteers searched the area in and near Yosemite National Park by helicopter, foot, and skis. All of its been bad, Delbert Stayner said of his familys life. Unofficially, Jens Sund offered a $250,000 reward for information that would lead to the return of the missing women. "Privately, some members of the Sund-Pelosso task force were saying the same things to the media. Agents arrived at the scene early on the 19th and upon opening the trunk, investigators found two charred bodies. In his capacity, Stayner performed technical and housekeeping duties, everything from fixing electrical and mechanical breakdowns to delivering extra towels and bedding to guests. 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. Her mother had been dating him and he had decided to kill them on Valentines Day. 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. Decades later, Stevens older brother, Cary Stayner, made headlines when he was arrested and convicted of the serial slayings of four females. Despite this, he never appeared to behave lewdly nor perversely in public. Kenneth"Soldier" Stewart, 24, a former cellmate of Dykes who was charged with attempted murder. He wanted the world to take note.. 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. I was the oldest and all that. 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. WebThe story of Steven and Cary Stayner will leave you in absolute disbelief. After several days, the bodies were identified as Carole Sund and Silvina Pelosso through dental records. 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. 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. . The car was hidden off a spur road where locals dump old refrigerators, cars, and washing machines. 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. 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. Items included in the Television News search service. Quotes Soundtracks. 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. Stevens death, along with the death of his uncle soon afterward, reportedly had a serious impact on Cary Stayners mental health and well-being. After the fourth murder, the FBI went looking for Cary Stayner to interview him, but initially as a witness. 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. I went to ask if Cary wanted to talk, reporter Ted Rowlands said. To the dismay of the Stayner family, the case went cold. Cory gets emotional as she describes how he fell through the cracks of familial or institutional care. He loved his brother. Parnell and Murphy were driving towards town when Stephen was lured into their vehicle and abducted. Local police and Yosemite Park Rangers began to search the area where the missing three were last seen. 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 Agents descended on the colony and returned him to El Portal on Saturday where he was put through a more lengthy interrogation. Knives were used in the slayings and the weapon suspected in Ms. Armstrong's death was recovered.". On Good Morning America in March 1980, Steven shared with host David Hartman that it felt "great" to be home. Some who knew Cary were shocked at his arrest. Cary Stayner, also known as The Yosemite Killer, was convicted nearly 20 years ago in the murders of four people in 1999 while he was working as a hotel In 1999, Carole Sund, 42, her daughter Juli Sund, 15, and Juli's friend, Silvina Pelosso, 16, went missing while visiting Yosemite Park. Steven Stayner was just seven-years-old when he was abducted a few blocks from his home in Merced, Goofs He did feel, however, that the FBI spared nothing to investigate the earlier killings. The trivia item below may give away important plot points. 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 initial suspicion was that they may have wandered off the main hiking paths and got lost in the park. Stayner, clad in a red jail jumpsuit, bowed his head but showed no emotion as Judge Hastings sentenced him to death three times, once for each murder, after returning to the courtroom. Connections 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. In 2002, Cary Stayner was convicted of first-degree murder on four counts and sentenced to death. Initially, the police didn't have any solid leads as to who killed them. In a voice that seemed relieved to be unburdened from its depth a long-kept secret, Stayner blurted, "I am guilty. Jeffrey Wayne Keeney, 32, of Modesto. 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. 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. 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. Michael "Mick" Larwick, 42, of Modesto, part of a vagabond group of methamphetamine drug users and friends centered in the Modesto area. 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. Larry Duane Utley, 41 an associate of Dykes and Larwick, first picked up during a March parole sweep. Or certainly, nothing noticed by his colleagues at the motel. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. The police reckoned that the killer of the three women was someone familiar with the county given the location of the Pontiac. Although the Merced police department launched a full-fledged investigation at the time of Stevens disappearance, they werent able to find any significant leads. 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. Against the odds, he flourished there. 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 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.. "He was spunky. Carole and her husband, Jens, 43, owned a realtors business in the Stockton area. 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. Cedar Lodge, 9966 CA-140, El Portal, CA 95318. Chief James Maddock said he himself questioned whether the Bureau could have done anything to prevent Armstrong's killing. The dramatic story was told in the 1989 television movie, I Know My First Name Is Steven.. After they stopped trying to teach me the fundamentals all over again, it got better. However, there were warning signs during his younger years. He has been questioned about any involvement. After Steven said his mother would be interested in donating, Murphy offered to take the boy home. On Monday, July 22, the court heard Stayners taped confession, which he had given to FBI agents. For two weeks, Steven watched Timothy suffer the separation from his family. He was convicted of four brutal murders in 2002. | Maria Ledbetter, 24, of Modesto, an admitted methamphetamine addict and former girlfriend of Dykes, about whom she was questioned extensively. The 1999 murders of four women near Yosemite National Park were already a big story before Cary Stayner confessed in an FBI interview. "He had a great personality," said Lori Duke, who dated Steven in high school but knew him as Dennis. Agents had interviewed Stayner, a handyman at the Cedar Lodge where the tourists had stayed, and later dismissed him as a suspect. 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. She had probably been murdered on the evening of Wednesday, July 21. They then headed out for Cedar Lodge in El Portal on February 14, which is located on Yosemite's western slope. | That evening, the group grabbed some videos from the lodge's service desk to watch in their room. Angelia Dale, who testified before the federal grand jury. They finally caught up with him at the Laguna Del Sol nudist colony, which he frequently visited. WebCary Stayner was convicted of the 1999 Cedar Lodge Killings near Yosemite National Park. Then there was another murder. In the Bureau's mind, this time it had the right man. Part of TV News Archive. He walked naked and and smoked pot, he could find the peace that he so desperately needed. In 1972, Stayners 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 is currently in his 60s and still on death row while incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison. 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. He usually ate lunch and dinner at the motel restaurant. "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. I wish I could have controlled myself and not done what I did. Cary Stayner, now 57, was convicted of the murders of Armstrong, the Sunds and Pelosso, and sentenced to death for all except Armstrong's. During the session, an unexpected event occurred. On February 15, the ladies hiked into Yosemite National Park on one of the many trails. But, as the Hulu doc frames it, the media attention that Steven got after escaping his abductor and also saving Timothy White had a dark side both for Steven and for the rest of his family. He remains on In the end, Stayner confessed without the promise of child pornography or reward money for his parents. 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. But, says Delbert, puberty-aged Cary endured some emotional hardships because of that incident. 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. The issue of whether his confession was coerced seemed to be resolved when on July 24, the court heard the recorded demands that Stayner made to the FBI agents that he wanted to be satisfied before he would give them his confession. But, to no avail. And in 1999, the Stayner family was back in the news but this time, for a less than positive reason. Shortly after Stevens death, an uncle with whom Cary Stayner was very close was shot and killed in a home they shared together. 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. When Steven didnt return from school that afternoon, his parents sounded the alarm. I guess I was jealous. 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. The Stayner family was made up of two brothers, three sisters, and parents Kay and Delbert. Stayner, 38, has been charged with murder in the July 21 death of naturalist Joie Armstrong. A relatively quiet, but friendly, a motel handyman called Cary Stayners only passions seemed to be nude sunbathing and hiking. After graduation from Merced (California) High School, Stayner worked as a window installer at a glass company. 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.". 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. Specifically, the media scrutiny seemed to affect his older brother Cary, who clashed with his brother after his return. He said, I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. 5-year-old Timothy White walking home from school and they quickly snatched him. 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. Arrested on an unrelated drug charge, he has been questioned about the Yosemite case. 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. Parnell was convicted on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges. 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 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. Jens couldn't accompany them on this trip because he needed to prepare for an upcoming business trip. He also struggled in high school where he was bullied for the abuse he had endured. ", FBI sources claimed that he had already confessed his guilt during the Saturday evening interrogation. The FBI also seized clothing stained with blood from her body. He had given the FBI details "only the killer would know in such specificity that agents were able to recover evidence confirming his confession. On days off he would escape to Laguna Del Sol, a nudist colony in Sacramento County. 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. At that time, Steven had been forced to endure sexual abuse by his kidnapper, whom he finally turned in to the police. After a couple of weeks, he upped the sum to $300,000. Tragically, Steven Stayner was killed in a 1989 motorcycle accident at the age of 24. By Friday, July 23rd, Stayner, in the meantime, had disappeared from the area, by the time agents came to arrest him. Ashley Stayner is a self-professed true crime fan. Darrell Gray Stephens, 55, Strange's roommate. Alternate Versions "'Deep in my heart I know something my mind does not want to learn,' said Gina,13. Check-out had apparently been done in advance and the keys were left on the room desk. But seven years later in February 1980, Steven miraculously reappeared. The California Highway Patrol verified the car's license plate as the Sunds rented vehicle and immediately notified the FBI. 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. 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. "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. When she did not appear as planned, her would-be host had phoned the park. 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. 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 Cary always wore a hat because he was compulsively pulling his hair out. Ken Parnell went back to what he had been doing for years. "The only time Steve would kill anything like a fish is because we were gonna eat it. Then he took action. 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. It was the last time the women were seen alive. The Cedar Lodge hired him as a handyman in 1997 and gave him the use of a small apartment on the top floor. "I'm confident we've done everything that could be reasonably done.".