Stayner, 38, has been charged with murder in the July 21 death of naturalist Joie Armstrong. 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. The Untold Truth Of Serial Killer Cary Stayner - Grunge He was convicted of four brutal murders in 2002. During the first crash, the truck jackknifed before hitting the car. "And I did that almost every clear night from then on until Steve finally came back home. Convicted in 1978 for rape and robbery, he was jailed on March 14 for failing to register as a sex offender. Vacuum sweepings were taken from inside Joies house, where Stayner claims to have bound her with duct tape, yielded hair evidence. Then all of a sudden it's gone. 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. 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. The trivia item below may give away important plot points. The 1999 murders of four women near Yosemite National Park were already a big story before Cary Stayner confessed in an FBI interview. 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. Teresa Kay Gray, 36, of Modesto. A Shade Of His Brother - TIME For two weeks, Steven watched Timothy suffer the separation from his family. 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 For four weeks, police, family, and volunteers searched the area in and near Yosemite National Park by helicopter, foot, and skis. When she did not appear as planned, her would-be host had phoned the park. I want a movie-of-the-week made about my story. There was a movie made about Steven Stayner. 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. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. Campbell, when first arrested on mail fraud charges, had in her possession Carole Sund's checking account and automated teller machine numbers. The Stayner family was made up of two brothers, three sisters, and parents Kay and Delbert. By Friday, July 23rd, Stayner, in the meantime, had disappeared from the area, by the time agents came to arrest him. 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. Crazy Credits 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. Arrested on an unrelated drug charge, he has been questioned about the Yosemite case. 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. Four hikers visiting Yosemite National Park had been brutally murdered, and Cary Stayner had confessed to the crimes. The car was hidden off a spur road where locals dump old refrigerators, cars, and washing machines. Check-out had apparently been done in advance and the keys were left on the room desk. "The only time Steve would kill anything like a fish is because we were gonna eat it. He also struggled in high school where he was bullied for the abuse he had endured. He remains on FBI Accused Of Botching Yosemite Case / Agency In May 2002, Stayner pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1999 murder of Pelosso and the Sunds. Chief James Maddock said he himself questioned whether the Bureau could have done anything to prevent Armstrong's killing. In mid-July of 2002, the trial began in Judge Thomas C. Hastings courtroom. They were looking for the missing red 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix as well as the women. I did murder Carole Sund, Juli Sund, Silvina Pelosso and Joie Armstrong None of the women were sexually abused in any way.". Stayner Parnell worked at the Yosemite Lodge, located about two hours away from the Stayner home. Ashley Stayner is a self-professed true crime fan. Then there was another murder. Cary was off anybody and everybody who met him will tell 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. 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. Cary Stayner Today: Where Is He Now in 2021? | Heavy.com She had probably been murdered on the evening of Wednesday, July 21. Concluding the interview, he addressed the victims' families: "I am sorry their loved ones were where they were when they were. WebCary Stayner, the handyman at their hotel, confessed after being arrested for beheading another victim, female nature guide Joie Armstrong. I wish I could have controlled myself and not done what I did. In 1999, Carole Sund, 42, her daughter Juli Sund, 15, and Juli's friend, Silvina Pelosso, 16, went missing while visiting Yosemite Park. 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. Then he took action. 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. When Steven didnt return from school that afternoon, his parents sounded the alarm. ", Steven Stayner with his kidnapper Kenneth Parnell. So while Parnell was at work, Steven ran away with Timothy, and the two hitchhiked to a police station in Ukiah, California. Some who knew Cary were shocked at his arrest. The FBI pushed for Strange's arrest, but he denied any part in the triple murders. You have the other brother who's left at home. 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 Cary was 11 years old at the time, and deeply upset about his brother's disappearance. 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. 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. "Privately, some members of the Sund-Pelosso task force were saying the same things to the media. | 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. He is currently in his 60s and still on death row while incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison. Where Is Cary Stayner from Hulu's Captive Audience Now? Woman recalls moment family learned they were target of 1999 Stayner said to investigators I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. In 2002, Cary Stayner was convicted of first-degree murder on four counts and sentenced to death. One of those arrested, and later released, was Cary Stayner, who worked at the Cedar Lodge as the handyman. Cary Stayner, the serial killer convicted in the grisly murders of four women near Yosemite National Park, is born on August 13, 1961. Four men were considered the main murder suspects in the initial inquiries. Steven and Cary Stayner: The tale of two brothers' horror - ABC In order to prevent Steven from escaping, Parnell was constantly moving the two of them from town to town in California. After a couple of weeks, he upped the sum to $300,000. And in 1999, the Stayner family was back in the news but this time, for a less than positive reason. Larry Duane Utley, 41 an associate of Dykes and Larwick, first picked up during a March parole sweep. 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. Heroism, tragedy and cold-blooded murder: The Stayner brothers Decades later, Stevens older brother, Cary Stayner, made headlines when he was arrested and convicted of the serial slayings of four females. 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. In a jailhouse interview with a television reporter, he said he did not rape any of the women. Yosemite killer Cary Stayner born "I've struggled with that issue for the last 24 hours and continue to do so," he confessed. Still, the Bureau intensified its search, recruiting the use of more high-tech equipment and air support. Ken Parnell went back to what he had been doing for years. Latent fingerprints were also been lifted from the interior of Joie Armstrong's truck, which Stayner admits to touching during his encounter with her. That evening, the group grabbed some videos from the lodge's service desk to watch in their room. Her body was next to a stream and head within the water that she and her friends used for drinking water. Then Carole's wallet turned up in Modesto, which included money and credit cards. 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 then carried Juli to a vista point near Lake Don Pedro, pledged his love, and then cut her throat as the sun rose. Stayner Its manager had seen a story on television, recognized Stayner's photo as one of his guests, and notified the FBI. Concluding the interview, he addressed the victims' families: "I am sorry their loved ones were where they were when they were. I guess I was jealous. I guess seven years changed him, too. William Mapother is a cousin of, The unsub bears some similarities with Cary Stayner, older brother of infamous kidnapping victim Steven Stayner (. Cory gets emotional as she describes how he fell through the cracks of familial or institutional care. On days off he would escape to Laguna Del Sol, a nudist colony in Sacramento County. Steven Stayner had a new father figure, and it was Kenneth Parnell, who by day, was his father, and by night, was his rapist. 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. 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. Carole and her husband, Jens, 43, owned a realtors business in the Stockton area. After Steven said his mother would be interested in donating, Murphy offered to take the boy home. After the fourth murder, the FBI went looking for Cary Stayner to interview him, but initially as a witness. The two hitchhiked to Ukiah, California. Soundtracks. In his capacity, Stayner performed technical and housekeeping duties, everything from fixing electrical and mechanical breakdowns to delivering extra towels and bedding to guests. Cary always wore a hat because he was compulsively pulling his hair out. Agents arrived at the scene early on the 19th and upon opening the trunk, investigators found two charred bodies. A large search turned up nothing. In 1972, Stayners The case of a lifetime / For Cary Stayner, there was something 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 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. He walked naked and and smoked pot, he could find the peace that he so desperately needed. A relatively quiet, but friendly, a motel handyman called Cary Stayners only passions seemed to be nude sunbathing and hiking. Stayner 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. 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. It was badly decomposed and her throat had been cut. And he wanted the same treatment. Maria Ledbetter, 24, of Modesto, an admitted methamphetamine addict and former girlfriend of Dykes, about whom she was questioned extensively. He said, I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. He usually ate lunch and dinner at the motel restaurant. 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. 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.. Unofficially, Jens Sund offered a $250,000 reward for information that would lead to the return of the missing women. "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. . Very seldom did he get into trouble. 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 Jeffrey Wayne Keeney, 32, of Modesto. Something was clearly very, very wrong. Woman recalls moment family learned they were target of 1999 Im so proud of the way Carole and Juli lived, and Im so ashamed of Stayner.. He denied any role in the Yosemite slayings. 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. 5-year-old Timothy White walking home from school and they quickly snatched him. After the fourth murder, the FBI went looking for Cary Stayner to interview him, but initially as a witness. Sex offender Kenneth Parnell dies in Vacaville They finally caught up with him at the Laguna Del Sol nudist colony, which he frequently visited. Agents had interviewed Stayner, a handyman at the Cedar Lodge where the tourists had stayed, and later dismissed him as a suspect. "Thats when I told him, 'You need to go to a doctor, Cary.'" Cary Stayner But seven years later in February 1980, Steven miraculously reappeared. 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. Hastings rejected new defense claims that juror misconduct prevented a fair trial. Cary Stayner yosemite murders True Crime By this point, Cary Stayner had a couple of nervous breakdowns. Shortly after Stevens death, an uncle with whom Cary Stayner was very close was shot and killed in a home they shared together. He was arrested in May on an unrelated crime charge but was soon released. But, says Delbert, puberty-aged Cary endured some emotional hardships because of that incident. After graduation from Merced (California) High School, Stayner worked as a window installer at a glass company. Steven was a national hero. Her mother had been dating him and he had decided to kill them on Valentines Day. Timothy White, the kidnap victim, was only 35 when he died. In the Bureau's mind, this time it had the right man. 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. On February 15, the ladies hiked into Yosemite National Park on one of the many trails. | Special agent Maddock said, "During the last 24 hours, we have developed specific information linking Stayner (also) to the Sund-Pelosso murders.". He had a long criminal record and had been questioned extensively by the FBI. A woman named Lenna learned in 1999 that her mother, her sister and her had nearly been murdered by Cary Stayner. Although the Merced police department launched a full-fledged investigation at the time of Stevens disappearance, they werent able to find any significant leads. How frightened the girls must have been when he cut their clothes off.. 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. 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. More than a thousand leads, they confessed, produced nothing. Angelia Dale, who testified before the federal grand jury. It was then that Steven's nightmare began as Murphy brought him to Kenneth Parnell, a known pedophile. This time, agents detained him and forced him to answer more questions. He died in jail in 2008 at the age of 76. He was arrested on March 5 when he allegedly reported to his parole officer with liquor on his breath. Cary was the ideal son, Kay Stayner revealed to the jury during her elder sons trial for murder. 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. 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 ", Steven Stayner and Cary Stayner in the baseball cap in the background. Cary Stayner went from being the brother of child abductee Steven Stayer to a full-blown serial killer. The hire car company confirmed that Carole had never returned the rented Pontiac, nor told them that they were extending their agreement. 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. Emotionally, Cary Stayner had a tough time during his childhood. Because he was the handyman at the Cedar Lodge in El Portal where the Sund & Pelosso group had stayed before they were murdered, his questioning at that time seems to have been more routine than anything. 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. The FBI also seized clothing stained with blood from her body. She also happens to have a front row seat to two true crime narratives in her own family. 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. After several days, the bodies were identified as Carole Sund and Silvina Pelosso through dental records. Items included in the Television News search service. 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. 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. He befriended a co-worker named Ervin Murphy to assist him in the abduction. Darrell Gray Stephens, 55, Strange's roommate. Local police and Yosemite Park Rangers began to search the area where the missing three were last seen. 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. 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. His attempt was foiled when other people were at the house at the time he was planning to commit the crimes. 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 death-penalty trial of Cary Stayner was moved from Mariposa County to Santa Clara County, CA. Unsurprisingly, it didnt take long for the story to become national news, and the teenage Steven was at the center of it all. That same day, Stayner allowed himself to be interviewed by a reporter from KNTV. 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.