| Then there was another murder. A Shade Of His Brother - TIME He befriended a co-worker named Ervin Murphy to assist him in the abduction. Agents had interviewed Stayner, a handyman at the Cedar Lodge where the tourists had stayed, and later dismissed him as a suspect. You know what I mean? Steven Stayners fame was short-lived. You know, hung out with him, played with him.. "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. Previously, the defense had maintained that the FBI had coerced the confession. During the first crash, the truck jackknifed before hitting the car. ", Stayner's apartment was searched later in the day and the authorities discovered evidence that linked him to Armstrong's murder. However, there were warning signs during his younger years. It was badly decomposed and her throat had been cut. Jeffrey Wayne Keeney, 32, of Modesto. Cary and Steven Stayners Parents Now: Where Are - The Despite this, he never appeared to behave lewdly nor perversely in public. The FBI Laboratory has also found possible bodily fluid stains on a bed sheet taken from her residence. 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. But seven years later in February 1980, Steven miraculously reappeared. . Cary Stayner, now 57, was convicted of the murders of Armstrong, the Sunds and Pelosso, and sentenced to death for all except Armstrong's. Agents arrived at the scene early on the 19th and upon opening the trunk, investigators found two charred bodies. Steven and Cary Stayner: The tale of two brothers' horror - ABC 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. Initially, the police didn't have any solid leads as to who killed them. I never recognized either one of them.". 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. But, to no avail. Parnell worked at the Yosemite Lodge, located about two hours away from the Stayner home. The California Highway Patrol verified the car's license plate as the Sunds rented vehicle and immediately notified the FBI. 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 The Stayner family was made up of two brothers, three sisters, and parents Kay and Delbert. The revelation came in a six 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. The trivia item below may give away important plot points. After several days, the bodies were identified as Carole Sund and Silvina Pelosso through dental records. He was buried Thursday in the town of Newhall, where he had worked as a Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy. 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. I never did tell anybody about it, but I remember wishing on a star that my little brother would come back home. Steven was a national hero. Eugene "Rufus" Dykes, 32, also of Modesto and Larwick's half-brother was arrested in March. 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. Cary was off anybody and everybody who met him will tell In 2002, Cary Stayner was convicted of first-degree murder on four counts and sentenced to death. 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. In the end, Stayner confessed without the promise of child pornography or reward money for his parents. Cary always wore a hat because he was compulsively pulling his hair out. 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. He did feel, however, that the FBI spared nothing to investigate the earlier killings. 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. Carole and her husband, Jens, 43, owned a realtors business in the Stockton area. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. In mid-July of 2002, the trial began in Judge Thomas C. Hastings courtroom. 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. It was dark when they arrived and Timmy could remember where he lived so they went to the police station. Maria Ledbetter, 24, of Modesto, an admitted methamphetamine addict and former girlfriend of Dykes, about whom she was questioned extensively. By mid-April, those who had been arrested were ordered to testify in front of a grand jury in Fresno, California. You could see that he wanted to play and be with kids and be normal. Soon after, he confessed to murdering Carole Sund, Juli Sund, and Silvina Pelosso once in custody. 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. Kenneth"Soldier" Stewart, 24, a former cellmate of Dykes who was charged with attempted murder. He was also angry about how his truck had been searched. Hastings rejected new defense claims that juror misconduct prevented a fair trial. Woman recalls moment family learned they were target of 1999 For two weeks, Steven watched Timothy suffer the separation from his family. 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 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. Robyn Lively is a step sister of Blake Lively. His attempt was foiled when other people were at the house at the time he was planning to commit the crimes. Darrell Gray Stephens, 55, Strange's roommate. According to court documents filed Monday, Cary Stayner told the FBI he assaulted Silvina Pelosso and Juli Sund before killing them. ", FBI sources claimed that he had already confessed his guilt during the Saturday evening interrogation. Upon examination by the FBI Laboratory, some items have yielded trace evidence. He walked naked and and smoked pot, he could find the peace that he so desperately needed. I wish I could have controlled myself and not done what I did. Stayner, 38, has been charged with murder in the July 21 death of naturalist Joie Armstrong. How can one family, contain two completely contrasting children? Then he took action. Chief James Maddock said he himself questioned whether the Bureau could have done anything to prevent Armstrong's killing. The interview was conducted off camera and reported Monday on the late news. 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 The Untold Truth Of Serial Killer Cary Stayner - Grunge Timothy White, the kidnap victim, was only 35 when he died. Steven Stayner was just seven-years-old when he was abducted a few blocks from his home in Merced, When Steven didnt return from school that afternoon, his parents sounded the alarm. 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. TV NEWS : Search Captions. Borrow Broadcasts : TV Archive : 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. 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. Unsurprisingly, it didnt take long for the story to become national news, and the teenage Steven was at the center of it all. But by the middle of March, their hopes faded. 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 FBI also seized clothing stained with blood from her body. He is currently in his 60s and still on death row while incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison. The dramatic story was told in the 1989 television movie, I Know My First Name Is Steven.. But why doesnt my dad hug me anymore? Steven & Cary Stayner: Hero vs Killer Brother - YouTube An FBI Agent Recounts a Repulsive Request by Serial Killer Cary 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. 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. ", Steven Stayner and Cary Stayner in the baseball cap in the background. On February 15, the ladies hiked into Yosemite National Park on one of the many trails. 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. 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. 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. 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 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. After they stopped trying to teach me the fundamentals all over again, it got better. In 1972, Stayners Cary Stayner went from being the brother of child abductee Steven Stayer to a full-blown serial killer. 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. Stayner The police reckoned that the killer of the three women was someone familiar with the county given the location of the Pontiac. For years, Parnell traveled around California with Steven. "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. Soundtracks. Four hikers visiting Yosemite National Park had been brutally murdered, and Cary Stayner had confessed to the crimes. For four weeks, police, family, and volunteers searched the area in and near Yosemite National Park by helicopter, foot, and skis. I guess I was jealous. For FBI agent Jeff Rinek, it was the climax of a 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." They no longer want you.. Cary Stayner Span of crimes FebruaryJuly 1999 Country United States State (s) California Date apprehended 1999 7 more rows The Cedar Lodge hired him as a handyman in 1997 and gave him the use of a small apartment on the top floor. I want a movie-of-the-week made about my story. There was a movie made about Steven Stayner. Cary looked out for Steven, according to Cary Stayner's former classmate Jack Bungart. Special agent Maddock said, "During the last 24 hours, we have developed specific information linking Stayner (also) to the Sund-Pelosso murders.". On March 1, 1980, Steven waited until Parnell was at work and then fled the house with Timothy. The initial suspicion was that they may have wandered off the main hiking paths and got lost in the park. 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. Agents descended on the colony and returned him to El Portal on Saturday where he was put through a more lengthy interrogation. He was arrested on March 5 when he allegedly reported to his parole officer with liquor on his breath. 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. The case of a lifetime / For Cary Stayner, there was something Im so proud of the way Carole and Juli lived, and Im so ashamed of Stayner.. "Its difficult for me to picture what Cary has done and knowing Steve because their personalities are completely opposite," Duke, Stevens former girlfriend, said. He usually ate lunch and dinner at the motel restaurant. 'I try to stay strong because I know that's what you'd want your baby to be, but, Mommy, I don't want you to leave me.'". He was a good student, a More than a thousand leads, they confessed, produced nothing. 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. He had no criminal record and his only encounter with the law was for marijuana use in 1997. 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