Part of TV News Archive. 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 Decades later, Stevens older brother, Cary Stayner, made headlines when he was arrested and convicted of the serial slayings of four females. Steven Stayner was just seven-years-old when he was abducted a few blocks from his home in Merced, For four weeks, police, family, and volunteers searched the area in and near Yosemite National Park by helicopter, foot, and skis. 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. It was the last time the women were seen alive. Ken Parnell went back to what he had been doing for years. "Its difficult for me to picture what Cary has done and knowing Steve because their personalities are completely opposite," Duke, Stevens former girlfriend, said. 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 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 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. You know what I mean? Cory gets emotional as she describes how he fell through the cracks of familial or institutional care. I guess seven years changed him, too. He was a good student, a Maria Ledbetter, 24, of Modesto, an admitted methamphetamine addict and former girlfriend of Dykes, about whom she was questioned extensively. 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. More than a thousand leads, they confessed, produced nothing. Out of respect for his family and the victim's family, we don't want to say anymore." He grew up, got married and had two kids. There, they got a room with a plan to stay for a few days. Cary always wore a hat because he was compulsively pulling his hair out. 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. By this point, Cary Stayner had a couple of nervous breakdowns. Soundtracks. Very seldom did he get into trouble. But instead of seeking mental health treatment, he moved to Yosemite. He had no criminal record and his only encounter with the law was for marijuana use in 1997. Management found him a hard worker and honest. 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. 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. Still, the Bureau intensified its search, recruiting the use of more high-tech equipment and air support. 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. In the end, Stayner confessed without the promise of child pornography or reward money for his parents. After the fourth murder, the FBI went looking for Cary Stayner to interview him, but initially as a witness. So while Parnell was at work, Steven ran away with Timothy, and the two hitchhiked to a police station in Ukiah, California. 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. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but only served five, less time than he held Steven captive. 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. Her body was next to a stream and head within the water that she and her friends used for drinking water. A large search turned up nothing. 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. That same day, Stayner allowed himself to be interviewed by a reporter from KNTV. Crazy Credits Upon examination by the FBI Laboratory, some items have yielded trace evidence. Larry Duane Utley, 41 an associate of Dykes and Larwick, first picked up during a March parole sweep. Goofs After the fourth murder, the FBI went looking for Cary Stayner to interview him, but initially as a witness. But seven years later in February 1980, Steven miraculously reappeared. "I'm confident we've done everything that could be reasonably done.". The police reckoned that the killer of the three women was someone familiar with the county given the location of the Pontiac. 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. I did murder Carole Sund, Juli Sund, Silvina Pelosso and Joie Armstrong None of the women were sexually abused in any way.". | Stayner was already serving a life sentence for the murder of Joie Ruth Armstrong. He also struggled in high school where he was bullied for the abuse he had endured. 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. She was subpoenaed because she is a friend of Dykes and Larwick. | William Mapother is a cousin of, The unsub bears some similarities with Cary Stayner, older brother of infamous kidnapping victim Steven Stayner (. She had probably been murdered on the evening of Wednesday, July 21. Agents arrived at the scene early on the 19th and upon opening the trunk, investigators found two charred bodies. How can one family, contain two completely contrasting children? While he attended his meeting, the women were to tour the Grand Canyon. I never recognized either one of them.". How frightened the girls must have been when he cut their clothes off.. 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 FBI also seized clothing stained with blood from her body. 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. 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. WebCary Stayner was convicted of the 1999 Cedar Lodge Killings near Yosemite National Park. 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. Local police and Yosemite Park Rangers began to search the area where the missing three were last seen. They then headed out for Cedar Lodge in El Portal on February 14, which is located on Yosemite's western slope. The FBI Laboratory has also found possible bodily fluid stains on a bed sheet taken from her residence. Stayner, 38, has been charged with murder in the July 21 death of naturalist Joie Armstrong. They lived in the farming town of Merced, California, the Gateway to Yosemite. One of those arrested, and later released, was Cary Stayner, who worked at the Cedar Lodge as the handyman. But, says Delbert, puberty-aged Cary endured some emotional hardships because of that incident. 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. 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 other Sund children believed their mother and sister Juli would be returned. I wouldnt think that he would think of himself as one, but he is a hero.". The judge said there was overwhelming evidence against Stayner and that the devastating emotional toll justified execution. All of its been bad, Delbert Stayner said of his familys life. Unsurprisingly, it didnt take long for the story to become national news, and the teenage Steven was at the center of it all. That evening, the group grabbed some videos from the lodge's service desk to watch in their room. Check-out had apparently been done in advance and the keys were left on the room desk. She also happens to have a front row seat to two true crime narratives in her own family. 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. Michael "Mick" Larwick, 42, of Modesto, part of a vagabond group of methamphetamine drug users and friends centered in the Modesto area. 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. For FBI agent Jeff Rinek, it was the climax of a 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. The 1999 murders of four women near Yosemite National Park were already a big story before Cary Stayner confessed in an FBI interview. He denied any role in the Yosemite slayings. Connecticut Serial Killer William Devin Howell Describes The Shockin After Steven said his mother would be interested in donating, Murphy offered to take the boy home. The FBI pushed for Strange's arrest, but he denied any part in the triple murders. 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. Knives were used in the slayings and the weapon suspected in Ms. Armstrong's death was recovered.". Teresa Kay Gray, 36, of Modesto. 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 paid a local kid to ride with him to the town of Ukiah, California and he told to go and find him a boy. In 1972, Stayners In mid-July of 2002, the trial began in Judge Thomas C. Hastings courtroom. Convicted in 1978 for rape and robbery, he was jailed on March 14 for failing to register as a sex offender. Connections 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. He remains on The dramatic story was told in the 1989 television movie, I Know My First Name Is Steven.. Parnell was convicted on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges. Then on March 25, Juli Sunds body was discovered near Lake Pedro in Tuolumme County. Unofficially, Jens Sund offered a $250,000 reward for information that would lead to the return of the missing women. | Tragically, Steven Stayner was killed in a 1989 motorcycle accident at the age of 24. Something was clearly very, very wrong. Im so proud of the way Carole and Juli lived, and Im so ashamed of Stayner.. Quotes The Stayner family was made up of two brothers, three sisters, and parents Kay and Delbert. The initial suspicion was that they may have wandered off the main hiking paths and got lost in the park. Steven and Cary Stayner: The tale of two brothers' horror - ABC To the dismay of the Stayner family, the case went cold. 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. It was then that Steven's nightmare began as Murphy brought him to Kenneth Parnell, a known pedophile. "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. 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.