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. For four weeks, police, family, and volunteers searched the area in and near Yosemite National Park by helicopter, foot, and skis. He had a long criminal record and had been questioned extensively by the FBI. Cary was off anybody and everybody who met him will tell 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. How can one family, contain two completely contrasting children? They were looking for the missing red 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix as well as the women. Out of respect for his family and the victim's family, we don't want to say anymore." ", Steven Stayner and Cary Stayner in the baseball cap in the background. Steven was a national hero. On days off he would escape to Laguna Del Sol, a nudist colony in Sacramento County. Alternate Versions Cary Stayner, the serial killer convicted in the grisly murders of four women near Yosemite National Park, is born on August 13, 1961. 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 other Sund children believed their mother and sister Juli would be returned. Soundtracks. 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. Eugene "Rufus" Dykes, 32, also of Modesto and Larwick's half-brother was arrested in March. 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.". 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. By this point, Cary Stayner had a couple of nervous breakdowns. Had no interest in girls, had no interest in people, he was just a creepy loner. Then he took action. The car was hidden off a spur road where locals dump old refrigerators, cars, and washing machines. He also struggled in high school where he was bullied for the abuse he had endured. Larry Duane Utley, 41 an associate of Dykes and Larwick, first picked up during a March parole sweep. Cary always wore a hat because he was compulsively pulling his hair out. It was not animated or digitally created; a stunt driver put the truck into a full controlled jackknife in front of the camera. Previously, the defense had maintained that the FBI had coerced the confession. I want a movie-of-the-week made about my story. There was a movie made about Steven Stayner. And he wanted the same treatment. But by the middle of March, their hopes faded. 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 Billy Joe Strange, 39, an El Portal parolee who worked at the Cedar Lodge lounge and restaurant, where the murdered women were last seen. The Stayner family was made up of two brothers, three sisters, and parents Kay and Delbert. Steven was told his new name was Dennis Parnell and was enrolled in school. Stayner said to investigators I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. He died in jail in 2008 at the age of 76. 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. Cary Stayner Span of crimes FebruaryJuly 1999 Country United States State (s) California Date apprehended 1999 7 more rows "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. They then headed out for Cedar Lodge in El Portal on February 14, which is located on Yosemite's western slope. Steven Stayner was just seven-years-old when he was abducted a few blocks from his home in Merced, Captive Audience Revisits Steven And Cary Stayner's Stories Latent fingerprints were also been lifted from the interior of Joie Armstrong's truck, which Stayner admits to touching during his encounter with her. There, they got a room with a plan to stay for a few days. 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. 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. 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. He had no criminal record and his only encounter with the law was for marijuana use in 1997. Kenneth"Soldier" Stewart, 24, a former cellmate of Dykes who was charged with attempted murder. 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. Then Carole's wallet turned up in Modesto, which included money and credit cards. Cary Stayner went from being the brother of child abductee Steven Stayer to a full-blown serial killer. Yosemite Park Killer: When A Victim Turns Into A Murderer The prosecution team was headed by George Williamson and the defense team was headed by Marcia Morrissey. The Cedar Lodge hired him as a handyman in 1997 and gave him the use of a small apartment on the top floor. Steven Stayners fame was short-lived. Its manager had seen a story on television, recognized Stayner's photo as one of his guests, and notified the FBI. I never recognized either one of them.". He said, I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. The death-penalty trial of Cary Stayner was moved from Mariposa County to Santa Clara County, CA. 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. In May 2002, Stayner pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1999 murder of Pelosso and the Sunds. 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. Angelia Dale, who testified before the federal grand jury. 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. He has been questioned about any involvement. Initially, the police didn't have any solid leads as to who killed them. It was dark when they arrived and Timmy could remember where he lived so they went to the police station. A large search turned up nothing. In the Bureau's mind, this time it had the right man. 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 Steven and Cary Stayner: The tale of two brothers' horror - ABC Some who knew Cary were shocked at his arrest. A woman named Lenna learned in 1999 that her mother, her sister and her had nearly been murdered by Cary Stayner. TV NEWS : Search Captions. Borrow Broadcasts : TV Archive : They no longer want you.. 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.". Upon examination by the FBI Laboratory, some items have yielded trace evidence. Although the Merced police department launched a full-fledged investigation at the time of Stevens disappearance, they werent able to find any significant leads. You know what I mean? Michael "Mick" Larwick, 42, of Modesto, part of a vagabond group of methamphetamine drug users and friends centered in the Modesto area. 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 The FBI task force investigating Yosemite issued a federal warrant for her arrest after she failed to appear in Stanislaus County drug court in June. 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. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. Unsurprisingly, it didnt take long for the story to become national news, and the teenage Steven was at the center of it all. 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. 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. At that time, Steven had been forced to endure sexual abuse by his kidnapper, whom he finally turned in to the police. ", 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. On March 1, 1980, Steven waited until Parnell was at work and then fled the house with Timothy. So while Parnell was at work, Steven ran away with Timothy, and the two hitchhiked to a police station in Ukiah, California. 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. Parnell was convicted on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges. After the fourth murder, the FBI went looking for Cary Stayner to interview him, but initially as a witness. "The only time Steve would kill anything like a fish is because we were gonna eat it. "He was spunky. 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. 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. But instead of seeking mental health treatment, he moved to Yosemite. You could see that he wanted to play and be with kids and be normal. Knives were used in the slayings and the weapon suspected in Ms. Armstrong's death was recovered.". 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. . "Privately, some members of the Sund-Pelosso task force were saying the same things to the media. Concluding the interview, he addressed the victims' families: "I am sorry their loved ones were where they were when they were. Agents descended on the colony and returned him to El Portal on Saturday where he was put through a more lengthy interrogation. Woman recalls moment family learned they were target of 1999 He was buried Thursday in the town of Newhall, where he had worked as a Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy. 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. Cary Stayner confesses to killing four innocent women in 1999: He was also angry about how his truck had been searched. He befriended a co-worker named Ervin Murphy to assist him in the abduction. Hastings rejected new defense claims that juror misconduct prevented a fair trial. The two hitchhiked to Ukiah, California. The initial suspicion was that they may have wandered off the main hiking paths and got lost in the park. 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.