"I want to speak out for my family, who's been affected. Then, in the summer of 1999, Joie Armstrong, a 26-year-old woman running educational programs at Yosemite for children, was reported missing by her friends and later found decapitated in the park. Steven, in a rarity for a kidnapped child, made his way back to his family after eight years of living under an assumed name and identity given by his groomer and attacker Kenneth Parnell.. Before the Stayners became one of the most recognizable names in the true crime genre, they were a modest family based out of Merced, Calif. At the helm were Delbert and Kay Stayner, with three daughters and two sons in tow. Speaking in an off-camera jailhouse interview Monday, July 26, 1999, Cary Stayner, a motel handyman at the Cedar Lodge in El Portal, Calif., said he strangled Carole Sund and family friend Silvina Pelosso in their rented cabin at the Lodge and then abandoned the rental car with their bodies inside, returning two days later to burn evidence. Steph Curry killed off the Kings with a smile, On an island of resorts, this Hawaii hotel is the budget option, Why every Californian needs an air quality monitor. In July 1999, Cary Stayner happened upon Joie Ruth Armstrong outside this cabin in Yosemite National Park. He did his own thing. Cary Stayner will forever be known for marring Yosemite's reputation as a peaceful retreat with the brutal murders of four innocent women. "He couldn't wait to tell people about his personal experience driving through an area known as Foresta and Bigfoot leaping out of the woods in the dark of night and then scurrying back in, never to be seen again," crime journalist Pat Lalama said. Steven Stayner was eventually reunited with his family and hailed as a hero. Mike Echolss book about the kidnapping of Steven Stayner, I Know My First Name is Steven, was considered by the Parnell family to be pornographic, dwelling in lurid details. He was perverted," Flores, 35, said. "I said, "Well, yeah. She said the visit "sent chills" up and down her spine. The case remains unsolved. His death dealt another blow to the family - but not its last. Barbara was somehow also hailed as a good guy in the story. Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). Steven's daughter Ashley Stayner, now 36, is also a prominent participant, and the one member of the Stayner family who has spoken to the media following the documentary's release. Now, a new segment of ABC's news magazine "20/20" recounts the crimes and tragedies surrounding the Merced, Calif., siblings on the 20-year anniversary of the 1999 Yosemite serial killings. In court, a psychiatrist called by the defense testified that the Stayner family had a long history of sexual abuse and mental illness, including a history of dysfunction dating back three generations. A doctor testified that Cary was mentally impaired. He was found sane and convicted on three counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances and one count of kidnapping. They shouldn't bother. Cary Stayner was convicted in the 1999 murders of 42-year-old Carole Sund, her 15-year-old daughter Juli, their 16-year-old family. Parnell was convicted on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges. "They did mention about finally getting a chance to get out of here," said Ennis Mayberry, 36, who bought the house from the Stayners 10 years ago. Steven drank heavily, did a lot of drugs, dated lots of girls, and eventually dropped out of high school. I got put on the back burner, you might say. Her job was leading children in nature hikes. Shock was a familiar reaction in Merced, a San Joaquin Valley city about 100 miles southeast of San Francisco, where residents considered Steven Stayner a hero for escaping from a child molester in 1980, only to die in a motorcycle accident nine years later. Parnell re-named Steven Dennis Gregory Parnell, and they moved around California, from Santa Rosa to Willits to Fort Bragg. Steven Stayner as a child (Courtesy of Hulu). The 80s were such a time of paranoia about child kidnappings by strangers and I had internalized a lot of that. Her mother was a waitress at the California lodge in 1998 and Stayner lived in an apartment above the restaurant. His first arrest for child molestation occurred shortly thereafter (he was 19, the child was 9) and he was sent to a psychiatric hospital, from which he escaped twice. (Heres an interview of Steven Stayner from ABC News in March 1980, one of many conducted around that time.). His helmet had supposedly been stolen days before. He covers news, politics, science, sports, outdoors and Bay Area history. In December 1990, Jesse "Jerry" Stayner, 42, Cary and Steven's uncle, was shot to death in his Merced home. Yay! The bodies of Carole and Silvina were found in their rental car a month later about 50 miles away, and investigators alerted by an anonymous letter that Cary said he wrote found Juli's body near a Don Pedro Reservoir overlook. One Brother Was a Hero, One Was a Serial Killer: New Docuseries Explores the Stayner Family's Plight. They shouldn't bother. According to The Famous People, the couple eventually had two children, named Ashley and Steven, Jr. Cary Stayner is shown in a booking photo Monday, Dec. 4, 2000, at the Mariposa County Adult Facility in Mariposa, Calif. On Dec. 4, 1972, the Stayner family's low profile permanently changed when 7-year-old Steven Stayner, the middle child, was abducted walking home from school. (AP Photo by The Modesto Previous reports by Chronicle reporters Susan Sward, Stacy Finz, Meredith May, Torri Minton, Zachary Coile and Matthew Yi contributed to this article. On the trip, alumni hike out in the night with foot baths, salts, salves, and nail polish to care for each other halfway through the trek. "It was the biggest deal in Hollywood," says Corin Nemec, who portrayed Steven as a teenager. ", "There's a lot of things I wish we'd done differently," adds Kay, struggling to decide if they should have done more to protect his privacy. The Stayner family Delbert and Kay and their two sons and three daughters lived in a small farming town of Merced, California, known as the gateway to Yosemite Park. A cabin where Parnell lived with Dennis (Courtesy of Hulu). Steven Stayner (April 18, 1965 - Sept 16, 1989) was a kidnapping victim. In March of 1980, her hopes came true. He and Timmy attended press conferences, testified at their abductor's trials and inspired a hit 1989 TV movie called I Know My First Name Is Steven. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. "This was supposed to be easy for Cary. It took me so long to move past that and see that these were pretty extraordinary happenings that were mostly coincidentally connected to each other. Its to imbue community care as essential for when the going gets tough. The photographs were released by family members before a jury began deliberations in the murder trial of Cary Stayner. he was such a good looking guy you wouldnt of thought that he would of done this. Police tracked down Barbara Mathais, whod been listed as Stevens mother while they lived together, but she was never charged for her participation in Stevens abuse (although neither was Parnell, so!). "We figured he would be a cartoonist by now," Shertz said. I wanted to share the happiness we had, the good outcome, but then that had a bad side too.". PEOPLE got a first look at Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story, which highlights the opposing legacies of kidnapping survivor Steven Stayner and his serial killer brother, Cary Stayner. Ten years after Steven died in a motorcycle accident at the age of 24, something inside of Cary snapped. She told journalists that Steven was always a nice boy and he called me Mother like my own kids did.. Two of the women's bodies were found burned in the trunk of their charred vehicle, one had her throat cut and the final victim had been decapitated. All three episodes of Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story premiere April 21 on Hulu. And then she told me that it was my uncle Cary. By 1997, hed moved to the Yosemite valley and was working as a maintenance guy at a 206-room motel, Cedar Lodge. The miniseries was nominated for multiple Golden Globes and multiple Emmys. "He was just our friend. This week I watched Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story on Hulu about Steven and Cary Stayner, and its a pretty wild saga. Friends and co-workers would say later that he struggled with impulses he didn't understand and was susceptible to fits of rage. "My sister and I both wanted to be the best at it. "Then finally, things were getting to be normal and things were getting good, that's when Steven gets killed," she said. He skidded trying to avoid a car pulling out of a driveway and fatally struck his head. In 1959, he was arrested for robbery in Salt Lake City and spent six years in prison this would turn out to be the longest sentence hed serve for all the crimes he committed in his life. "My older brother, Cary, he was off.". He graduated from Merced High School, and worked as a window installer for a glass company in nearby Atwater. One of the people affected by the Yosemite saga was Steven's daughter, Ashley. "He was a good dad, he was a good family man," Jody remembers. I camp and hike and backpack as a solo woman, and I do fieldwork as an ecologist in a lot of parks and public lands, and theres always a little fear in the back of my mind, but Im glad that its at a level where its much healthier and doesnt stop me from experiencing life the way I want to. ET on ABC. Then his uncle gets killed in a homicide. "The FBI went in and spoke with my mom privately to let her know that Cary Stayner had confessed to initially wanting to kill my mom, and rape and kill my sister and I," Lenna said. The Autostraddle Insider Issue 103: April 2023. Bee), Juli Sund, the teenage daughter of Carole Sund, was sexually assaulted and then driven by Cary Stayner along with the bodies of her mother and friend to a wooded area near the Don Pedro Reservoir. Please keep in mind that comments are moderated by the guidelines laid out in our comment policy. In the little time I worked with him, he just seemed like a regular person.". Important distinction, thanks! "Then you have Steven Stayner get kidnapped, and then he comes back and gets killed in a motorcycle accident. In March 1980, The San Francisco Examiner published a piece called Twisted Love: A Portrait of Kenneth Parnell which attested that Parnell had been disturbed all his life, beginning with trying to pull out his own teeth as a child, then moving on to theft and arson. Is the Stanley Quencher tumbler worth its TikTok hype? One brother, Steven, was the victim of a . Soon enough, an opportunity presented itself: Screenwriter JP Miller wanted to write a made-for-television movie about his life. "I'm just shocked that he would be involved in something like this.". AP File Photo/Ted Benson, The Modesto Bee. "One time Cindy (Stayner) and I were outside at night and he exposed himself to us. "I remember being one of those people who were like, 'Well they need to hurry up and catch who did this.'". One was fairly violent," Flynn said. It seems like Parnell actually attempted to argue that because Steven was kidnapped seven years ago, it couldnt be prosecuted due to a three-year statute of limitations.