Agents had interviewed Stayner, a handyman at the Cedar Lodge where the tourists had stayed, and later dismissed him as a suspect. 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. Against the odds, he flourished there. The FBI Laboratory has also found possible bodily fluid stains on a bed sheet taken from her residence.
Woman recalls moment family learned they were target of 1999 Some who knew Cary were shocked at his arrest. WebCary Stayner, the handyman at their hotel, confessed after being arrested for beheading another victim, female nature guide Joie Armstrong. 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. Her body was next to a stream and head within the water that she and her friends used for drinking water. Eugene "Rufus" Dykes, 32, also of Modesto and Larwick's half-brother was arrested in March. I never recognized either one of them.". Stayner said to investigators I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. You could see that he wanted to play and be with kids and be normal. "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. Agents descended on the colony and returned him to El Portal on Saturday where he was put through a more lengthy interrogation. Or certainly, nothing noticed by his colleagues at the motel. | On February 15, the ladies hiked into Yosemite National Park on one of the many trails. Stayners father, Delbert Stayner, said his son was deprived of a fair trial by a kangaroo court and a judge who ignored defense arguments. 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. Check-out had apparently been done in advance and the keys were left on the room desk. Darrell Gray Stephens, 55, Strange's roommate. When Cary Stayner was questioned by FBI agents, he immediately confessed to the four Yosemite Park murders and provided a detailed accounting of his crimes. The prosecution team was headed by George Williamson and the defense team was headed by Marcia Morrissey. Kenneth"Soldier" Stewart, 24, a former cellmate of Dykes who was charged with attempted murder. He was arrested on March 5 when he allegedly reported to his parole officer with liquor on his breath. 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. The Stayner family was made up of two brothers, three sisters, and parents Kay and Delbert. Despite this, he never appeared to behave lewdly nor perversely in public. 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. He remains on Stayner said he thought he had gotten away with the earlier crimes, but could not resist the urge to kill Armstrong after he struck up a chance conversation with her. The FBI also seized clothing stained with blood from her body. He has been questioned about any involvement. In May 2002, Stayner pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1999 murder of Pelosso and the Sunds. 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. To the dismay of the Stayner family, the case went cold. Hastings rejected new defense claims that juror misconduct prevented a fair trial. 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. 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 For four weeks, police, family, and volunteers searched the area in and near Yosemite National Park by helicopter, foot, and skis. It was dark when they arrived and Timmy could remember where he lived so they went to the police station. WebThe story of Steven and Cary Stayner will leave you in absolute disbelief. More than a thousand leads, they confessed, produced nothing. Cory gets emotional as she describes how he fell through the cracks of familial or institutional care. Steven Stayner helped another child escape from a pedophile, after enduring years of abuse and not wanting to see the child experience the same fate.
An FBI Agent Recounts a Repulsive Request by Serial Killer Cary Parnell worked at the Yosemite Lodge, located about two hours away from the Stayner home. I wish I could have controlled myself and not done what I did. Jeffrey Wayne Keeney, 32, of Modesto. It was the last time the women were seen alive. How frightened the girls must have been when he cut their clothes off.. Something was clearly very, very wrong. 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. 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.
Yosemite Park Killer: When A Victim Turns Into A Murderer The car was hidden off a spur road where locals dump old refrigerators, cars, and washing machines. 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. 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. Then Carole's wallet turned up in Modesto, which included money and credit cards. Decades later, Stevens older brother, Cary Stayner, made headlines when he was arrested and convicted of the serial slayings of four females. Campbell, when first arrested on mail fraud charges, had in her possession Carole Sund's checking account and automated teller machine numbers. 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. Im so proud of the way Carole and Juli lived, and Im so ashamed of Stayner.. Vacuum sweepings were taken from inside Joies house, where Stayner claims to have bound her with duct tape, yielded hair evidence. She also happens to have a front row seat to two true crime narratives in her own family. Unsurprisingly, it didnt take long for the story to become national news, and the teenage Steven was at the center of it all. On March 1, 1980, Steven waited until Parnell was at work and then fled the house with Timothy. 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.". Steven Stayner had a new father figure, and it was Kenneth Parnell, who by day, was his father, and by night, was his rapist. He did feel, however, that the FBI spared nothing to investigate the earlier killings. 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 abandoned the group's rental car with the bodies of Carole and Silvina inside, returning two days later to burn the evidence and retrieve the wallet, which he dumped in Modesto to confuse authorities.
TV NEWS : Search Captions. Borrow Broadcasts : TV Archive : "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 demanded that his parents be given the reward money, that he be incarcerated at a prison near his parents home, and, to Stayners detriment, that he be given a large cache of child pornography. In the Bureau's mind, this time it had the right man. 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. 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. When Steven didnt return from school that afternoon, his parents sounded the alarm. They finally caught up with him at the Laguna Del Sol nudist colony, which he frequently visited. 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.". 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. The trivia item below may give away important plot points. |
Where Is Cary Stayner from Hulu's Captive Audience Now? Four hikers visiting Yosemite National Park had been brutally murdered, and Cary Stayner had confessed to the crimes. The other Sund children believed their mother and sister Juli would be returned. Cary Stayner, now 57, was convicted of the murders of Armstrong, the Sunds and Pelosso, and sentenced to death for all except Armstrong's. Cary Stayner, the serial killer convicted in the grisly murders of four women near Yosemite National Park, is born on August 13, 1961. Parnell and Murphy were driving towards town when Stephen was lured into their vehicle and abducted. 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. It was not animated or digitally created; a stunt driver put the truck into a full controlled jackknife in front of the camera. And in 1999, the Stayner family was back in the news but this time, for a less than positive reason. Concluding the interview, he addressed the victims' families: "I am sorry their loved ones were where they were when they were. I was the oldest and all that. "'Deep in my heart I know something my mind does not want to learn,' said Gina,13. Unofficially, Jens Sund offered a $250,000 reward for information that would lead to the return of the missing women. Cary was off anybody and everybody who met him will tell Cary Stayner went from being the brother of child abductee Steven Stayer to a full-blown serial killer. 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. He said, I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. But, says Delbert, puberty-aged Cary endured some emotional hardships because of that incident. 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. On days off he would escape to Laguna Del Sol, a nudist colony in Sacramento County. Then there was another murder. The judge said there was overwhelming evidence against Stayner and that the devastating emotional toll justified execution. 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. Tragically, Steven Stayner was killed in a 1989 motorcycle accident at the age of 24.
A Shade Of His Brother - TIME Latent fingerprints were also been lifted from the interior of Joie Armstrong's truck, which Stayner admits to touching during his encounter with her. In mid-July of 2002, the trial began in Judge Thomas C. Hastings courtroom. Jens couldn't accompany them on this trip because he needed to prepare for an upcoming business trip. 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." After graduation from Merced (California) High School, Stayner worked as a window installer at a glass company. On Monday, July 22, the court heard Stayners taped confession, which he had given to FBI agents.
Yosemite Victims Were Raped - CBS News The two hitchhiked to Ukiah, California. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but only served five, less time than he held Steven captive. Special agent Maddock said, "During the last 24 hours, we have developed specific information linking Stayner (also) to the Sund-Pelosso murders.". Upon examination by the FBI Laboratory, some items have yielded trace evidence. During the session, an unexpected event occurred. He died in jail in 2008 at the age of 76. WebCary Stayner was convicted of the 1999 Cedar Lodge Killings near Yosemite National Park.
Steven and Cary Stayner: The tale of two brothers' horror - ABC He also struggled in high school where he was bullied for the abuse he had endured. Cedar Lodge, 9966 CA-140, El Portal, CA 95318. Upon release, the FBI warned him not to leave El Portal. "The only time Steve would kill anything like a fish is because we were gonna eat it. He was also angry about how his truck had been searched. According to court documents filed Monday, Cary Stayner told the FBI he assaulted Silvina Pelosso and Juli Sund before killing them. Convicted in 1978 for rape and robbery, he was jailed on March 14 for failing to register as a sex offender. After several days, the bodies were identified as Carole Sund and Silvina Pelosso through dental records. 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. She was subpoenaed because she is a friend of Dykes and Larwick. A relatively quiet, but friendly, a motel handyman called Cary Stayners only passions seemed to be nude sunbathing and hiking. 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. For FBI agent Jeff Rinek, it was the climax of a Curtis Cousin Eddie Smith Claims Alex Murdaugh Made Him A Fall Guy, Morgan Doughty Filed A Lawsuit Against The Murdaugh Family, Buster Murdaugh Testified For The Defense At His Fathers Double Murder Trial, Randy Roth From 'A Rose For Her Grave' Is Still In Prison, Get Even More From Bustle Sign Up For The Newsletter. Stayner was already serving a life sentence for the murder of Joie Ruth Armstrong. Cary was 11 years old at the time, and deeply upset about his brother's disappearance. He had no criminal record and his only encounter with the law was for marijuana use in 1997. 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. 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 I guess seven years changed him, too. Steven and Cary Stayner: The tale of two brothers' horror - ABC Chief James Maddock said he himself questioned whether the Bureau could have done anything to prevent Armstrong's killing. 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. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. The initial suspicion was that they may have wandered off the main hiking paths and got lost in the park.
Stayner Initially, the police didn't have any solid leads as to who killed them.
While he attended his meeting, the women were to tour the Grand Canyon. 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. 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. Although the Merced police department launched a full-fledged investigation at the time of Stevens disappearance, they werent able to find any significant leads. "I've struggled with that issue for the last 24 hours and continue to do so," he confessed.
Cary Stayner yosemite murders True Crime Teresa Kay Gray, 36, of Modesto. He befriended a co-worker named Ervin Murphy to assist him in the abduction. There, they got a room with a plan to stay for a few days. Local police and Yosemite Park Rangers began to search the area where the missing three were last seen. "Privately, some members of the Sund-Pelosso task force were saying the same things to the media.
IMDb 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. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. You know, hung out with him, played with him.. Steven Stayner was just seven-years-old when he was abducted a few blocks from his home in Merced, where Stayner was employed as a handyman. Ashley Stayner is a self-professed true crime fan. He had given the FBI details "only the killer would know in such specificity that agents were able to recover evidence confirming his confession. He was a good student, a But why doesnt my dad hug me anymore? 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. 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. Sandy Cox, whose husband owned the window company where Stayner worked for in Atwater, says, "We've known Cary since he was a little boyIt just doesn't match up. I never did tell anybody about it, but I remember wishing on a star that my little brother would come back home. In a voice that seemed relieved to be unburdened from its depth a long-kept secret, Stayner blurted, "I am guilty. 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 was the ideal son, Kay Stayner revealed to the jury during her elder sons trial for murder. I want a movie-of-the-week made about my story. There was a movie made about Steven Stayner.
From the Archives: Friends surprised by Cary Stayner's arrest 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 Stayner Span of crimes FebruaryJuly 1999 Country United States State (s) California Date apprehended 1999 7 more rows | Alternate Versions However, given Californias statewide moratorium on capital punishment, it doesnt appear that hell be executed anytime soon the states last execution was held in 2006. In order to prevent Steven from escaping, Parnell was constantly moving the two of them from town to town in California. Stayner, 38, has been charged with murder in the July 21 death of naturalist Joie Armstrong. "And I did that almost every clear night from then on until Steve finally came back home.
Suspect at Yosemite Had Fantasy of Killing Women He grew up, got married and had two kids.