Darrell Gray Stephens, 55, Strange's roommate. Cary didnt emerge as a suspect during the initial investigation, and the FBI actually believed they had the people responsible for the killings in custody. Upon examination by the FBI Laboratory, some items have yielded trace evidence. Parnell, along with Murphy, took Steven to a cabin in Catheys Valley, where he was brainwashed to believe his parents no longer wanted him. 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. He grew up, got married and had two kids. 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. On Saturday, July 24, FBI agents announced at a press conference that a man was in custody on strong suspicion of murder and that a "significant announcement" would be made shortly. The suspect, Cary Stayner, 37, had been one of the people questioned after the triple killings in February, but, at that time no evidence linked him directly to the crime and he had been released. Cory gets emotional as she describes how he fell through the cracks of familial or institutional care. In the end, Stayner confessed without the promise of child pornography or reward money for his parents. I went to ask if Cary wanted to talk, reporter Ted Rowlands said. A relatively quiet, but friendly, a motel handyman called Cary Stayners only passions seemed to be nude sunbathing and hiking. | ", FBI sources claimed that he had already confessed his guilt during the Saturday evening interrogation. But, says Delbert, puberty-aged Cary endured some emotional hardships because of that incident. "He was spunky. During the session, an unexpected event occurred. Soon after, he confessed to murdering Carole Sund, Juli Sund, and Silvina Pelosso once in custody. 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. After graduation from Merced (California) High School, Stayner worked as a window installer at a glass company. And in 1999, the Stayner family was back in the news but this time, for a less than positive reason. 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. He befriended a co-worker named Ervin Murphy to assist him in the abduction. They then headed out for Cedar Lodge in El Portal on February 14, which is located on Yosemite's western slope. 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. 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. The revelation came in a six 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.". During an off-camera jailhouse interview in Sacramento following his arrest, Cary admitted to Armstrong's murder as well as the murders of Carole Sund, 42, her 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. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. In 1997, Stayner got a job as a handyman at the Cedar Lodge, seven miles from the gate of the national park, where he worked for 2 years before the murders.. Robyn Lively is a step sister of Blake Lively. Ashley Stayner is a self-professed true crime fan. Then he took action. 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. And he wanted the same treatment. 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 Against the odds, he flourished there. WebCary Stayner was convicted of the 1999 Cedar Lodge Killings near Yosemite National Park. He also exhibited some behaviors that made others uncomfortable, including, as he later admitted, exposing himself to his sister's friend. 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. Steven and Cary Stayner: The tale of two brothers' horror - ABC Ive never seen anything thats so close to black and white and evil and good as Stayner and our children, said Francis Carrington, the father of Carole Sund and grandfather of Juli. Cary Stayner, the serial killer convicted in the grisly murders of four women near Yosemite National Park, is born on August 13, 1961. Billy Joe Strange, 39, an El Portal parolee who worked at the Cedar Lodge lounge and restaurant, where the murdered women were last seen. 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.". Stayner said to investigators I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. Angelia Dale, who testified before the federal grand jury. Teresa Kay Gray, 36, of Modesto. 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. For FBI agent Jeff Rinek, it was the climax of a Vacuum sweepings were taken from inside Joies house, where Stayner claims to have bound her with duct tape, yielded hair evidence. The dramatic story was told in the 1989 television movie, I Know My First Name Is Steven.. He was known to take refuge in nearby Yosemite, where hed drive up and get lost in nature. For years, Parnell traveled around California with Steven. They no longer want you.. In February 1980, Parnell decided to kidnap a new victim. 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. 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 told Hartman that his parents "didnt change that much," but his brother and sisters, "they changed a lot. Stevens death, along with the death of his uncle soon afterward, reportedly had a serious impact on Cary Stayners mental health and well-being. You could see that he wanted to play and be with kids and be normal. 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. Cary Stayner went from being the brother of child abductee Steven Stayer to a full-blown serial killer. The FBI Laboratory has also found possible bodily fluid stains on a bed sheet taken from her residence. She also happens to have a front row seat to two true crime narratives in her own family. 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. In the Bureau's mind, this time it had the right man. For four weeks, police, family, and volunteers searched the area in and near Yosemite National Park by helicopter, foot, and skis. I wish I could have controlled myself and not done what I did. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. 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. In his capacity, Stayner performed technical and housekeeping duties, everything from fixing electrical and mechanical breakdowns to delivering extra towels and bedding to guests. 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. The Cedar Lodge hired him as a handyman in 1997 and gave him the use of a small apartment on the top floor. By Friday, July 23rd, Stayner, in the meantime, had disappeared from the area, by the time agents came to arrest him. 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. In a jailhouse interview with a television reporter, he said he did not rape any of the women. 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. 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. 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. I wouldnt think that he would think of himself as one, but he is a hero.". 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. Steven Stayner had a new father figure, and it was Kenneth Parnell, who by day, was his father, and by night, was his rapist. Very seldom did he get into trouble. "He had a great personality," said Lori Duke, who dated Steven in high school but knew him as Dennis. Or certainly, nothing noticed by his colleagues at the motel. This time, agents detained him and forced him to answer more questions. He loved his brother. 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. WebCary Stayner, the handyman at their hotel, confessed after being arrested for beheading another victim, female nature guide Joie Armstrong. They were looking for the missing red 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix as well as the women. "Its difficult for me to picture what Cary has done and knowing Steve because their personalities are completely opposite," Duke, Stevens former girlfriend, said. Management found him a hard worker and honest. To the dismay of the Stayner family, the case went cold. 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. Emotionally, Cary Stayner had a tough time during his childhood. 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. | After a couple of weeks, he upped the sum to $300,000. Campbell, when first arrested on mail fraud charges, had in her possession Carole Sund's checking account and automated teller machine numbers. How frightened the girls must have been when he cut their clothes off.. On days off he would escape to Laguna Del Sol, a nudist colony in Sacramento County. 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. In 1972, Stayners For two weeks, Steven watched Timothy suffer the separation from his family. 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. Local police and Yosemite Park Rangers began to search the area where the missing three were last seen. Police found her car in front of her cabin, packed for the trip. 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. All of its been bad, Delbert Stayner said of his familys life. Items included in the Television News search service. Still, the Bureau intensified its search, recruiting the use of more high-tech equipment and air support. Investigators searched his truck and confiscated his backpack for examination. Cary was the ideal son, Kay Stayner revealed to the jury during her elder sons trial for murder. The prosecution team was headed by George Williamson and the defense team was headed by Marcia Morrissey. 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. 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. He was buried Thursday in the town of Newhall, where he had worked as a Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy. In December 1972, a 7-year-old Steven was kidnapped by Kenneth Parnell, a man who worked at the Yosemite Lodge at the national park near Stevens hometown of Merced, California. He said, I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. 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. He had no criminal record and his only encounter with the law was for marijuana use in 1997. Cary Stayner was sentenced Thursday to die for committing three murders near Yosemite National Park in 1999. He was a good student, a On Monday, July 22, the court heard Stayners taped confession, which he had given to FBI agents. Cary Stayner Span of crimes FebruaryJuly 1999 Country United States State (s) California Date apprehended 1999 7 more rows He was charged with attempting to purchase a child and attempted child molestation in 2004, that he was sentenced to 25 years to life. 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. 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. Knives were used in the slayings and the weapon suspected in Ms. Armstrong's death was recovered.". In mid-July of 2002, the trial began in Judge Thomas C. Hastings courtroom. Agents arrived at the scene early on the 19th and upon opening the trunk, investigators found two charred bodies. It was the last time the women were seen alive. He then carried Juli to a vista point near Lake Don Pedro, pledged his love, and then cut her throat as the sun rose. "Thats when I told him, 'You need to go to a doctor, Cary.'" | Steven Stayners fame was short-lived. 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. Ken Parnell went back to what he had been doing for years. The FBI pushed for Strange's arrest, but he denied any part in the triple murders. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but only served five, less time than he held Steven captive. He wanted the world to take note.. Something was clearly very, very wrong. During the first crash, the truck jackknifed before hitting the car. A woman named Lenna learned in 1999 that her mother, her sister and her had nearly been murdered by Cary Stayner. 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. In a voice that seemed relieved to be unburdened from its depth a long-kept secret, Stayner blurted, "I am guilty. Carole and her husband, Jens, 43, owned a realtors business in the Stockton area. 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. Out of respect for his family and the victim's family, we don't want to say anymore." 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. He was also angry about how his truck had been searched. Then all of a sudden it's gone. He did feel, however, that the FBI spared nothing to investigate the earlier killings. "I'm confident we've done everything that could be reasonably done.". On Good Morning America in March 1980, Steven shared with host David Hartman that it felt "great" to be home. The California Highway Patrol verified the car's license plate as the Sunds rented vehicle and immediately notified the FBI. They finally caught up with him at the Laguna Del Sol nudist colony, which he frequently visited. Parnell was convicted on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges. Cedar Lodge, 9966 CA-140, El Portal, CA 95318. The Stayner family was made up of two brothers, three sisters, and parents Kay and Delbert. 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. Unofficially, Jens Sund offered a $250,000 reward for information that would lead to the return of the missing women. Four hikers visiting Yosemite National Park had been brutally murdered, and Cary Stayner had confessed to the crimes. 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. Larry Duane Utley, 41 an associate of Dykes and Larwick, first picked up during a March parole sweep. 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. He received the death penalty for killing four women, three of whom had been staying at the Cedar Lodge, where Stayner was employed as a handyman. She had probably been murdered on the evening of Wednesday, July 21. You know what I mean? Her mother had been dating him and he had decided to kill them on Valentines Day. 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 hire car company confirmed that Carole had never returned the rented Pontiac, nor told them that they were extending their agreement. 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. Parnell worked at the Yosemite Lodge, located about two hours away from the Stayner home. Initially, the police didn't have any solid leads as to who killed them. | But, to no avail. Previously, the defense had maintained that the FBI had coerced the confession. Her body was next to a stream and head within the water that she and her friends used for drinking water. He had a long criminal record and had been questioned extensively by the FBI. Hastings rejected new defense claims that juror misconduct prevented a fair trial. 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 But he was surprised that did not find his wife at the airport and assumed she had flown ahead, The next day, he tried to contact them again and failed and he called the police.