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. ", 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. Then there was another murder. Darrell Gray Stephens, 55, Strange's roommate. 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 You could see that he wanted to play and be with kids and be normal. Alternate Versions "The only time Steve would kill anything like a fish is because we were gonna eat it. 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. 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 remains on Four men were considered the main murder suspects in the initial inquiries. He was a good student, a According to Special Agent Christopher Hopkins , both the FBI's Evidence Response Team and the Mariposa County Sheriff's Office collected items of potential interest from Room 509 at the Cedar Lodge Motel, the room in which Stayner sexually assaulted Juli Sund and Silvina Pelosso and murdered both Carole Sund and Silvina. I guess seven years changed him, too. Had no interest in girls, had no interest in people, he was just a creepy loner. In a jailhouse interview with a television reporter, he said he did not rape any of the women. ", Steven Stayner with his kidnapper Kenneth Parnell. . "And I did that almost every clear night from then on until Steve finally came back home. They finally caught up with him at the Laguna Del Sol nudist colony, which he frequently visited. I never recognized either one of them.". 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.". Stayner was already serving a life sentence for the murder of Joie Ruth Armstrong. 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. Crazy Credits By this point, Cary Stayner had a couple of nervous breakdowns. 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. One of those arrested, and later released, was Cary Stayner, who worked at the Cedar Lodge as the handyman. Stayners father, Delbert Stayner, said his son was deprived of a fair trial by a kangaroo court and a judge who ignored defense arguments. 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. He wanted the world to take note.. After the fourth murder, the FBI went looking for Cary Stayner to interview him, but initially as a witness. 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. He then carried Juli to a vista point near Lake Don Pedro, pledged his love, and then cut her throat as the sun rose. ", Steven Stayner and Cary Stayner in the baseball cap in the background. I want a movie-of-the-week made about my story. There was a movie made about Steven Stayner. When Steven didnt return from school that afternoon, his parents sounded the alarm. The dramatic story was told in the 1989 television movie, I Know My First Name Is Steven.. It was badly decomposed and her throat had been cut. After graduation from Merced (California) High School, Stayner worked as a window installer at a glass company. He had given the FBI details "only the killer would know in such specificity that agents were able to recover evidence confirming his confession. 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. 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. After they stopped trying to teach me the fundamentals all over again, it got better. In mid-July of 2002, the trial began in Judge Thomas C. Hastings courtroom. At a press conference outside the Stayner house, everyone was smiling, but Cary in his baseball cap wasnt smiling at all. Police found her car in front of her cabin, packed for the trip. Although the Merced police department launched a full-fledged investigation at the time of Stevens disappearance, they werent able to find any significant leads. Steven Stayner was just seven-years-old when he was abducted a few blocks from his home in Merced, Arrested on an unrelated drug charge, he has been questioned about the Yosemite case. 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. where Stayner was employed as a handyman. For four weeks, police, family, and volunteers searched the area in and near Yosemite National Park by helicopter, foot, and skis. 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. Stevens death, along with the death of his uncle soon afterward, reportedly had a serious impact on Cary Stayners mental health and well-being. Upon release, the FBI warned him not to leave El Portal. Angelia Dale, who testified before the federal grand jury. There, they got a room with a plan to stay for a few days. Connections He also struggled in high school where he was bullied for the abuse he had endured. You have the other brother who's left at home. Cary always wore a hat because he was compulsively pulling his hair out. Cary looked out for Steven, according to Cary Stayner's former classmate Jack Bungart. Soundtracks. Quotes 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. "Her mother, sisters, and a family friend had been missing for a month by the time Gina Sund read her poem in front of a thousand or so people who gathered in Modesto," writes Time. 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 I guess I was jealous. In a voice that seemed relieved to be unburdened from its depth a long-kept secret, Stayner blurted, "I am guilty. 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. That evening, the group grabbed some videos from the lodge's service desk to watch in their room. 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. "I've struggled with that issue for the last 24 hours and continue to do so," he confessed. "He was spunky. He was also angry about how his truck had been searched. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. They then headed out for Cedar Lodge in El Portal on February 14, which is located on Yosemite's western slope. He had a long criminal record and had been questioned extensively by the FBI. Initially, the police didn't have any solid leads as to who killed 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. Jens couldn't accompany them on this trip because he needed to prepare for an upcoming business trip. 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. On February 15, the ladies hiked into Yosemite National Park on one of the many trails. 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.. Local police and Yosemite Park Rangers began to search the area where the missing three were last seen. Woman recalls moment family learned they were target of 1999 He has been questioned about any involvement. Part of TV News Archive. "'Deep in my heart I know something my mind does not want to learn,' said Gina,13. 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. "I'm confident we've done everything that could be reasonably done.". "Thats when I told him, 'You need to go to a doctor, Cary.'" A relatively quiet, but friendly, a motel handyman called Cary Stayners only passions seemed to be nude sunbathing and hiking. 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. In his capacity, Stayner performed technical and housekeeping duties, everything from fixing electrical and mechanical breakdowns to delivering extra towels and bedding to guests. But seven years later in February 1980, Steven miraculously reappeared. Specifically, the media scrutiny seemed to affect his older brother Cary, who clashed with his brother after his return. Chief James Maddock said he himself questioned whether the Bureau could have done anything to prevent Armstrong's killing. After the fourth murder, the FBI went looking for Cary Stayner to interview him, but initially as a witness. Tragically, Steven Stayner was killed in a 1989 motorcycle accident at the age of 24. Previously, the defense had maintained that the FBI had coerced the confession. 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. He was arrested in May on an unrelated crime charge but was soon released. 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. 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. Cary was the ideal son, Kay Stayner revealed to the jury during her elder sons trial for murder. | Timothy Lee White, 5, gets a piggyback ride from 14-year-old Steven Stayner at a news conference in Ukiah, California, in 1980, Kenneth Parnell stops the car and goes to a payphone, he comes back and tells Steven, Your parents, I just spoke to them. Larry Duane Utley, 41 an associate of Dykes and Larwick, first picked up during a March parole sweep. Kenneth"Soldier" Stewart, 24, a former cellmate of Dykes who was charged with attempted murder. WebCary Stayner was convicted of the 1999 Cedar Lodge Killings near Yosemite National Park. But, says Delbert, puberty-aged Cary endured some emotional hardships because of that incident. Soon after, he confessed to murdering Carole Sund, Juli Sund, and Silvina Pelosso once in custody. But, to no avail. 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. Campbell, when first arrested on mail fraud charges, had in her possession Carole Sund's checking account and automated teller machine numbers. 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. This time, agents detained him and forced him to answer more questions. I did murder Carole Sund, Juli Sund, Silvina Pelosso and Joie Armstrong None of the women were sexually abused in any way.". Four hikers visiting Yosemite National Park had been brutally murdered, and Cary Stayner had confessed to the crimes. 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. Cary was off anybody and everybody who met him will tell The Cedar Lodge hired him as a handyman in 1997 and gave him the use of a small apartment on the top floor. For FBI agent Jeff Rinek, it was the climax of a 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. 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. 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. 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. Silvina Pelossos mother, Raquel, said, I just cannot understand how so many peopledidn't realize that maybe (Stayner) was the man since I heard that he was interviewed some time ago. To the dismay of the Stayner family, the case went cold. Acting on a tip from a caller who was worried about the whereabouts of his friend, Joie Ruth Armstrong, 26, park rangers found her decapitated body on the morning of July 22, 1999. 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. Shortly after Stevens death, an uncle with whom Cary Stayner was very close was shot and killed in a home they shared together. It was dark when they arrived and Timmy could remember where he lived so they went to the police station. The 1999 murders of four women near Yosemite National Park were already a big story before Cary Stayner confessed in an FBI interview. According to court documents filed Monday, Cary Stayner told the FBI he assaulted Silvina Pelosso and Juli Sund before killing them. While he attended his meeting, the women were to tour the Grand Canyon. I went to ask if Cary wanted to talk, reporter Ted Rowlands said. "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. He grew up, got married and had two kids. 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. On July 23, when Cary Stayner was released from custody for his marijuana charge, he quickly packed up and left for Laguna del Sol, a nudist colony, according to Cary Stayner, the serial killer convicted in the grisly murders of four women near Yosemite National Park, is born on August 13, 1961. But by the middle of March, their hopes faded. Concluding the interview, he addressed the victims' families: "I am sorry their loved ones were where they were when they were. The interview was conducted off camera and reported Monday on the late news. | How frightened the girls must have been when he cut their clothes off.. Check-out had apparently been done in advance and the keys were left on the room desk. But instead of seeking mental health treatment, he moved to Yosemite. Whites stepfather, Roger Gitlin, said White died April 1, 2010, of an apparent pulmonary embolism. 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 It was the last time the women were seen alive. How can one family, contain two completely contrasting children? Its manager had seen a story on television, recognized Stayner's photo as one of his guests, and notified the FBI. On the way to his police interview he confessed to a detective in the car to murdering Joie Armstrong, describing the brutal killing "as if he was reading a soup label," said John Boles, another FBI agent on the case. 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. 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. The revelation came in a six 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. Convicted in 1978 for rape and robbery, he was jailed on March 14 for failing to register as a sex offender. 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. 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. Cary Stayner, now 57, was convicted of the murders of Armstrong, the Sunds and Pelosso, and sentenced to death for all except Armstrong's. At that time, the Bureau stated that, while no one had yet been charged, it felt that those responsible for killing the three women at Yosemite were already behind bars. I never did tell anybody about it, but I remember wishing on a star that my little brother would come back home. Agents arrived at the scene early on the 19th and upon opening the trunk, investigators found two charred bodies. He was known to take refuge in nearby Yosemite, where hed drive up and get lost in nature. Hastings rejected new defense claims that juror misconduct prevented a fair trial. The inn staff claimed that when they cleaned the room the next morning, they had detected no evidence of foul play or anything that made them suspicious. It was then that Steven's nightmare began as Murphy brought him to Kenneth Parnell, a known pedophile. Michael "Mick" Larwick, 42, of Modesto, part of a vagabond group of methamphetamine drug users and friends centered in the Modesto area. On Good Morning America in March 1980, Steven shared with host David Hartman that it felt "great" to be home. Latent fingerprints were also been lifted from the interior of Joie Armstrong's truck, which Stayner admits to touching during his encounter with her. Then all of a sudden it's gone. 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 Emotionally, Cary Stayner had a tough time during his childhood. 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. You know what I mean? Billy Joe Strange, 39, an El Portal parolee who worked at the Cedar Lodge lounge and restaurant, where the murdered women were last seen. 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. The police reckoned that the killer of the three women was someone familiar with the county given the location of the Pontiac. After a couple of weeks, he upped the sum to $300,000. 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. ", FBI sources claimed that he had already confessed his guilt during the Saturday evening interrogation. He had no criminal record and his only encounter with the law was for marijuana use in 1997. 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. Im just horrified when I think of what happened in that room, what my daughter felt when she realized she was in serious trouble, said Carole Carrington as she asked the judge to sentence Stayner to death. In the end, Stayner confessed without the promise of child pornography or reward money for his parents. The Stayner family was made up of two brothers, three sisters, and parents Kay and Delbert. Cary was 11 years old at the time, and deeply upset about his brother's disappearance. In May 2002, Stayner pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1999 murder of Pelosso and the Sunds. The FBI also seized clothing stained with blood from her body. 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. Jeffrey Wayne Keeney, 32, of Modesto. She had probably been murdered on the evening of Wednesday, July 21. Then on March 25, Juli Sunds body was discovered near Lake Pedro in Tuolumme County. Agents had interviewed Stayner, a handyman at the Cedar Lodge where the tourists had stayed, and later dismissed him as a suspect. 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. WebCary Stayner, the handyman at their hotel, confessed after being arrested for beheading another victim, female nature guide Joie Armstrong. The hire car company confirmed that Carole had never returned the rented Pontiac, nor told them that they were extending their agreement. 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. Goofs "Its difficult for me to picture what Cary has done and knowing Steve because their personalities are completely opposite," Duke, Stevens former girlfriend, said. Items included in the Television News search service. He denied any role in the Yosemite slayings. The death-penalty trial of Cary Stayner was moved from Mariposa County to Santa Clara County, CA. 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. 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. 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. The trivia item below may give away important plot points. He walked naked and and smoked pot, he could find the peace that he so desperately needed. 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. Concluding the interview, he addressed the victims' families: "I am sorry their loved ones were where they were when they were. Some who knew Cary were shocked at his arrest.
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