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 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. One of those arrested, and later released, was Cary Stayner, who worked at the Cedar Lodge as the handyman. The issue was no longer who committed the murders but whether Stayner was insane at the time and whether the confession to the FBI agents was coerced. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. Agents descended on the colony and returned him to El Portal on Saturday where he was put through a more lengthy interrogation. For two weeks, Steven watched Timothy suffer the separation from his family. 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. The FBI Laboratory has also found possible bodily fluid stains on a bed sheet taken from her residence. The death-penalty trial of Cary Stayner was moved from Mariposa County to Santa Clara County, CA. He died in jail in 2008 at the age of 76. Jens couldn't accompany them on this trip because he needed to prepare for an upcoming business trip. On days off he would escape to Laguna Del Sol, a nudist colony in Sacramento County. Chief James Maddock said he himself questioned whether the Bureau could have done anything to prevent Armstrong's killing. Cary was the ideal son, Kay Stayner revealed to the jury during her elder sons trial for murder. He walked naked and and smoked pot, he could find the peace that he so desperately needed. 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. "I'm confident we've done everything that could be reasonably done.". Cary Stayner, the serial killer convicted in the grisly murders of four women near Yosemite National Park, is born on August 13, 1961. Connections 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. Steven Stayner had a new father figure, and it was Kenneth Parnell, who by day, was his father, and by night, was his rapist. 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. Part of TV News Archive. Cary looked out for Steven, according to Cary Stayner's former classmate Jack Bungart. Then Carole's wallet turned up in Modesto, which included money and credit cards. Shortly after Stevens death, an uncle with whom Cary Stayner was very close was shot and killed in a home they shared together. Steven was told his new name was Dennis Parnell and was enrolled in school. 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. Very seldom did he get into trouble. During the session, an unexpected event occurred. Cary Stayner, now 57, was convicted of the murders of Armstrong, the Sunds and Pelosso, and sentenced to death for all except Armstrong's. 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. According to court documents filed Monday, Cary Stayner told the FBI he assaulted Silvina Pelosso and Juli Sund before killing them. I guess seven years changed him, too. In 1999, Carole Sund, 42, her daughter Juli Sund, 15, and Juli's friend, Silvina Pelosso, 16, went missing while visiting Yosemite Park. Then he took action. In a voice that seemed relieved to be unburdened from its depth a long-kept secret, Stayner blurted, "I am guilty. Concluding the interview, he addressed the victims' families: "I am sorry their loved ones were where they were when they were. On March 1, 1980, Steven waited until Parnell was at work and then fled the house with Timothy. 'I try to stay strong because I know that's what you'd want your baby to be, but, Mommy, I don't want you to leave me.'". 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.. 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. It was not animated or digitally created; a stunt driver put the truck into a full controlled jackknife in front of the camera. 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. "I've struggled with that issue for the last 24 hours and continue to do so," he confessed. 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. He denied any role in the Yosemite slayings. 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. William Mapother is a cousin of, The unsub bears some similarities with Cary Stayner, older brother of infamous kidnapping victim Steven Stayner (. When she did not appear as planned, her would-be host had phoned the park. 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. Steven was a national hero. Stayner was already serving a life sentence for the murder of Joie Ruth Armstrong. By Friday, July 23rd, Stayner, in the meantime, had disappeared from the area, by the time agents came to arrest him. Despite this, he never appeared to behave lewdly nor perversely in public. Cary was off anybody and everybody who met him will tell 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. 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. Her mother had been dating him and he had decided to kill them on Valentines Day. When Steven didnt return from school that afternoon, his parents sounded the alarm. "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. Concluding the interview, he addressed the victims' families: "I am sorry their loved ones were where they were when they were. He said, I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. 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. It was the last time the women were seen alive. He befriended a co-worker named Ervin Murphy to assist him in the abduction. He told Hartman that his parents "didnt change that much," but his brother and sisters, "they changed a lot. WebCary Stayner, the handyman at their hotel, confessed after being arrested for beheading another victim, female nature guide Joie Armstrong. Then all of a sudden it's gone. 5-year-old Timothy White walking home from school and they quickly snatched him. For four weeks, police, family, and volunteers searched the area in and near Yosemite National Park by helicopter, foot, and skis. Investigators searched his truck and confiscated his backpack for examination. Woman recalls moment family learned they were target of 1999 Its manager had seen a story on television, recognized Stayner's photo as one of his guests, and notified the FBI. But by the middle of March, their hopes faded. Cary Stayner went from being the brother of child abductee Steven Stayer to a full-blown serial killer. All of its been bad, Delbert Stayner said of his familys life. For FBI agent Jeff Rinek, it was the climax of a On Monday, July 22, the court heard Stayners taped confession, which he had given to FBI agents. 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. Out of respect for his family and the victim's family, we don't want to say anymore." Local police and Yosemite Park Rangers began to search the area where the missing three were last seen. But seven years later in February 1980, Steven miraculously reappeared. More than a thousand leads, they confessed, produced nothing. ", Stayner's apartment was searched later in the day and the authorities discovered evidence that linked him to Armstrong's murder. In the Bureau's mind, this time it had the right man. Billy Joe Strange, 39, an El Portal parolee who worked at the Cedar Lodge lounge and restaurant, where the murdered women were last seen. "Thats when I told him, 'You need to go to a doctor, Cary.'" In 1972, Stayners She had probably been murdered on the evening of Wednesday, July 21. 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. "Privately, some members of the Sund-Pelosso task force were saying the same things to the media. 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. 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 later said in an interview, I returned almost a grown man, and yet my parents saw me at first as their seven-year-old. They lived in the farming town of Merced, California, the Gateway to Yosemite. To the dismay of the Stayner family, the case went cold. Parnell was convicted on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges. 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. He had given the FBI details "only the killer would know in such specificity that agents were able to recover evidence confirming his 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. That evening, the group grabbed some videos from the lodge's service desk to watch in their room. | Stevens death, along with the death of his uncle soon afterward, reportedly had a serious impact on Cary Stayners mental health and well-being. ", 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. They no longer want you.. The Stayner family was made up of two brothers, three sisters, and parents Kay and Delbert. 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. Ken Parnell went back to what he had been doing for years. The two hitchhiked to Ukiah, California. Parnell, along with Murphy, took Steven to a cabin in Catheys Valley, where he was brainwashed to believe his parents no longer wanted him. Cary Stayner was sentenced Thursday to die for committing three murders near Yosemite National Park in 1999. 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. 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. You have the other brother who's left at home. It was then that Steven's nightmare began as Murphy brought him to Kenneth Parnell, a known pedophile. He also exhibited some behaviors that made others uncomfortable, including, as he later admitted, exposing himself to his sister's friend. I wish I could have controlled myself and not done what I did. | Tragically, Steven Stayner was killed in a 1989 motorcycle accident at the age of 24. 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 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. Her body was next to a stream and head within the water that she and her friends used for drinking water. 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 Check-out had apparently been done in advance and the keys were left on the room desk. 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. Then there was another murder. 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.". 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. It was badly decomposed and her throat had been cut. They finally caught up with him at the Laguna Del Sol nudist colony, which he frequently visited. But why doesnt my dad hug me anymore? 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. It was dark when they arrived and Timmy could remember where he lived so they went to the police station. Whites stepfather, Roger Gitlin, said White died April 1, 2010, of an apparent pulmonary embolism. 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 "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. Upon release, the FBI warned him not to leave El Portal. Some who knew Cary were shocked at his arrest. 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. Against the odds, he flourished there. The 1999 murders of four women near Yosemite National Park were already a big story before Cary Stayner confessed in an FBI interview. Soundtracks. Parnell and Murphy were driving towards town when Stephen was lured into their vehicle and abducted. 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. She was subpoenaed because she is a friend of Dykes and Larwick. He loved his brother. | A large search turned up nothing. I did murder Carole Sund, Juli Sund, Silvina Pelosso and Joie Armstrong None of the women were sexually abused in any way.". Cary always wore a hat because he was compulsively pulling his hair out. A relatively quiet, but friendly, a motel handyman called Cary Stayners only passions seemed to be nude sunbathing and hiking. The prosecution team was headed by George Williamson and the defense team was headed by Marcia Morrissey. Then on March 25, Juli Sunds body was discovered near Lake Pedro in Tuolumme County. Soon after, he confessed to murdering Carole Sund, Juli Sund, and Silvina Pelosso once in custody. In February 1980, Parnell decided to kidnap a new victim. 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 did feel, however, that the FBI spared nothing to investigate the earlier killings. 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." Initially, the police didn't have any solid leads as to who killed them. "He had a great personality," said Lori Duke, who dated Steven in high school but knew him as Dennis. Cary was 11 years old at the time, and deeply upset about his brother's disappearance. Four men were considered the main murder suspects in the initial inquiries. Convicted in 1978 for rape and robbery, he was jailed on March 14 for failing to register as a sex offender. But, to no avail. Unsurprisingly, it didnt take long for the story to become national news, and the teenage Steven was at the center of it all. In a jailhouse interview with a television reporter, he said he did not rape any of the women. 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 had no criminal record and his only encounter with the law was for marijuana use in 1997. 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 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. Management found him a hard worker and honest. The other Sund children believed their mother and sister Juli would be returned. 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. He was convicted of four brutal murders in 2002. The initial suspicion was that they may have wandered off the main hiking paths and got lost in the park. After several days, the bodies were identified as Carole Sund and Silvina Pelosso through dental records. After a couple of weeks, he upped the sum to $300,000. 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.

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