Parnell was tried for kidnapping Stayner and White, but not for sexual abuse. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but only served five -- less time than he held Steven captive. and our However, he was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to death. In addition to her fathers unwanted advances, one of Stayners sisters said that Cary started peeping on her and inappropriately touching her when she was ten. Star Original Captive Audience - A Real American Horror Story aired on Hulu with all 3 episodes available immediately on the release date of April 21, 2022.[18]. At the time, Parnell was convicted for kidnapping and false imprisonment. Stayner and Parnell moved often, finally settling nearUkiah, California, where Steven Stayner became Dennis Parnell, according to The New York Times. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. I wouldnt think that he would think of himself as one, but he is a hero.". As he was not wearing a helmet, he suffered massive head trauma, which led to his death less than one hour after the accident occurred. When he was 24, he died in a hit-and-run motorcycle accident. As reported by ABC News, Kenneth Parnell treated Steven Stayner like a son. To me thats guilt plain and simple. I always looked very closely in hopes of spotting Steven. On the show, Kay mentioned that Del would often drive around looking for freshly dug ground because he thought Steven was dead. In 2005, Timothy landed a job as a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy, according to the New York Times. He was 35. Stayner lived as Parnell's "son" for seven years, during which he was repeatedly sexually abused. He said, 'I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. Kenneth Parnell is most notoriously known for the kidnapping of, Parnell, a former motel clerk, had already been convicted for. Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Storypremiered on Thursday (21 April) and features interviews with Stayners mother and, as he survived the terrible ordeal, his son and daughter. [13] Parnell was, by this time, 71 years old and suffering from diabetes and emphysema, as well as other ailments brought on by an earlier stroke, requiring near 24-hour-a-day nursing care in his cluttered apartment in the 2600 block of Mathews Street in Berkeley. in 2004. Steven Stayner Death: How Carys Stayners Brother Died, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. However, he only served three years in prison for that offense. Stevens father, Delbert Stayner, struggled in the aftermath of his sons vanishing like everyone else in the family. Cary Stayner "was a very, very good cartoonist," and was voted "most creative" at school, according to Purdy. Steven disappeared while returning from school, Cary, Stevens older brother, confessed to murdering four women. Hours after Steven Stayner reported Parnells crimes, he was arrested and convicted of kidnapping. If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. After two weeks of watching White cry for his family, the then-14-year-old Stayner decided that was enough. He died at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville in 2008 at the age of 76. Cary Stayner is now 57 years old. Steven Stayner biography timelines. He had reportedly suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts but the cause of his death remains unclear. Watch: The Truth Behind Our Obsession With True Crime Stories. Steven Stayner, who as a child was kidnaped from his Merced home and held captive until he escaped seven years later, died Saturday in a motorcycle accident, a coroner's spokesman . READ NEXT: Cary Stayner Today: Where Is He Now in 2021? He was kidnapped. Wellman said Parnell "was looking for one last hurrah. In 1972, Parnell kidnapped 7-year-old Steven Stayner of. However, he allowed him to keep the middle name "Gregory" and his original birthdate. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Steven was 24 years old at the time of death. Later that year he married again and had another daughter. [8] Parnell denied in that same interview having been sexually abused himself, although Mike Echols' book I Know My First Name Is Steven states that he was indeed molested at the age of 13 by a boarder in a rooming house that his mother owned in Bakersfield. He also quarreled with his parents at home and drank consistently. Steven Stayner Death - Obituary, Cause Of Death. This includes a 9-year kidnapping and a serial killing pic.twitter.com/WgWQCdDk7h, may queen (@syanarchy) February 19, 2020. "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," Rowlands said. In 1972, when he was just 7 years old, a stranger convinced him that his mother had asked him to pick . Stayner and Parnell pretended to be a son and father (via the Lodi News-Sentinel). Cary Stayner, shown in this March 2, 1980 photo, is hugged by his mother Kay Stayner outside the Stayner home in Merced County, Calif., on the day Stayner's brother Steven was reunited with his family after being kidnapped for 7 years. View Entire Post Get up to speed with our Essential California newsletter, sent six days a week. He was 76. [14] He paid $100 for a birth certificate and had $400 on his person for the completion of the transaction when he was to receive the child on January 3, 2003. While working at the Yosemite Lodge, Kenneth Parnell befriended his coworker Ervin Murphy. Stayner had been at Cedar Lodge for two years when Carole Sund, her teenage daughter Juli Sund and her friend Silvina Pelosso came to stay one night in February 1999. "Whatever demons were clamoring around in his head, by being naked, by smoking pot, he could find the peace that he so desperately needed," LaLama said. Del died at his home in Winton, California, on April 9, 2013. Cary Stayner is shown in a 1979 Merced High School yearbook photo. Cary Stayner was just 11 when his 7-year-old brother, Steven, was abducted by a pedophile. "There was a movie made about Steven Stayner. Steven Gregory Stayner was born on April 18, 1965 in Merced, California, to Delbert and Kay Stayner. On September 16, 1989, Stayner was riding his motorcycle on his way home from his job, when he collided with a driver coming out of a nearby migrant labor camp. Tragically, Stayner was killed in a hit-and-run motorcycle accident in September 1989 while returning from a Pizza Hut shift. I yelled at him a lot. According to another report, Del was ordered to undergo therapy because he molested his daughters. You know what I mean? I never recognized either one of them.". Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. ***WARNING: Captive Audience spoilers ahead***. "Kenneth Parnell stops the car and goes to a payphone, he comes back and tells Steven, 'Your parents, I just spoke to them. One relative described child sexual abuse as like a family sickness because it had been going on for so many generations. Parnell was registered as a sex offender when he lured 7-year-old Stayners into his car as the boy walked home from his elementary school in Merced, California. On April 18th, 1965, he was welcomed into the world by his parents, Delbert Stayner and Kay Stayner, in Merced, California, in the United States of America. On February 14, 1980, Parnell abducted five-year-old Timothy White from Ukiah with the help of Sean Poorman, a minor and an acquaintance of Stayner. "He literally said, 'I was not going to let that child go through what I had already been through. "When Steven came home, Cary was kind of put on the back shelf. Delbert Stayner passed away in 2013. Parnell went on to tell Stayner that his parents couldn't afford to keep him any more, that a judge had given Parnell legal custody of him, and that his new name was "Dennis". I heard stories about him going out and wishing on a star, that his brother would come home.. Carole Sund, her daughter Juli Sund and friend Silvina Pelosso were missing for a month before their bodies were found. Their return launched Stayner into the spotlight, and he later became the focus of a 1989 television movie titled, I Know My First Name Is Steven. After White had been with Stayner and his captors for 16 days, Stayner realized he needed to save White from the same abuse he had endured (via the Los Angeles Times). He also began manipulating the boy into believing his parents did not want him anymore, as they could not afford to financially support him. . When he returned, he told the boy that he called his parents and they said they did not want him anymore. In February 1980, Parnell brought home a 5-year-old White, who, like Stayner, had been walking home from school. But tragedy would strike Stayner one last time. Parnell was convicted of two counts of kidnaping and sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison in February, 1982, after an 18-day trial in Hayward. Parnell worked at the Yosemite Lodge, located about two hours away from the Stayner home. Now I had to compete with a brother and three sisters. Cary was convicted in 1999 of the murders of four women and sentenced to death in 2002. When Stayner was 14, he ran away with another kidnapped boy, Timmy White, and went to the police, ABC News reported. Sean Poorman, Stayner's schoolfriend who abetted Parnell in the White kidnapping, was sentenced to a term in a juvenile work camp. In 1981, he was. Steven and Timmy. You could see that he wanted to play and be with kids and be normal.". And if I didnt take care of it now, it would just get worse, Lori Duke, Stayners high school girlfriend, told ABC News. When he returned, Stayner was constantly in the public eye, and he struggled with returning to his normal life after being kept captive for seven years. Tragically, the Stayner family would be in for another shock a decade later. He later said, I never stopped looking, every time I saw a crowd on TV or a picture of a lot of people in a magazine. He befriended a co-worker named Ervin Murphy to assist him in a vile act that would shake the family forever. When 14-year-old Steven Stayner turned up at a police station, more than seven years after he was kidnapped while walking home from . Cary is 60 and remains in prison. "He was just very well grounded, for a person that had gone through what he had gone through.". After serving in the Army, Del worked at several sawmills and then moved to be employed in the canning industry. But he was pretty messed up and he never got any counseling. "He was very proud of who he was," his wife, Jodi Stayner, said in 1999. "Steven was a national hero. "They call [Merced] the gateway to Yosemite," said Ted Rowlands, a former reporter who covered Cary Stayners story at KNTV for the San Francisco Bay area. And they searched. According to Crime Investigation, the boys hitchhiked more than 40 miles to reach Ukiah, California, where White was abducted from. You have the other brother who's left at home. [16][17] According to prison officials, Parnell died of natural causes. [10] However, none of them panned out. Stevens was aware of Parnell's past and cooperated with police in setting up a sting operation that would lead to his arrest. "Merced was the lead police department, and so they really mounted a large effort to search. By Mike Moran of the Confessional Podcast : Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. Refocus, and listen as we honor the memory of Steven Stayner, a boy kidnapped in his youth, only to tragically die shortly after escaping captivity. The cause was a pulmonary embolism, said his stepfather, Roger Gitlin. The officers soon realized that both of the boys had actually been kidnapped, and the one identifying himself as Dennis Parnell was actually Steven Stayner. I returned almost a grown man and yet my parents saw me at first as their 7-year-old, he told Newsweek in 1984. He was seven when he was abducted. Privacy Policy. Had no interest in girls, had no interest in people. At the time, Stayner had been missing for more than seven years. Marshal from the Fresno County Jail in Fresno, Calif., Aug. 6, 1999 on his way to an arraignment in federal court. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). Del was born in New Mexico in May 1933 and moved to Merced County, California, in 1951. However, he only served five years of his sentence. Parnell died of natural causes on January 21, 2008, at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, California, while serving a sentence of 25 years to life. Steven Stayner cause of death Teddy April 25, 2022 1 min read Steven Gregory Stayner was born in April 18, 1965 - September 16, 1989 he was a kidnapped victim from the United States. Surrounded by TV cameras, Steven Stayner, right foreground, and and his brother Delbert Stayner are shown walking toward their Merced County, Calif., home, March 2, 1980, as Steven was reunited with his family following a 7-year kidnap ordeal. Stevens sister, Cory, later said that he never went to therapy or counseling because their father didnt think he needed it. Parnell, who was in hospice care, died of natural causes at 9:10 p.m. Monday, according to the department of corrections. On December 4, 1972, seven-year-old Stayner was abducted in Merced, California, by child molester Kenneth Parnell. He was arrested again in 2004 for attempting to buy a child, and died in a state prison hospital in California in 2008.). He retired in 1995 from working at a canning factory in Atwater, California. From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. By age 19, Stayner had amassed $1,100 in unpaid traffic tickets, which led to his drivers license being suspended, according to the Los Angeles Times. The devastation of losing their son twice within 10 years was excruciating for Steven Stayner's parents. 1 reference. Sometimes I blame myself. In 1999 a proposition was put forward to rename several local parks in the Merced area to honour outstanding citizens of the city. . The kidnappings exacted a heavy toll on the Stayner family. Over the years, Parnell had numerous jobs and he and Stayner moved often. Timothy White died of a pulmonary embolism in 2010 at the age of 35. As Steven Stayner got older, Kenneth Parnell began planning to kidnap another, younger, boy. On July 24, 1999, Cary confessed to killing four women, who had all been guests at the lodge where he was employed. When he didnt return home, Stevens parents Delbert and Kay Stayner alerted the authorities but there were no leads. In the time after Stevens disappearance, Del dealt with depression and suicidal thoughts. Surrounded by endless complainers? The boy agreed and gave the man his address. Shulze, of Oak Park, California, earned Academic All-Big Ten honors for the 2020 and 2021 cross country seasons, as well as 2021 for track. 0 references. They no longer want you,'" investigative journalist Pat LaLama said. A plaque bearing the names of other missing children in Merced County will later be added.. READ MORE: Tales Of Demons And Gods Chapter 377: The Audience Awaited The New Chapter! Parnell was sentenced to 25 years to life under California's "three strikes" law. Stayner died in 1989 in a motorcycle accident while driving home from work. At the age of seven, Steven Stayner was kidnapped on the afternoon of December 4, 1972 by Kenneth Parnell, who had . Stayner and his wife were high school sweethearts, the article said. Los Angeles, Calmes: Heres what we should do about Marjorie Taylor Greene, David Lindley, guitarist best known for work with Jackson Browne, dies at 78, ICE detainees allege retaliation for speaking about medical conditions at Otay Mesa center, Downtown L.A stabbing sends six to hospital; suspect arrested, San Diego Roman Catholic diocese facing yet another lawsuit from its insurance company, K-Pop isnt the only hot ticket in Koreatown how trot is captivating immigrants, Los Angeles is suddenly awash in waterfalls. He sexually abused Stayner repeatedly until Stayner fled in 1980 when he was 14. About eight years later, Steven escapeda story that drew significant media attention and was turned into a popular television miniseries, "I Know My First Name Is Steven." But in 1989, Steven died in a motorcycle accident at the age of 24. Stayner told another psychiatrist, Park Dietz, who was hired by the prosecution to evaluate whether he was sane at the time he committed the Yosemite murders, that as a child he worried that the obsessive thoughts he had about holding the neighbor girl against her will somehow caused Steven to be kidnapped. A third brother, Cary Stayner, is seen in a ball cap in the background between his brothers Steven and Delbert. Stayner later escaped, taking Timmy with him. [9] Weeks afterward, Stayner escaped Parnell's house with White; he later said he did not want the boy to suffer the abuse that he had endured. According to The Famous People, Parnell also enrolled Stayner in school. On the afternoon of December 4, 1972, 7-year-old Steven Stayner was walking home from school in Merced, California, when he was approached by a man passing out religious pamphlets. He had three sisters and an older brother, Cary. FBI agents caught up with Stayner at a nudist colony, where he had fled to after Armstrongs murder. As reported by The Famous People, both boys were reunited with their parents on May 2, 1980. Here is all you want to know, and more! He loved his brother, his former calssmate, Jack Bungart, told the news outlet. However, he was convicted in Utah and was not known as a criminal in California. Unfortunately, Kenneth was paroled after five, less time than he had Steven in his "custody." At a press conference outside the Stayner house, "everyone was smiling, there was a lot of jubilation, but if you look in the background, there's something worth noting, and it's Cary in his baseball cap, and he's not smiling at all," according to Flynn. Steven was told his new name was Dennis Parnell and was enrolled in school. Stayner died at the Merced Community Medical Center at just 24 years old, in what was sadly one of multiple tragedies for him and his family. "He paid a local kid to ride with him to the little town of Ukiah, California, puts this high school kid out on the street to go find him a boy, and he finds 5-year-old Timothy White walking home from school," Flynn said. They kicked him out of their house twice. Stayner's brother, Cary, is in San. Losing perspective? He was 79 years old, and from what we can tell, the cause of death has not been made public. Delbert Stayner Age At The Time Of His Death At the time of Delbert Stayner's death, he was 79 years old. While investigators were checking into Parnell's past, the 1951 sodomy conviction came to light, although at the time Stayner insisted that Parnell had not sexually abused him.[11]. He also joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His parents had different expectations. In 1972, seven-year-old Steven Stayner was kidnapped by a pedophile named Kenneth Parnell in Merced, California and held captive for the next seven years. He'd bought a brand new white and blue Kawasaki EX-500 motorcycle with money from a miniseries based on his childhood kidnapping, called "I Know My First Name Is Steven." After her friends reported her missing, police found signs of a struggle at her cabin and half a mile away, they found her body. Meanwhile, his captors had renamed Steven as Dennis Parnell and he was enrolled in schools as Parnells son during seven years of abduction and sexual abuse, as reported by the LA Times. Powered by. Have something to tell us about this article? The fact that Stayners brother was kidnapped by a pedophile and abused for seven years adds an almost unfathomable dimension to the tragedy that enveloped this family. Stayner was considered a hero for saving White from years of sexual and physical abuse. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV. Parnell married 15-year old Patsy Jo Dorton in 1949,[7] had a daughter in 1951, and divorced in 1957. He retired in 1995 from working at a canning factory in Atwater, California. ", "Its difficult for me to picture what Cary has done and knowing Steve because their personalities are completely opposite," Duke, Stevens former girlfriend, said. By the time Steven was 14, he had been abused and manipulated by Parnell for seven years. Years later in interviews, Stayner admitted to intentionally sabotaging the kidnappings. Prosecutor Tim Wellman had largely argued his case before the jury by showing a slideshow of Stayner marked "1", then of White marked "2", and a blank screen marked "3" to show the nonexistent child that would have been abducted had police not been notified. The Big Conn | Official Trailer | Apple TV+, https://i.ytimg.com/vi/M88ZzxKyrTg/hqdefault.jpg. ABC News reports it was a "sleety, wintery day," and Stayner willingly followed Murphy into Parnell's car, as he expected the man to take him home. I guess seven years changed him, too. On Sept. 16, 1989, Steven, then 24, was killed in a motorcycle accident while on his way home from work. The Stayner family, made up of the two brothers, their three sisters and parents Kay and Delbert, lived in the secluded farming town of Merced, California, surrounded by almond groves and peach orchards, in the shadow of Yosemite National Park. And there was just nothing there," said Pat Lunney, an investigator assigned to Steven Stayners case. Find a Grave The boys alerted the police and were finally united with their families. Stayner went on to marry his wife, Jodi Stayner, and have two children. Although he was. And if I didnt take care of it now, it would just get worse,'" Duke said. A year later, he was sentenced to life, which was, at the time, the harshest sentence handed down under the the "three strikes" law. As reported by ABC News, Lori Duke, who went to school with Stayner, but knew him as Dennis Parnell, said, "He had a great personality. The kidnapping had a deep impact on Cary Stayner, his childhood friend, Mike Marchese told ABC News in a 1999 interview. Overnight, Steven Stayner became a national hero, especially as Kenneth Parnell was arrested the very next day March 2, 1980. 5h ago. Starcasm Staff July 2, 2021 20/20, True Crime. He reunited with his family and later attended college. 3. Steven Gregory Stayner was a well-known kidnapping victim from the United States. As reported by People, Stayner struck the driver's side of the car at a high rate of speed. Date of Death: September 16, 1989. Murphy had befriended serial paedophile Kenneth Parnell, and the two were in cahoots. The prosecution successfully argued that sexual aids and pornography found in the apartment, along with Stevens' own testimony, were enough to prove that Parnell's intentions were criminal in nature. Stayner grew up in Merced, California, near Yosemite National Park. There was out and out fury over the sentence," Flynn said. When Parnell kidnapped 5-year-old Timothy White that year, Stayner fled on foot along with the kindergartner and then hitchhiked to safety, a journey that thrust the two kidnapping survivors into the national spotlight.