I did murder Carole Sund, Juli Sund, Silvina Pelosso and Joie Armstrong None of the women were sexually abused in any way.". 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. After a couple of weeks, he upped the sum to $300,000. They then headed out for Cedar Lodge in El Portal on February 14, which is located on Yosemite's western slope. 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. He told Hartman that his parents "didnt change that much," but his brother and sisters, "they changed a lot. 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. That same day, Stayner allowed himself to be interviewed by a reporter from KNTV. 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. She was subpoenaed because she is a friend of Dykes and Larwick. Tragically, Steven Stayner was killed in a 1989 motorcycle accident at the age of 24. I was the oldest and all that. 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. 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. She was seen that day at the Institute offices and was planning to visit a friend in Sausalito, California, that day but never made it. By this point, Cary Stayner had a couple of nervous breakdowns. 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 (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. She also happens to have a front row seat to two true crime narratives in her own family. He walked naked and and smoked pot, he could find the peace that he so desperately needed. Then all of a sudden it's gone. 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. 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. "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. 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. Goofs 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. Connections He was known to take refuge in nearby Yosemite, where hed drive up and get lost in nature. The other Sund children believed their mother and sister Juli would be returned. "And I did that almost every clear night from then on until Steve finally came back home. The dramatic story was told in the 1989 television movie, I Know My First Name Is Steven.. You know what I mean? Darrell Gray Stephens, 55, Strange's roommate. Cedar Lodge, 9966 CA-140, El Portal, CA 95318. 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 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. In his capacity, Stayner performed technical and housekeeping duties, everything from fixing electrical and mechanical breakdowns to delivering extra towels and bedding to guests. He wanted the world to take note.. On days off he would escape to Laguna Del Sol, a nudist colony in Sacramento County. Against the odds, he flourished there. The hire car company confirmed that Carole had never returned the rented Pontiac, nor told them that they were extending their agreement. Ashley Stayner is a self-professed true crime fan. 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. 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 was a good student, a Steven and Cary Stayner: The tale of two brothers' horror - ABC Robyn Lively is a step sister of Blake Lively. Web6,597 views Jan 24, 2019 56 Dislike Share ABC10 172K subscribers On July 26, 1999, former ABC10 reporter Tim Daly went down to the Cedar Lodge where Cary Stayner "He was spunky. They were looking for the missing red 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix as well as the women. The prosecution team was headed by George Williamson and the defense team was headed by Marcia Morrissey. How frightened the girls must have been when he cut their clothes off.. WebCary Stayner, the handyman at their hotel, confessed after being arrested for beheading another victim, female nature guide Joie Armstrong. I never did tell anybody about it, but I remember wishing on a star that my little brother would come back home. I wish I could have controlled myself and not done what I did. When Steven didnt return from school that afternoon, his parents sounded the alarm. 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. 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.". Shortly after Stevens death, an uncle with whom Cary Stayner was very close was shot and killed in a home they shared together. The revelation came in a six Im so proud of the way Carole and Juli lived, and Im so ashamed of Stayner.. Jeffrey Wayne Keeney, 32, of Modesto. Cary Stayner was sentenced Thursday to die for committing three murders near Yosemite National Park in 1999. Carole and her husband, Jens, 43, owned a realtors business in the Stockton area. I guess I was jealous. 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 Unofficially, Jens Sund offered a $250,000 reward for information that would lead to the return of the missing women. Something was clearly very, very wrong. Quotes ", Stayner's apartment was searched later in the day and the authorities discovered evidence that linked him to Armstrong's murder. where Stayner was employed as a handyman. 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. Jens couldn't accompany them on this trip because he needed to prepare for an upcoming business trip. It was badly decomposed and her throat had been cut. Then there was another murder. 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. This time, agents detained him and forced him to answer more questions. 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. He remains on Parnell was convicted on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges. He said, I want you to get a hold of some producers in Los Angeles. In the end, Stayner confessed without the promise of child pornography or reward money for his parents. 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. 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. Cary always wore a hat because he was compulsively pulling his hair out. It was then that Steven's nightmare began as Murphy brought him to Kenneth Parnell, a known pedophile. 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. "I'm confident we've done everything that could be reasonably done.". 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. 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 was convicted of four brutal murders in 2002. 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. 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. By the end of June, the FBI had reviewed the testimonies and the evidence linked to the suspects in custody. The FBI pushed for Strange's arrest, but he denied any part in the triple murders. Stayner was already serving a life sentence for the murder of Joie Ruth Armstrong. In 1972, Stayners Initially, the police didn't have any solid leads as to who killed them. 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 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 Stayner family was made up of two brothers, three sisters, and parents Kay and Delbert.