[17][18], By daybreak on March 2, 1980, Parnell had been arrested on suspicion of abducting both boys. [7] Unbeknownst to Stayner, Parnell's cabin was located only several hundred feet from his maternal grandfather's residence. Spouse. Since then, Kay has preferred to keep her life private and hasnt spoken out apart from the interview on Captive Audience. She lost Delbert in April 2013. He had sustained a fracture at the back of his skull. In 1981, Parnell was tried in two separate trials, one for each boy. His mysterious death. Hulus Captive Audience takes a look at this case through the eyes of the family, including interviews with Stevens children, sister, and mother. He was spunky. Steven Stayners miraculous story of escape from his kidnapper in 1980 garnered national headlines at the time. The world is a crazy place, full of unknown dangers. "[25], Stayner underwent brief counseling but never sought additional treatment. I have covered them both in the same article. After performing a background check, they discovered this wasnt his first offense he had been convicted in 1951 for sodomy. And so Steven made it home, Timmy was returned to his parents, and two families could breathe again. Mike Echols, who wrote the manuscript for the series, later published a book with the same title in 1991. Steven Stayner testifies about his abduction in 1972 by Kenneth Parnell and his seven years in captivity in this 1981 photo. In the early '80s, the story of Steven Stayner's childhood abduction and rescue riveted the nation. "I brought in Timmy because I didn't like what was happening," Stevenexplained to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, a variation of what he told police and reporters for a long time afterward. In 1981, Parnell was tried and convicted of kidnapping White and Stayner in two trials. Nobody can hurt him now. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/steven-stayner-34446.php. He even had a regular babysitter for awhile, a single mom namedBarbara Mathias, who ended up moving in with them for nine months. "We tried to keep quiet and not upset our parents.". Poorman, who had been a friend of the boyhethought was Parnell's son, Dennis,was convicted as a minorfor Timothy White's abduction and spent time in a juvenile facility. Stayner began to drink frequently, and was eventually kicked out of the family home. But despite an extensive search, young Steven was never to be found. seen in Montana, according to our information three sisters. I was the oldest and all that. By 1980, when Steven was fourteen, and now a high school student, Parnells need for another boy became more prevalent. "I remember going out one night after Steve disappeared and wishing on a star that my brother would come back home," Cary reportedly told Mike Echols, author of the book I Know My First Name Is Steven. Jurors in August found him guilty of the murders. On July 24, hours after beingcharged withthe murder ofJoie Ruth Armstrong, a 26-year-old nature guidewho was found decapitatedtwo days beforehand in a densely wooded area of Yosemite just a few hundred feet from her home, Cary confessed in an off-camera jailhouse interview with San Francisco's KBWB-TV to also killing Carole Sund, 42,her daughter JuliSund, 15, and the girl's friend Silvina Pelosso, 16,that past February. kidnapped by Kenneth Parnell, who sexually abused him. However, prosecutors were intent on seeking the death penalty for the murders ofCarole, Juli and Silvina; he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but was convicted on all charges in August 2002. ", Kay said in an interview, per CNN, "He came back different, very different. In an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his sister, Cory, said He got on with his life. In 2002, he was sentenced to death and is currently on death row at San Quentin Penitentiary in California. Mathias also helped Parnell in the abduction of another boy who was in the Santa Rosa Boys' Club with Stayner, but the attempt was unsuccessful. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Steven was held captive and sexually abused by his abductor 200 miles away in Mendocino County, California until he was 14. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. But her strength is waning now. Stayner's parents fear losing another son. Parnell made Steven go by "Dennis Parnell," and as they moved from town to town in California he posed as the boy's father and enrolled him in school. I don't know sometimes if I should have come home. [27] At the time of his death, Stayner was living in Merced and working at a pizza shop. However, the young boy could not take advantage of those opportunities as he was reportedly unaware how to summon help. [31] The two-part miniseries was first broadcast by NBC on May 2122, 1989. Around the time Steven disappeared, they lived in an area with lots of children. In the 1970s, they constituted Cary and Steven, their three sisters, and their parents, Kay and Delbert Stayner. And with the family's input,and based on source material fromMike Echolls' book of the same name, NBC's two-partI Know My First Name Is Stevenstill made quite the splashwhen it premiered on May 22, 1989. This case just breaks my heart And the whole story about his big brother, too. Unable to avoid the collision, Steven hit the drivers side of the vehicle. On December 4, 1972, he was walking home from school when he was spotted by Kenneth Parnell and his friend Ervin Murphy. I know my first name is Steven, he said, ditching the name Parnell had given him. Steven, his memory of his family fading under the strain of the trauma, took to calling Parnell "Dad" and went to class clean and neatly dressed, and otherwise showing no obvious outward traces of being held against his will. One December afternoon in 1972, 7-year-old Steven had been walking home in Merced, California, when he was coaxed into a stranger's car with the promise of a ride home. Hehad been working as a maintenance man and living at Yosemite's Cedar Lodge,where the trio were staying. I am fourteen years of age. 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. Cary Stayner, Steven's older brother, was behind the Yosemite murders that rocked the small farming town of Merced, California in 1999. Five months later, he killed Joie Armstrong, a Yosemite Institute employee. On February 14, 1980, Parnell employed Randall Sean Poorman, a teenage friend of Stayner, to abduct a five-year-old Timothy "Timmy" White in Ukiah, California. "The Abductions That Changed America", Article by Tim Bragg (staff writer) printed in the, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, List of child abuse cases featuring long-term detention, "Crash ends life scarred by childhood abduction", "Kidnapper arrested, accused of trying to buy a child", "Kidnap victim reunites with 'mystery woman', "Alleged attempt to buy child leads to arrest of kidnapper", "Stayner, serial killer Cary Stayner's brother, was abducted for 7 years - Crime Library on truTV.com", "17 Years Later, a Tv Miniseries Forces Steven Stayner to Relive the Horror of His Childhood", "Mormon News for WE 01Aug99: Stayner family's woeful history", "A Hit-and-Run Crash Ends the Life of Kidnap Victim Steven Stayner", "A Kidnapping Victim Rates The Film About His Ordeal", "OAKLAND / Child predator sentenced to 25 years to life / Steven Stayner's kidnapper tried to buy 4-year-old in Berkeley", "Sex offender Kenneth Parnell dies in Vacaville", "Ukiah Daily Journal: Timothy White, boy saved by Steven Stayner, dead at 35", "Timothy White, victim of 1980 kidnapping, dies", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steven_Stayner&oldid=1141810053, Articles with dead external links from February 2019, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 22:53. So, today, at the age of 59, Cary Stayner is incarcerated at the San Quentin State Prison. . "I've never been this angry. On March 1, 1980, the boys left the one-room cabin where Parnell was keeping them in the remote coastal town of Manchester (pop. 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. The family sent out fliers, Sartell said, and headed off on distant road trips to talk to people who might have any information about the missing child. The title of the film and book are taken from the first paragraph of Steven's written police statement, given during the early hours of March 2, 1980 in Ukiah. He remains on death row as of July 2021, but there have been zero executions in the state of California since a 2006 court ruling on the flaws found in the management of capital punishment. Cory . Reminiscent of what happened when kidnapping survivorElizabeth Smartwas spotted in town nine months after she was taken in 2002, seeminglyfree to run but actually terrified of what her abductor might do to her,many would question why Steven didn'ttell someone or otherwise try to escape. Once more details emerged about his ordeal, some kids teased him about being molested. Things were pretty rough for a while, bouncing from one job to another, some would say wandering aimlessly. Then he met Jody Edmondson, and in 1985, when he was 20 and she 17, they married. Featuring interviews with family members, someof whom are speaking in depth for the first time, the show delves into the aftermath of Steven's abduction, the retelling of his story in theindelibly titled1989 miniseries I Know My First Name Is Steven, and the unraveling of his older brother Cary Stayner, who's currently on death row. "It happened to me, and I didn't want to see it happen to anybody else.". ", WhenGMAcaught up with him in 1983, Stevendescribed his first year back as"kinda hectic. Miller toldPeople: He was kind of a reckless kid after he came back home he wrecked a couple of cars and I talked to him about being careful, because he could kill himself. [39] 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 died nine years after he returned home. Stayner, 41, faces the death penalty for the killings of Carole Sund, 42, her daughter, Juli, 15, and their Argentine friend Silvina Pelosso, 16, while they were staying at the motel where he. [17] Both children were reunited with their families that day. "They said, 'If we can bring one child home, it will be worth it. Returning home, Steven Stayner felt that his parents were still treating him as their seven-year-old child, and had trouble adjusting as he no more had the freedom to smoke, drink, or do whatever he wanted. He died on April 1, 2010, at age 35 from pulmonary embolism. Steven Stayner, who was kidnapped at the age of 7, became a national hero after helping another child escape from abuse. He had askedhis home health care worker if she could help him procure a 4-year-old boy, offering to pay $500 to have him delivered to his house in Berkeley. I don't know sometimes if I should have come home. He was at times eerily nonchalant about what happened to him and even took to making jokes about it himself. "Police say that Stayner seemed fond of Parnell, who he said 'spoiled' himStayner was defensive about Parnell in his talks with police and reluctant at first to reveal his name. Lainey Wilson Stuns in Paisley Bell Bottoms. 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