Authorities had already interviewed him once before about the other three murders, but at the time he hadnt raised any red flags. Stayner's brother, Cary, is in San. Stayner once told press that he vigilantly watched his kids, and they werent even allowed out on the porch unless they were in sight of him or their mom. But tragedy struck in December 1972 when Steven disappeared while returning from school. When 14-year-old Steven Stayner turned up at a police station, more than seven years after he was kidnapped while walking home from . While they never gave up hope, the ordeal took a toll on the whole family. 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. 1 reference. He was sentenced to seven years in prison but only served five -- less time than he held Steven captive. He briefly attended counseling but instead considered talking to reporters as his form of therapy. Their new captive, Timmy White, was just 5 years old, and Stayner was heartbroken that White was always sad and crying. Then-7-year-old Steven Stayner was walking home from school on Highway 140 when Parnell and Murphy were driving towards town. Flynn said his sexuality was "constantly under attack.". During the penalty phase, Del admitted to having neglected his children after Steven went missing and said regarding Cary, I didnt socialize with him. 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. Parnell forced Stayner to take on the name Dennis Parnell, and shuttled him from remote towns to isolated cabins all around Northern California, according to the Los Angeles Times. But Cary Stayner also exhibited some behaviors that made others uncomfortable, including, as he later admitted, exposing himself to his sister's friend. [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. And if I didnt take care of it now, it would just get worse,'" Duke said. 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. Parnell married 15-year old Patsy Jo Dorton in 1949,[7] had a daughter in 1951, and divorced in 1957. The Big Conn | Official Trailer | Apple TV+, https://i.ytimg.com/vi/M88ZzxKyrTg/hqdefault.jpg. Am I wrong? Not only was Steven able to explain to police what happened to him and Timothy, he was also able to tell them his real name was Steven, not Dennis. 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. Stayner was stolen on December 4, 1972, in Merced, California, by child molester Kenneth Parnell. As Parnell was working the night shift, Stayner fled the home with White in the middle of the night. Would I have been better off if I didnt?. FBI agents caught up with Stayner at a nudist colony, where he had fled to after Armstrongs murder. I was disappointed however on some of the inconsistencies, misspellings, and grammatical errors. Stayner was seven years old at the time. On December 4, 1972, Parnell abducted seven-year-old Merced resident Steven Stayner with the help of Edward Ervin Murphy, a co-worker at the Yosemite Lodge, where Parnell worked as a night auditor. They kicked him out of their house twice. Parnell was sentenced to 20 months in prison for Steven's. So, Steven figures the best thing to do is to take him to the police station," Flynn said. In 2003, he was once again arrested in connection with a kidnapping, when an elderly and sickly Parnell tried to get his caretaker to buy a 4-year-old boy for him in Berkeley, California, the Associated Press reported in 2004. Steven Stayner was killed in a motorcycle accident when he was 24 years old FBI/Wikipedia On September 16, 1989, Steven Stayner was riding his motorcycle home from work when a car suddenly pulled out of a driveway onto the highway. At the time, Parnell was convicted for kidnapping and false imprisonment. Stayner was lured into the vehicle and abducted. "He was kind of a quiet guy. 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. He had reportedly suffered from depression and suicidal thoughts but the cause of his death remains unclear. Parnell, 76, died at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville on Monday night, corrections officials said Tuesday. Stevens was aware of Parnell's past and cooperated with police in setting up a sting operation that would lead to his arrest. In 1972, when he was just 7 years old, a stranger convinced him that his mother had asked him to pick . According to Diane Stevens' testimony, Parnell requested that the child have a "clean" rectum, indicating sexual intentions. Hang out with friends or skateboard," Purdy told ABC News. Wellman said Parnell "was looking for one last hurrah. [16][17] According to prison officials, Parnell died of natural causes. Like Kay, he urged the jury at Carys trial not to sentence him to death. In 1985, Stayner married Jody Edmondson in Atwater, where the two were living with their two children at the time of his death. According to The Press Democrat, Kay Stayner said she "never did lose [her] hope" of finding her missing son. After her friends reported her missing, police found signs of a struggle at her cabin and half a mile away, they found her body. Steven went on to marry Jody Edmondson in 1985 aged 20 and they welcomed two children, Ashley and Steven Jr, who Stayner was naturally very protective over. He was sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison. Like Steven, Timothy also died very young. Steven returned to Merced to marry and start a family, becoming a champion for the cause of missing children until his untimely death at the age of 24 in 1989. Still, Stayner wanted to help his parents and asked that a $250,000 reward for information go to his family, Rinek wrote. Years later in interviews, Stayner admitted to intentionally sabotaging the kidnappings. At the time of Stayner's kidnapping, Parnell was employed at the Yosemite Lodge, which according to ABC News, was approximately two hours away from Merced. Cary Stayner is now 57 years old. Parnell, 76, died at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville on Monday, corrections officials said Tuesday. The brothers, four years apart in age, shared a room, but didnt get along, according to Rowlands. American crime victim who was kidnapped at age seven and held captive by sex offender Kenneth Parnell for seven years. My dad said he didnt need any. The press also hounded him constantly, and during Parnells trial he was bullied at school over questions of his sexuality. Steven was never able to open up about the sexual abuse he suffered and get help. But they weren't religious leaders Kenneth E. Parnellwas a convicted pedophile. Stayner, who was held captive by Parnell for seven years, died in a 1989 motorcycle crash. 3. Parnell, a former motel clerk, had already been convicted for molesting an 8-year-old boy in Bakersfield, California in 1952 when he kidnapped Stayner, SF Gate reported in 2008. Cookie Notice 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. Unable to avoid the collision, Steven hit the driver's side of the vehicle. . In 1999 a proposition was put forward to rename several local parks in the Merced area to honour outstanding citizens of the city. Both men were convicted. In February 1980, Parnell decided to capture a new, younger boy. In the years after Steven vanished, Del spent considerable time looking for anything that would lead him to his son. Steven Stayner captured the heart of a nation when he helped another child escape from a pedophile, after enduring years of abuse and not wanting to see the child experience the same fate. This poor family! "I went to ask if Cary wanted to talk. Stayner would not reemerge until 1980, when he fled from Parnell to save another kidnapped boy, Timothy White. Sometimes I blame myself. While Steven was a freshman at Mendocino High School, some 300 miles to the south, his older brother Cary was an upperclassman at Merced High School. By this point, Cary Stayner was suffering. 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. Losing perspective? And it wasn't that he was just a loner, he was a bit of a creepy loner," Flynn said. He was convicted of kidnapping 7-year-old Steven Stayner in 1972 and keeping him . He also conscripted Stayner into aiding him in kidnappings, but Stayner had always failed to grab the targeted child to the point Parnell stopped using Stayner as an accomplice, berating him for being an "incompetent". Steven Stayner died in 1989. 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. In March 1951, Parnell was arrested for raping a young boy and impersonating a police officer; he was sentenced to four years in prison. Stayner and Parnell pretended to be a son and father (via the Lodi News-Sentinel). (Parnell's cabin was, unbeknownst to Stayner, located only several hundred feet from his maternal grandfather's residence.) Steven Gregory Stayner died in a motorcycle accident on September 16, 1989, in Merced, California, United States. 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. He died behind bars in 2008 from natural causes. 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. In 1981, he was. He literally said, I was not going to let that child go through what I had already been through. Stayner had a traumatic childhood involving sexual abuse, the kidnap of his younger brother by a pedophile, and feelings of blame that he could not protect his brother, FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Rinek wrote in his book, In the Name of the Children: An FBI Agents Relentless Pursuit of the Nations Worst Predators. Rinek wrote that even though the abuse likely poured fuel on a fire for Stayner to eventually commit murder, it was one that had already begun to smolder before he was sexually abused and before his brother was kidnapped. However, as they were walking toward Stayner's home, they were approached by another man, who was driving a white Buick. Did Delbert Stayner Molest His Daughters? MERCED . At that point Stayner decided to save White from the abuse he had endured and the two escaped. "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. The now 14-year-old Steven decided to escape with White on 2 March 1980 after witnessing the childs suffering. I wouldnt think that he would think of himself as one, but he is a hero.". 2. Steven Stayner was the middle child of five siblings living with their parents in Merced, CA. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students, according to research conducted by the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention and ranked in the top nine leading causes of death for people between the ages of 10 and 64, as well as . Stayner became known as a hero and inspired a television miniseries, I Know My First Name is Steven.. On December 4, 1972, seven-year-old Stayner was abducted in Merced, California, by child molester Kenneth Parnell. Stayner and Parnell moved often, finally settling nearUkiah, California, where Steven Stayner became Dennis Parnell, according to The New York Times. "Steven Stayner had a new father figure, and it was Kenneth Parnell -- who by day, was his father, and by night, was his rapist," Rowlands said. He was quoted after his "rescue" saying he blames himself and doesn't understand why his dad doesn't hug him anymore. ", "The first year was kinda hectic," Steven said on GMA in 1983. He was convicted of both kidnappings and served five years of his seven-year prison sentence. The harrowing true account of Steven Stayner, who was kidnapped by a perverted pseudo-priest and his lackey during the 1970s.
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