The Yosemite Serial Killer (With a Twist) - ATC International

Summary

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Australian True Crime Podcast

Episode: "The Yosemite Serial Killer (With a Twist) – ATC International"

Host: Meshel Laurie (Bravecasting)
Release Date: December 10, 2025

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Overview

This episode dives deep into the notorious Yosemite serial killings that shocked both the United States and the world in 1999. Host Meshel Laurie reconstructs the chilling crimes committed by Cary Stayner—connecting the brutality of his acts to the extraordinary and tragic history of his own family, whose story had already captivated the nation decades earlier. With a meticulous breakdown of the investigation, survivor impact, confessions, and the revelation of Stayner's twisted family legacy, the episode exposes how true evil can hide in plain sight and explores the ripple effects of trauma through generations.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Yosemite Murders – A Shocking Crime Spree

• Victims and Timeline

  • Joey Armstrong's Murder (July 1999):
    Armstrong, a 26-year-old naturalist, was reported missing, her decapitated body discovered near her cabin in Yosemite Park. Her death was especially shocking as she was the fourth woman murdered in the area within six months.
    "She was a naturalist, a beautiful young woman... everybody absolutely loved her. I had the highest, have the highest regard and respect for her." (Joey's parent, 03:20-03:53)

  • Sund-Pelosi Triple Homicide (February 1999):
    Carol Sund, her daughter Julie, and their exchange student Silvina Pelossi vanished from a local lodge. Their remains were only found after a burnt-out car and a chilling hand-drawn map were discovered.
    "We had fun with this one." (Note sent to FBI, 12:58)

• Investigation and False Leads

  • Early on, several men were detained, and Armstrong herself felt safe knowing suspects were in custody—before Stayner was even considered.
  • Discovery of a suspect vehicle by Armstrong’s co-worker led to identifying Cary Stayner, a handyman at Cedar Lodge.

2. The Arrest and Chilling Confession [15:40 – 22:17]

• Arrest Details & Near Miss

  • Stayner encountered police while naked at a riverside, was let go due to his family’s local reputation, and fled to a nudist colony before his arrest.
  • Stayner confessed readily to FBI agents, describing his methods with chilling detachment.
    • "He wants to control what we think of him... he's just this big emotionless monster, and Joey comes across as heroic because she was a fighter and he was a coward." (FBI agent reflection, 18:22)

• Details of the Crimes

  • Stayner described how Armstrong attempted escape, fought fiercely, and how he killed her after she resisted him.
    • "I didn't feel good about it... it's like I'm a split personality." (Stayner’s confession, 22:05)

• Revelation of Near Misses

  • A family friend ("Lena") shares harrowing memories of Stayner being like a father figure—only to learn years later that he had planned to murder her and her family.
    • "I later learned that he had a murder kit... it is frightening just to think that the things that were inside of it and what he was thinking the whole time." (Lena, 24:02)

3. The Connection to a National Tragedy – The Stayner Family [31:46 – 47:24]

• Cary Stayner’s Past and Motives

  • Stayner, once a well-liked local handyman, was brother to Stephen Stayner—the child abduction survivor whose ordeal inspired the Emmy-nominated miniseries "I Know My First Name Is Stephen."
  • The episode details how Stephen was kidnapped at age 7, held by predator Kenneth Parnell for seven years, and ultimately escaped with another abducted boy.

• Media Sensation and Family Impact

  • The extensive media coverage of Stephen's rescue and the subsequent trial did little to address the trauma he endured, nor the effect it had on the wider Stayner family.

    • "I know my first name is Stephen. I'm pretty sure my last name is Stayner and if I have a middle name, I don't know it." (Stephen’s police statement, 40:13)

  • Stephen’s tragic death at 24 and the unsolved murder of the uncle Jesse Stayner—who Cary later accused of abusing him—cast long shadows over the family.

4. Justice and Reflection

• Trial and Sentencing

  • Stayner confessed to Armstrong's murder but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity for the triple homicide. He was nonetheless convicted and sentenced to death.
    • "I wish I could take it back, but I can't... I wish there was a reason, but there isn't. It's senseless." (Stayner’s courtroom apology, 46:53)
  • He remains on death row at San Quentin.

• Survivor Impact and Lasting Trauma

  • Lena describes generational consequences, including ongoing struggles with trust and feelings of safety.
    • "We're survivors, but it took a really big part of our life away. It destroyed part of my childhood." (Lena, 25:25)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Empathetic Yet Chilling Reflection
  "He wants to control what we think of him... he's just this big emotionless monster, and Joey comes across as heroic because she was a fighter and he was a coward."
  — FBI agent, (18:22)

• Near Miss Perspective
  "I later learned that he had a murder kit... frightening just to think that the things that were inside of it... what he was thinking the whole time."
  — Lena, (24:02)

• Justice, Regret, and Senselessness
  "I wish I could take it back, but I can't... I wish there was a reason, but there isn't. It's senseless."
  — Cary Stayner, (46:53)

• Survivor's Lasting Pain
  "We're survivors, but it took a really big part of our life away. It destroyed part of my childhood."
  — Lena, (25:25)

• Stephen’s Statement
  "I am 14 years of age. I don't know my true birth date. I know my first name is Stephen. I'm pretty sure my last name is Stayner and if I have a middle name, I don't know it."
  — Stephen Stayner, (40:13)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:20: Introduction to Joey Armstrong and discovery of her murder
• 10:29–13:20: Discovery of previous victims, arrival of chilling map
• 15:40–17:36: Stayner identified as suspect and flees/gets arrested
• 17:56–22:05: Cary Stayner’s detailed confession to FBI
• 22:56–25:25: Survivor Lena recounts a near miss and family fallout
• 31:46–38:21: The Stayner family tragedy and Stephen’s abduction
• 43:30–45:51: Stephen's struggles after return, media blitz, and untimely death
• 46:10–47:24: Unsolved uncle murder; Stayner’s trials and sentencing

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Tone and Style

The episode maintains a respectful but unflinching tone, blending empathetic interviews with chilling narration. The hosts and guests move seamlessly from the human cost of violence to the complex, often unspoken, ways trauma reverberates through families and entire communities.

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Summary for New Listeners

This episode is a comprehensive, deeply human, and chilling look at one of California’s most infamous serial killings. It not only reconstructs Stayner’s horrifying crimes, but also reveals the 'twist'—his connection to one of the twentieth century’s most famous child abduction cases. Through primary accounts, police interviews, survivor stories, and archive news, it’s an episode that underscores the hidden darkness in even the most ordinary of places and the unpredictable legacy of trauma.

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Transcript

[A]

Before we begin today's episode of Australian True Crime, I want to tell you about a new project we've been working on behind the scenes. It's called she Matters. It's a new podcast from award winning journalist and femicide researcher Sherrelle Moody. Each week, Sherrelle speaks with families of women and children killed in Australia, sharing who they were, the joy they brought, and the love they left behind. She Matters isn't a true crime podcast. It's about lives lived, lives loved, and lives lost. She Matters is produced by Dash made Podcasts in association with bravecasting Media. She Matters is available wherever you get your podcasts.

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We do continue to cover that story from Northern California of fourth woman was killed near Yosemite Park. A young woman, 20 years old, Joey Armstrong. She was a naturalist, a beautiful young woman. I'm just gonna talk about her, if that's okay. Absolutely. That's perfectly fine. What do you want people to know about your daughter? Everybody absolutely loved her. I had the highest, have the highest regard and respect for her. She wasn't.

He was exquisite.

This week we travel back to July 22, 1999, when every American news program was focused on the murder of Joey Armstrong. Not only because of its brutality. 24 hours after her death, police were yet to locate her head. And not because it occurred in one of their most famous and wholesome locations, Yosemite national park, but because she was the fourth woman to be murdered there that year. Yosemite, it seemed, had been the hunting ground of a serial killer for at least six months.

Then suddenly, just 48 hours after Joey Armstrong's murder, the FBI announced it had a suspect in custody and a confession. Today on Burden of Proof, the FBI says it has a confession from a gunman suspected of beheading a Yosemite park employee. Is 37 year old Carrie Stayner also a suspect in last February's triple homicide in the national park? At this hour in a Sacramento, California courtroom, murder suspect Carrie Stayner is being presented on charges of first degree murder. In an affidavit, the FBI said that Stayner confessed to the murder of a 26 year old naturalist, Joey Ruth Armstrong. The affidavit states that in his interview with agents Stayner, quote, provided details about the crime that are not generally known outside law enforcement and which corroborate his confession. The affidavit also reads, quote, although he allowed a search of the vehicle, he refused a search of the backpack he carried. Because the investigators were investigating a murder in which the victim's head was believed to be missing, the backpack was seized in anticipation of obtaining a search warrant. Ultimately, the victim's head was not found in the backpack. It was found near the body. Let's go first to the telephone. We have Carol Carrington on the telephone, who is the mother of one of the women who was found dead earlier this year in the park. Carol, what is your reaction to the arrest of Mr. Stainer? Well, I'm very happy to see this arrest. I hope that it does bring a conclusion to our case, too. But at the very least, I'm glad for Joey's family that it's been over this quickly that they found the person they believe who committed the crime. Now, Carol, your daughter was last seen with her daughter and a friend of the family on February 15th. And unfortunately, their bodies are found in the month of March, about a month later. What is the connection or why is it the FBI think that perhaps this last murder in the park is related to the murder that occurred to relatives in your family?

Unfortunately, I'm not able to tell you what we were briefed on at the meeting with the FBI on Sunday. However, they do seem to feel that they have.

Definite connections with our case. Whether it's physical evidence or whether it's statements, I'm not. I don't know, but it's. They're saying that there. There are definite connections. Carol, were you surprised that the FBI brought you in to brief you over the weekend? Because, after all, there were others who were in custody in connection with the earlier homicide. Yes, we were surprised. This was completely unexpected. And we threw clothes in a suitcase and jumped in the car and left just after dinner on Friday or on Saturday in order to get down to Sacramento. It's about a five hour drive from here, a six. And we went part of the way the first night and to get down there by 11 the next day to talk to Jim Maddox. All right, we take a break. Up next, looking towards an indictment of Carrie Stayner and possibly linking the suspect to a triple homicide from earlier this year. Stay with us.

We can now fill in the gaps that weren't available to CNN back then, but if they'd realised the full extent of the story they were chipping away at, they'd have been filming that show from a taxi to the airport because it's truly extraordinary. Yes, they'd made the connection between the killings, but no one yet had made the connection between the man the FBI had taken into Custody and the story that had captured the nation two decades before. It wasn't until people started looking for a motive for these killings that the connection was made. In these early days, though, all anyone was interested in was what happened and who did it. The Y would have to wait.

As part of her job working for the national park, Joey Armstrong was given free accommodation in a little house that stood for over a hundred years on the edge of a vast meadow within the park grounds. It was known to locals as the green cabin on the big meadow and it was visible for miles around. It looked like a postcard, standing as it did, small and alone in the vast wilderness. Although not too far away. Hidden in the nearby woods, was a campground for other park employees by a freshwater stream.

Joey's mother asked her if she ever got scared living out there alone since those three sightseers had gone missing earlier in the year. But she said no, she didn't. Especially since the FBI were saying they were confident they had the people responsible behind bars, even if they hadn't yet pressed any charges.

On the 14th of February 1999, 42 year old Carol Sund, her 15 year old daughter Julie, and their 16 year old exchange student Sylvina Pelosi from Argentina checked into Cedar Lodge just inside Yosemite National Park. They were driving a rented Pontiac around California checking out colleges. But Carol decided they were too close to Yosemite, not to stop for a couple of nights so that Sylvina could experience its natural wonders for herself. They spent the following day hiking and ice skating, and that night they had dinner in the lodge restaurant and rented a video Jerry Maguire from reception and went back to their room to watch it together. That was the last time anyone saw them alive.

The trio was scheduled to check out of Cedar Lodge the following morning, and when housekeeping staff arrived to clean the room, they found the guests and their car were gone and the room keys and the videotape were left neatly for them on the desk. Carol had settled up the bill the night before, so they assumed she and the girls had made an early start for the next destination. It wasn't until Jen's son, husband of Carol and father of Julie, was left waiting for them at the airport and discovered they hadn't boarded their flight home. But the alarm was raised.

The hire car company confirmed Carol hadn't returned the Pontiac, nor had she contacted them to extend the hire period. We started calling the sheriff and the police. I mean, we were scared. We thought that they were crashed somewhere. There was snow up there, there's icy roads.

For 10 days, rangers and volunteers searched the park for Carol and the girls and and for the car. But when her wallet turned up in the city of Modesto, a two hour drive away, it became clear that this was no hiking accident. The FBI took charge and began hinting that they were no longer treating this as a missing persons case, but as a likely homicide.

As the weather in Yosemite warmed over the following weeks, tourist numbers increased. And in mid March, a hiker stumbled upon the burnt out Pontiac near a speck on the map called Sierra Village. Investigators found the remains of two people in the boot of the car.

Tonight, a desperately needed break in a month long search for those three missing visitors to Yosemite. We have recovered two bodies from the trunk of the vehicle. No identification has been made. Two bodies have been found, but there are still many unanswered questions. Dental records reveal the bodies in the Pontiac to be those of Carol Sund and Silvina Pelosi. Carol's daughter Julie was still missing. I knew from the very beginning that my girl was there. How? I don't know. Don't ask me. Just felt as a father. I feel terrible. I'm supposed to die.

Excuse me.

Shortly after the news of the discovery became public, a rough hand drawn map arrived in the mail at the FBI's Modesto office. The map would lead detectives to the location of 15 year old Julie son's body. The only message from the sender was a few words scrawled above the map that read. We had fun with this one.

The FBI recovered Julie's remains in the spot the map led them to. Judging by the location of the Pontiac, the skilful execution of the abduction, and even the confidence of the map, they gathered their culprit was a local, or at least someone with good working knowledge of the local area. Everyone associated with the Cedar Lodge was interviewed naturally, as well as every known offender within a hundred mile radius.

Four men were considered the top suspects by the end of June and as Joey Armstrong reassured her mother, although none had been charged, all were in custody. There were a further seven people the police were keeping a close eye on.

By July, the park was in full swing for peak summer season. And the terrible events of February were fading into the past. Thanks to the swift action of the FBI.

Park rangers weren't unduly concerned when they received a call from a man in San Francisco asking them to check on his friend Joey. He'd expected her to arrive for a short stay the afternoon before, but she never showed up or called and he'd been unable to reach her at the green cabin. The rangers called over to her office at Yosemite Institute and her workmates confirmed that, yes, she had been planning to head to San Francisco the evening before after work, but they hadn't heard from her since. When the rangers arrived at Joey's green cabin in the big meadow, they found her car parked out front, packed up for her trip. But Joey wasn't inside or anywhere to be found. They searched around the cabin and the nearby campground before finally reaching the freshwater stream. It was there that they found her decapitated body. Some 24 hours later, they located her head further downstream as Yosemite and the nearby communities locked down in panic, police received an early tip. Another park employee drove past Joey's cabin on the day she was murdered and saw a car parked out front that he didn't recognise. Something about it made him uneasy and he made a note of the make and model of the car. It was a pale blue 1999 International Scout SUV.

A record search for that vehicle type turned up only two registered to owners in the area. A BOLO or be on the lookout alert was issued and police set out to find and speak to both owners. Within hours, a patrol observed one of the two cars they were looking for parked on the side of the highway by an embankment that led down to a river. The officers made their way down, hoping to find the owner of the vehicle, and ran into 37 year old Carrie Stayner laying out on a rock in the sunshine, completely naked, smoking a joint. Carrie leapt to his feet, covered himself and made his apologies. And the officers asked him some basic questions about his identity. When they learned he was Carrie Stayner, the handyman from the Cedar Lodge who'd already been interviewed about the first murders along with the other staff, they let him go.

It seems ridiculous to us now, but Cary and his family were very well known in the area. I believe the officer's knowledge of his family background had a lot to do with them letting him go. In that moment, Carrie was clearly rattled, though. He went back to the Cedar Lodge where he lived in an apartment above the restaurant. He hastily packed a bag and he hit the road. Cary drove north in the direction of Sacramento. But just after nightfall, he pulled off the highway and checked into the famous Laguna del Sol nudist colony. He rented a tent and tried to lay low.

The FBI, meanwhile, was catching up. They searched Cary's apartment that afternoon as he drove away and found evidence that led them to believe that he was indeed their man. They released his description to the media in time for the nightly news. And the management of Laguna Del Sol Nuda's colony made contact immediately.

FBI agents Jeff Rinnick and John Bowles were dispatched to the Laguna Del Sol colony to arrest Carrie Stayner that night. They agree that Stayner was cooperative when approached and readily agreed to leave with them. Not only that, when they arrived back at the field office, he opened up to them almost immediately.

Carrie starts launching off into this is going to be my last meal as a free man. And he told us, hey, I can answer some questions about Joey and more. We didn't know what that was. I'm like, what is going on here? What's he want to tell us? And then Kerry starts to talk about Joey.

Okay, we're going to start talking about her quite a bit.

I didn't hit her or anything. He wanted us to know he was not beating her or being violent or sadistic. He wants to control what we think of him. Becomes pretty clear to me that he's just this big emotionless monster. And Joey comes across as heroic because she was a fighter and he was a coward.

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Carrie told the agents how he'd been driving by Joey's cabin when he saw the petite young woman packing her car. Strapping over six feet tall and handsome, Carrie was confident he could approach and then easily overpower her. He drove right up to her house and started talking to her. Within minutes, though, he pulled out his gun and ordered her inside, where he bound Joey's hands and mouth with duct tape. Stayner then marched Joey out to his truck. He told the agents he was intending to drive her to another location where he would rape and murder her. But as he started driving, Joey dove headfirst out of the car window and started running for her life. Stayner said he quickly caught her and dragged her into the woods, but she was kicking and fighting so hard he gave up on the idea of raping her. Instead, he he pulled a knife from his backpack and slit her throat.

Joey, he said, kept fighting, trying to pin her chin to her chest to stop him cutting her.

Eventually, in his words, she went limp. He dragged her down towards the stream and finished what he'd started.

So you felt pretty good that you were able to pull this off? Asked one of the agents. I didn't feel good about it, he replied. It's like I'm a split personality.

That's what a lot of people were saying when they heard about Carrie's confession. Police struggled to find anyone with a bad word to say about him. He had many friends and acquaintances ready to speak for his gentle, shy nature, and not a single person came forward to accuse him of violence of any kind. The more he spoke his truth, though, the more shocking it became. A woman who wishes to be known only as Lena spoke later about the fact that Carrie Stayner had been something of a father figure to her and her younger sister at the time of the murders. But what he told agents about their family blew it apart.

My name is Lena, and I grew up in a small town right outside Yosemite National Park. You'd feel safer than you would in a big City. My sister and I Met Carrie in 1998. My mom was a waitress at the Cedar Lodge where Carrie was a maintenance man and lived above the restaurant.

They were in a relationship. I must have been 10, 11 years old. He was in his 30s. He was handsome. He was warm, like a big teddy bear. A safe person to be around. We were excited when Cary would come over. He taught us how to dive at Cedar Lodge. He would buy us a new Beanie Baby almost every time we saw him because that was pretty big in the 90s. My sister and I would be walking up the driveway and we'd see Kerry Saenor coming up in his Scout and jump in the truck and he'd give us a ride up to our house. I loved him a lot. I don't know if he knew how much I did. He was a happy part of our life.

Such a happy part that turned into such a dark part of our life.

I do remember him always carrying his backpack. I remember seeing it in the truck. It was always with him like a woman carries a purse. I later learned that he had a murder kit, murder and rape kit in his backpack that he wanted to use against my mom, my sister and I. It is frightening just to think that the things that were inside of it and what he was thinking the whole time. Late last night, federal authorities arrested this man, 37 year old Carrie Stayner. The FBI went in and spoke with my mom privately to let her know that Carrie Stainer had confessed to initially wanting to kill my mom and rape and kill my sister and I. I kept it quiet for 20 years. I didn't address it. My whole family fell apart. My mom was extremely shocked. As a mother myself, I don't know if I would have been able to handle that. My daughter is the same age right now that I was when I met Carrie. I think at such a young age I learned that you couldn't trust adults. I still have issues trusting people and I don't know if I'll ever feel completely safe. We're survivors, but it took a really big part of our life away. It destroyed part of my childhood.

Carrie Stayner had decided to rape and murder his girlfriend and her young daughters on the night before Valentine's Day 1999. But his plan was ruined when a friend of hers came to visit. Frustrated, Stayner stumbled on his eventual victims, Carol and Julie Sund and Sylvina Pelosi. The night after Valentine's, February 15, while he was wandering the darkest reaches of Cedar Lodge's car park with his backpack.

Cedar Lodge was quite a sprawling complex with wings of guest rooms stretching out in three directions from the main reception and restaurant area. Two long wings to each side facing along the highway, and a third wing that stretched out the back and was hidden from the road. It was what we in Australia would call a motor inn. Guests parked their cars right outside their rooms and the door to every room opened right onto the parking lot. Beside the door was a large window. Carol, Julie and Sylvina ended up in a room at the far end of the rear wing. It was described by a former employee as the dark corner of the lodge. Carrie Stayner was wandering around the dark corner of the lodge that night and he explained to the FBI agents what drew his attention to that particular room.

As I walked, there was a great car in the 500 building all by itself. The window was open, the curtain was open, and I can see inside that there's two young women and the mother. Young man, I know the audio wasn't great, but he said there was a red car in the lot all by itself. The curtain was open and I could see inside. There was two young women and a mother. No man.

Carrie knocked on the door. He told Carol he was the lodge's maintenance man and there seemed to be a leak in the neighbouring room that he needed to access from their bathroom. Carol told him politely but firmly that no, he could not come into the room there and then to work in their bathroom. The girls were in their pyjamas, she said, ready for bed, and he'd have to deal with it in the morning. Carrie persisted and somehow convinced protective Carol that it was an emergency and that he had to at least check their bathroom for their own sake. As soon as he was inside the room, Stayner produced his gun and locked the two teenagers in the bathroom.

He quickly subdued and strangled Carol Sund and carried her body out to the boot of the rented Pontiac.

He returned to the room and ordered Silvina Pelossi out of the bathroom. He raped and then strangled her before carrying her body out and placing it in the boot of the car with Carol's body.

Stayner then ordered Julie Sund out of the bathroom. He raped Julie and then bound her hands with duct tape, wrapped her in a blanket and ordered her out to the passenger seat of the Pontiac.

He told her that her mother and her friend were safely locked in another room of the hotel, but that they, he and Julie were going to get out of there.

Early the following morning, Carrie called a cab from a payphone in Sierra Village. It took him back to Cedar Lodge and back to his life.

Of course, Carrie's confessions were just between him and the agents, especially his disclosures about the first three murders. They had to be investigated and corroborated. The last thing the FBI needed was the media getting hold of that kind of information before they'd had a chance to verify it and speak to the families. But an ambitious local reporter called Ted Rollins recognised a potential opportunity for himself in Carrie Stayner's arrest and decided to try his luck. He could never have guessed how lucky he was going to be, or that he was about to blow the story wide open by unlocking the detail that everyone else was overlooking in their frenzied obsession with the gruesome details of the murders.

I was told that Carrie Stayner has been arrested, that he would be taken to the jurisdiction closest to Yosemite.

My feeling was he might not have a lawyer yet. So I went to the jail and then I asked for an interview.

And within minutes, I'm face to face with Carrie Stayner.

But they don't allow any recording devices. So the jailer grabs the these quarter sheets of paper and hands them to me. And I wrote just little phrases to remind me of what he was saying. Oh, and this is the condition. It says, condition major Los Angeles movie of the week. He said, before I say anything, I want you to contact producers in Los Angeles because he wants a movie of the week made about his story. And after I somewhat agreed to it, said, I'll do what I can, he kind of just took a deep breath. All right, here we go. I wrote down, I am guilty. I did murder Carol's son, Julie's son, Silvina Peloso and Joey Armstrong, full confession. Joining us from Sacramento this morning, KNTV reporter Ted Rollins, who interviewed Stayner in jail last evening. I was on Good Morning America the next morning at 4:00am Pacific Time. Did he confess to you that he had committed not just the one murder, but all four? He confessed to all four murders. They sent the law enforcement an anonymous letter. He said, I disguised my handwriting. I asked him if he would have kept killing if he wasn't caught. And he said, definitely, I would have killed until I was either caught or killed myself.

So Ted Rollins had the scoop and the national TV spots that went with it. But it was Carrie's strange demands about the made for TV movie that triggered the memories of more experienced players in newsrooms around the country. Finally, the penny dropped about who Carrie Stayner was.

Carrie Stayner was the older brother of Stephen Stayner the subject of an iconic made for TV mini series made in 1989 called I Know My First Name Is Stephen. The miniseries tells the harrowing story of Stephen's abduction and reappearance. But before we get into that, here's Stephen and Carrie's mother, Kay Stainer, describing the family's life before it was blighted by infamy.

Del and I, we always planned on having a family.

We had Jody and Carrie, Cindy and Corey's the baby, and of course Steve. It was, you know, five was perfect. That was enough.

They were all different. Some were little helpers and some were little guys that got into trouble. We lived on a street that happened to have tons of kids all the same age and they just played basketball, baseball, rode their bikes and their big wheels up and down the street. Yeah, it was a great little street to grow up on.

In 1972, as he was walking home from school, seven year old Stephen Stayner was abducted by convicted child rapist Kenneth Parnell and his accomplice Irvin Murphy. He was held captive by Parnell for seven years before he escaped. And just two weeks after returning to his family in 1980, Stephen and his parents sat down for a TV interview in which he described his abduction.

In 1972, Stephen Stainer disappeared on his way home from school in Merced, California. He was seven. Two weeks ago he walked into a police station in Ukiah, California with a younger child who had been kidnapped recently. Apparently Stephen had been kidnapped and told that he had been adopted. Stephen had been calling his abductor dad for some time. For seven years, his parents, Kay and Delbert Stainer, never gave up hope that he was alive. And this morning they have. These three members of the Stayner family joined us. Stephen, to police and your parents, obviously you just disappeared off the face of the map. What happened that afternoon, do you remember when you were walking home from school? Yes, I was walking home from school and I was stopped by a man along the street just a few blocks from my house. And he asked me if I wanted to me or my mother wanted to donate something to, to a church. And I had told him that my mother would probably want to and so he offered me a ride home.

I had refused the first time, telling him that my house was just a few blocks away.

And he had asked me several more times and after a while I had a car pulled up and I got in and they, they passed the road that I was, that I lived on.

And.

I had told them that that was the road I lived on. They said that we'll just call your parents, see if you can stay the night. Were you afraid?

Not that much. I was a little bit.

What did they tell you as the days went on, why they were keeping you with them? And what did they tell you about your family?

Well, the first night they had said they called my parents and said it was all right that I stay tonight. The second night they said that they had called them again and said that I could stay another night. Then one of them went to. Went out and came back and said that he went to court and got in possession of me and said that I was his. How did you feel about that when you heard that?

I really forgot what I felt at that time. It was kind of a shock to me.

You called him. I've been told that you called him, called him dad. How long before you started calling him dad? Do you have any idea when that started? That started about a week after my abduction. What were your thoughts during the seven years about your parents? Did you think about them and if so, what? What went through your mind.

Through the seven years? I don't remember what went through mine, but I thought of my parents very often. Mr. Stainer, did you have any doubts during those seven years that you'd see your Stephen again? Well, I had a lot of hope up to two years ago. There was a few things that came up that I kind of lost my hope and faith in, but.

I was wrong, fortunately. Mrs. Stainer, did you share his hope for that period and then lose it at any point or what happened with your mind? I never did lose my hope that I would find Steve. I didn't get into all the things that Del did. I was.

Oblivious to all that kind of stuff. I just went merrily on my way, believing that Stephen would be home one day. Not only did 14 year old Stephen sit down for that live primetime television interview just two weeks after he escaped from his abductor, but reporters also walked into his high school to find him and record interviews. Steve is a 9th grader at Merced High School's east campus. We caught up with him in Wood Chop last class of the day, where Steve seemed just as removed and oblivious to the media as he's been since last Sunday, the day he entered the media spotlight. The science class. It was okay, but I don't really like science that much. What do you like? You have any idea what you're interested in at this point? Technical things or academic things? I like the sports and wood shop. I like to work with wood. Indications are that his sporadic schooling of the past seven years has left him well behind his current classmates. He'll get tutoring to catch up.

With all the excitement around Stephen's return, though, there was something of an elephant in the room that the society of the day was struggling to talk about. But the looming trial of his kidnapper meant that it was becoming harder and harder to avoid.

Stephen tried to escape his captor many times over the years. He was never physically imprisoned and he attended schools and had friends like any other boy his age. Stephen's prison was psychological. He'd been so brainwashed by sexual predator Kenneth Parnell that he believed he'd face dire consequences as a result of the assaults he was enduring. When he reached puberty, however, Parnell's interest in Stephen waned and he demanded the teenager help him to abduct another small boy. Stephen resisted and sabotaged Parnell's attempts for as long as he could. But eventually, in 1980, the paedophile succeeded in abducting five year old Timmy White.

The thought of Timmy suffering as he had gave Stephen the courage to run. And at the first opportunity he did.

While Parnell was working, Stephen and Timmy walked to the nearest highway, hitched to the nearest police station, and following Stephen's instructions, Timmy walked inside and told the officer his name. Police managed to coax Stephen inside and eventually he made a statement. After seven years of being moved around every time he got too comfortable, having his name changed repeatedly, being constantly lied to, confused and raped, he wrote, I am 14 years of age. I don't know my true birth date. I know my first name is Stephen. I'm pretty sure my last name is Staina and if I have a middle name, I don't know it.

Parnell was arrested the same night.

The heroism of Stephen's actions was a massive part of the story. He was photographed many times with little Timmy, whom everyone was excited to acknowledge Stephen had saved from a terrible fate. But nobody seemed capable of acknowledging exactly what that fate was or the fact that Stephen himself had suffered it for seven years. Least of all Stephen's parents.

There are some pictures. Are they being entered as evidence? I don't know that. Have you seen the pictures? I have not seen any pictures. It's been learned that Polaroid pictures of little Stephen Stainer in the nude were found in Parnell's cabin.

How do you say it? They wanted.

To know how he had been molested or if he had been molested. And we were adamant we weren't to going to talk about it and that's when the media started getting more mean about it and wanting and demanding to know exactly what had happened to him and how and why. Let's get into the nitty gritty of what had happened to this poor kid and let's, you know, publicize that. Charges against Parnell also have been expanded to include conspiracy and lewd and lascivious acts upon a child.

What do you think of the charges against you, Mr. Parnell?

I think it'd be kind of embarrassing for Stephen to have to say all these things in front of a battery of newsmen, cameras in the public. Naturally, it would be better if it were not publicized.

Stephen did testify in court against Kenneth Parnell.

Kenneth Parnell sat quietly in his white prison suit as the judge imposed the maximum punishment he could for the kidnapping of five year old Timmy White last year.

If you got seven for Jimmy, you'll get a lot more for what he'd done to Steve. The man convicted of kidnapping a five year old year old boy from Ukiah, California is now back on trial.

Steiner himself was the first witness to enter the courtroom this morning. The young man is viewed as the key witness in the Parnell trial.

He appeared somewhat nervous at times while testifying, but showed no emotion either for or against Parnell himself. Stainer says he obeyed Parnell's orders not to leave or talk about his past, but he never said why. Kenneth Parnell is accused of forcing Stayner to perform sodomy and oral sex acts. With a strained, hesitant whisper, Stayner confirmed this. Yeah. In the end, though, Parnell was only convicted of abducting both Stephen and Timmy and received a seven year sentence of which he served just five years. He was never charged with molesting either boy, as those crimes fell either outside the jurisdiction of that particular court or outside the statute of limitations.

Parnell was convicted in 2004 of attempting to buy a 4 year old boy and sentenced to 25 years to life. He died in prison in 2008.

The Stayner family, meanwhile, attempted to find some kind of normal. After the trial, Stephen was badly bullied at school and routinely called a fag by his peers. He reacted by drinking, taking drugs and sleeping with as many girls as possible. But it didn't fit his natural temperament. He got married at 17, joined the church of Latter Day Saints, worked at a pizza shop and settled into suburban life. Although he never had any formal counselling because his father said he didn't need it, Stephen counselled others, and quite successfully by all accounts. In his early 20s, Stephen started speaking to children's safety groups and in the media about his experience. And he began working with filmmakers about turning his story into a made for TV movie. Stephen was interviewed extensively for the project and even made a cameo appearance playing a policeman in the scene in which the actor playing him returns to the family home. Stephen was happy with the finished product if other family members weren't and said he found it therapeutic. Any chance I get to talk about it I think really helps me deal with the problem. The more I talk about it, the better I can deal with it. I know My First Name Is Steven was a massive hit and it was nominated for several Emmys, including one for actor Corky Nemec, who played the role of the returned Stephen. In an interview not long after the Emmys, though, Corky delivered news of the latest tragedy to strike the Stayner family.

I did a show called I Know My First Name Is Steven. A miniseries. Thank you. That was about a kid who was kidnapped. Yeah, it was a true story about the boys. Steven Stainer, whom passed away the night before the Emmys.

On September 16, 1989, the night before the Emmy Awards, 24 year old Stephen Stayner was riding his motorcycle home from work when he was hit by a car and killed. Timmy White, who was 14 years old by then, was a pallbearer at his funeral.

Less than two years later, tragedy struck the family again when Stephen's uncle Jesse Stayner was shot and killed in his own home. The case remains unsolved, although it's now on a list of murders the FBI calls suspected homicides of Carrie Stayner. You see, Carrie was living with his Uncle Jesse at the time he was murdered in 1990.

There are at least four other cases police are looking into with regards to Carrie's possible involvement dating back to 1986. But Cary has claimed that he was molested by his uncle Jesse Stayner as a child.

Carrie pleaded guilty to Joey Armstrong's murder during the sentencing hearing. Carrie stunned the courtroom when he suddenly broke down in tears and apologised. I wish I could take it back, but I can't, he said. I wish I could tell you why I did such a thing, but I don't even know myself. I'm so sorry. I wish there was a reason, but there isn't. It's senseless.

Lesley Armstrong, Joey's mother, started crying as she listened to Carrie and she said afterward that she believed his apology was genuine.

Carrie Stayner was sentenced to life in prison without parole for Joey Armstrong's murder. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. To the murders of Carol Sundar, Julie Sund and Sylvina Pelosi. Carrie's lawyers claimed that the Stayner family had a history of sexual abuse and mental illness. He was nevertheless found sane and convicted of three counts of first degree murder and one count of kidnapping. Carrie Stayner was sentenced to death on August 27, 2002, and remains on death row at San Quentin State Prison in California.

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