And if I didnt take care of it now, it would just get worse, said Lori Duke, Stevens girlfriend, who only knew him as Dennis. But why doesn't my dad hug me anymore? Selena is the entertainment and news editor for Good Housekeeping, where she covers the latest on TV, movies and celebrities. "You'vegot this crazy story that happens, and then you've got kind of the 1980s version of that story that's presented to the world," Dimmock told E!. Great article, as always! "We never really got along that well after he came back All of a sudden Steve was getting all these gifts, getting all this clothing, getting all this attention. In 1975, Parnell felt he needed another boy. Police first linked him to Armstrong's July 21 murder when his vehicle was reported to be near her cabin an hour after she was known to already be dead. The family avoided watching the 10 p.m. news, and any mention of Steven on TV would make their father cry. children: Ashley Stayner, Steven Stayner Jr. See the events in life of Steven Stayner in Chronological Order, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJq6NyCMd6c, http://swordandscale.com/steven-stayner-kidnapped-and-held-for-7-years/, https://alchetron.com/Steven-Stayner-818809-W. Steven Gregory Stayner was born on April 18, 1965 in Merced, California, to Delbert and Kay Stayner. Steven Stayners kidnapping prompted California lawmakers to change the state laws, allowing consecutive prison terms in similar abduction cases., But the story doesnt end there. He barely knew his parents, and his parents scarcely knew the teenager whod returned home. He was not kept in captivity, and in the following years, was enrolled into a number of schools where Parnell identified himself as his father. "He was spunky. Thankfully, Steven rebuilt his life after wedding Jody Edmondson. Kenneth told Steven that his parents had given him away and that his new name was Dennis. It really made me think about shifting sympathies. By the time she got there, the 7-year-old was nowhere to be seen. In 1972 when Cary Stayner was 11, his 7-year-old brother, Steven, was snatched by a child molester and kept for seven years. As Steven Stayner got older, Kenneth Parnell began planning to kidnap another, younger, boy. Cary Stayner, Steven's older brother, was behind the Yosemite murders that rocked the small farming town of Merced, California in 1999. [25] He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints just before his death. Both Del and Kay Stayner testified during the penalty phase of the trial that October that they neglected Cary to a degree when Steven went missing. [33], The production, which received four Emmy Award nominations, including one for Nemec, was based on a manuscript by Mike Echols, who had researched the story and interviewed Stayner and Parnell, among others. ", Though the ready assumptionwas that Steven's sadly short lifehad been defined by his troubles, Jody said he'd been "a very happy man" of late, and they'd been living "a normal life with two beautiful kids.". Cary Stayner when he was just 8 months old, wearing a baby bonnet. In 1981, Parnell was tried and convicted of kidnapping both White and Stayner in two separate trials and was sentenced to seven years in jail, even though he was released on parole after five years. Ive never been this angry. He waited until Parnell went to work, then took Timothys hand and ran. I dont believe that it was my brother who committed such things, Sartell said as the defense presented his three sisters in an effort to spare his life. [] Everything has changed. "I think it's so courageous for the family not only to let the story be toldit's very delicate and tragicbut also because they're using their real names," Cindy Pickett, who played Kay Stayner, told the Washington Postat the time. I was the oldest and all that. Awesome, cant wait to read! I know my first name is Steven, he told the police. The retired TV host rarely leaves his home due to illness, Everything We Know About Vanessa Hudgens Parents, Who is Charlie Kirks wife? Dena. Yet inanother perversely tragic twist of fate, Whitealso died young, suffering a pulmonary embolism on April 1, 2010, when he was 35. After they stopped trying to teach me the fundamentals all over again, it got better. All along, there was the assurance that his story would be made into a movie. Parnell used Steven in his next attempts to take a boy, but none were successful. After Timothy White, who had become a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Deputy, died from pulmonary embolism in 2010, a statue of Stayner and White was built in Applegate Park in Merced, California. "I yelled at him a lot. Parnell created a new identity for Stayner, giving him the new name, Dennis Gregory Parnell, but retained his original middle name and his original date of birth. Furthermore, Steven had saved a then 5-year-old Timothy White from the same fate, escaping from the cabin where they were kept. Captive Audiencealsodelves into thecreative license taken during the making of the miniseries and the way in which the version of events that unfolded for an average of 35.8 million viewers over the course of two nights becamethestorythat everyone knew. Parnell was not charged with the numerous sexual assaults on Stayner and other boys because most of them occurred outside the jurisdiction of the Merced County prosecutor or were by then outside the statute of limitations. This story contains details from both cases Steven was 7years old whenErvin Edward Murphy approached the second-grader on his way home from Charles Wright Elementary School on Dec. 4, 1972. Stayner considered doing it on three different occasions. The attempt was a failure. "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. Seven-year-old, Steven Stayner lived with his parents, Kay and Delbert and his three sisters and an older brother in the small Californian city of Merced. This case just breaks my heart And the whole story about his big brother, too. He had a pretty sad life.. I Know My First Name Is Stevenalludes to Cary, who was 18 when his brother reappeared, being jealous of all the attention Steven was getting, but there's no indication of him being seriously disturbed. Even though missing fliers circulatedall over the place, including some of the schools Steven attended, no one evercame forward to say they recognized him. The next day, on March 2nd, both the boys were reunited with their respective families and Parnell was arrested. When she took the witness stand Thursday and was asked if she knew Yosemite killer Cary Stayner, his sister began to cry. Steven passed away an hour after the accident at Merced Community Medical Center. He then violently murdered all three, according to History.com. In addition to writing and editing entertainment news, she also spotlights the Hispanic and Latinx community through her work. After they stopped trying to teach me the fundamentals all over again, it got better. As long as I can see them and hear their voices, I'm OK.", I Know My First Name Is Stevenwas nominated fora Golden Globe and four Emmys, including Outstanding Miniseries and Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for then 17-year-oldCorin Nemec,thanks to his heart-wrenching turn asSteven. He was third of five children of his parents and had an elder brother Cary and three sisters. Its final this time,he said. But this time hes the one who is staying strong for Kay., Delbert mourned the tragedy but expressed relief in the certainty of death. ", He added, "Everything has changed. ", Added Steven's father, Del Stayner, "I never stopped looking, every time I saw a crowd on TV or a picture of a lot of people in a magazine. [1] He had three sisters and an older brother, Cary. 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He married 17-year-old Jody Edmondson in 1985 and together, they had two children, Ashley and Steven, Jr. However, Stayner skillfully sabotaged Kenneths plans. .css-lwn4i5{display:block;font-family:Neutra,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-weight:bold;letter-spacing:-0.01rem;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;text-align:center;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-lwn4i5:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-lwn4i5{font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-lwn4i5{font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-lwn4i5{font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-lwn4i5{font-size:1.375rem;line-height:1.1;}}Jennifer Garner Debuts Daring New Look, 42 Sad Quotes to Power You Through Hard Days. When Steven Stayner Jr and Where is Steven. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. My dad was on a mission trying to find his son, she said. All about his family, Was Dave Hollis Sick? Normally when I think about storylines in these categories, they tend to fall in binary categories, someone is either a hero or a villain. Parnell, along with Murphy, took Steven to a cabin in Catheys Valley, where he was brainwashed to believe his parents no longer wanted him. Steven, taking a leave of absence from his job, acted as an advisor for Lorimar-Telepictures and had a non-speaking part, playing one of the two policemen who escort 14-year-old Steven (played by Corin Nemec) through the crowds to his waiting family, on his return to his Merced home. Adjusting to post-abduction life was no easy task for Steven. 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. Steven later said in an interview, I returned almost a grown man, and yet my parents saw me at first as their seven-year-old. Today, the idea of a 7-year old walking home from school alone is almost unheard of. "I wish I could have controlled myself and not done what I did. "He assumed that identity because he [had to], you know, what would any of us do with that choice, and he was just a young kid. What a case! "The worst thing that could possibly happen, happens to them," Dimmock said. Looking beyond the good vs. bad brother trope, the directorreflected onrevisiting the divergent branches of the Stayner storyin a way that doesn't allow for the audience to tidily point fingers. [8], Parnell molested Stayner the first night at the cabin. Knowing Steven wouldnt get him someone, Parnell bribed one of Stevens teenage friends, Randall Sean Poorman, to help with the promise of drugs and cash. Spouse. 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. Hawkins said: She was the one who stayed so strong and calm and collected through that seven-year-ordeal. We had hope, faith, and kept busy. But Stevens life back in the safety of his home was difficult. FBI agent Jeff Rinek, one of the agents who arrested Cary and then spent 90 minutes in the car withhim driving to bureau headquarters in Sacramento, remembered to the San Francisco Chroniclein 2002 howthe suspect willingly talked about what happened to his brother. From what we can tell, Key spends her life post-retirement in California with her grandchildren and other loved ones. How does it feel to be "brought through the experience of feeling a deep sympathy for a family, for a mother, and then to have a sudden left turn?" But despite an extensive search, young Steven was never to be found. The nurse reported him to the local police and he was once again convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Parnell continued to abuse Steven for years, telling the boy that his parents weren't looking for him. . Del Stayner passed away in 2013, but Kay and her grandchildren Steven Jr. and Ashley, who were only 2 and 3 when their father died and grew up knowinghim primarily from Nemec's TV performance, sat down to talk for Captive Audience. No longer able to deal with his peers, feeling academically stunted and more prone to drinking and goofing off, Steven dropped outof school and started doing odd jobs. Parnell had been with a woman named Barbara Mathias for a period of one and half years, during which they reportedly forced Stayner into sexual activities at least nine times. ", Rowlandsreported that the then-37-year-old also said he had dreamed of killing women for 30 years and these four were "at the wrong place at the wrong time.''. Within a week, Steven was calling him dad. He was raising hell at school and causing trouble with the law but things started to change when he met Jody Edmondson. Although Stayner was dead, his testimony at Parnell's earlier trial was read to jurors as evidence in Parnell's 2004 trial. Although he never disclosed the details of his sexual abuse, kids at school were heartless. Parnell had also told this little boy that he wasgoing to be his new dad because his parents didn't want him anymore. Jody emotionally described how she and Stayner planned to visit their favorite restaurant after he got home. While there's not much information about what Steven was like as a child, there is some insight to Cary's early life. I always looked very closely in hopes of spotting Steven.". Parnell approached with the car, and they left. After Steven said his mother would be interested in donating, Murphy offered to take the boy home. He died on April 1, 2010, at age 35 from pulmonary embolism. ", "My son is very sick right now," he added. He was a good student, a good artist, and he was very lovingIf his dying would bring these people back, I'd say do it. 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. Where is he now spends much his! Born on April 18, 1965, Steven Stayner was the third of five children born to Delbert and Kay Stayner. Now I had to compete with a brother and three sisters. You could see that he wanted to play and be with kids and be normal.". Young Stayner replied that his mother would donate, following which Murphy asked for his address and offered to accompany him to his house, to which he agreed. April 20, 2022 Steven Stayner became a household name in 1980 when he returned home after being kidnapped about seven years earlier. What happened to Steven Stayner family? He now belonged to Parnell. Cory . While he still blamed himself for his abduction, starting a family helped him cope with his past, and he began interacting with child abduction groups and provided advice to children on the topic. ", WhenGMAcaught up with him in 1983, Stevendescribed his first year back as"kinda hectic. As for Kenneth Parnell, five years in prison wasnt enough to reform him. A school friend recalled to20/20years laterthat the boy she knew as Dennis had "a great personality. While they never gave up hope, the ordeal took a toll on the whole family. [14] In 1975, on Parnell's instruction, Mathias tried to lure another young boy, who was in the Santa Rosa Boys' Club with Stayner, into Parnell's car. Sometimes I blame myself. In the epilogue to his book, Echols describes how he infiltrated NAMBLA. While they were lovingly raised among almond groves and peach orchards by Delbert and Kay Stayner, their lives in the farming town of Merced were unfortunately in dangerous proximity of a monster. Here are 10 you cant miss, I-5 closed through Grapevine as last wave of winter storm hits Southern California, Dictators and criminals fear this USC instructor whos making the case for an Oscar, Photos: Mountain communities buried in snow | More on the way, Prosecutor in controversial Hannah Tubbs case suspended for misgendering defendant, Environmentalists sue to overturn San Diego County climate plan. They dated for a year and got married in June 1985. Sadly, Stayners triumphant return didnt last long, as he died several years after the daring escape. Particular attention was paid to how the events impacted the life of Cary Stayner. "He got on with his life," his sister Cory Staynertold the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "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. 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