The mystery of two missing boys and the unexpected link | Forensic Files

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notes for this episode on your app or on our website this episode involves crimes against children it
won't be suitable for all listeners the small californian farming town of merced
lies 130 miles southeast of san francisco providing access to the sierra nevada mountains
and california's central coast surrounded by almond groves and peach orchards the town's slogan is gateway to yosemite
an 80 mile drive leads right into the heart of the famous yosemite national park a remote area of
rugged wilderness that spans close to 750 000 acres the merced community is close-knit
with residents enjoying the range of outdoor activities on offer including skiing fishing hiking and
swimming tree-lined neighborhoods featuring numerous bike paths and parks make merced an ideal place to raise a
family from 1967 to 1971 the staina family lived on a 20-acre farm ranch just outside
of masad county parents kay and adele had married weeks after they first met and had gone on to have five children
carrie cindy stephen jodie and corey dell worked as a mechanic at a local page cannery
and also grew almonds on the family's farm the stainers were a loving family as practicing mormons they enjoyed
attending church services twice a week and in their spare time the children loved exploring their large property
once a month the family would spend the weekend camping at a nearby lake middle child stephen loved the great
outdoors and would explore the farm for hours with his dog daisy he and his father often went
fishing together but it was a running joke that stephen couldn't keep quiet long enough for them
to catch anything the summer of 1971 was hot and dry and adele's almond crops struggled due
to poor irrigation he and kaye decided to sell the ranch and move their family to suburban merced they purchased
a three-bedroom single-story home in a lower middle class neighborhood that had a swimming
pool in the backyard to provide relief from the summer heat move was difficult for seven-year-old
stephen who missed rural life at first he struggled to adjust to his new school of charles wright elementary but by
september of 1972 he was settling down and making friends on the evening of sunday december 3 1972
steven attended the birthday party of his friend sharon giving her a stuffed koala bear as a
present when he returned home stephen raved to his parents about how much fun he had
had at the party and told them how much he was looking forward to christmas in a few weeks time
he was so excited that he had trouble falling asleep that night the next morning monday december 4 was a
regular day in the stayna household after breakfast kaye inspected her four eldest children
to make sure they were presentable for school while the youngest corey wasn't yet old
enough to attend carrie cindy stephen and jody then walked the 12 blocks to charles wright
elementary together with sixth grader carey keeping watch over his three younger siblings
[Music] [Music] [Music] stephen finished school at 2pm which was an hour earlier than his brother and sisters he
usually walked the half mile home with friends but it was raining and cold so kaye
decided to pick him up on her way home from running some errands she arrived at the school at 2 10 hoping
stephen had anticipated that she would pick him up and was waiting for her however there was no sign of him
kaye drove home keeping an eye out for steven along the way she didn't spot him on the streets and
when she arrived home at 2 20 he wasn't there either at three o'clock kaye and dell returned
to charles wright elementary to pick cindy and jody up from school carey wasn't there as he typically walked home
with friends both cindy and to jody told their parents they hadn't seen steven since
lunchtime this wasn't an immediate cause for concern as steven had recently been in
trouble for going to his friend's house after school without seeking his parents
permission first dell had punished him with a belt to the backside as a deterrent
but they were certain he had disobeyed them again when they arrived home kaye phoned
several of stephen's friends in an effort to locate him his friend sharon said she and stephen
had walked side by side until partying at their usual spot on union avenue just before the yosemite parkway
stephen usually walked the rest of the way with a boy named hector but hector's mother had picked him up
from school that afternoon to go shoe shopping the stainers drove around town checking
with any of stephen's friends that they passed on the street when there was still no sign of him by 5
pm they phoned the merced police station to report him as missing an officer arrived at their house
shortly after and took a statement regarding steven's appearance his parents described him as four foot
eight inches tall weighing 60 pounds with shaggy light brown hair and brown eyes he was last seen wearing
blue jeans a light tan coloured coat and cowboy style boots like steven's parents the police officer
wasn't overly concerned missing children in merced usually turned up playing at a friend's house
or in someone's backyard and foul play was almost unheard of additionally the officer hadn't noticed anything unto
ward at the steiner residence the police searched the neighborhood while tracing all the possible routes
stephen may have taken home from school they focused on yosemite parkway now known as the central yosemite highway
as it was stephen's usual path home an employee at a petrol station recalled seeing stephen walking eastbound towards
his home sometime before 3 pm but hadn't noticed anyone suspicious in the area at 6 00 pm reserve police officers and
members of the local boy scouts troop joined in on the search in the cold rain an announcement about stephen's
disappearance was also broadcast on the local radio station dell and kaye left their other
children in the care of family friends and headed out to a nearby junkyard to scour through the darkness
for any sign of their son just after midnight dell was summoned to the police station
given that most missing children cases end up involving one or both of the parents the police
captain blatantly asked adele if he had killed steven dell was furious at the allegation
and volunteered to participate in a polygraph test to prove his innocence the station
didn't have one on hand but the captain agreed to send for a polygraph examiner from the nearby city
of sacramento within the next few days the following morning of tuesday december 5
the police arrived at the steiner residence to install recording equipment in case someone
called demanding a ransom for stephen's safe return the fbi offered the merced police use of
their laboratory in washington if needed but because there was no evidence that stephen had been taken
across state lines they were unable to become actively involved in the case a bulletin was sent out to other
californian law enforcement agencies while the media picked up the story and started reporting on stephen's
disappearance statewide police continued a thorough search of merced county with assistance from members of the
mormon church officers on foot and in flat-bottomed boats searched the overgrown shoreline
of the nearby bear creek while a search and rescue boat dragged through the waters
but found nothing more than an old tyre the police were working on an early theory that the stainers may have been
in debt and had sold their son to bail them out later that day the polygraph equipment
arrived in merced and both kaye and adele were tested the results indicated that the couple
had no financial issues and that neither of them were involved with stephen's disappearance
the search efforts continued for days with no results and on friday december 8 the community
banned together to conduct a wide scale search the police announced that would likely
be the last major search of the area unless any evidence was discovered the weather was still cold and rainy
with temperatures the previous evening falling below 30 degrees fahrenheit or minus one degree celsius
causing puddles on the ground to freeze over police held concerns that if stephen was
still alive he could die from exposure to the elements over 100 off-duty police officers and
firefighters were joined by county jail inmates and concerned citizens who had taken the day off work to hunt
the merced county area for any sign of steven they checked fields drain pipes and
other potential hiding spots and door knocked in a one square mile area from where stephen was last seen
the neighbouring sheriff's department in mariposa county searched a 50-mile radius in their
district dell searched night and day checking empty buildings abandoned houses and garbage dumps for
any evidence that might lead to his son nothing of interest was found prompting the merced police to issue a statewide
bulletin confirming they were now considering the possibility that stephen had been
kidnapped or had met with four play they created a list of all known sex offenders living in merced
and surrounding counties but were unable to link any of them to stephen's disappearance
given merced's proximity to yosemite national park police theorized that stephen may have
been abducted and taken there the park was and is a tourist hot spot featuring 1200 square miles of deep
valleys grand meadows giant forests and a vast wilderness visitors participate in a range of
outdoor activities there including hiking horseback riding picnicking rock climbing and fishing
a search for steven had been conducted by u.s forest service rangers throughout the parks campgrounds and
meadows but had failed to uncover anything of note police requested a list of all the
park's employees including those working within its lodges and hotels the list was provided but the park
ranger was uncooperative he didn't feel that stephen's disappearance had anything to do with
the park and didn't want posters of a missing child put up in case of deterred tourists
by monday december 11 one week had passed without a single sign of stephen and the search was officially called off
the stena family were devastated and struggled to come to terms with stephen's disappearance
dell told reporters that kaye was handling things better than he was and that she had been reassuring their
other children that stephen would return home del added quote but late at night after we have said our
prayers i can hear her crying three weeks passed and christmas came and went without any further sign of
steven kaye and dell tried their best to make christmas day a happy time and several townspeople including one
dressed as santa claus stopped by with presents for the stainer children in an attempt to cheer them up
presents for stephen were left under the tree with his parents deciding they would stay there
until he came home the stain is believed that stephen had been kidnapped on his way home from
school or had accepted a ride from one of the many tourists who passed through town
during trips to yosemite several psychics contacted the family to offer their services
one said stephen was locked in the trunk of a car while another said he had accepted a
ride on a motorcycle and had been thrown off and was buried under some leaves although the stainers thought these
theories sounded foolish they followed up on every single lead possible in late december local newspaper the
sacramento bee offered a 1 000 reward for information leading to steven's safe recovery
on december 28 the police announced they had followed up on several leads but none that had led anywhere
they confirmed to the press that they still hadn't uncovered any evidence to indicate that stephen had been kidnapped
or had met with foul play the new year passed by with no breakthroughs then in early 1973 a child's cowboy
boot similar to the one stephen had been wearing washed up on the bank of bear creek
in north merced officers recommenced their search of the creek in anticipation of discovering stephen's
remains but it was determined that the boot didn't belong to stephen at all in a bid to keep the case in the news
the stainers contacted numerous television stations across the united states to see if they would run
steven's story but we're told it was now old news and no channels were interested
on may 15 1973 dell and k announced a 5 000 reward was available for steven's safe return or for the
arrest and conviction of persons responsible for his disappearance the reward money was raised by members
of the community and not for profit organization the elks club but no credible leads emerged
steven's school friends had difficulty comprehending his sudden disappearance with one friend telling kaye that his
birthday wish was that stephen would come home over the following months merced police
received the occasional phone call from citizens wanting to report small details
but nothing substantial came to light whenever a child went missing under similar circumstances in california or
surrounding states the police checked for any parallels to stephen's case but failed to find a connection
as the one-year anniversary of stephen's disappearance approached case dana told the fresno b newspaper
we know that someday we will be a family again of course it gets rougher as christmas
approaches i just don't know what i'm going to tell the other kids when they ask about
buying gifts for stevie just last night corey asked me if stevie was going to bed
i told her yes he's going to bed somewhere kaye told the mercury newspaper that stephen got along well with everyone
regardless of their age and that he particularly loved the babies dogs and kittens she fondly recalled
steven's habit of writing his name on everything in the stayna residence from the outdoor fences to his bedroom
wall leaving constant reminders of him throughout their home when asked about her hopes for her son's
return kaye said i know there is a 50-50 chance that stephen is dead and that any time they could come and
say well we found him it's not good but we found him i pray that if he is dead please let us know because this not
knowing is enough to drive you insane dell was adamant that the family would never relocate
in case stephen ever came looking for them by 1974 the police continued to receive
an average of three to four potential leads per week and was still dedicating around six hours each week to
the search their presiding theory was that stephen had met with four play with a
perpetrator from outside the merced area on the second anniversary of stephen's disappearance
kaye told the indiana gazette newspaper that her belief that stephen was still alive
was stronger than ever she said we know he's alive there's no other way after two years a body would be found
every group of children we see every child walking by check in late 1975 just after the third
anniversary of stephen's disappearance the merced police were summoned 160 miles southeast to a mental health
facility in the city of bakersfield a patient in his mid-20s named tom wilson who had a long history of mental illness
wanted to confess to participating in steven's disappearance he told the attending officers that he
had been motivated to do so after recently hitching a ride with stephen's grandfather
police looked into wilson's claims but concluded he was lying and wasn't involved in any way
the false confession left adelstayner completely dejected as he was already struggling to cope
he often took steven's old clothes out of his cupboard hoping to remember what he smelt like
dell was convinced someone in merced knew the truth about what happened to his son
but were choosing to remain silent one day the stayner family were out driving when dell spotted a suspicious looking
man standing on the roadside next to a mound of dirt he pulled over and stared at the man
until the man eventually walked away dell became convinced that stephen was buried under the mound of dirt
and pleaded with the police to dig it up but with no evidence to support his suspicion
no further action was taken by 1980 eight years had passed since stephen went missing
at 11 30 a.m on thursday february 14 1980 five-year-old timothy white finished kindergarten for the day at uko
elementary school in ukya a picturesque winegrowing region 237 miles north of merced known by friends and family
as timmy he had spent the morning making valentine's day cards with his classmates
which he had tucked away in his lunchbox the young boy was just three feet six inches tall with platinum blonde hair
blue eyes freckles a cheeky grin and a faint scar on his chin on this particular day he was wearing
brown pants a long-sleeved checkered shirt blue jacket and a pair of brown cowboy boots
like usual timmy was expected to walk the three blocks from school to his babysitter's house
which he had done many times he walked the majority of the way with the classmate
then the two parted ways when they were less than a minute from timmy's destination
at 11 30 a.m timmy's babysitter diane and several of the other young children she looked after stood on the front
porch waiting for timmy to come into view as the minutes passed there was no sign
of him diane began to worry and at 12 30 she called timmy's mother angela white to let her know that her
son never arrived angela immediately called the police and two officers were dispatched to search the
area between uko elementary and diane's home similar to steven steiner's case the police weren't immediately concerned
as they were sure timmy had wandered off or was just playing with a friend when there was still no sign of him by 3
pm the police became concerned that timmy may have gotten lost or met with foul play
they ramped up their search efforts enlisting the help of reserve officers and police cadets to canvass the town
and retrace timmy's last known steps two days later on saturday february 16 tracking dogs were led between diane's
house and the elementary school however it had been raining heavily for several days
and they weren't able to detect anything the rain also hindered police efforts to
search the mountainous terrain by helicopter and the air searchers were cut short
the search continued on land with officers checking all nearby creeks amid concerns timmy
may have drowned the white's plastered missing person flyers around town and the community banned together
to offer a fifteen thousand dollar reward for timmy's safe return as with stephen's case there wasn't a
single piece of evidence to indicate what had happened to timmy and two weeks passed with no breakthroughs
then just after 11 pm on saturday march 1 1980 officer bob warner was on duty at
the ukiah police station when he saw a small boy with tears in his eyes peering through the station's glass door
before quickly walking away aware that it was very late at night for a young boy to be
out officer warner followed the child outside and saw him run down the street towards an older boy
concerned that the pair would flee if he tried to approach them officer warner called for backup
shortly after officer russell van voros arrived in a police car and pulled up beside the two boys asking
for their names the younger one replied timmy what officer van voris was so shocked he had
to ask the boy to repeat himself to make sure he had heard properly the older boy then said
my name is stephen and i've been missing in merced for seven years angela white was called with the news
that there was a boy at the station claiming to be her son she rushed to the station
but when she saw the boy she didn't recognize him he was filthy dirty with dark brown hair
unlike timmy who was platinum blonde angela fainted on the spot and when she came too
she realised that was timmy after all but his hair had been dyed and he clearly hadn't bathed in weeks
the two hugged in silence for 20 minutes after which timmy cheered up and asked about his six-year-old sister
and their cat the older boy claiming to be stephen told the police that timmy had been kidnapped by the
same person who had been holding himself captive for just over seven years he said he
wanted to make sure timmy didn't go through the same thing he himself went through
and had been planning to bring him home for a week and a half but his plans had been delayed by the
stormy weather at first he refused to provide any information about their kidnapper
whom he referred to as his dad but he eventually broke down and told them the person responsible was
kenneth parnell who worked at the palace hotel in ukya less than half a mile from the police
station stephen vehemently denied that parnell had subjected him or timmy to sexual
abuse an officer from ukiah telephoned the merced police station to confirm if they had a missing child
named steven steiner on their records another officer then called the steiner household
to inform kaye and dell they would be over shortly with some news about their son
at the time their eldest son carey was away camping with friends in yosemite national park
and the stainers assumed the news related to him the officer arrived at approximately 3
am and delivered the news that stephen had been found alive the family were in shock but overcome
with joy with dell sitting down and weeping they were informed that they couldn't
see stephen immediately but the parents and children stayed up all night talking excitedly
in the morning steven's siblings ran up and down the street knocking on their neighbor's doors
to let them know the good news that their brother was coming home the ukiah police had stephen write a
brief statement about his life with parnell it began my name is steven steiner i am 14 years
of age i don't know my true birthday but i use april 18 1965. i know my first name is stephen
i'm pretty sure my last name is stayna and if i have a middle name i don't know it
through this statement and future interviews with law enforcement and journalists
it emerged that on the afternoon of december 4 1972 stephen had been approached by two men
one of whom was then 41 year old kenneth parnell the men were giving out religious
pamphlets and asked stephen if his mother would like to make a donation to the church
offering him a ride home so he could ask her stephen agreed and got into the car they
were driving but the men drove straight past his street telling him they were going to
their place for a while and would call his mother from there stephen thought the two men seemed nice
so he trusted what they said he recalled sitting back and enjoying the car ride taking in the new scenery as they drove
further out of town than he had previously been at some point during the drive parnell
stopped the car to use a pay phone upon his return he said he had spoken to steven's parents
who agreed that stephen could stay with him for the night the men drove into the kathy's valley
area of yosemite national park to a small trailer park where parnell rented a redwood cabin
unbeknownst to stephen his own grandfather lived at the trailer park at the time
and was only 200 feet from their rental cabin much to stephen's delight parnell had a
selection of toys waiting for him while he played with them parnell began asking stephen about his family
as well as his likes and dislikes parnell worked at the yosemite valley lodge and the next day they moved to the
employee dorm building where he had a small private room when he went to work he drugged stephen
with sleeping pills this continued for several days with stephen given a bucket to use as a
toilet the other man involved in the kidnapping stopped by to bring steven food toys and to keep
him entertained stephen found this man to be friendly and kind and he liked having him around
a week later on sunday december 10 parnell drove stephen back to the cabin at kathy's valley
in mid-december he brought stephen a six-week-old manchester terrier puppy named
queenie whom stephen adored parnell used queenie to soften the blow as he delivered the news to stephen that
his parents could no longer afford to keep him and that a judge had therefore granted
parnell permanent custody stephen started crying saying his family needed him at home but
parnell replied well i don't think they really need you right now that night parnell dyed steven's hair
dark brown and cut it into a different style on december 17 1972 parnell quit his job and traded his car
for a rundown rambler american he drove stephen and queenie 200 miles to the californian city of santa rosa
where they spent the next few weeks checking into various motels on january 2 1973
parnell enrolled stephen at still lane elementary school under the name dennis parnell telling
the faculty he was stephen's divorcee father he listed yosemite elementary as stephen's previous school
but nobody at still lane contacted the former school to ask for dennis parnell's records
nor did they ask parnell to produce dennis's birth certificate disdainers had actually sent a letter
and a copy of stephen's missing person poster to every elementary school district in
california but administrators at the bellevue union school district where still lane elementary was located
had thrown it out without passing it on to the local schools had a copy made it to steel lane stephen
might have been recognized parnell got a job at the front desk of the sena rosa holiday inn
and also made extra money as a door-to-door bible salesman he used a local agency to hire
babysitters for stephen threatening to spank him if he ever said anything about being taken from merced
stephen became accustomed to his new life as dennis parnell and slowly accepted that parnell was his
new father on february 24 1973 they moved into a dilapidated trailer at the mount taylor trailer park in santa
rosa and stephen changed schools to kiwana springs elementary stephen liked it at his new school and
made many new friends including kenny mathias who became his closest his teacher noted that he was adjusting
well and was well liked by his classmates on april 18 1973 stephen turned to eight
years old one night after parnell fell asleep he snuck out of the trailer with the
intention of finding his real family he made it a few blocks but became lost and scared
and returned to the trailer before parnell woke up later that year stephen fell ill with
the mumps and impetigo two highly contagious infections common among schoolchildren
pinell had no choice but to take him to the doctor who didn't pick up on anything out of
the ordinary between the pair as parnell answered all questions on steven's behalf
and wouldn't let stephen speak at all in november 1973 parnell rented a house in santa rosa with a backyard
for queenie steven liked the new house but was upset that he had to move schools again
this time to doyle park elementary which meant leaving behind his best friend kenny regardless he had become used to
moving schools and quickly settled into doyle park parnell became more relaxed and would
sometimes take steven to the local denny's restaurant which was often filled with diners from
all over california due to its proximity to the freeway but no one ever recognized stephen
in february 1974 parnell quit his job at the holiday inn when new laws dictated that he was no longer allowed to smoke
at the front desk he took a job delivering newspapers but it didn't pay well so he and stephen moved back into santa
rosa's rundown motels steven returned to kawana elementary to attend fourth grade where he was reunited with
kenny and soon after parnell started dating kenny's mother barbara mathias in june 1974
parnell resumed his job at the holiday inn and he stephen and barbara moved into
the north star trailer park kenny and his other siblings continued to live with their father
only seeing barbara on occasion in december 1974 parnell attempted to convince stephen to help him kidnap
another young boy to join their family they drove to the coddington shopping mall in santa rosa
where parnell made steven approach any boys who were on their own and try to convince them to
come with him stephen deliberately foiled the plan lying to parnell about the conversations
he had with the boys and saying they refused to go with him after two hours parnell gave up and
they finally went home in may of 1975 parnell ordered barbara to try to coerce a boy from
stephen's boys club to come home with them but the boy ran off leaving parnell furious
to escape detection they moved to willets a remote area in california's mendocino
county where stephen once again changed schools parnell was unable to find work so a
month later they moved to the rundown harbour trailer park in fort bragg a coastal town in mendocino county
parnell used his mother's money to open a bible store called triple a bibles books and gifts
which was a financial flop ten-year-old stephen still living as dennis parnell enrolled in the fifth grade at dana gray
elementary school and was free to walk around town on his own during his spare time
at one point he was caught shoplifting and was escorted home by the police but it didn't occur to him to tell them
who he really was parnell was furious about the shoplifting telling stephen he had
crossed the line into becoming a criminal in the spring of 1976 barbara gained custody of her four children
and with stephen and parnell they moved out of the trailer and into an old converted school bus
containing eight wooden bunks the bible shop went out of business and in june barbara left parnell for another man and
she and her children moved out of the bus [Music] in july parnell and stephen moved to a
mobile home in the small rural town of komchi where stephen was thrilled to have his own
room he settled in making friends at the mendocino middle school where he joined the football team and
went on his first date with a girl he spent most of his time outdoors and helped panel grow vegetables and
raise rabbits pigs and chickens komchi was a very liberal town with easy access to cannabis
which steven began using along with alcohol and cigarettes one night when he was
drinking he told his girlfriend at the time that he wanted to go home to his real family but she dismissed the
statement as drunken nonsense in july of 1979 parnell and stephen moved 50 miles south of komchi to an isolated
cabin on the unoccupied mountain view ranch in the mendocino county town of manchester
the owner of the property grew an abundance of cannabis crops and wanted someone there to guard
against trespasses as a bonus parnell realised he could take small amounts of cannabis from the
crop owners without them noticing stephen was devastated by the move not only did he love komchi
but the cabin in manchester was small with only one room no electricity an outhouse and an
outdoor shower parnell got a job 50 miles northeast in ukiah working as a desk clerk at the palace
hotel while stephen enrolled at point area high school where he attended classes sporadically
on february 14 1980 stephen was horrified when parnell showed up to pick him up from school
with five-year-old timmy white in tow when they returned to the cabin steven did his best to take care of the young
boy playing with him and taking him to feed the farm animals when timmy said he wanted to go home
steven promised to take him on his first attempt it was raining heavily and he tried to piggyback timmy away
from the cabin but timmy was distressed and asked to go back on the evening of saturday march 1
parnell left for his night shift at the palace hotel stephen made dinner for himself and
timmy and then dressed them both in warm clothing slipping a buoy knife into his right
boot he said goodbye to his beloved dog queenie promising to come back for her at
approximately 7 pm the pair left the cabin although the area had very little traffic they managed to hitch a ride
with a mexican driver who spoke of very little english from stephen's limited spanish he
understood that the driver was following another car all the way to ukiah he spent the whole
journey with timmy on his lap worried that parnell would find them before he could get timmy to safety
at approximately 9 pm they were dropped on the outskirts of ukya steven's plan was to take timmy to his
babysitter's house but when they arrived there nobody was home timmy tried to remember the directions
to his family home but was confused so stephen used the nearby pay phone to find the address of
the local police station to get there they had to walk past the palace hotel where parnell was working at the time
when they approached the police station stephen encouraged timmy to walk the final three quarters
of a block by himself but when timmy reached the door he was scared and ran back to stephen
that's when the police approached them and stephen made the split-second decision to tell the
truth about who he was officers arrived at the palace hotel and placed parnell under arrest for the kidnapping of timmy
white and steven steiner he was taken to an interview room at the ukiah police department
so that stephen could identify him through the safety of a glass window stephen quietly confirmed parnell to be
his captor but the officer then opened the door to the interview room and pushed stephen inside putting him
face to face with parnell the officer asked stephen if he was sure parnell was the perpetrator
causing stephen to scream to be taken from the room by 4 30 a.m on sunday march 2
1980 police had obtained a search warrant and a team of 20 officers headed to the
mountain view ranch cabin with stephen in tow the media caught wind that something was
going on because the usually quiet police station had become a hive of activity the police tried to create a diversion
to prevent members of the press from following them but their attempts were unsuccessful
by the time they arrived at mountain view ranch it wasn't long before news helicopters
circled overhead and reporters began arriving on the scene the one-room cabin was in a cold dark
and desolate area with attending offices noting that it was no place to house a child
inside resembled a messy dungeon with dirty clothes and cooking utensils scattered everywhere
amongst the clothes investigators found the outfit timmy had been wearing on the
day he went missing as well as the collection of valentine's day cards he had been holding onto
stephen scooped up queenie and returned to the police car to head back to ukya where a press conference was scheduled
to take place at midday he was so dirty that the police had to wear their car out
during the press conference stephen sat with queenie and shyly but calmly answered questions
about why he decided to bring timmy home he commented i knew what parnell was doing was wrong
i just gave timmy a whole life ahead of him with his parents stephen said he had initially considered
returning to parnell after dropping timmy at the police station because he was so accustomed to
their life together when one reporter asked how he felt about parnell now steven responded i feel sorry for
him but was cut off by an officer who advised him not to answer timmy sat on stephen's lap and told
reporters that stephen was his friend and had taken care of him and read him comic books
at seven that night steven was finally reunited with his family at their home in merced
his parents had been warned not to expect the small child they had lost but an independent teenager on his way to
becoming a man the stainers and 230 of their friends and relatives gathered to greet steven
with a welcome home party while camera crews and news reporters swarmed outside the reunion was extremely emotional for
stephen and his family with many tears of joy shared stephen was shy and overwhelmed by the
situation and had to ask his siblings to remind him of their names kaye and dell presented him with the
unopened christmas presents that had been waiting for him in their living room since 1972
with dell commenting that he wished he had more presence to give stephen told the reporters it felt good
to be home again dell credited his wife's unwavering christian faith and prayer for steven's safe
return quote she kept the faith she prayed and i'm convinced it was the work of the
good lord that made this possible after seven years i call this nothing but a god-given miracle
k said i told everybody from the beginning that he would come back to us i have faith in our heavenly father
stephen's older brother carrie had heard the news of his brother's return while driving home
from his camping trip that night the two brothers slept side by side on the family's living room floor
carey later told author mike eckles for his book i know my first name is steven i had a hard time trying to get to sleep
that night i stayed up a long time just looking at steve while he slept and listening to him breathe i just
couldn't believe that my brother was home again i went outside that night and i walked
several blocks away and then looked up at the stars and started to wish on one again but then i remembered that
steve was back home and so i thanked the star instead the next day dell told the la times
newspaper that he felt somewhat sorry for kenneth parnell kaye said i don't like what he did
it was a very very cruel thing to do but now that we have steve i thank the good lord
that parnell had the sense to raise him well and to treat him right i mean god so many kids are killed
and our stephen was saved [Music] on march 4 parnell appeared in the ukya justice court
where he pleaded not guilty to the kidnappings of steven steiner and timmy white
bale was set at twenty thousand dollars and he was held at the merced county jail
to await trial when news of parnell's arrest circulated those who knew him were in shock
colleagues at the palace hotel described him as a personable man who was well liked by other employees
they recalled times when parnell had brought stephen into town and introduced him as his son dennis
one colleague said that stephen was a really nice kid and that no one suspected he and parnell
were anything but father and son a security guard who worked the night shift with parnell
recalled that around the same time that timmy white was kidnapped parnell mentioned that he wanted to
adopt the child at no point did steven indicate to anyone a desire to leave the stepfather of one of stephen's
friends commented there was a part of their relationship that i saw that was supportive
there was a giving and a concern i don't think that is something that you just put on
because you are with people that is what makes this thing so paradoxical i mean this is going to be a challenge
for people to accept they don't want to see that side of it stephen's seventh grade teacher at
mendocino high school told author mike eckles that one day in class he and his students had discussed an
article about missing children afterwards steven's friend damon approached the teacher
and said dennis claims that he was taken away when he was real young and his parents said that they didn't
want him anymore the teacher thought the comment was very strange but he was then interrupted
and didn't follow up on damon's claim despite spending a lot of time thinking about it
kenneth parnell's mother mary told the san francisco examiner that her son couldn't be responsible for the
kidnappings as he had visited her several times a year over the past seven years and never had a child with
him mary described parnell as an honest fellow who loved children and animals and would never
harm anyone however she also recalled an incident that she referred to simply as the trouble
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shipstation.com make ship happen the trouble mary spoke of related to parnell's extensive criminal history
parnell had committed a long list of crimes dating back to his adolescence he had a troubled childhood beginning
with his parents divorce when he was five years old parnell his mother and her two children from a
previous marriage moved from their hometown in texas to the city of bakersfield in california
parnell was so upset to be leaving his father that he tried to pull four of his teeth
out using a pair of pliers he continued to have episodes of self-harm and suicidal thoughts
and at the age of eight he shone a torch into his eyes for so long that he required corrective
treatment at nine years old he intentionally jumped from a shed roof onto a pile of
timber boards that had nails poking up puncturing his foot in the process in 1945 when parnell was 13 years old
he was sent to a juvenile facility after it was discovered he had performed oral sex on an older man
he was released after a few months then at the age of 14 he stole a car and was sent to a
boarding school for juvenile offenders in 1947 parnell moved back in with his mother
in bakersfield and was arrested for committing public sex acts with men in 1948 he stole another car
and was sent to another juvenile facility but escaped a few weeks later he was recaptured within days and sent
to the kern county jail in bakersfield where he tried to take his own life by drinking disinfectant
after parnell recovered he was sent to a state mental hospital in napa for 90 days
but managed to escape returning to bakersfield in a stolen car to meet a boy he had become infatuated
with he was rearrested and sent back to the juvenile facility where he stayed until his release in may
1949 and moved in with his mother he then met a woman named patsy joe daughton and the pair married shortly after
on march 20 1951 nineteen-year-old parnell bought a fake deputy sheriff's badge at
an army surplus store and approached three young boys who were playing in an area
outside of bakersfield he flashed the badge and convinced the nine-year-old bobby green
that he matched the description of a juvenile skp and he needed to take him back to his
parents house to clear up the matter parnell then drove bobby to a remote area in the kern river canyon and sexually
assaulted him before dropping him back at the location he had picked him up from afterwards bobby ran home and
told his parents and parnell was arrested six days later in court parnell casually admitted to
the crime and was charged with child's dealing a crime against nature and the act of copulating the
sexual organ at his trial on april 20 1951 parnell pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of
lewd and lascivious contact with the private parts of a male child under the age of 14.
a judge ordered he'd be examined by three separate psychiatrists all three of whom concluded that parnell
exhibited characteristics of a sexual psychopath and recommended treatment in a state
mental hospital around this time parnell's wife patsy joe gave birth to their first child a daughter
parnell was sent to norwalk state hospital for an official diagnosis to enable the court proceedings to
progress with a more detailed understanding of his mental health he was diagnosed as a sexual psychopath
without psychosis and was deemed legally sane medical staff recommended that he returned to court to be committed as a
sexual psychopath for an indeterminate period on june 22 1951 parnell was committed to norwalk state
hospital for as long as treatment and rehabilitation took for him to be deemed well enough for
release on september 11 1951 parnell escaped from norwalk by soaring a lock from a clothes
room window he was captured by authorities on september 24 and placed in norwalk's maximum security
wing on october 14 he managed to escape again and was caught four and a half months
later in albuquerque new mexico this time he was sent to a californian state prison
to serve five years to life parnell was granted parole in april of 1955 on the condition that he received an
ongoing psychiatric treatment which he never did he and patsy joe divorced in early 1957
without parnell ever meeting his daughter in august that same year parnell married
a woman named emma who was 10 years his senior and the two had a baby girl on august 22 1959
parnell held up a service station in salt lake city utah with a revolver and was sentenced to
five years to life emma divorced him and he was released in september of 1961 on the condition he never returned to
utah in 1972 parnell applied for a job with the curry company in yosemite national park which was
responsible for hiring employees to work in the parks hotels due to its isolated location yosemite
was a good place for people with a criminal history to lay low and the curry company was known to hire
convicted criminals parnell lied on his application when asked if he had any prior criminal
or mental health history and was hired as a night auditor working the desk at the yosemite lodge
during the initial stages of the investigation into stephen's disappearance the police had requested a list of all
the park's employees however the park ranger who provided the list had made a critical error
employees of the curry company were paid fortnightly with half of them paid one week and the
other half paid the week after the ranger had only provided police with a list of the
employees who had been paid the week stephen went missing but parnell was paid the alternative week
meaning his name wasn't included on the list in steven steiner's initial interview
with police he had refused to disclose the identity of the second man involved with his kidnapping on march
3 1980 he was interviewed again this time revealing that the other man was ervin murphy
who had been working at the yosemite lodge cleaning the industrial ovens since 1972
he was described as a simple and lonely man who was easily influenced by others and
very eager to please colleagues said he was a hard worker who went above and beyond for his friends
but was also gullible naive and easily led astray murphy was arrested without incident remarking to police that he was
relieved to hear that stephen was okay and hadn't been killed by parnell he claimed to have called the merced
police department several times over the years to tell them about the kidnapping
but had lost his nerve every time someone answered the phone recounting the events of december 4 1972
murphy told police that he had planned on catching the 8am bus to merced to do some christmas shopping
but he fell asleep and missed the bus he later awoke to parnell knocking on his door
who suggested they go into town murphy was thrilled at the offer of a lift and went with parnell to the merced
mall to buy some christmas presents when he was finished shopping parnell asked murphy if he would help hand out some
religious pamphlets as parnell claimed he was studying to become a minister murphy agreed and the duo drove to the
yosemite parkway where parnell told murphy to hand the pamphlets out to the children who were
walking home from school parnell had previously told murphy that he wanted to adopt an underprivileged
or abused child while they handed out the pamphlets he asked for murphy's help in picking
out a young boy to be his son as murphy himself had been abused by his mother as a young child he said that parnell's
plan made sense to him so he stood out the front of a gas station on yosemite parkway
and did as he was told when steven steiner walked by murphy told him he was from the church
and asked whether his family might like to make a charitable donation as it was raining murphy told stephen
that the minister would give him a ride home so that he could ask his mother hanel
pulled up in his buick and stephen and murphy got in parnell then told stephen they were
going to the yosemite lodge where he and murphy lived in the employee dorm building
and would call his mother from there to ask if stephen could stay the night murphy recalled thinking to himself that
something wasn't quite right but he found comfort in the fact that steven seemed relaxed
and wasn't crying over the next few days murphy checked in on steven regularly bringing him food comic books and a
small battery-operated motorcycle to keep him entertained a week after the abduction when parnell
drove stephen to his cabin in kathy's valley they passed the volunteers who were
driving up and down the highway looking for the missing boy murphy continued to visit the duo at the
cabin and looked after stephen while parnell went to visit his mother when parnell decided to leave town for
good he threatened to tell the authorities that murphy was the kidnapper unless he agreed to deposit some of his
fortnightly pay into parnell's account murphy reluctantly agreed but stopped the payment years later
in 1974 pannell tracked murphy down and once again attempted to blackmail him into continuing the payments
but murphy refused on march 5 1980 ervin murphy appeared in merced county court where he pleaded not guilty to the
kidnapping of steven steiner bail was set at fifty thousand dollars thirty thousand more than the ukiah
court had set for kenneth parnell murphy was held in the merced county jail to await trial
that same day two officers took stephen to the small red cabin in kathy's valley
where parnell had first taken him after being kidnapped stephen continued to deny being sexually
abused by parnell but now that his extensive criminal history had come to light police doubted whether stephen was being
truthful merced police also spent five hours gathering evidence at the mountain view
ranch cabin and other buildings on the property the cabin had never been secured as a
crime scene and a number of reporters had since walked through and contaminated the area
with some even taking evidence for themselves the investigation was complicated by the
fact that parnell and stephen had moved around frequently throughout the years meaning
police departments from multiple counties were involved officers from the differing
jurisdictions were struggling to fill one another in while some were deliberately withholding
information altogether a reporter from the san francisco chronicle presented the ukiah police
with some polaroid photographs he had taken from the mountain view ranch cabin that showed stephen and one of his
friends naked they were handed to the merced police but were unable to be used as evidence
against parnell because it couldn't be proven that they had been taken from the cabin
steven continued to deny being subject to any sexual abuse the merced police spent three days in
mendocino county visiting each school stephen had attended since his kidnapping and questioned his friends and to their
parents some of the children had told their parents they had been abused by parnell
but because the abuse occurred outside of the merced county district miss said police had no choice but to
hand the information over to mendocino county district attorney richard finn whom they assumed would take action
however finn was seemingly disinterested in the sexual abuse claims and didn't bother to follow up the
accusations finn had no formal training in psychology but on march 13 he attempted to
hypnotize timmy white to see if he could uncover any information that could help with the
case timmy had already told police he had been kidnapped by parnell and one other
unknown man but under hypnosis he described the accomplice in such a detail that the police identified him as
fifteen-year-old sean poorman timmy also denied being subject to any sexual abuse
a few days later sean poorman was located and placed under arrest he had gone to
the same school as stephen but the two were more acquaintances than poorman liked hanging out at steven's
house because parnell supplied him with whiskey and cannabis he was fully cooperative with police
admitting that in mid-november 1979 parnell said that he wanted another little boy
but adoption was too much of a hassle instead he said he wanted to find a kid on the street that didn't have a good
home and offered poorman 50 dollars to help him find a suitable child on february 14 1980
poorman and parnell drove to ukiah and bought some girls clothing and hair dye with the intention of kidnapping timmy
and then disguising him as a girl at 11 30 a.m they parked parnell's car on the curb a few streets away from
timmy's school and pretended there was something wrong with the tyre their plan was to ask for timmy's help
and then throw him into the back seat of the car but when timmy walked by he refused to
help and kept on walking poorman ran after him and timmy tried to save himself by clinging to a chain-link
fence but poorman pried him off bundled him into the backseat and covered him with a blanket
he then forced the sleeping tablet down timmy's throat and the trio drove to parnell's cabin
where poorman left timmy and parnell alone and had nothing further to do with the
situation pullman was initially charged with kidnapping but because he cooperated
with authorities the charges were reduced to false imprisonment given he was a minor he was released
into his parents custody to awake court proceedings on april 6 1980 steven steiner was
awarded the fifteen thousand dollars of reward money offered for timmy white's safe return
a ceremony was held in ukiah city park where timmy presented stephen with a check for the money
which was placed in a trust for him to access when he turned 18. afterwards stephen's family drove him to comchi so
he could visit with the friends he made during the happiest time of his kidnapping
from there the family went to mountain view ranch where stephen picked up his favorite goat to take back to merced
with his family soon after merced police presented steven with the naked polaroids that the
reporter had found in the cabin and he finally admitted to being sexually abused
by parnell he said that he was assaulted on the first night of his abduction and the abuse escalated from there
occurring whenever ervin murphy wasn't around by the time parnell moved stephen to
santa rosa the abuse had become an almost a daily occurrence in the spring of 1974 when parnell
first started dating barbara mathias the pair had sex in front of then eight-year-old stephen
barbara also willingly raped stephen at parnell's insistence when barbara moved in with stephen and
parnell the three shared a bed and the abuse continued for the next 18 months stephen said he didn't like barbara but
put up with her because when she was around the abuse he received from parnell decreased
significantly when she moved out in 1976 the abuse against stephen once again increased
in frequency by the time stephen was going through puberty parnell was no longer attracted to him
the abuse now occurred approximately once every three weeks and by early january of 1980 it stopped
altogether it was at this point that parnell insisted on finding another young boy to
take steven's place stephen later told author mike eckles from the start i recognized my situation
as life-threatening and i knew that i had to do what parnell wanted me to do i knew that he might kill me if i didn't
do it there's some times that you just have to go along with things you have to learn to never say never
because you never know when you're gonna have to do something just to survive in california at the time the statute of
limitations for sexual abuse was three years given stephen had been abused over a period of seven years this
meant that parnell could only be charged with the most recent assaults that occurred between 1977 and
1980 while the pair were living in mendocino county stephen documented a total of 87 sexual
assaults that occurred within this time frame these were presented to district attorney richard finn
along with the reports taken from several children who claimed to be sexually assaulted by parnell
in his trailer at comchi shortly after finn was replaced by a new district attorney
joe allen who ultimately decided not to prosecute parnell for any of the sexual offences committed
against stephen allen later told author mike eckles this decision was based on a desire to
protect steven in contrast a sergeant from the mendocino county sheriff's department told eccles
that county law enforcement at the time had a strange attitude toward prosecuting adults who were accused of
sexually assaulting children the sergeant said i worked sex crimes and i couldn't get
the district attorney to prosecute they wouldn't even file the case in the lead-up to parnell's preliminary
hearing a psychiatrist for his defense team injected him with sodium pentathor more commonly known as truth serum and
then interviewed him on video while he was under the effect of the drug the defense hoped to get testimony that
could work in parnell's favor but the answers he gave were so disturbing that the videos were discarded to avoid
doing any harm in court on april 9 1980 preliminary hearings for both kenneth parnell and ervin murphy
were held in a closed merced court both men were charged with kidnapping child stealing
false imprisonment and conspiracy to kidnap while parnell was also charged with child molestation
[Music] to ensure parnell didn't face an unfair trial for the kidnapping of timmy white
a gag order was placed to forbid those in court from talking to the press about the outcomes of the hearing
stephen was the first of several witnesses to take the stand putting him face to face with parnell
for the first time since his arrest he told the courtroom that he had always remembered that his name was stephen
but parnell had threatened to spank him if he ever told anyone his real identity
it wasn't until he was in the fifth grade that he realized he had been kidnapped
and not given away by his family at that point he often considered running away but never put the plan into action until
timmy white arrived the defense for both clients referred to the three-year statute of limitation
that existed for the crime of kidnapping and argued that as stephen had been abducted outside
this time span the statute had run out and therefore neither man should face charges
in response the prosecution debated their stance that the kidnapping continued for as long as stephen was
being held by parnell and to judge velasco agreed on april 17 he ordered both parnell
and murphy to stand trial for the kidnapping of stephen as stephen didn't testify about the
sexual abuse and because the 87 counts he reported were not admitted to the court
the child molestation charges against parnell were dropped due to insufficient evidence the
stainers didn't pursue the matter as they were eager to get steven's life back on track
the preliminary hearing for timmy white's kidnapping was held on april 15 in a closed courtroom in the
mendocino county superior court parnell pleaded not guilty to all charges sean poorman
testified against him saying that parnell never even paid him the fifty dollars he had promised for
his participation in the kidnapping when poorman was asked why he went along with parnell's plan
he responded he wanted to build his family he wanted a little boy judge james luther concluded there was
enough evidence for the case against parnell to proceed to trial on april 29 merced county district
attorney pat halford lodged a motion to have parnell tried on counts of sodomy and oral copulation
against steven saying he believed he had gathered enough evidence for the charges to be
upheld public defender john ellery wanted stephen to undergo psychiatric testing
to determine if the sexual acts were real or whether they were a figment of his imagination
[Music] a judge denied this request saying he could find no compelling reason for stephen to
undergo such testing the defense planned to file a motion to have the sex abuse charges dismissed
before the trial life returned to normal for timmy white and his family who were eager to put the kidnapping
incident behind them and move on timmy returned to kindergarten and resumed his daily
walks from school to his babysitter's house the stainers paid him some of the reward
money they had raised when stephen was missing and also gave him a t-shirt that read
i'm somebody special timmy wore the shirt to school with pride and enjoyed the attention he got from his
classmates and townspeople meanwhile stephen began ninth grade at merced high school
the school's principal joseph reeves told the mercedes sunstar newspaper we are all going to turn ourselves
inside out to help him but one of the best things we can do is let the kid forget it
if he can handle this he can handle anything he can handle life however when the details emerged about
the sexual abuse stephen endured he was bullied by his classmates some accused him of being gay and a
willing participant with only stephen's siblings and some other classmates standing up for him he had trouble
making male friends but was very popular with the female students stephen dated many young women later
admitting he did so to prove his heterosexuality case dana quit her job as a cook at the
local hospital to be home with her family despite the backlash stephen faced at school
he continued to tell his story in the hopes that other children wouldn't have to go through an ordeal
like his he became a symbol of hope for parents of missing children and volunteered his time to helping
missing children groups many people who followed stephen's story were curious as to why
he didn't leave parnell when he had so many opportunities to do so psychologists put forward multiple
theories including that stephen had become attached to parnell on a parental level depending on him for
food clothing and shelter parnell was also highly manipulative and maintained power
over stephen by being constantly on the run parnell successfully kept stephen isolated and
alone with parnell being the one constant in his life in addition some theorized that stephen
was so ashamed of the sexual abuse that he decided to endure it rather than have it publicly
known in his evaluation of stephen psychiatrist robert walb concluded steven was essentially trapped and bound
within the unconscious mind of dennis the name given to him by parnell when dennis saw the active distress of
the younger child timmy white his satisfaction with the myth of being dennis began to deteriorate when he saw that
timmy was treated with kindness and concern by the officer the mythic person was subordinated to
the real person and the young man spoke his true name it is my absolute belief that with the
acknowledgement of his true identity steven steiner freed himself from his state of being kidnapped
from a psychological point of view he was still in a state of kidnap until he spoke his name
thus ending a psychic capture that lasted 2644 days on june 7 1981 sean poorman was
convicted of false imprisonment for his involvement with timmy white's kidnapping
and sentenced to two years in a residential juvenile facility the following day kenneth parnell's
trial for timmy's kidnapping commenced at the superior court in alameda county where he pleaded not guilty
it had been moved from mendocino county to ensure a fair trial the trial ran for close to
three weeks when parnell was called to the stand he blamed timmy's kidnapping on sean
poorman and poorman's stepfather henry media jr claiming they blackmailed him into
committing the crime parnell claimed that henry knew the truth about stephen and had threatened to hurt parnell's
mother if he didn't steal a young boy that henry could trade for money or drugs parnell said he was
home on the afternoon of february 14 1980 when poorman and his stepfather suddenly appeared at the cabin with
timmy saying they had kidnapped a child on the stand henry media jr denied ever meeting parnell
stephen or timmy which was backed up by timmy himself who testified that henry was not his kidnapper
in closing arguments on june 29 the defense argued there was enough reasonable doubt
to acquit parnell of the kidnapping charges and urged the jury to consider the lesser charge of false imprisonment
instead the jury deliberated for two hours before declaring parnell guilty of kidnapping
as the verdict was delivered parnell bowed his head and sighed on september 25 1981
judge m.o subraw sentenced parnell to the maximum of seven years in prison the defense pleaded for leniency given
that timmy hadn't been harmed but sabraw rebutted timmy had not been physically harmed but we do not know the
extent of the fright fear and anxiety this little boy must have suffered we can all be grateful for what we saw
here in court he appears to be a bright bouncy little boy and we can take comfort in that but
we cannot conclude that no harm has been done as the trial for steven steiner's kidnapping approached
irvin murphy's lawyers attempted to have their client tried separately to kenneth
parnell but their request was denied on december 10 1981 the trial of both men commenced at the haywood hall of
justice in alameda county running for several weeks the defense maintained that the statute
of limitations had passed and that after that stephen had chosen to stay with parnell
at his own free will they claimed he was happy to be away from his family because
his parents sometimes physically disciplined him and he didn't agree with their move from
the farm ranch to suburban merced kaye and del steiner both took the stand and admitted they sometimes smacked
their children albeit very rarely but insisted they never used excessive force and believed any punishments they dished
out were appropriate to the situation ervin murphy's defense argued that murphy himself had been a victim of
panels as parnell had manipulated him into the kidnapping and he had gone along with it because he
was so eager to please they argued that murphy only played a part in the initial kidnapping
not steven's ongoing captivity and therefore the statute of limitations had passed
when murphy was called to the stand he was so poorly presented with greasy hair dirty
clothes and broken glasses that judge sabraw postponed the trial until he could have a shower and clean
himself up when the trial resumed murphy testified openly about his involvement with the
kidnapping repeating the same story he had told police from the start and insisted he had no idea that parnell
intended to sexually abuse stephen merced police chief harold colberth told the court
murphy allowed himself to be used while he's not intellectual by any means certainly i think the man knows right
from wrong and he participated in a very very serious crime he covered it up and did not come
forth with information that was needed to help find stephen or clear the case up
for all those years stephen testified to being ashamed that he had obeyed parnell
and that he himself couldn't comprehend why he didn't leave or tell someone about his true identity
merced psychologist to dr philip hamm who had evaluated stephen testified that his parents had raised
him to do whatever adults told him to do without question and he was therefore particularly
vulnerable to respect to the influence of adults to explain why stephen didn't leave
parnell dr ham stated when first abducted steiner was confused shocked and afraid
he began feeling enraged emotional blocking occurs a sense of hopelessness despair giving
up and turning himself over to his abductor follows unable to understand his feelings and
finding it less painful to avoid them he began to act and respond as though he were dennis parnell
the identity parnell assigned him as stana became increasingly dependent on parnell
he became incapable of forming another choice from an adult point of view we can ask
why didn't he leave but from a child's perspective the question is if my parents want me why don't they
come get me on december 22 inmates found out about the sexual abuse parnell committed
against stephen and beat him in prison resulting in broken ribs and an injured knee
he was transferred to an isolated cell but given the all clear to return to court
the trial was put on hold for christmas and resumed on january 4 1982 for closing arguments
district attorney pat halford stated any verdict that's not kidnapping and kidnapping for conspiracy
i think would be a cruel joke on stephen and it would be a sad and tragic day for
justice in merced county and alameda county and any other county in this state on january 7 1982 the jury
found both kenneth parnell and ervin murphy guilty of second-degree kidnapping and
conspiracy to kidnap murphy was visibly shaken when the verdict was delivered sighing loudly and chewing on his
knuckles while parnell showed no emotion but started blinking rapidly both men were remanded in
custody until sentencing the following month outside court case dana told reporters
[Music] i'm very happy the jury came in with a guilty verdict but i'm anxious about the sentence
parnell will get it could be a very long sentence or it could be very short it will be up to the judge but we want
to keep this fellow off the street when the sentencing took place on february 3 the stana family chose not to attend as
they felt it was more important that their lives returned to normal judge sabraw told parnell
a seven-year-old boy was taken from his home and lied to told that his parents didn't
want him anymore presumably didn't love him anymore the resulting psychological impact that
this obviously had on this young boy now 16 years of age is something that he's struggling with now
and will be struggling with for the rest of his life the impact that this had on his family
is difficult to measure and difficult to perceive and to fully appreciate all this conduct was callous deceitful
insensitive and as far as the court is concerned fully justifies the imposition of the
maximum sentence that's available judge sabraw sentenced parnell to the maximum of seven years the californian law at
the time dictated that two kidnapping sentences couldn't be served consecutively
given that parnell had already received a seven year sentence for the kidnapping
of timmy white this meant he only received an additional 20 months for the charge of
conspiracy to kidnap steven sabrour acknowledged this was an incredibly lenient sentence
and clarified quote this is not in keeping with what the court feels is an appropriate term
but it is in providing with the law required judge sabraw then turned to murphy and
sentenced him to five years in prison he acknowledged murphy's clean criminal record and
the fact that he eventually accepted responsibility for his role in the crime but highlighted that he didn't come
forward to authorities earlier so that stephen could be returned to his family the public was outraged at the outcome
with one jury member telling reporters that the trial was a waste of time and taxpayer dollars
calls were made for the legislation to be changed in order to prevent anyone from using this legal loophole to secure
a lighter sentence in the future an article in newspaper the press democrat stated the maximum sentence the judge
was allowed to impose on parnell was 20 months there is something very wrong with our
criminal justice system when a seven-year kidnap is punished by a sentence of only 20
months stephen expressed his disappointment in parnell's sentence saying he would have liked to see him
behind bars until he was 90 years old and unable to hurt anyone else in contrast stephen said he felt sorry
for ervin murphy and that he would one day like to see him again six months later in august of 1982
the state assembly of california voted unanimously in favour of new legislation to increase the prison terms for
multiple kidnappings the legislation was signed off by the governor on september 30
1982 stephen later told author mike eckles people are always asking what would you say to parnell if you
ever saw him do you have any feelings towards him i told them straight out that i spent
seven years with him he treated me well he looked after me i thank him for keeping me alive and i'm
grateful to him for that but stephen also said he hated parnell with a passion for stealing seven years of his life and
for making him miss out on all the experiences and memories his family had created without
him over the years stephen had spent so much time away from school testifying at both trials and
providing interviews to the press that he struggled academically he also struggled at home
as he wasn't used to taking orders he found it difficult to follow his parents rules against the drinking alcohol and
smoking cannabis this created tension in the home and kaye and adele fought constantly they never addressed
the sexual abuse stephen endured and the family refused to seek counselling one night stephen asked his parents if
he could visit parnell in prison but they acted as though they never heard the question
on april 18 1983 stephen celebrated his 18th birthday giving him access to the 15 000 reward
money he had sitting in a trust fund along with twenty five thousand dollars he had made from selling his story to a
production company who wanted to turn it into a movie he allegedly spent the money within
three months including on drugs alcohol a pile of speeding tickets he had amassed
and by lending money to his sister for her upcoming wedding steven finished his senior year but
failed several subjects meaning he didn't secure his high school diploma he moved out of home and rented a
trailer with his cousin david in the town of vatwater 10 miles north west of messer
where he got a job at a meatpacking plant and worked on completing his high school equivalency diploma
on june 21 1983 ervin murphy was released from prison after serving just over three years of
his five-year sentence in 1984 stephen was hospitalized for several days after a drinking bander afterwards
he stopped drinking altogether and moved back to his family home he focused on turning his life around
telling author mike eckles i think that my survival has a lot to do with the way i was raised
the first seven years of my life and i can't let what happened to me with parnell get to me
i fought too hard for those seven years to make it to give it up now on april 5 1985 kenneth parnell was
released due to good behavior after serving just five years in prison his two-year parole stipulated that he
wasn't allowed to leave alameda county and that he had to attend regular counselling sessions
and was not allowed in the company of children he was assigned to a boarding house in
the city of berkeley where his parole officers checked on him up to six times a week
the public was outraged by parnell's early release with many berkeley residents scared that
a convicted child kidnapper now walked among them dana told the sacramento bee newspaper
he is dangerous to kids young boys and to the families of the children i just hope the people at berkeley are as
progressive as they are supposed to be and have taught their children to protect themselves
merced county district attorney pat halford once again attempted to file sexual abuse charges against parnell in
mendocino county before the statute of limitations expired halford told reporters that if parnell
was convicted he could face up to seven years in prison for every count of molestation
meaning he could be behind bars for upwards of 50 years the authorities didn't contact steven to
ask if he would be willing to cooperate if the prosecution went ahead but it didn't matter because on april 16
1985 mendocino county district attorney vivienne ricorcus announced she would not be prosecuting
parnell for the sexual abuse charges her reasoning was that authorities knew about these crimes
prior to the trial and had chosen not to prosecute when they had the opportunity
on june 12 1985 20 year old stephen married his girlfriend 17 year old jodie lynn edmondson
whom he had met the previous summer through mutual friends the two wed in a private mormon service
in that water with only close family in attendance six months later jody gave birth to the
couple's first child a daughter they named ashley by the time stephen turned 21 in april
of 1986 both he and jody were working 50 hours a week at a kentucky fried chicken fast
food restaurant and living in a mobile home with two of stephen's cousins stephen told the sacramento bee that he
no longer suffered any ill effects from the kidnapping or sexual abuse while he was bitter about the time
parnell stole from him he said it was almost as though those years happened in someone else's life
he also believed that being ripped from his family at a young age had instilled him with a deep desire to
have a close family life as an adult stephen said that the most devastating impact of his
abduction was that his relationship with his siblings suffered as did the relationship between his
parents who had since divorced he explained we had a hard time staying together it had sort of changed
everybody my dad became more moody and a lot more irritable steven clarified that his years spent
with parnell were not altogether unhappy quote i hate the guy for what he did for
taking me away from my family and i kind of blame all the bad things that happened afterward on him
i hate him for it but then he kept me alive for those seven years i had good times i got into trouble at
school i was real rowdy just like any normal kid while he didn't think parnell should
have been released from prison stephen believed he was unlikely to harm anyone else
as the 54 year old had a heart condition and was unlikely to live much longer parnell
completed his parole on april 5 1987. after this the authorities had no jurisdiction over him
and he was free to go wherever he pleased parnell secured a job as a security guard for a boy's home
in the californian city of oakland where his criminal history went unnoticed in may that year jody gave birth to her
and stephen's second child a son they named stephen gregory steiner ii the following year steven was employed
as an advisor for a television mini-series about his kidnapping in which he also played a small role as
one of the policemen who reunited stephen's character with his parents the series was titled i
know my first name is stephen and was written by mike eckles author of the book on the case
it aired on the nbc network in may of 1989 and was well received by the public earning both an emmy and
golden globe nomination for best miniseries afterwards parnell was uncovered and immediately fired from his job at
the boy's home in oakland by september 1989 24 year old stephen was working as the assistant manager
at a pizza hut restaurant in atwater at approximately 5 p.m on september 16 he finished his shift and hopped on his
new kawasaki ex-500 motorbike to begin the 15-minute journey home stephen typically wore a helmet but his
had been stolen three days earlier and he had yet to replace it as he drove past the meatpacking plant
where he had landed his first ever job a plymouth fellary sedan pulled out in front of him
and stalled stephen was driving under the 55 mile speed limit but was unable to brake in time
he swerved and crashed into the driver's side door of the plymouth sending him 45 feet from his motorbike
the driver fled the scene in the plymouth and stephen was rushed to merced county medical center
having sustained severe head injuries at 5 35 pm he passed away later that evening the driver of the
plymouth was identified as 28 year old factory worker antonio loera who was known to have been
drinking alcohol prior to the crash he had abandoned the plymouth at a nearby shopping center
and fled to mexico on september 19 loera's wife successfully convinced him to meet the authorities at the san
ysidro border crossing south of san diego once he crossed the border back into the
united states loire was arrested and charged with felony hit and run and misdemeanor manslaughter
due to the amount of time that had passed since the crash he couldn't be tested for blood alcohol
levels and therefore couldn't be charged with the drunk driving lower pleaded not guilty to wall charges
stephen's funeral was held on september 20 at the merced church of latter-day saints with over 500 people
in attendance including many of those who had been involved with the investigation
into his kidnapping over the years stephen's casket was inscribed with the words
going home and a large heart-shaped wreath with the word daddy on it was placed on
top from the front row steven's two young children held long stemmed roses while his wife
jody openly sobbed [Music] stephen's sister corey gave an emotional goodbye saying that stephen had brought their
broken-hearted family back together again she added even though he has passed into
another life we're so very grateful that he went as stephen gregory stayner our brother we will always remember you
and we will never forget you but remember this is not goodbye this is until we meet again
case dana said she felt as though her son had been on loan to her family having been taken so soon after his
kidnapping ordeal timmy white who was now 14 was among the pallbearers after the funeral he said
[Music] obviously it's tragic i don't think we have any more to say [Music] jody told reporters steve heard a lot
but he always seemed to get through it no matter what he was a survivor now it doesn't really matter
in the lead-up to antonio lohere's trial further investigation of the wreckage revealed the plymouth had a defective
carburetor and loose throttle two manufacturing faults that had likely caused it to stall
as a result the manslaughter charge against low era was dropped on december 21 1989 he pleaded
no contest to felony hit and run and was sentenced to three months in a county jail
loera said he was sorry for fleeing the scene and hoped others could learn from his
experience thirteen years later on december 20 2002 the berkeley police received a tip-off
that kenneth parnell was attempting to abduct another young boy the 71 year old was in poor health
suffering from emphysema and diabetes in late december he had allegedly offered his friend
diane stevens 500 to procure a child for him preferably quote an english-speaking
black boy between four and six years old he also wanted the boy's birth certificate
diane accepted the offer out of fear that parnell would find someone else to do it if she refused but
never intended to go through with it instead diane worked with the police to enact a sting operation
a listening device placed on her telephone recorded a conversation between herself and parnell
in which he said that if all worked out well with the boy he would also consider buying a young
girl he was recorded saying quote i can't handle but one at a time you know on january 3 2003 diane called parnell
and said she was going to collect a little black boy from interstate they agreed that diane would leave the
boy in her car while she delivered the birth certificate in exchange for 100 she would then hand over the boy for the
remaining four hundred dollars diane wore a wire as she entered parnell's apartment and made
the first exchange she then said she was going outside to collect the boy at which point the police stormed in and
placed parnell under arrest a search of his apartment revealed children's books videos and clothing stuffed animals
condoms pornographic videos sex toys and a bottle marked libido pills parnell was charged with conspiracy to
commit child stealing solicitation to commit felony kidnapping and attempting to buy a person
as this was parnell's third attempted kidnapping california's three strike law dictated
that he could face life in prison steven steiner's father dell told the associated press
that man should have never gotten out of prison in the first place he should have gotten life when he took
stevie all those years ago former mendocino county district attorney joe allen told the ukiah daily journal that he
wasn't surprised upon hearing the news quote i think it was in the cards once a pedophile
always a pedophile we don't want to think people are totally beyond redemption that runs against
our historic western christian principle that everyone should have a final chance
the inadequacy of the sentences that were handed down in the 1970s and 1980s are illustrated nicely by kenneth
parnell parnell admitted to attempting to buy a child but claimed his motive was innocent
he told the san francisco chronicle time is running out on me i wanted to raise him just like
any child i wanted to be loved i guess it was wrong i thought a child would love me for what i
am and not what i was it's easier for a child to become attached to me when they're young
parnell's trial was held in alameda county superior court on february 2 2004 where he pleaded not guilty to
all charges his lawyer tried to argue that his previous kidnappings of steven steiner and
timmy white were irrelevant and shouldn't be allowed to be used against him but the judge ruled that the jury should
be informed of his criminal past timmy who was 29 years old at the time testified against parnell as did
parnell's co-conspirator in timmy's kidnapping sean poorman in court poorman apologised to timmy and the two
men shared a hug the jury found parnell guilty of all charges and he was sentenced to 25 years to life
outside court prosecutor tim wellman told reporters i think he is a poster child for the
three strikes law he has been committing felonies since he was 19 years old the defendant is a danger at any age
the defendant was looking for one last hurrah one last stephen steiner one last timmy white
four years later on january 21 2008 76 year old parnell died in prison from natural causes prosecutor wellman
remarked kenneth parnell's death brings to a close his long criminal history of victimizing young children
in his adult years timmy white had grown up to become a deputy sheriff for the los angeles county sheriff's
department he married a woman named dina and the couple had two children in his spare time
timmy gave talks to students about the dangers of kidnapping and shared his personal experience on
the subject then on april 1 2010 timmy suffered an unexpected pulmonary embolism
at the age of 35 and passed away suddenly in a short statement about his death his loved ones remembered him as a man
who was passionate about his family his career and boating they said we were so proud of him
he will be greatly missed taken from us in the prime of his life timmy's longtime friend chris poe told
the signal newspaper that timmy was one of the most genuinely good people he knew with a strong moral
compass quote tim didn't preach he was just a good example he knew who he was he was a fierce friend and the strongest
family man i ever saw to memorialize stephen and timmy an eight-foot tall bronze statue of them
holding hands as a fourteen and five-year-old was erected in merced's applegate park the life-size sculpture
cost fifty thousand dollars and was created by a renowned local artist named paula b slater
the city of merced contributed close to 150 thousand dollars in renovations to the park
adding an ornamental metal archway to the statue paula slater told the merced sunstar
newspaper bronze lasts for centuries so this will be here a long time many future generations will
be affected by it and will know of stephen's courage and the message of his life
even though it was short he did so much good the statue was officially unveiled on
august 28 2010 with the stayner family declaring it was not only dedicated to stephen and
timmy but to all missing children case dana told the sun star that was steve's goal to help missing
children and to stop it from happening during the unveiling ceremony a crowd of family members and supporters
gathered and laid flowers as a musician played amazing grace on bagpipes steven's 24 year old daughter ashley
told reporters my father really inspires me every day i really aspire to be like him
a plaque beneath the statue provided a brief overview of stephen's ordeal and concluded
may this memorial to steven steiner's heroism and to all child victims stand as a
beacon of hope to families of children still missing [Music] you

Case 154: Steven Stayner

Monday, December 4 was a regular day in the Stayner household. After breakfast, Kay inspected her four eldest children to make sure they were presentable for school, while the youngest Cory wasn’t yet old enough to attend.

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research – Jessica Forsayeth Writing – Elsha McGill Creative direction – Milly Raso Production, scoring – Mike Migas and Andrew Joslyn

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RESOURCES

For all credits and sources please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-154-steven-stayner

Brief Summary

Steven Stayner was kidnapped at seven, escaped after seven years, and became an advocate for missing children before his tragic death in 1989.

Key points

The Disappearance of Stephen Stayner. On December 4, 1972, seven-year-old Stephen Stayner went missing after school, sparking a frantic search.
The Police Investigation. As days passed without leads, police began to suspect foul play in Stephen's disappearance.
The Emotional Toll. The Stayner family struggled to cope with Stephen's absence, holding onto hope.
Timmy's Safe Return. After a harrowing ordeal, Timmy is finally brought home by Stephen.
Emotional Reunion. Stephen reunites with his family, who are shocked by his transformation.
Parnell's Arrest. Kenneth Parnell pleads not guilty to the kidnappings of Stephen and Timmy.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

But late at night after we have said our prayers, I can hear her crying.

Dell's reflection on Kaye's struggle during their son's disappearance.

14:26WatchAug 29, 2020

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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