What happens when a child is taken…and told the people who love him gave him away?
Steven Stayner was 7 years old when he was kidnapped and raised under a different name, suffering repeated sexual abuse and living a life built on lies until he was 14.
I Know My First Name Is Steven brings that story to the screen. Corin Nemec talks about taking on that role as a teenager and the moment in the story that changes everything.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Amy Roboc and TJ. Holmes present Killer Thriller with your
host Elisa Donovan.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hey, everyone, Elisa Donovan here and this is Killer Thriller.
Today's story is one that is almost impossible to process
because it didn't just happen in a moment. It unfolded
over years. In nineteen seventy two, a seven year old
boy named Stephen Stainer was kidnapped walking home from school.
(00:35):
He was held captive for seven years, raised under a
different name, and told his family had given him away.
And then at fourteen, he did something almost unimaginable. He
rescued another child and walked into a police station to
tell the truth. It became one of the most talked
about cases of its time, and then a two part
NBC mini series that millions of people watched. At the
(00:57):
center of that was a teenage actor being into something
incredibly heavy and very real. Today I am joined by
Korn Nebick, who played Stephen, and I know my first
name is Stephen, a role people still remember decades later. Korin,
thank you so much for being with me today.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
He yes, it's my pleasure. Jasi Ship, thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
A little noise in the backg I'm at an editing
studio right now, working on a film that I just
finished directing.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Oh amazing, Okay, well, we are definitely going to talk
about that later.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
We are here to talk about this.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I you know, I since we've been doing this podcast,
we obviously talk about very traumatic and tragic things that
have happened. This film and this case and this story.
I just like, I just I can't get past it.
It's so disturbing. When you first heard about this, you know,
when you learned this was a true story. What was
(01:59):
your reaction to what happened to Stephen? Given how young
you were yourself, you were essentially the same age as
he was when he escaped.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Well, I remember, you know, growing up in the in
the late seventies, early eighties, you know, the.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
There was a you know, quite a large.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Public push in in the in the abduction category. You
could say, you know, there was a lot of stuff
going on at school, you know, stranger danger type stuff,
and like, you know, don't don't walk up to cars
people who don't know. There's a lot of stuff back
then that I recall when I was quite young and
(02:39):
and when this opportunity presented itself to be a part
of the miniseries based on the true story. From a
dramatic standpoint, it was it was very daunting. It was
very uncomfortable to bring some of those scenes to life, know,
(03:01):
but I found that actually it was that uncomfortableness they
kind of got me the job, to be honest, because
I had to audition for the scene when Stephen was
on the stand during the trial and do those scenes,
and the dialogue itself was so unbelievably uncomfortable even to
(03:22):
be doing that. That played into naturally an uncomfortable performance talking.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
About it, and that was really that That was the
scene that got me the job.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
But then I ended up working with an acting teacher
named John Lynn, an old school actor from New York
and stuff, and I worked with him in the lead
up about maybe two three weeks in the lead up
to the principal photography starting, and broke down. The entire
script went overseen by scene, you know, addressed all of
the emotional conditions that arose, and so I was extremely
(04:02):
well prepared by the time I walked on set, and
it made it made the actual filming of all of
that a lot less uncomfortable, or I wouldn't say traumatic,
but you know, dramatic in a way where it might
be hard to shake it off, you know, you go home,
(04:23):
but because of the preparation, it was much easier for me.
I think the interesting thing was meeting Stephen in person
and his family.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
And having an opportunity to.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Shake his hand and see what a great individual he
had become in the face of everything that he went through,
Because any lesser person who knows what type of character
they would have adopted after all of.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
That in life.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Did they come to set or how did you first
meet him?
Speaker 4 (04:57):
They came to set a couple of times, and then
he was also was a background artist in one of
the scenes when when Stephen Stainer is being brought home,
he's one of the police officers that walks him up
to his house, which you know, a hitchcocky in moment,
but for sure, you know, having him around set was
(05:19):
was inspiring because he survived such a traumatic and uh
and potentially life altering, unchangeable event or event over such
a long period of time that the likelihood of him
(05:40):
growing up to be a very well rounded, responsible, you know,
a wonderful parent, wonderful husband, all of that, the chances
of that became very slim right right.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
That's what I'm so blown away by that. He you
can see in his face in the the footage, the
real footage, that the joy. I mean, you can certainly
see the pain and the trauma that he's been through,
but there's also this like a real light inside of
this person that I'm just so blown away by that
(06:16):
that he's able to and especially you know, I read
and they you cover this in the movie too, in
the mini series too, that they he had no therapy,
they didn't really think it was necessary. And I read
that he said just kind of talking to journalists helps,
And how do you I just feel like things so
(06:37):
much has changed since then, clearly, But what are your
thoughts on that in terms of how he was able
to move.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Gad to me, I have no idea, That's what I'm saying.
It's a phenomenon. I have no idea how he managed
to process that at such a young age and.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Continue to have.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
For all intents and purposes, a very normal, you know
life with his with his wife and kids, and his
his desire to become a law officer, and uh, you know,
him going through all of the the psychological things that
he would have that he was having to go through
in order to become a law enforcement officer because of
his history. And I mean, you know, he had goals
(07:19):
set for himself that uh that had he not been
taken from this world by a trunk driver on his motorcycle,
you know, a drunk driver hit him while he was
on his motorcycle and killed him. So a terrible, tragic,
unfortunate into to an already tragic life. But his, his
(07:40):
the life that he lived from the time that he
came home to the time of that accident was very
admirable and uh and awe inspiring life.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
For for what he went through.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
I mean, what a what an incredible person he he was.
And yeah, and and and his you know, from what
I understand, you know, his kids and everything are very well,
you know, are doing great as.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Well as it. And yeah, did you.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
When you were shooting the series, did you have a
real understanding of the details of the case or were
you really just sticking to what was in the actual
script Because you were, again so young, it's hard to
comprehend that stuff. You know, I have a thirteen year
old daughter right now, and I think about this and
(08:32):
go Jesus, like, how.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
How do you.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Yeah, they gave me.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
I mean, besides the script, which was extremely detailed and
very well written and historically accurate and.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Everything, they gave a huge binder of news.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Articles they did.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Yeah, it was a massive binder. There was just article
after article after article, and you know, there was a
very very good understanding of the depth of this particular
story and how wide reaching it was, and the attention
(09:12):
that it necessarily brought to a bizarre epidemic that still
happens to this day, and that's the kidnapping and disappearance
of children. That is, when you look at the real numbers,
even in twenty twenty six, when you look at the
real numbers of young kids who disappear off the streets
(09:33):
and are never found, it's absolutely jaw dropping. I mean,
you know, in the fifties, sixties of thousands per year
or whatever, you know.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
It's wow.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I didn't know that crazy number.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
It's a crazy number if you look it up. I
might even be on the low end of it, but
it's a staggering number.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
There's so much to this in terms of like the
age he was and those years seven to fourteen, really
trying to to understand where he was you know, and
people always ask these questions in many of these sort
of kidnapping situations of why didn't they leave and why
didn't they.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
And you know, to me, it's like, well, it wasn't
an option.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
They didn't perceive it as one, right, and so, but
what do you think was the shift then? When the
little boy Timmy, he is kidnapped and essentially brought into
the home as Stevens quote, new little brother. Why do
you think that was such a pivotal shift for Stephen?
(10:39):
Where he went I have to escape now.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Well, I mean from what it says in the story,
and I think from a lot of what he himself
said in interviews, basically was that he had been to
a greater or lesser degree brainwashed to believe that Parnell
was his adopted father, that he had been adopted legally
(11:04):
by him, and after years and years of that, he
came to, for the most part, believe it to be true,
but with a window of possibility.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
That something was off about it.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
And so when he brought home that new kid, he
saw the grooming process of that kid start occurring exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
How he recalled it when he was young.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
And him using the same lies the same you know things,
And that's when it dawned on, even for such a
young age, that's when it dawned on Stephen Stainer that
his whole entire life was a lie, and that this
kid's fate was going to be the same fate of
his own, and again mustered the spiritual fortitude to get
(11:56):
that kid in the dead of night and secret him
away away from Barnell's house to the nearest police station,
where fortunately he himself too was picked up. After dropping
the you know him off and running away, they caught
him not too far away, and fortunately they did, because
(12:17):
if he had disappeared onto the streets and had never
been seen again and had just become a street and
you know, that could have been another.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Very different and right.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, yeah, that so thinking about that scene in the
in the mini series when you know, there's this famous
statement where he says, I know my He's essentially saying,
the only thing I know about myself for sure is
what my real first name is. And I know for
sure my name is Stephen. My first name is Stephen.
(12:51):
What do you remember about shooting that? Were you aware
of that? How kind of meaningful that was?
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Yes, of course, Yeah, that was I mean, that was
the whole I mean, it was the title of the
of the documentary as well, you know. Uh, and that
line was, you know, a direct quote from from the
historical truth of it. So that was, you know, that
was basically the iconic moment of transition between I'm this
(13:22):
you know, programmed kidnapped victim to I'm this real person
with a real life, with a real family somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
You know, So coming home, both in the miniseries as
well as in sort of people's belief in life. You know,
(13:55):
coming home is supposed to be the happy ending, right,
It's what everybody and then you think, oh, everything ends
well now, But really that's sort of just the beginning
of a whole new set of you.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Know, challenges to go through. Well, what what stood out to.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
You the most about that transition, right of coming back
to real life for him?
Speaker 4 (14:20):
I mean I can only imagine what the reality of
that transition was for him and how peculiar and uncomfortable
it must have been, especially with all the media attention
around him as well. But you know, I think that
the real transition for him started when he got his
(14:42):
girlfriend pregnant at a very young age. And the idea
of being a father, of being a real father, you know,
and and protecting his kids became such a bigger and
more important idea than anything else that happened. I think
(15:04):
that probably was the big transitional point into young adulthood
at such a at such a tender age, after such.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
A horrible life experience.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, I read that. Stephen said, though, one of the
things that stuck out to him about the mini series
is that they portrayed him as being disrespectful to his parents,
that kind of acting out when he came back of
trying to uh figure out how to be a teenager
(15:39):
without with new rules where he could do anything with
when he was with Parnell. What do you what do
you make of that difference? And do you know why
that decision was made to put it in the script
that way?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yes, that I have no idea.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
I would probably just say that that taking uh maybe
that maybe having that I won't I do not want
to call it easy of a transition back into the
world or anything. But but perhaps they just had creative
license and decided that it needed a little bit more,
(16:20):
or maybe it was based on a couple of things
that happened one or two things that happened indn't equal
years of you know, of behavior or anything. But but
but you know that said again, how he made it
through it all with his head intact was right, incredible
(16:44):
part of it.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, it almost seems to me like that would be obviously,
not having gone through anything remotely like this myself, that
would seem to be like the logical way that one
might respond. And it almost speaks to how it's such
an an impossible experience for anyone to really understand who
has not gone through it.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
I think that's one of the those you know, where
does the creative license come? We talk about that a lot,
you know, where you need to get the story across,
and you're still you know, maintaining the emotional truth of it,
I suppose. And sure, yeah, did you feel any kind
of I mean, it's a silly question you're going to say,
of course I did. But did playing somebody who was
(17:30):
very much alive and very much present in the process,
did you how did that impact your Did you feel
that responsibility as such a young person?
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Did you understand that.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Not necessarily?
Speaker 4 (17:46):
I mean, I think that they were I think that
that the portrayal of the overall story and the characters
involved were very well done and respectful to everybody. The
first time I played a character of a person who.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Really existed and was still alive was in the movie.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Was the first film I ever did was the movie
Tucker frances Poort Coppola film, playing Jeff bridges On Noble,
and all of the kids, the Noble, the Tucker kids, Preston,
Tucker's kids were all still you know, well alive at
the filmed that, and they all.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Came down to set and everything.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
And I got to, you know, meet the you know,
the fifty something Yrold version of myself.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
But well yeah, yeah, but.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
But but that said, you know, I playing a real
life character. Wasn't that that didn't really equate to me
that from an artistic standpoint of what my job was.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Do you think it would be different today?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Like we have a different approach about It's a lot
more normalized to talk about challenge and grief and sexual abuse.
And you know, I think in particular, it seemed like
they really didn't want.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
To talk about the abuse specifically.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Sure, yeah, why would anybody at the end of the day,
I mean, you know, that's for special circumstances and whatnot
unless speaking about it publicly and openly as part of
your healing process, you know, which is fine, but also
a family.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
That really.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
When you get that much media attention out of nowhere,
you know, and you're just like brown House kicked to
the head with camera crews and interest in media interests
and people around your house and journalists and look, you
lose and you lose all of that sense of privacy
while something so tragic and unfortunate is being processed. I
(19:53):
can only imagine what that would be like and how
you would just want to be like, no, we don't
want to just not talk about that.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
We just don't want to talk period, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Right, right, So, the the fact that Parnell only served
five years for this crime is something I don't even
know how to process at all. I find it utterly despicable.
What was your reaction when you learned that?
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Yeah, I mean that's unfortunately, you know that that is
the tip of the iceberg for that that kind of uh,
injustice for victims, there's you know, certain states or whatever,
there's certain statutes, there certain statutes of limitations and weird things,
(20:45):
and there's there's all these all these bizarre kind of
legal loopholes that that that these kind of incidents can
fall into that that don't make any sense whatsoever to
the rational mind.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
And uh and well said, well said.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
And unfortunately, yeah, unfortunately, this is just the again, the
tip of the iceberg on these kinds of miscarriages of
justice all across the US and in probably tens of
thousands of cases over the past decades.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah, I mean, as soon as he was released and
then he abducted another child and then tried to buy
another child, like within whatever a small amount of time.
I mean, were you following that, did you? Were you
aware of that?
Speaker 4 (21:37):
I was aware of some of it, you know, not
all of it, but I was aware.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Of some of it. I was aware of more of
it many years later.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Than I was kind of at the time, you know,
track because once uh, once Stephen saying or unfortunately passed away. Yeah,
the the attention sort of passed away with him in
a sense, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
So I had heard either either I read this or
I might have heard you say it. And I watched
the documentary that just came out as well, which is
pretty oh yeah, heartbreaking, and in it it's a very
unique series.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
But that you that he passed away the day before
the Emmys, Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Yeah, the night before is when the accident happened, when
he was hit by the driver. And uh and you.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Know, Lonesome Dove cleaned house that year, if I recall.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
But we were nominated in a number of categories, I
think three to five categories, possibly at least three. But
but we didn't take home anything, you know, we really,
all of us collectively, the different departments that were nominated,
we just we just wanted to give a shout out
(23:00):
and thanks to to to Stephen saying or his memory
and all of that was more important than winning anything.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Sure, it was being able.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
To spotlight his passing, which was so unbelievably you.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Know, tragic.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Yeah. Do you remember hearing about it? How did you
hear about it?
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (23:17):
Of course, Oh, I mean it was I don't recall.
I know that it was that it was my mom
who told me about it very shortly after it either
made the news or came through other channels to us
from you know, other people in the industry who may
have heard about it, you know, early on, But I
(23:40):
didn't hear about it until the day after it happened,
of course.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
And also information didn't didn't, you know, come through quite
as immediately as.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
It does now, Yeah, exactly, which.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Is sort of I wish it was like that.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Was there anything in the script specifically that that has
stayed with you till now? You know, something that kind
of comes back through your consciousness from time to time.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
I mean, I would say kind of the whole experience,
you know, I just recall what's called, you know, honey wagons,
these these wagons for all the actors, where each one
has your own kind of little horse stall.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, that's a good description, no, horsetall.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
Yeah, and uh, I just recall a lot of time
in between scenes because my character, you know, Steven Sain
are also smoked in that in in that as well
at a young age of that, and we had these
these herbal cigarettes that.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
You know, that I had to smoke.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
They weren't real tobacco, they were disgusting. But what I
would practice. I'd be over practicing smoking them and stuff,
sitting outside my trailer, and I just it's it's odd
because those kind of memories thinking, just sitting there things
thinking and I'm like feeling that rebellion, you know, that
(25:04):
they were, that they were insinuating he had during his
his teenage years, for a brief time that it was
palpable just in that activity alone. You know, I'm on set,
I'm smoking up, I'm smoking a cigarette.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
No one can say anything.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
You know, it was you know, it's sort of like
you know, I felt a lot of those moments too.
And also I knew that I was part of something
that was much, much, much much bigger than me or
my performance, or the miniseries or anything else. So that
was you know, I knew that it was going to
have a certain amount of success as a mini series,
(25:45):
but certainly not the amount of success that it did have.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
That that was that was pretty pretty wild.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, that was a surprise.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I mean it must have felt you know, these things
like I say this a lot. There are times when
you know, this industry is we get to do noble things,
and I feel like stories like this, it's kind of
this is one of those moments, you know, where it's
it's telling a story that's incredibly painful but very meaningful
(26:16):
and necessary. So I mean it must have felt really
good to be a part of something like that.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Yeah, well one hundred percent and it's been there's been
a series of those of those kind of moments and
experiences over my career, working on every project at the
end of the day, but ones where you know, you're
part of something, you know that's that's special and unique
and and we'll withstand the test of time and we'll
(26:48):
kind of hold a place in the history of television
and cinema in some small way, you know, And that's.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
That's pretty that's pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
But uh, you know, and that's not to say that
in some shallow way, you know, but being a part
of something like this story that we're talking about now, well,
if I wasn't a part of it, we certainly wouldn't
be sitting here talking about it.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
So it's unique.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Yeah, yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
I mean, do people well clearly I know we did,
we're asking you about it, But do people come up
to you, uh, you know, when you are doing some
other project, do people often want to do they bring
this up?
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Not as often as as as people used to. You know,
there's such a flood of shows and movies and all
of that to watch since since that was the success
that it was back back when it was even when
it re ran you know, on television throughout the nineties.
It would they'd re air it sometime here or there,
(27:56):
and it always did really well, and there was kind
of a resurgence of and then you know, I ended
up doing another you know, uh movie of the week
called My Son Johnny. I guess I was eighteen or so,
and it again was along the same lines as I know.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
My first name was Stephen.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
A true story about two brothers who had a tumultuous relationship.
One was very abusive and the other one, after suffering
years and years and years of abuse, ended up, in
what was arguably a self defense situation, killed his brother.
But they wanted to send him to jail for life
for murder. And and but but you know, because it
(28:33):
seemed like he just just out of nowhere killed his
brother without anybody understanding that his brother abused him as
bad as any as as anybody can imagine, you.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Know, ri Rick Schroer Schroter' yes, of course, Michelle Lee.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Michelle Lee.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
But you know, so if I hadn't done I know,
my first name is Steven, I wouldn't have gotten my
son Johnny.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
I wouldn't you know.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
There's there's other projects that that that certainly wouldn't have
unfolded years later. Most of the movies of the week
that I did after I know, my first name is Stephen,
probably wouldn't have have come to immediate fruition.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Right.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
But because of that, and then because of going on
to Parker Lewis as well shortly a few years after,
I kept a very busy schedule.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Ten years later, while your career is going very well,
the story Stephen's story and his family story becomes even
more sort of unimaginable. Where his brother Carrie is he
murders four women in Yosemite. When you first heard about that,
(30:01):
what was your reaction?
Speaker 3 (30:04):
I hope they don't offer me the part you know,
But I mean I.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
Was as stunned and shocked as anybody who heard it.
I mean, it was one of the I never met
carry at all. You didn't know and I don't know
what you know, what his portrayal was like in the.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Movie versus what he was like. I never I don't know.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Anything about that, and I don't know anything about his
life growing up or anything else.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
I don't know anything.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
It was just jaw droppingly wild to have that correlation.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
I mean, it's just.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Yeah, I mean it was inexplicable. I just was like, wow,
that's a turn for the worst.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
I mean because in the miniseries make it look as
though they have a you know, relatively conventional relationship, Stephen
and Carrie, and they even you know that he's happy
when Stephen comes home, and then a lot of the
things that I read or.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
You know, that I could see.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
I mean, it's easy in retrospect to look at a
photo from back then more Carrie standing behind him and think, oh,
he's jealous and angry, and he's you know, plotting something.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Yeah, but jealous and angry to murdering four people for fame.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
It doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
There's something far more sinister at play underneath the service
of all of that. For that to be the outcome,
just for sure, Steven day Or was kidnapped, molested and
returned home. I'm going to go kill four women and
become famous for a moment in time does not.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Make a lick of sense. No, but that's crazy, as
crazy as crazy. So what are you to do?
Speaker 2 (31:57):
I mean, man or man on Man because they you know,
they said things like because the parents neglected the other
children that all this had an impact on him.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
But then I also, you know, come.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
On, yeah, it just doesn't matter.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
I mean for that to be the outcome, I mean,
you know, oh I was neglected. I'm going to go
chop somebody's head off. It doesn't make sense. There's I
don't know the story. I've never really looked into it.
The whole thing is bothersome. Uh it's it's it's unfortunate
because it cast a really uh you know, pallid shadow
(32:33):
over over over the legacy of Stephen Stainer and and
what he represented to that being the outcome of the family.
You know, it's it's, it's, it's it's shameful, to be honest,
but uh but no, I never really followed up with
the story beyond like just reading the headline and was like,
(32:54):
what the okay, well that's something.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, it is a shame that there's any you know,
the people now connect those two stories sort of as
one in some regard.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
It's I agree with you. I think it's unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Yeah, yes, it is.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
What stays me the most about Stevens story.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Let's say, what says me the most was how astonished,
even at that age I was at how well adjusted
he became in life. And that, that to me is
the that's the showstopper right there, That and even more
cataclysmic and and and and stormy outcome for his life
(33:39):
didn't present itself or or at least more of a
difficult transition back into some kind of normalcy.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
That to me.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
Is the true testament of his character and and what
should be celebrated at the end of the day and
the story is that through all of that, he still
came out the other side, you know, with his with
his integrity intact, and was able to live life as
(34:11):
a as a father, and a husband and and a
law by aiding citizen. You know, like anybody else, you'd
never know his life story if you pass by.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Him on the street, you know, right, it is nothing
short of miraculous.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Site.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Yeah, totally agree.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Well this it's been so lovely to talk with you again.
This this mini series is called I know my first
name is Stephen, and you're just wonderful in it and
it's really a special important series. What where can we
find you now? Please tell me what you're what you're
up to right now? I know you're editing a film,
(34:53):
you just directed.
Speaker 4 (34:53):
Yes, yes, I just finished a film that I co
wrote with a producing part and friend of mine named
Matt Florio, that we shot down here in outside of
Saint Petersburg, Florida, with a great group of executive producers
on it, local local guys down here.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
But yeah, it was you know, it was a fun shoot.
Speaker 4 (35:17):
It's a horror comedy, it's a mockumentary, and it's also
a found footage piece. It's about a documentary crew that
finds out about a story, this legend of this half man,
half chicken who lives in the swamps of northern Florida.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
And comes out once a year, uh and terrorize and
terrorized the town.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
And so they go there to find out if this,
if this whole legend is true.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
And as they set out for the night to try.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
And get get this the the half man half Chicken
on film, one by one each of the crew members
is eliminated and all left the footage.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
And then there was that, there were none. All that's
left is the footage. Oh that's pretty genius.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
Yeah, yeah, And so it's it's it's a very it's
kind of like The Office meets Blair Witch Project, except
for that man have chicken in it, and we've had
a lot of fun. We're now in the editing phase
and it's it's but it's it's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Oh well, congrats and I we look forward to seeing it.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
So yeah, I wish you the best with it.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
And again, thank you so much for spending the time today.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
This is a.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Really important story that we've talked about, and thank you
for being here.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Thanks Elisa,
Amy Roboc and TJ. Holmes present Killer Thriller with your
host Elisa Donovan.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Hey, everyone, Elisa Donovan here and this is Killer Thriller.
Today's story is one that is almost impossible to process
because it didn't just happen in a moment. It unfolded
over years. In nineteen seventy two, a seven year old
boy named Stephen Stainer was kidnapped walking home from school.
(00:35):
He was held captive for seven years, raised under a
different name, and told his family had given him away.
And then at fourteen, he did something almost unimaginable. He
rescued another child and walked into a police station to
tell the truth. It became one of the most talked
about cases of its time, and then a two part
NBC mini series that millions of people watched. At the
(00:57):
center of that was a teenage actor being into something
incredibly heavy and very real. Today I am joined by
Korn Nebick, who played Stephen, and I know my first
name is Stephen, a role people still remember decades later. Korin,
thank you so much for being with me today.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
He yes, it's my pleasure. Jasi Ship, thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
A little noise in the backg I'm at an editing
studio right now, working on a film that I just
finished directing.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Oh amazing, Okay, well, we are definitely going to talk
about that later.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
We are here to talk about this.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I you know, I since we've been doing this podcast,
we obviously talk about very traumatic and tragic things that
have happened. This film and this case and this story.
I just like, I just I can't get past it.
It's so disturbing. When you first heard about this, you know,
when you learned this was a true story. What was
(01:59):
your reaction to what happened to Stephen? Given how young
you were yourself, you were essentially the same age as
he was when he escaped.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Well, I remember, you know, growing up in the in
the late seventies, early eighties, you know, the.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
There was a you know, quite a large.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Public push in in the in the abduction category. You
could say, you know, there was a lot of stuff
going on at school, you know, stranger danger type stuff,
and like, you know, don't don't walk up to cars
people who don't know. There's a lot of stuff back
then that I recall when I was quite young and
(02:39):
and when this opportunity presented itself to be a part
of the miniseries based on the true story. From a
dramatic standpoint, it was it was very daunting. It was
very uncomfortable to bring some of those scenes to life, know,
(03:01):
but I found that actually it was that uncomfortableness they
kind of got me the job, to be honest, because
I had to audition for the scene when Stephen was
on the stand during the trial and do those scenes,
and the dialogue itself was so unbelievably uncomfortable even to
(03:22):
be doing that. That played into naturally an uncomfortable performance talking.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
About it, and that was really that That was the
scene that got me the job.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
But then I ended up working with an acting teacher
named John Lynn, an old school actor from New York
and stuff, and I worked with him in the lead
up about maybe two three weeks in the lead up
to the principal photography starting, and broke down. The entire
script went overseen by scene, you know, addressed all of
the emotional conditions that arose, and so I was extremely
(04:02):
well prepared by the time I walked on set, and
it made it made the actual filming of all of
that a lot less uncomfortable, or I wouldn't say traumatic,
but you know, dramatic in a way where it might
be hard to shake it off, you know, you go home,
(04:23):
but because of the preparation, it was much easier for me.
I think the interesting thing was meeting Stephen in person
and his family.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
And having an opportunity to.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Shake his hand and see what a great individual he
had become in the face of everything that he went through,
Because any lesser person who knows what type of character
they would have adopted after all of.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
That in life.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Did they come to set or how did you first
meet him?
Speaker 4 (04:57):
They came to set a couple of times, and then
he was also was a background artist in one of
the scenes when when Stephen Stainer is being brought home,
he's one of the police officers that walks him up
to his house, which you know, a hitchcocky in moment,
but for sure, you know, having him around set was
(05:19):
was inspiring because he survived such a traumatic and uh
and potentially life altering, unchangeable event or event over such
a long period of time that the likelihood of him
(05:40):
growing up to be a very well rounded, responsible, you know,
a wonderful parent, wonderful husband, all of that, the chances
of that became very slim right right.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
That's what I'm so blown away by that. He you
can see in his face in the the footage, the
real footage, that the joy. I mean, you can certainly
see the pain and the trauma that he's been through,
but there's also this like a real light inside of
this person that I'm just so blown away by that
(06:16):
that he's able to and especially you know, I read
and they you cover this in the movie too, in
the mini series too, that they he had no therapy,
they didn't really think it was necessary. And I read
that he said just kind of talking to journalists helps,
And how do you I just feel like things so
(06:37):
much has changed since then, clearly, But what are your
thoughts on that in terms of how he was able
to move.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Gad to me, I have no idea, That's what I'm saying.
It's a phenomenon. I have no idea how he managed
to process that at such a young age and.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Continue to have.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
For all intents and purposes, a very normal, you know
life with his with his wife and kids, and his
his desire to become a law officer, and uh, you know,
him going through all of the the psychological things that
he would have that he was having to go through
in order to become a law enforcement officer because of
his history. And I mean, you know, he had goals
(07:19):
set for himself that uh that had he not been
taken from this world by a trunk driver on his motorcycle,
you know, a drunk driver hit him while he was
on his motorcycle and killed him. So a terrible, tragic,
unfortunate into to an already tragic life. But his, his
(07:40):
the life that he lived from the time that he
came home to the time of that accident was very
admirable and uh and awe inspiring life.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
For for what he went through.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
I mean, what a what an incredible person he he was.
And yeah, and and and his you know, from what
I understand, you know, his kids and everything are very well,
you know, are doing great as.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Well as it. And yeah, did you.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
When you were shooting the series, did you have a
real understanding of the details of the case or were
you really just sticking to what was in the actual
script Because you were, again so young, it's hard to
comprehend that stuff. You know, I have a thirteen year
old daughter right now, and I think about this and
(08:32):
go Jesus, like, how.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
How do you.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Yeah, they gave me.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
I mean, besides the script, which was extremely detailed and
very well written and historically accurate and.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Everything, they gave a huge binder of news.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Articles they did.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Yeah, it was a massive binder. There was just article
after article after article, and you know, there was a
very very good understanding of the depth of this particular
story and how wide reaching it was, and the attention
(09:12):
that it necessarily brought to a bizarre epidemic that still
happens to this day, and that's the kidnapping and disappearance
of children. That is, when you look at the real numbers,
even in twenty twenty six, when you look at the
real numbers of young kids who disappear off the streets
(09:33):
and are never found, it's absolutely jaw dropping. I mean,
you know, in the fifties, sixties of thousands per year
or whatever, you know.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
It's wow.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
I didn't know that crazy number.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
It's a crazy number if you look it up. I
might even be on the low end of it, but
it's a staggering number.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
There's so much to this in terms of like the
age he was and those years seven to fourteen, really
trying to to understand where he was you know, and
people always ask these questions in many of these sort
of kidnapping situations of why didn't they leave and why
didn't they.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
And you know, to me, it's like, well, it wasn't
an option.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
They didn't perceive it as one, right, and so, but
what do you think was the shift then? When the
little boy Timmy, he is kidnapped and essentially brought into
the home as Stevens quote, new little brother. Why do
you think that was such a pivotal shift for Stephen?
(10:39):
Where he went I have to escape now.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Well, I mean from what it says in the story,
and I think from a lot of what he himself
said in interviews, basically was that he had been to
a greater or lesser degree brainwashed to believe that Parnell
was his adopted father, that he had been adopted legally
(11:04):
by him, and after years and years of that, he
came to, for the most part, believe it to be true,
but with a window of possibility.
Speaker 3 (11:16):
That something was off about it.
Speaker 4 (11:19):
And so when he brought home that new kid, he
saw the grooming process of that kid start occurring exactly.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
How he recalled it when he was young.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
And him using the same lies the same you know things,
And that's when it dawned on, even for such a
young age, that's when it dawned on Stephen Stainer that
his whole entire life was a lie, and that this
kid's fate was going to be the same fate of
his own, and again mustered the spiritual fortitude to get
(11:56):
that kid in the dead of night and secret him
away away from Barnell's house to the nearest police station,
where fortunately he himself too was picked up. After dropping
the you know him off and running away, they caught
him not too far away, and fortunately they did, because
(12:17):
if he had disappeared onto the streets and had never
been seen again and had just become a street and
you know, that could have been another.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Very different and right.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, yeah, that so thinking about that scene in the
in the mini series when you know, there's this famous
statement where he says, I know my He's essentially saying,
the only thing I know about myself for sure is
what my real first name is. And I know for
sure my name is Stephen. My first name is Stephen.
(12:51):
What do you remember about shooting that? Were you aware
of that? How kind of meaningful that was?
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Yes, of course, Yeah, that was I mean, that was
the whole I mean, it was the title of the
of the documentary as well, you know. Uh, and that
line was, you know, a direct quote from from the
historical truth of it. So that was, you know, that
was basically the iconic moment of transition between I'm this
(13:22):
you know, programmed kidnapped victim to I'm this real person
with a real life, with a real family somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
You know, So coming home, both in the miniseries as
well as in sort of people's belief in life. You know,
(13:55):
coming home is supposed to be the happy ending, right,
It's what everybody and then you think, oh, everything ends
well now, But really that's sort of just the beginning
of a whole new set of you.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Know, challenges to go through. Well, what what stood out to.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
You the most about that transition, right of coming back
to real life for him?
Speaker 4 (14:20):
I mean I can only imagine what the reality of
that transition was for him and how peculiar and uncomfortable
it must have been, especially with all the media attention
around him as well. But you know, I think that
the real transition for him started when he got his
(14:42):
girlfriend pregnant at a very young age. And the idea
of being a father, of being a real father, you know,
and and protecting his kids became such a bigger and
more important idea than anything else that happened. I think
(15:04):
that probably was the big transitional point into young adulthood
at such a at such a tender age, after such.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
A horrible life experience.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, I read that. Stephen said, though, one of the
things that stuck out to him about the mini series
is that they portrayed him as being disrespectful to his parents,
that kind of acting out when he came back of
trying to uh figure out how to be a teenager
(15:39):
without with new rules where he could do anything with
when he was with Parnell. What do you what do
you make of that difference? And do you know why
that decision was made to put it in the script
that way?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yes, that I have no idea.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
I would probably just say that that taking uh maybe
that maybe having that I won't I do not want
to call it easy of a transition back into the
world or anything. But but perhaps they just had creative
license and decided that it needed a little bit more,
(16:20):
or maybe it was based on a couple of things
that happened one or two things that happened indn't equal
years of you know, of behavior or anything. But but
but you know that said again, how he made it
through it all with his head intact was right, incredible
(16:44):
part of it.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, it almost seems to me like that would be obviously,
not having gone through anything remotely like this myself, that
would seem to be like the logical way that one
might respond. And it almost speaks to how it's such
an an impossible experience for anyone to really understand who
has not gone through it.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
I think that's one of the those you know, where
does the creative license come? We talk about that a lot,
you know, where you need to get the story across,
and you're still you know, maintaining the emotional truth of it,
I suppose. And sure, yeah, did you feel any kind
of I mean, it's a silly question you're going to say,
of course I did. But did playing somebody who was
(17:30):
very much alive and very much present in the process,
did you how did that impact your Did you feel
that responsibility as such a young person?
Speaker 1 (17:41):
Did you understand that.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Not necessarily?
Speaker 4 (17:46):
I mean, I think that they were I think that
that the portrayal of the overall story and the characters
involved were very well done and respectful to everybody. The
first time I played a character of a person who.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Really existed and was still alive was in the movie.
Speaker 4 (18:07):
Was the first film I ever did was the movie
Tucker frances Poort Coppola film, playing Jeff bridges On Noble,
and all of the kids, the Noble, the Tucker kids, Preston,
Tucker's kids were all still you know, well alive at
the filmed that, and they all.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
Came down to set and everything.
Speaker 4 (18:25):
And I got to, you know, meet the you know,
the fifty something Yrold version of myself.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
But well yeah, yeah, but.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
But but that said, you know, I playing a real
life character. Wasn't that that didn't really equate to me
that from an artistic standpoint of what my job was.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Do you think it would be different today?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Like we have a different approach about It's a lot
more normalized to talk about challenge and grief and sexual abuse.
And you know, I think in particular, it seemed like
they really didn't want.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
To talk about the abuse specifically.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Sure, yeah, why would anybody at the end of the day,
I mean, you know, that's for special circumstances and whatnot
unless speaking about it publicly and openly as part of
your healing process, you know, which is fine, but also
a family.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
That really.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
When you get that much media attention out of nowhere,
you know, and you're just like brown House kicked to
the head with camera crews and interest in media interests
and people around your house and journalists and look, you
lose and you lose all of that sense of privacy
while something so tragic and unfortunate is being processed. I
(19:53):
can only imagine what that would be like and how
you would just want to be like, no, we don't
want to just not talk about that.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
We just don't want to talk period, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Right, right, So, the the fact that Parnell only served
five years for this crime is something I don't even
know how to process at all. I find it utterly despicable.
What was your reaction when you learned that?
Speaker 4 (20:25):
Yeah, I mean that's unfortunately, you know that that is
the tip of the iceberg for that that kind of uh,
injustice for victims, there's you know, certain states or whatever,
there's certain statutes, there certain statutes of limitations and weird things,
(20:45):
and there's there's all these all these bizarre kind of
legal loopholes that that that these kind of incidents can
fall into that that don't make any sense whatsoever to
the rational mind.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
And uh and well said, well said.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
And unfortunately, yeah, unfortunately, this is just the again, the
tip of the iceberg on these kinds of miscarriages of
justice all across the US and in probably tens of
thousands of cases over the past decades.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah, I mean, as soon as he was released and
then he abducted another child and then tried to buy
another child, like within whatever a small amount of time.
I mean, were you following that, did you? Were you
aware of that?
Speaker 4 (21:37):
I was aware of some of it, you know, not
all of it, but I was aware.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Of some of it. I was aware of more of
it many years later.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Than I was kind of at the time, you know,
track because once uh, once Stephen saying or unfortunately passed away. Yeah,
the the attention sort of passed away with him in
a sense, you know.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
So I had heard either either I read this or
I might have heard you say it. And I watched
the documentary that just came out as well, which is
pretty oh yeah, heartbreaking, and in it it's a very
unique series.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
But that you that he passed away the day before
the Emmys, Is that correct?
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Yeah, the night before is when the accident happened, when
he was hit by the driver. And uh and you.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Know, Lonesome Dove cleaned house that year, if I recall.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
But we were nominated in a number of categories, I
think three to five categories, possibly at least three. But
but we didn't take home anything, you know, we really,
all of us collectively, the different departments that were nominated,
we just we just wanted to give a shout out
(23:00):
and thanks to to to Stephen saying or his memory
and all of that was more important than winning anything.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Sure, it was being able.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
To spotlight his passing, which was so unbelievably you.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Know, tragic.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Yeah. Do you remember hearing about it? How did you
hear about it?
Speaker 3 (23:17):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (23:17):
Of course, Oh, I mean it was I don't recall.
I know that it was that it was my mom
who told me about it very shortly after it either
made the news or came through other channels to us
from you know, other people in the industry who may
have heard about it, you know, early on, But I
(23:40):
didn't hear about it until the day after it happened,
of course.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
And also information didn't didn't, you know, come through quite
as immediately as.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
It does now, Yeah, exactly, which.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Is sort of I wish it was like that.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Was there anything in the script specifically that that has
stayed with you till now? You know, something that kind
of comes back through your consciousness from time to time.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
I mean, I would say kind of the whole experience,
you know, I just recall what's called, you know, honey wagons,
these these wagons for all the actors, where each one
has your own kind of little horse stall.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, that's a good description, no, horsetall.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
Yeah, and uh, I just recall a lot of time
in between scenes because my character, you know, Steven Sain
are also smoked in that in in that as well
at a young age of that, and we had these
these herbal cigarettes that.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
You know, that I had to smoke.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
They weren't real tobacco, they were disgusting. But what I
would practice. I'd be over practicing smoking them and stuff,
sitting outside my trailer, and I just it's it's odd
because those kind of memories thinking, just sitting there things
thinking and I'm like feeling that rebellion, you know, that
(25:04):
they were, that they were insinuating he had during his
his teenage years, for a brief time that it was
palpable just in that activity alone. You know, I'm on set,
I'm smoking up, I'm smoking a cigarette.
Speaker 3 (25:20):
No one can say anything.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
You know, it was you know, it's sort of like
you know, I felt a lot of those moments too.
And also I knew that I was part of something
that was much, much, much much bigger than me or
my performance, or the miniseries or anything else. So that
was you know, I knew that it was going to
have a certain amount of success as a mini series,
(25:45):
but certainly not the amount of success that it did have.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
That that was that was pretty pretty wild.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, that was a surprise.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I mean it must have felt you know, these things
like I say this a lot. There are times when
you know, this industry is we get to do noble things,
and I feel like stories like this, it's kind of
this is one of those moments, you know, where it's
it's telling a story that's incredibly painful but very meaningful
(26:16):
and necessary. So I mean it must have felt really
good to be a part of something like that.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Yeah, well one hundred percent and it's been there's been
a series of those of those kind of moments and
experiences over my career, working on every project at the
end of the day, but ones where you know, you're
part of something, you know that's that's special and unique
and and we'll withstand the test of time and we'll
(26:48):
kind of hold a place in the history of television
and cinema in some small way, you know, And that's.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
That's pretty that's pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (27:01):
But uh, you know, and that's not to say that
in some shallow way, you know, but being a part
of something like this story that we're talking about now, well,
if I wasn't a part of it, we certainly wouldn't
be sitting here talking about it.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
So it's unique.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Yeah, yeah, it is.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
I mean, do people well clearly I know we did,
we're asking you about it, But do people come up
to you, uh, you know, when you are doing some
other project, do people often want to do they bring
this up?
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Not as often as as as people used to. You know,
there's such a flood of shows and movies and all
of that to watch since since that was the success
that it was back back when it was even when
it re ran you know, on television throughout the nineties.
It would they'd re air it sometime here or there,
(27:56):
and it always did really well, and there was kind
of a resurgence of and then you know, I ended
up doing another you know, uh movie of the week
called My Son Johnny. I guess I was eighteen or so,
and it again was along the same lines as I know.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
My first name was Stephen.
Speaker 4 (28:11):
A true story about two brothers who had a tumultuous relationship.
One was very abusive and the other one, after suffering
years and years and years of abuse, ended up, in
what was arguably a self defense situation, killed his brother.
But they wanted to send him to jail for life
for murder. And and but but you know, because it
(28:33):
seemed like he just just out of nowhere killed his
brother without anybody understanding that his brother abused him as
bad as any as as anybody can imagine, you.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Know, ri Rick Schroer Schroter' yes, of course, Michelle Lee.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Michelle Lee.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
But you know, so if I hadn't done I know,
my first name is Steven, I wouldn't have gotten my
son Johnny.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
I wouldn't you know.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
There's there's other projects that that that certainly wouldn't have
unfolded years later. Most of the movies of the week
that I did after I know, my first name is Stephen,
probably wouldn't have have come to immediate fruition.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
Right.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
But because of that, and then because of going on
to Parker Lewis as well shortly a few years after,
I kept a very busy schedule.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
Ten years later, while your career is going very well,
the story Stephen's story and his family story becomes even
more sort of unimaginable. Where his brother Carrie is he
murders four women in Yosemite. When you first heard about that,
(30:01):
what was your reaction?
Speaker 3 (30:04):
I hope they don't offer me the part you know,
But I mean I.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
Was as stunned and shocked as anybody who heard it.
I mean, it was one of the I never met
carry at all. You didn't know and I don't know
what you know, what his portrayal was like in the.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Movie versus what he was like. I never I don't know.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Anything about that, and I don't know anything about his
life growing up or anything else.
Speaker 3 (30:39):
I don't know anything.
Speaker 4 (30:41):
It was just jaw droppingly wild to have that correlation.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
I mean, it's just.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Yeah, I mean it was inexplicable. I just was like, wow,
that's a turn for the worst.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
I mean because in the miniseries make it look as
though they have a you know, relatively conventional relationship, Stephen
and Carrie, and they even you know that he's happy
when Stephen comes home, and then a lot of the
things that I read or.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
You know, that I could see.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
I mean, it's easy in retrospect to look at a
photo from back then more Carrie standing behind him and think, oh,
he's jealous and angry, and he's you know, plotting something.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Yeah, but jealous and angry to murdering four people for fame.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
It doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
There's something far more sinister at play underneath the service
of all of that. For that to be the outcome,
just for sure, Steven day Or was kidnapped, molested and
returned home. I'm going to go kill four women and
become famous for a moment in time does not.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Make a lick of sense. No, but that's crazy, as
crazy as crazy. So what are you to do?
Speaker 2 (31:57):
I mean, man or man on Man because they you know,
they said things like because the parents neglected the other
children that all this had an impact on him.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
But then I also, you know, come.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
On, yeah, it just doesn't matter.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
I mean for that to be the outcome, I mean,
you know, oh I was neglected. I'm going to go
chop somebody's head off. It doesn't make sense. There's I
don't know the story. I've never really looked into it.
The whole thing is bothersome. Uh it's it's it's unfortunate
because it cast a really uh you know, pallid shadow
(32:33):
over over over the legacy of Stephen Stainer and and
what he represented to that being the outcome of the family.
You know, it's it's, it's, it's it's shameful, to be honest,
but uh but no, I never really followed up with
the story beyond like just reading the headline and was like,
(32:54):
what the okay, well that's something.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, it is a shame that there's any you know,
the people now connect those two stories sort of as
one in some regard.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
It's I agree with you. I think it's unfortunate.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Yeah, yes, it is.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
What stays me the most about Stevens story.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Let's say, what says me the most was how astonished,
even at that age I was at how well adjusted
he became in life. And that, that to me is
the that's the showstopper right there, That and even more
cataclysmic and and and and stormy outcome for his life
(33:39):
didn't present itself or or at least more of a
difficult transition back into some kind of normalcy.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
That to me.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
Is the true testament of his character and and what
should be celebrated at the end of the day and
the story is that through all of that, he still
came out the other side, you know, with his with
his integrity intact, and was able to live life as
(34:11):
a as a father, and a husband and and a
law by aiding citizen. You know, like anybody else, you'd
never know his life story if you pass by.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Him on the street, you know, right, it is nothing
short of miraculous.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Site.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
Yeah, totally agree.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Well this it's been so lovely to talk with you again.
This this mini series is called I know my first
name is Stephen, and you're just wonderful in it and
it's really a special important series. What where can we
find you now? Please tell me what you're what you're
up to right now? I know you're editing a film,
(34:53):
you just directed.
Speaker 4 (34:53):
Yes, yes, I just finished a film that I co
wrote with a producing part and friend of mine named
Matt Florio, that we shot down here in outside of
Saint Petersburg, Florida, with a great group of executive producers
on it, local local guys down here.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
But yeah, it was you know, it was a fun shoot.
Speaker 4 (35:17):
It's a horror comedy, it's a mockumentary, and it's also
a found footage piece. It's about a documentary crew that
finds out about a story, this legend of this half man,
half chicken who lives in the swamps of northern Florida.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
And comes out once a year, uh and terrorize and
terrorized the town.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
And so they go there to find out if this,
if this whole legend is true.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
And as they set out for the night to try.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
And get get this the the half man half Chicken
on film, one by one each of the crew members
is eliminated and all left the footage.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
And then there was that, there were none. All that's
left is the footage. Oh that's pretty genius.
Speaker 4 (36:03):
Yeah, yeah, And so it's it's it's a very it's
kind of like The Office meets Blair Witch Project, except
for that man have chicken in it, and we've had
a lot of fun. We're now in the editing phase
and it's it's but it's it's going to happen.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Oh well, congrats and I we look forward to seeing it.
Speaker 1 (36:23):
So yeah, I wish you the best with it.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
And again, thank you so much for spending the time today.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
This is a.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Really important story that we've talked about, and thank you
for being here.
Speaker 3 (36:37):
Thanks Elisa,
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