April 26, 2025 • 33 mins
At just seven years old, Steven Stayner was kidnapped by a predator who would hold him captive for seven long years--years in which the world moved on, but Steven was forced to grow up in the shadows of a stolen identity. His eventual escape and heroic rescue of another young boy made national headlines and turned him into a symbol of courage. But what happens after the cameras fade? Behind the media attention was a young man who had to piece together a life that had been taken from him. His story is not just about survival--it's about resilience, loss, and the quiet, ongoing struggle to reclaim a sense of self. Listen this week to Steven Stayner's story--he was a survivor whose story is as inspiring as it is tragic.
SOURCES:
1) Heroism and Horror: One Brother Was Kidnapped, The Other Became A Serial Killer
2) Two kidnapped boys, a hero’s return, then a tragic twist: The unbelievable story of Steven Stayner
3) Steven and Cary Stayner: The tale of two brothers' horror and heroism
4) Steven Stayner's Kidnapping, Cary Stayner's Horrific Crimes and One Family's Unbelievable Story
5) 'Captive Audience': Who Was Steven Stayner and What Happened To Him?
6) Who Was Steven? : The Little Boy Who Had Been Kidnaped Never Found Himself
7) He Was Abducted As A Child. Then His Brother Became A Serial Killer.
8) Kidnapper Returns To Jail
9) Molester Gets Life Term for Attempt to Buy a Boy
10) A Child Abductee's journey back
11) Steven Stayner Wikipedia Page
12) The Little Boy Who Never Came Home
13) Second Man Held in '72 Abduction of California Boy; Statute of Limitations
14) Propensity Podcast: Episode 1: In the Shadow of Yosemite - Part 1: Steven Stayner
15) Kenneth Parnell Wikipedia Page
SOURCES:
1) Heroism and Horror: One Brother Was Kidnapped, The Other Became A Serial Killer
2) Two kidnapped boys, a hero’s return, then a tragic twist: The unbelievable story of Steven Stayner
3) Steven and Cary Stayner: The tale of two brothers' horror and heroism
4) Steven Stayner's Kidnapping, Cary Stayner's Horrific Crimes and One Family's Unbelievable Story
5) 'Captive Audience': Who Was Steven Stayner and What Happened To Him?
6) Who Was Steven? : The Little Boy Who Had Been Kidnaped Never Found Himself
7) He Was Abducted As A Child. Then His Brother Became A Serial Killer.
8) Kidnapper Returns To Jail
9) Molester Gets Life Term for Attempt to Buy a Boy
10) A Child Abductee's journey back
11) Steven Stayner Wikipedia Page
12) The Little Boy Who Never Came Home
13) Second Man Held in '72 Abduction of California Boy; Statute of Limitations
14) Propensity Podcast: Episode 1: In the Shadow of Yosemite - Part 1: Steven Stayner
15) Kenneth Parnell Wikipedia Page
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hey Shannon, Hey Tanya? How are you doing pretty good?
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I am loving my hair growth that I've had with
my hair vitamins, as you can tell.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Oh, it looks.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Long, thank you. It is so sick. It is really
sick in my occipital bone. That's right, it's my occipital
bone because I know a little cranial anatomy from beauty school.
You got any plans this weekend? Oh?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Just visiting family? I'm easy.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yes? Is today Holy Week? Passover week?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
How about you?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Same? Same? Going over to Mispass and having a nice brunch.
Nice maybe have a mimosa Ooh I like that, celebrating
the Risen Lord.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yes, exactly. Well, I have a story this week. It
is part one of two. They're not like I'm gonna
tell you half the story though, but it's about brothers. Okay,
one brother's story, and then part two will be the
other brother's story.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
And before I get into it, I just would like
to remind everyone to hit the subscribe or follow button
on whatever app you're listening to. And Shannon, have you
ever heard of the Stainer Brothers?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I have not.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Okay, Well, you are in for a wild ride. Today,
I'm a popcorn.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So on December fourth, nineteen seventy two, Kay Stainer stopped
at the pharmacy to get a prescription on the way
to picking up her seven year old son, Stephen from school.
The step took longer than she expected, and by the
time she made it to the school, Stephen wasn't there
waiting for her. She followed the route she thought that
(02:01):
he would take to walk home, but she didn't see him.
Stephen had been known to just dilly dally like on
his way home, so it was a couple hours after
he was expected to arrive that Kay and Stephen's father,
Delbert began to worry. You know, it's nineteen seventy two.
At the time, the Stainer family lived in merced, California.
(02:25):
I think I'm saying that right, And in nineteen seventy two,
Mercid was a secluded farming town. The fields of almonds
and peaches the farmers tended grew only seventy miles from
Yosemite National Park. Stainers had five children. There were three
girls and two boys. Stephen was the third, right in
(02:45):
the middle. He was a quiet boy who enjoyed riding
on his Dan's tractor on their almond ranch. How about
that an almond ranch.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
No, that's so quaint. Sounds fun right.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
He'd once helped heal an owl, so they haven't all
on their property.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Stephen and Dell, his father, had a very close relationship.
He was known for being quite sensitive and somewhat of
a loner, but he had started getting into trouble at home.
Dell was going to be the one to have to
punish Stephen for writing his name on the garage door
when Stephen came home. But Stephen never came through their
(03:24):
front door, and his parents never painted over that spot
on their garage. The flyers that would paper Mercid and
the surrounding areas said quote. Missing juvenile Stephen Gregory Stainer
mail Caucasian, age seven, date of birth four, eighteen sixty five.
(03:44):
He was four foot eight sixty pounds, light brown hair.
The hair is shaggy and collar length brown eyes missing
since twelve, four seventy two from this city. Poster said,
And today, crazy enough, is the eighteenth of dying. Yeah,
I was just thinking it's the last day of aries. Yeah, crazy.
(04:09):
So Stephen was on his way home, like I said,
from school, when he was last seen. He was last
seen wearing a tan coat, blue jeans, multicolored flower shirt
with a zipper in the front. Stephen had never ran
away in the past. This may be a case of
foul player kidnapping. Any information on the above juvenile please
contact Sergeant Moore Murci the police department quote. The family
(04:33):
heard nothing from these posters, so on the afternoon of
December fourth, Stephen was walking home along Highway one pin forty.
He was just a few blocks from his house when
he was approached by a man named Edward Irving Murphy,
who said he was a church minister. Murphy was passing
out religious flyers and asking for donations. The boy agreed
(04:55):
that his mom would probably want to give something to
their church, so the minister asked Stephen if he would
take him to his house to speak to his mother.
Stephen agreed, and a white buick with another man inside
named Kenneth Parnell pulled up. In a televised ABC interview,
Stephen said that he had declined the ride several times,
(05:15):
but after being pressured by the two men, he gave
in and climbed in the car. Kenneth Eugene Parnell was
born in nineteen thirty one in Amarillo, Texas. Growing up
in the dustball era of the Great Depression and having
been abandoned by his father at a young age, his
mother moved him and his three half siblings to Bakersfield, California,
where she began running a boarding house. Known to the police.
(05:38):
As a juvenile delinquent, he would be in and out
of their custody for different crimes, from arson to car theft.
At eighteen years old, he married fifteen year old Patsy
Joe Dorton in nineteen forty nine. Not two years later,
she had given birth to a daughter. Within that same year,
Parnell acquired a sheriff's deputy's badge. At a military surplus store,
(06:00):
he approached an eight year old boy who he took
to a remote area where sexually assaulted and raped the child.
So he's a child moluster, obviously. The following year, he
was arrested and sentenced to four years at San Quentin Prison.
In a later interview, which took place in the year
two thousand, during another run in with the law, Parnell
attempted to excuse the nineteen fifty one crime, saying he
(06:23):
needed to quote find another outlet end quote because his
wife had been pregnant at the time.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I can't fucking believe that he you know, yes, y
know what. Thank you, yeah, thank you for showing your cards.
You don't fuck you.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Yeah, pig, just an absolute pig right. In nineteen fifty seven,
his divorce from Patsy Joe being finalized, he married again,
so these Lucky Ladies. Shortly after, however, he found himself
in prison again, serving six years for armed robbery and
grand larceny in Utah. While he was serving time for
these crimes, his second wife filed for divorce. When Parnell
(07:00):
was hired at Yusemite National Park in the early seventies,
he met janitor Edward Irvin Murphy. So Edward Murphy was
described as naive and quote unquote simple minded, possibly having
a learning disability or a low IQ. Murphy said that
Parnell told him he was an aspiring minister and thought
that he was simply helping Parnell find and save a
(07:23):
little boy. He said, Parnell told him he wanted to
raise the child in a religious home, So when Parnell
asked him to go hand out gospel pamphlets. It was
not out of the question in his mind. According to Stephen,
Murphy had been kind to him. Stephen believed Murphy was
also being manipulated by Parnell. It appears that Parnell and
(07:45):
Murphy didn't have much contact after the nineteen seventy two kidnap,
so after hopping in the car, Stephen thought that they
were taking him home, but they continued driving past the turns,
eventually stopping where Parnell got out of the car and
went to a pay phone. When he returned to the car,
he told Stephen he'd spoken to his parents and they
had given permission for Stephen to stay the night with
(08:07):
the men.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
And I hate him, you know, I'm just thinking of
the naivete of just the decade of nineteen and seventy two.
And if an adult told you that this happened, you
are well inclined to believe, like, oh, why would anyone
lie to you?
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Right?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Why would anyone harm you?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And you wouldn't think like, well, how'd they get my
phone number?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Adults just know things.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, adults are to be trusted, right, terrible, Yes. Parnell
took Stephen back to his small cabin in mcathy's valley.
I'm sorry, just twenty five miles away from his home
and only several hundred feet away from his maternal grandfather's house.
That first night, Stephen was molested. In that first week,
(08:48):
Stephen asked many times to go back to his family,
but Parnell told Stephen that he'd contacted his mom and
dad and they couldn't afford so many kids. They didn't
want him anymore.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Okay, yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Days later, he told Stephen he'd been granted legal custody
of him by the courts. Parnell told the boy he
was no longer Stephen Stainer. His name was Dennis Gregory Parnell.
He was to call Parnell dad. Two weeks into his abduction,
Parnell began raping the seven year old boy.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
The Merced Police Department took the lead on the investigation.
There was a large search effort that took place, but
there was no evidence to speak of, no witness sightings,
no tracks to follow. A street by street canvas was conducted,
roadblocks were set up, people were interviewed, all to no avail.
It was as though Stephen had just disappeared into thin air.
(09:42):
Over the following seven and a half years, even when
he enrolled in several schools in Mendocino County and Santa
Rosa as Dennis using his real date of birth. The
first school he enrolled in, Kawana Elementar in Santa Rosa,
failed to request his records, missing a chance to identify
(10:04):
Dennis as the boy that, at the time all of
California was looking for. Stephen was publicly raised as Parnell's
son while perpetrating horrific sexual abuse on the boy within
whatever shack, cabin, cheat motel, or trailer they were living
in at the time. Stephen never spoke a word about
the regular abuse he was suffering. Around nineteen seventy five,
(10:29):
Kenneth Parnell began a relationship with a woman named Barbara Mathis.
The relationship lasted eighteen months, and she eventually moved in
with Parnell and Stephen at age nine. Stephen was raped
on nine occasions by Parnell and Mathis together. Oh, people
are so fucking sick they are. Mathis claimed to have
(10:50):
not known that Stephen had been kidnapped, but during their
time together, claiming it was on Parnell's direction, she attempted
to lure another young boy into a vehicle. This attempt
wasn't a success. By the time he reached the sixth grade,
Stephen had been beaten, regularly smoked marijuana, gotten drunk on whiskey,
came and went from home as he pleased, and had
(11:11):
been thoroughly swayed into believing his family in Merced didn't
want him. His attendance at school were sporadic, but he
enjoyed being part of the football team. It was said
that Stephen had a great personality and desired to make friends.
He was described as spunky by Lorie Duke, a high
school girlfriend. Friends of Stephen said he wouldn't invite them
(11:32):
into his home, but they would come by some time,
staying outside. At one point, he got drunk and complained
that he wanted to go back to his family. When
friend suggested he go home to his dad, he said, no,
my real family and they just didn't understand what he meant.
Parnel would often have jobs that required him to leave
Stephen at home alone for long periods of time. As
(11:53):
an adult, Stephen stated he knew he could have used
the long absences to run, but he didn't know how
to go about reach help. Later, it would be learned
that Stephen's family had sent missing Persons flyers to some
of the schools Stephen attended, but no one recognized him.
Parnell had dyed his hair when he first took the boy,
but over time, as Stephen got older, he simply didn't
(12:15):
look the same. Stephen had sporadically questioned what he'd been
told about his parents not wanting him during the years
he spent is Dennis Parnell. He would sometimes look through
newspaper articles and TV reports to see if his family
was looking for him, but when he didn't find anything,
he felt it reinforced the lie he'd been told by
Parnell that he wasn't wanted. For all the horrors Parnell
(12:38):
inflicted upon Stephen during his relative captivity, the one grace
he provided the boy was a little Manchester Terrier puppy
Stephen named Queenie. The dog was a gift from Parnell's
mother to Parnell. According to all accounts, she had no
idea Stephen existed during the time he was being held
all those years.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I can't believe that I know. I can't I know.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
In nineteen seventy nine, fourteen year old Stephen was a
freshman at Mendocino High School. His older brother, Carrie was
an upperclassman three hundred miles away at Merced High School.
And we will talk about Carrie in our next episode.
So Stephen was growing up, he was becoming more difficult
for Parnell to control, and he was going through puberty.
(13:24):
His shoulders were broadening, his voice was getting deeper, and
Parnell decided he wanted another kid he could have control over,
and attraction to Stephen kind of waned like Stephen was
just no longer as tight, probably because he wasn't a
little boy right right. Parnell had tried to use Stephen
in attempts to kidnap other children on multiple occasions, but
(13:45):
all those attempts were unsuccessful. While Parnell believed that Stephen
lacked what he needed in an accomplice, Stephen later said
he purposefully sabotaged the attempts. On February thirteenth, nineteen eighty,
Parnell enlisted the hell of fourteen year old Sean Porman,
an acquaintance of Stevens from high school. Porman was promised
(14:06):
marijuana in cash in exchange for being a willing accomplice
in scouting a male child for Parnell to kidnap. During testimony,
Porman said on that day, Parnell had driven into Yukaia, California,
about an hour away. The teenager noticed a small boy
playing outside his home. Porman approached the boy and grabbed him.
(14:27):
Although the boy struggled and fought, the teen drug him
to a waiting car with Parnell inside. The boy was
five year old Timmy White. Returning home. Parnell died Timmy's
blonde hair a dark brown and told him his new
name was Tommy. The following day, Valentine's Day, Stephen walked
into his home and found Parnell waiting there for him
(14:47):
to introduce him to his new younger brother. Timmy was
crying and asking to go home. Parnell had began grooming
the boy the way he did to Stephen, telling him
his parents didn't want him anymore, reminding the teenager of
his own experience of feeling alone with no one to
protect him. Stephen later said quote, I couldn't see Timmy suffer.
I just didn't think it was right for him to
(15:09):
have to go through the same thing that I did.
He really didn't have to there was someone there who
could stop it. End quote. I think he was talking
about himself.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Wow. Confiding in his girlfriend, Lorie Duke, he told her
everything that had happened. In a later interview, she stated
quote he literally said quote I was not going to
let that child go through what I had already been through,
and if I didn't take care of it now, it
would just get worse.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
In March nineteen eighty, Parnell was working as a night
clerk at the Palace Hotel in Yukaya, planning to begin
training and working security for the hotel. He had also
taken on a second job working as a caretaker on
a ranch, and he was provided free housing living in
a one shack in a remote and isolated area of
Port Arena. Timmy had been with them for sixteen days
(16:00):
when on March first, fourteen year old Stephen finally saw
the opportunity to escape while Parnell was away at work.
In a nineteen eighty four interview with Newsweek, Stephen said, quote,
it was my do or die chance, and I also
would be coming home for doing something positive. End quote.
Parnell left for work the evening of March first, after
he had gone, Stephen and Timmy walked hand in hand
(16:22):
out of the shack and hitchhiked forty miles into Yakaiah.
Stephen had wanted to return Timmy home, but it was
dark and the young boy couldn't remember where he lived.
When he realized they weren't going to find Timmy's house,
Stephen took the boy into the Yukaia police station. Initially,
Stephen had no intention of walking into the station with Timmy.
(16:43):
He wanted to send the boy in and just run away,
still partially convinced that he wasn't wanted by his family
back in Mercid, The scared little boy convinced the teenager
to walk up to the authorities with him. Sitting down
to write a statement. Stephen would explain the kidnapping of
both him and Timmy, telling the police quote, I know
my first name is Stephen end quote. This moment became
(17:05):
what was considered one of the most remarkable moments of
the story, becoming the title for an eventual book and
made for TV movie. He stated quote, I think my
last name is Stainer end quote. At this point, Stephen
did not detail the sexual abuse he suffered at the
hand of his captor By sunrise on March second, Parnell
(17:25):
had been arrested on suspicion of abducting both boys. At
one am, before Parnell had even been arrested, Stephen was
reunited with his parents, surrounded by hundreds of neighbors, media,
and law enforcement. Dell approached Stephen in a big hug.
Kay was close behind. Media coverage of that moment included
(17:46):
Stephen holding his Manchester Terrier Queeney, and his parents embraced him. Yeah.
I know, I don't even remember this story.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
But when you said it was probably a made for
TV movie, I'm sure I saw it.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Yeah. In the title I think my name is Stephen,
I think I kind of remember that.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
That does ring bells. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
He became a national hero. Appearing on Good Morning America
within days of coming home. He told the host that
it felt great to be back with his family, although
he didn't recognize his siblings much after being gone for
the long seven and a half years. While the media
was painting the family reunion in a heartwarming glow, the
reality was far different. While Stephen kept the sexual abuse
(18:27):
private while writing his statement, the police had run a
background check on Parnell and came across his nineteen fifty
one sodomy conviction. Stephen continued to deny anything had happened
to him until a search of Parnell's things uncovered Lewde
pictures of a young Stephen in his possession. Upon being questioned,
and the truth came out, and shortly after the media
(18:48):
became informed. Stephen parents had enrolled him in high school
within days of his return, and as news of the
abuse began to circulate, the teenagers of the school began
to bully the victim, asking questions about why he wouldn't
run away earlier, did he enjoy it?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Was he gay?
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Being teased about the molestation and rape led him to
eventually drop out of school and set him into an
ever deepening depression. The transition home was also very difficult.
Far from being the seven year old who went missing,
the five foot ten teenager barely resembled the boy who
was taken. He had gone from having no rules and
no siblings to living with four siblings, sharing a room
(19:27):
with his older brother who he didn't recognize and who
didn't recognize him. Being expected to respect the authority of
people who cared was difficult, as was no longer being
allowed to smoke, drink, do drugs, stay out late, et cetera.
Regarding the changes, he said, quote, I returned almost a
grown man, and yet my parents saw me first as
their seven year old boy. After they stopped trying to
(19:50):
teach me the fundamentals all over again. It got better.
But why doesn't my dad hug me anymore? I guess
seven years changed him too. Everything has changed. I blame myself.
I don't know. Sometimes if I should have come home,
would I have been better off if I didn't? End
quote it's so sad.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
This is heartbreaking, and you know, in the eighties and
like there's no therapy to even set him up to
go back to school after being gone for seven fucking years.
I hope we're doing better as a people.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah right.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
I don't know how mental health is not your first
and foremost, because that's the filter that I'm going to
live my life through. Right, Healthier My filter is my
mental health. That's your first priority, not fucking math.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
I know.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
I'm just yeah, I know. I'm surprised we're not all
fucking serial killers. Okay, honestly, I'm just surprised any of
us came out. I don't know it's just you know.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Through to my fifties. Yeah, maybe I'm hoping well, you know,
till the end whenever. That might be never that much.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
But I have no prison term. I know, dificult. I've
never been arrested, I never served.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Time, right, I want to keep it that way. Yes,
Now I have to prove myself in the yard ship
like that.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
You know. Oh this poor guy, Oh.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
My gosh, that is just crazy for everybody involved, his parents,
his siblings, him.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah, what a horrible all those years seven years, yes,
years like those.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Are nightmare years for him. That he's in survival mode.
And it's absolutely it's going to be different for whatever
you're surviving.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yes, yes, so his sister Corey said, quote he got
on with his life, but he was pretty messed up
and he never got any counseling. My dad said he
didn't need any end quote. So yeah, that's the those eighties, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, I love nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, my mom, just be happy. What's the problem. Just
be happy? Why are you depressed? Aren't you happy?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Just be happy?
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Just be Oh okay, oh there it is, thank you mom.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Thanks. I had no idea. It was so simple.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Yeah, oh yeah, the epiphany, Wo if.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I am a drama queen? Apparently all right?
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Uh so? Stephen refused to disclose all the details of
the sexual abuse he endured from Parnell. Eventually, he was
kicked out of the family home and his relationship with
his father would remain damaged for the rest of his life.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
I never reached out to talk about it with my parents,
and they never pushed to find out. And yeah, thinking back,
a close relative said he was lucky to survive his
teen saying there was times he spoke of suicide, and yeah.
In June nineteen eighty one, Parnell was convicted of the
abduction of Timmy White and sentenced to seven years seven
(22:55):
whole years for that. In December of nineteen eighty one,
almost nine years to the day after Stephen had been taken,
Kenneth Parnell was put on trial for the abduction of Stephen.
Stephen would testify against his captor, and the entire trial
was televised, including his testimony. Though he was regularly sexually abused,
molestation charges against Parnell were dropped when a court ruled
(23:18):
the statute of limitations had expired. While he was sentenced
to another seven years for Stephen's kidnapping. The laws in
California at the time allowed sentences for multiple convictions to
be served concurrently rather than consecutively. Due to the concurrent
sentencing laws, Parnell would only serve an additional twenty months
in prison for the kidnapping and false imprisonment of Stephen,
(23:40):
in addition to the sentence he was serving for the
crimes against Timmy, and he was paroled in nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
That is just such a groucharable. Yes, yeah, of justice,
miscatriage of justice very much. Yes.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Murphy and Poorman, remember Poorman was the kid that was
one of Stephen's friends at high school that helped him
kidnap Timmy, and Murphy was the guy that lured Stephen.
We were convicted of lesser charges, both claiming they knew
nothing of the sexual assaults on Stephen. Murphy was sentenced
to five years, of which he served just two before
being released. Porman served his time in a juvenile work
(24:19):
camp and I don't know how much time he served.
I couldn't find that information. At twenty years old, in
nineteen eighty five, Stephen married seventeen year old Jody Edmondson
Jody stated, quote, he was very proud of who he was.
He was just very well grounded for a person that
had gone through what he had gone through.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
The couple went on to have two children, a daughter
named Ashley and a son named Stephen Junior. Although he
continued to blame himself for what happened in some ways,
he seemed to have found peace. Having a family helped,
and his mom Case said he was a great father.
Stephen did work with child abduction groups, worked with groups
that searched for missing children, and spoke to kids about
personal safety, along with giving interviews about his kidnapping. With
(25:02):
a growing family, he and his wife had some financial struggles,
and so he began working as a consultant for the
mini series I Know My Name is Stephen to make
some money. He also made a cameo appearance in the show,
which was watched by forty million people in May nineteen
eighty nine. While Stephen never seemed to get the help
he needed, he used to say, quote, why pay a
psychologist one hundred dollars an hour to sit and talk
(25:24):
out a problem when I've been talking to reporters for
nine years. It's a good substitute end quote. Media also
seemed to be part of the problem, though the story
was regurgitated incessantly. He expressed the belief that repeating the
story would sustain awareness of child objections, and he never
refused an interview. But he seemed to believe that eventually
(25:44):
the reporters would just get everything they wanted and that
he could finally be left alone. But they never did.
They just kept pounding him.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Animals I know.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
September sixteen, nineteen eighty nine, was a particularly rainy night.
As he was leaving work to drive home from his
job at Pizza Hut, his manager suggested that he drive
the company truck home that night to be safer. Stephen
reminded the manager that he had a suspended license and
if he were to get into an accident, it might
not look good for the franchise. He declined the offer
(26:14):
and got on his motorcycle to head home. Just three
miles down the road, he collided with a driver coming
out of a nearby migrant camp. Stephen was not wearing
a helmet and died within an hour of head injuries.
He was only twenty four.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
YEO you know, oh my gosh, so ye Corey right,
the driver Antonio Loera loyerra Maybe fled the scene in
the hit and run and was later identified by witnesses.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Found later he surrendered in Tijuana, Mexico. He was sentenced
to three months in prison for the accident, but was
found not guilty of vehicular manslaughter. Five hundred people attended
Stephen Stainer's funeral on September twentieth. Fourteen year old Timmy
White was pallbearer. Oh gosh no, His sister Corey said,
(27:05):
you can say he had a rough life, but it
didn't even last long enough to see where it would
have gone.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
End.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Quote Jody Stainer, a young twenty year old widow, remembering
his pain, said he's not hurting anymore. Nobody can hurt
him now. In what a prosecutor described as the would
be last hurrah of an aging pedophile, Kenneth Parnell in
two thousand and three, at over seventy years old and
in a wheelchair, attempted to convince his former caretaker sister
(27:35):
to deliver a four year old boy to his Berkeley
apartment for five hundred dollars no ancestry. She went to
the police instead. Parnell was arrested and charged with conspiracy
to steal a child. Timothy White, now a grown man,
was subpoena to testify at his criminal trial, and although
Stephen was dead, his prior testimony was read to the
jurors as evidence in this case. The prosecutor said that
(27:59):
with the three strikes law, Parnell could face life in prison.
While his criminal history was focused on by the prosecution,
the defense tried to convince the jury to not focus
on the past, saying, quote, what happened thirty some years
ago doesn't help us here today, end quote, claiming his
past history of abducting other children was somehow irrelevant. His
(28:20):
lawyer stated that Parnell would never consider what he did
a kidnap. He simply wanted to raise an abandoned boy.
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Yeah, they'll praise it anyway.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
God ah God, lawyers sometimes, right, you're hilarious those lawyers,
because lawyers spinning that pile of shit bullshit.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, one's a fucking punch in the throat sometimes the
shit that comes out of their mouth, Like, what does
this have to do with the answer is everything, And
we all know the answer is fucking everything. Just because
you pose it as a question doesn't make how dare you?
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Yeah, and he's a child molester and he's gonna always
be a child molester.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Absolute yes, why yes?
Speaker 1 (29:04):
So? Pushing back, the prosecution warned that Parnell had been
a lifelong predator, noting that Parnell asked the woman for
a child quote with a clean bottom end quote, indicating
a disturbing purpose. They stated, quote the defendant is a
danger at any age, is a threat to children of
any age.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
The following year, Parnell was convicted and sentenced to twenty
five years to life in prison by a judge who
called him quote a poster child for the three strikes
law end quote. Kenneth Eugene Parnell died in two thousand
and eight at the age of seventy six at the
California Medical Facility in Vaccaville of natural causes. Timothy White
would later become a deputy in the Los Angeles County
(29:45):
Sheriff's Department. However, he died on April first, twenty ten,
at the age of thirty five from a pulmonary embolism.
Nearly five months later, in late August, a statue of
Stainer and White was dedicated in Applegate Park in Mercid.
The residents of Yukaya carved a statue showing a teenage
(30:06):
stainer with a young white in hand while escaping their captivity.
And that's the end of the story.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Tanya, that is more bitter than sweet.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I know what a heartbreak it is.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
What no matter who you are in the story, Steven,
except fucking for Kenneth that pig right, Oh my gosh.
I was like, I hope this motherfucker is gone. I
know it's the eighties, and when I kind of jumped
ahead when I saw that he had died, I.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Was like, good, yeah, good. I feel like, why did
he get to live for seventy six years while Stephen
got twenty four seventy six and poor Timmy got thirty five.
It's like I don't know life, I don't know. Or
sometimes this fucking nasty s child molester got to live
(31:02):
for seventy six years, and you know, yeah, some of
it was in prison where he belonged, but him.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Only getting seven years, I don't understand that, just as
a moral compass for the laws, seven years for what
you've done to that boy. We've all been children, you
know what, you know the scar you don't maybe know,
but you know it was awful.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Yeah, to tell him like not only molest him, okay,
like that's horrific, but to tell him his family didn't
want him, and they, oh, they just can't afford you anymore.
So you know they just said fuck you. I guess right.
That's more emotional scars on top of the emotional scars
that you're in nexting. It's just fucking evil to do
(31:48):
that to a child with your ill.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Intentioned Why else do you The sad part is why
else do kids get taken? Yeah, so if they've been gone, yes,
check out the back or he's establishing it right now,
right right.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
It's a sad, sad said, but.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
I'm glad that you brought it because now part two
has got me wondering because this seems to wrap everything up.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Oh yeah, Carrie Stainer just a boiler alert, Yeah about
Carrie Stainer. So if you heard of him, you know
it's coming. So anyway, my friend, Well, thank you all
for listening to this week's US and thank you Shannon,
And if you could please before you stop listening this week,
(32:39):
hit the subscriber follow button on whatever app you're listening to.
It really helps us out. If you would like more
episodes with Shannon and I, you can join our Patreon.
You can find that at Patreon dot com. Slash t
NT crimes like Dynamite, T and T. You can also
go to our website Crimes Andconsequences dot com. You can
(32:59):
find out information in there. You could also subscribe through
the Apple Podcast app if you have an iPhone. I
think that's everything I've covered, really all the business. So
until our next episode, my friend.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
All right, you have a wonderful weekend. Happy holidays everybody anywhere.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Yeah, that's a great one. So I will see you
next time.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
See you. Bye,
Hey Shannon, Hey Tanya? How are you doing pretty good?
How are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I am loving my hair growth that I've had with
my hair vitamins, as you can tell.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Oh, it looks.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Long, thank you. It is so sick. It is really
sick in my occipital bone. That's right, it's my occipital
bone because I know a little cranial anatomy from beauty school.
You got any plans this weekend? Oh?
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Just visiting family? I'm easy.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yes? Is today Holy Week? Passover week?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
How about you?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Same? Same? Going over to Mispass and having a nice brunch.
Nice maybe have a mimosa Ooh I like that, celebrating
the Risen Lord.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yes, exactly. Well, I have a story this week. It
is part one of two. They're not like I'm gonna
tell you half the story though, but it's about brothers. Okay,
one brother's story, and then part two will be the
other brother's story.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
And before I get into it, I just would like
to remind everyone to hit the subscribe or follow button
on whatever app you're listening to. And Shannon, have you
ever heard of the Stainer Brothers?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I have not.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Okay, Well, you are in for a wild ride. Today,
I'm a popcorn.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So on December fourth, nineteen seventy two, Kay Stainer stopped
at the pharmacy to get a prescription on the way
to picking up her seven year old son, Stephen from school.
The step took longer than she expected, and by the
time she made it to the school, Stephen wasn't there
waiting for her. She followed the route she thought that
(02:01):
he would take to walk home, but she didn't see him.
Stephen had been known to just dilly dally like on
his way home, so it was a couple hours after
he was expected to arrive that Kay and Stephen's father,
Delbert began to worry. You know, it's nineteen seventy two.
At the time, the Stainer family lived in merced, California.
(02:25):
I think I'm saying that right, And in nineteen seventy two,
Mercid was a secluded farming town. The fields of almonds
and peaches the farmers tended grew only seventy miles from
Yosemite National Park. Stainers had five children. There were three
girls and two boys. Stephen was the third, right in
(02:45):
the middle. He was a quiet boy who enjoyed riding
on his Dan's tractor on their almond ranch. How about
that an almond ranch.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
No, that's so quaint. Sounds fun right.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
He'd once helped heal an owl, so they haven't all
on their property.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Stephen and Dell, his father, had a very close relationship.
He was known for being quite sensitive and somewhat of
a loner, but he had started getting into trouble at home.
Dell was going to be the one to have to
punish Stephen for writing his name on the garage door
when Stephen came home. But Stephen never came through their
(03:24):
front door, and his parents never painted over that spot
on their garage. The flyers that would paper Mercid and
the surrounding areas said quote. Missing juvenile Stephen Gregory Stainer
mail Caucasian, age seven, date of birth four, eighteen sixty five.
(03:44):
He was four foot eight sixty pounds, light brown hair.
The hair is shaggy and collar length brown eyes missing
since twelve, four seventy two from this city. Poster said,
And today, crazy enough, is the eighteenth of dying. Yeah,
I was just thinking it's the last day of aries. Yeah, crazy.
(04:09):
So Stephen was on his way home, like I said,
from school, when he was last seen. He was last
seen wearing a tan coat, blue jeans, multicolored flower shirt
with a zipper in the front. Stephen had never ran
away in the past. This may be a case of
foul player kidnapping. Any information on the above juvenile please
contact Sergeant Moore Murci the police department quote. The family
(04:33):
heard nothing from these posters, so on the afternoon of
December fourth, Stephen was walking home along Highway one pin forty.
He was just a few blocks from his house when
he was approached by a man named Edward Irving Murphy,
who said he was a church minister. Murphy was passing
out religious flyers and asking for donations. The boy agreed
(04:55):
that his mom would probably want to give something to
their church, so the minister asked Stephen if he would
take him to his house to speak to his mother.
Stephen agreed, and a white buick with another man inside
named Kenneth Parnell pulled up. In a televised ABC interview,
Stephen said that he had declined the ride several times,
(05:15):
but after being pressured by the two men, he gave
in and climbed in the car. Kenneth Eugene Parnell was
born in nineteen thirty one in Amarillo, Texas. Growing up
in the dustball era of the Great Depression and having
been abandoned by his father at a young age, his
mother moved him and his three half siblings to Bakersfield, California,
where she began running a boarding house. Known to the police.
(05:38):
As a juvenile delinquent, he would be in and out
of their custody for different crimes, from arson to car theft.
At eighteen years old, he married fifteen year old Patsy
Joe Dorton in nineteen forty nine. Not two years later,
she had given birth to a daughter. Within that same year,
Parnell acquired a sheriff's deputy's badge. At a military surplus store,
(06:00):
he approached an eight year old boy who he took
to a remote area where sexually assaulted and raped the child.
So he's a child moluster, obviously. The following year, he
was arrested and sentenced to four years at San Quentin Prison.
In a later interview, which took place in the year
two thousand, during another run in with the law, Parnell
attempted to excuse the nineteen fifty one crime, saying he
(06:23):
needed to quote find another outlet end quote because his
wife had been pregnant at the time.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I can't fucking believe that he you know, yes, y
know what. Thank you, yeah, thank you for showing your cards.
You don't fuck you.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Yeah, pig, just an absolute pig right. In nineteen fifty seven,
his divorce from Patsy Joe being finalized, he married again,
so these Lucky Ladies. Shortly after, however, he found himself
in prison again, serving six years for armed robbery and
grand larceny in Utah. While he was serving time for
these crimes, his second wife filed for divorce. When Parnell
(07:00):
was hired at Yusemite National Park in the early seventies,
he met janitor Edward Irvin Murphy. So Edward Murphy was
described as naive and quote unquote simple minded, possibly having
a learning disability or a low IQ. Murphy said that
Parnell told him he was an aspiring minister and thought
that he was simply helping Parnell find and save a
(07:23):
little boy. He said, Parnell told him he wanted to
raise the child in a religious home, So when Parnell
asked him to go hand out gospel pamphlets. It was
not out of the question in his mind. According to Stephen,
Murphy had been kind to him. Stephen believed Murphy was
also being manipulated by Parnell. It appears that Parnell and
(07:45):
Murphy didn't have much contact after the nineteen seventy two kidnap,
so after hopping in the car, Stephen thought that they
were taking him home, but they continued driving past the turns,
eventually stopping where Parnell got out of the car and
went to a pay phone. When he returned to the car,
he told Stephen he'd spoken to his parents and they
had given permission for Stephen to stay the night with
(08:07):
the men.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
And I hate him, you know, I'm just thinking of
the naivete of just the decade of nineteen and seventy two.
And if an adult told you that this happened, you
are well inclined to believe, like, oh, why would anyone
lie to you?
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Right?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Why would anyone harm you?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And you wouldn't think like, well, how'd they get my
phone number?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Adults just know things.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah, adults are to be trusted, right, terrible, Yes. Parnell
took Stephen back to his small cabin in mcathy's valley.
I'm sorry, just twenty five miles away from his home
and only several hundred feet away from his maternal grandfather's house.
That first night, Stephen was molested. In that first week,
(08:48):
Stephen asked many times to go back to his family,
but Parnell told Stephen that he'd contacted his mom and
dad and they couldn't afford so many kids. They didn't
want him anymore.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Okay, yeah, I know.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Days later, he told Stephen he'd been granted legal custody
of him by the courts. Parnell told the boy he
was no longer Stephen Stainer. His name was Dennis Gregory Parnell.
He was to call Parnell dad. Two weeks into his abduction,
Parnell began raping the seven year old boy.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
The Merced Police Department took the lead on the investigation.
There was a large search effort that took place, but
there was no evidence to speak of, no witness sightings,
no tracks to follow. A street by street canvas was conducted,
roadblocks were set up, people were interviewed, all to no avail.
It was as though Stephen had just disappeared into thin air.
(09:42):
Over the following seven and a half years, even when
he enrolled in several schools in Mendocino County and Santa
Rosa as Dennis using his real date of birth. The
first school he enrolled in, Kawana Elementar in Santa Rosa,
failed to request his records, missing a chance to identify
(10:04):
Dennis as the boy that, at the time all of
California was looking for. Stephen was publicly raised as Parnell's
son while perpetrating horrific sexual abuse on the boy within
whatever shack, cabin, cheat motel, or trailer they were living
in at the time. Stephen never spoke a word about
the regular abuse he was suffering. Around nineteen seventy five,
(10:29):
Kenneth Parnell began a relationship with a woman named Barbara Mathis.
The relationship lasted eighteen months, and she eventually moved in
with Parnell and Stephen at age nine. Stephen was raped
on nine occasions by Parnell and Mathis together. Oh, people
are so fucking sick they are. Mathis claimed to have
(10:50):
not known that Stephen had been kidnapped, but during their
time together, claiming it was on Parnell's direction, she attempted
to lure another young boy into a vehicle. This attempt
wasn't a success. By the time he reached the sixth grade,
Stephen had been beaten, regularly smoked marijuana, gotten drunk on whiskey,
came and went from home as he pleased, and had
(11:11):
been thoroughly swayed into believing his family in Merced didn't
want him. His attendance at school were sporadic, but he
enjoyed being part of the football team. It was said
that Stephen had a great personality and desired to make friends.
He was described as spunky by Lorie Duke, a high
school girlfriend. Friends of Stephen said he wouldn't invite them
(11:32):
into his home, but they would come by some time,
staying outside. At one point, he got drunk and complained
that he wanted to go back to his family. When
friend suggested he go home to his dad, he said, no,
my real family and they just didn't understand what he meant.
Parnel would often have jobs that required him to leave
Stephen at home alone for long periods of time. As
(11:53):
an adult, Stephen stated he knew he could have used
the long absences to run, but he didn't know how
to go about reach help. Later, it would be learned
that Stephen's family had sent missing Persons flyers to some
of the schools Stephen attended, but no one recognized him.
Parnell had dyed his hair when he first took the boy,
but over time, as Stephen got older, he simply didn't
(12:15):
look the same. Stephen had sporadically questioned what he'd been
told about his parents not wanting him during the years
he spent is Dennis Parnell. He would sometimes look through
newspaper articles and TV reports to see if his family
was looking for him, but when he didn't find anything,
he felt it reinforced the lie he'd been told by
Parnell that he wasn't wanted. For all the horrors Parnell
(12:38):
inflicted upon Stephen during his relative captivity, the one grace
he provided the boy was a little Manchester Terrier puppy
Stephen named Queenie. The dog was a gift from Parnell's
mother to Parnell. According to all accounts, she had no
idea Stephen existed during the time he was being held
all those years.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I can't believe that I know. I can't I know.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
In nineteen seventy nine, fourteen year old Stephen was a
freshman at Mendocino High School. His older brother, Carrie was
an upperclassman three hundred miles away at Merced High School.
And we will talk about Carrie in our next episode.
So Stephen was growing up, he was becoming more difficult
for Parnell to control, and he was going through puberty.
(13:24):
His shoulders were broadening, his voice was getting deeper, and
Parnell decided he wanted another kid he could have control over,
and attraction to Stephen kind of waned like Stephen was
just no longer as tight, probably because he wasn't a
little boy right right. Parnell had tried to use Stephen
in attempts to kidnap other children on multiple occasions, but
(13:45):
all those attempts were unsuccessful. While Parnell believed that Stephen
lacked what he needed in an accomplice, Stephen later said
he purposefully sabotaged the attempts. On February thirteenth, nineteen eighty,
Parnell enlisted the hell of fourteen year old Sean Porman,
an acquaintance of Stevens from high school. Porman was promised
(14:06):
marijuana in cash in exchange for being a willing accomplice
in scouting a male child for Parnell to kidnap. During testimony,
Porman said on that day, Parnell had driven into Yukaia, California,
about an hour away. The teenager noticed a small boy
playing outside his home. Porman approached the boy and grabbed him.
(14:27):
Although the boy struggled and fought, the teen drug him
to a waiting car with Parnell inside. The boy was
five year old Timmy White. Returning home. Parnell died Timmy's
blonde hair a dark brown and told him his new
name was Tommy. The following day, Valentine's Day, Stephen walked
into his home and found Parnell waiting there for him
(14:47):
to introduce him to his new younger brother. Timmy was
crying and asking to go home. Parnell had began grooming
the boy the way he did to Stephen, telling him
his parents didn't want him anymore, reminding the teenager of
his own experience of feeling alone with no one to
protect him. Stephen later said quote, I couldn't see Timmy suffer.
I just didn't think it was right for him to
(15:09):
have to go through the same thing that I did.
He really didn't have to there was someone there who
could stop it. End quote. I think he was talking
about himself.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Wow. Confiding in his girlfriend, Lorie Duke, he told her
everything that had happened. In a later interview, she stated
quote he literally said quote I was not going to
let that child go through what I had already been through,
and if I didn't take care of it now, it
would just get worse.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
In March nineteen eighty, Parnell was working as a night
clerk at the Palace Hotel in Yukaya, planning to begin
training and working security for the hotel. He had also
taken on a second job working as a caretaker on
a ranch, and he was provided free housing living in
a one shack in a remote and isolated area of
Port Arena. Timmy had been with them for sixteen days
(16:00):
when on March first, fourteen year old Stephen finally saw
the opportunity to escape while Parnell was away at work.
In a nineteen eighty four interview with Newsweek, Stephen said, quote,
it was my do or die chance, and I also
would be coming home for doing something positive. End quote.
Parnell left for work the evening of March first, after
he had gone, Stephen and Timmy walked hand in hand
(16:22):
out of the shack and hitchhiked forty miles into Yakaiah.
Stephen had wanted to return Timmy home, but it was
dark and the young boy couldn't remember where he lived.
When he realized they weren't going to find Timmy's house,
Stephen took the boy into the Yukaia police station. Initially,
Stephen had no intention of walking into the station with Timmy.
(16:43):
He wanted to send the boy in and just run away,
still partially convinced that he wasn't wanted by his family
back in Mercid, The scared little boy convinced the teenager
to walk up to the authorities with him. Sitting down
to write a statement. Stephen would explain the kidnapping of
both him and Timmy, telling the police quote, I know
my first name is Stephen end quote. This moment became
(17:05):
what was considered one of the most remarkable moments of
the story, becoming the title for an eventual book and
made for TV movie. He stated quote, I think my
last name is Stainer end quote. At this point, Stephen
did not detail the sexual abuse he suffered at the
hand of his captor By sunrise on March second, Parnell
(17:25):
had been arrested on suspicion of abducting both boys. At
one am, before Parnell had even been arrested, Stephen was
reunited with his parents, surrounded by hundreds of neighbors, media,
and law enforcement. Dell approached Stephen in a big hug.
Kay was close behind. Media coverage of that moment included
(17:46):
Stephen holding his Manchester Terrier Queeney, and his parents embraced him. Yeah.
I know, I don't even remember this story.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
But when you said it was probably a made for
TV movie, I'm sure I saw it.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Yeah. In the title I think my name is Stephen,
I think I kind of remember that.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
That does ring bells. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
He became a national hero. Appearing on Good Morning America
within days of coming home. He told the host that
it felt great to be back with his family, although
he didn't recognize his siblings much after being gone for
the long seven and a half years. While the media
was painting the family reunion in a heartwarming glow, the
reality was far different. While Stephen kept the sexual abuse
(18:27):
private while writing his statement, the police had run a
background check on Parnell and came across his nineteen fifty
one sodomy conviction. Stephen continued to deny anything had happened
to him until a search of Parnell's things uncovered Lewde
pictures of a young Stephen in his possession. Upon being questioned,
and the truth came out, and shortly after the media
(18:48):
became informed. Stephen parents had enrolled him in high school
within days of his return, and as news of the
abuse began to circulate, the teenagers of the school began
to bully the victim, asking questions about why he wouldn't
run away earlier, did he enjoy it?
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Was he gay?
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Being teased about the molestation and rape led him to
eventually drop out of school and set him into an
ever deepening depression. The transition home was also very difficult.
Far from being the seven year old who went missing,
the five foot ten teenager barely resembled the boy who
was taken. He had gone from having no rules and
no siblings to living with four siblings, sharing a room
(19:27):
with his older brother who he didn't recognize and who
didn't recognize him. Being expected to respect the authority of
people who cared was difficult, as was no longer being
allowed to smoke, drink, do drugs, stay out late, et cetera.
Regarding the changes, he said, quote, I returned almost a
grown man, and yet my parents saw me first as
their seven year old boy. After they stopped trying to
(19:50):
teach me the fundamentals all over again. It got better.
But why doesn't my dad hug me anymore? I guess
seven years changed him too. Everything has changed. I blame myself.
I don't know. Sometimes if I should have come home,
would I have been better off if I didn't? End
quote it's so sad.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
This is heartbreaking, and you know, in the eighties and
like there's no therapy to even set him up to
go back to school after being gone for seven fucking years.
I hope we're doing better as a people.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah right.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
I don't know how mental health is not your first
and foremost, because that's the filter that I'm going to
live my life through. Right, Healthier My filter is my
mental health. That's your first priority, not fucking math.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
I know.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
I'm just yeah, I know. I'm surprised we're not all
fucking serial killers. Okay, honestly, I'm just surprised any of
us came out. I don't know it's just you know.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Through to my fifties. Yeah, maybe I'm hoping well, you know,
till the end whenever. That might be never that much.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
But I have no prison term. I know, dificult. I've
never been arrested, I never served.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Time, right, I want to keep it that way. Yes,
Now I have to prove myself in the yard ship
like that.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
You know. Oh this poor guy, Oh.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
My gosh, that is just crazy for everybody involved, his parents,
his siblings, him.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah, what a horrible all those years seven years, yes,
years like those.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Are nightmare years for him. That he's in survival mode.
And it's absolutely it's going to be different for whatever
you're surviving.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yes, yes, so his sister Corey said, quote he got
on with his life, but he was pretty messed up
and he never got any counseling. My dad said he
didn't need any end quote. So yeah, that's the those eighties, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Yeah, I love nineteen eighty four.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, my mom, just be happy. What's the problem. Just
be happy? Why are you depressed? Aren't you happy?
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Just be happy?
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Just be Oh okay, oh there it is, thank you mom.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Thanks. I had no idea. It was so simple.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Yeah, oh yeah, the epiphany, Wo if.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
I am a drama queen? Apparently all right?
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Uh so? Stephen refused to disclose all the details of
the sexual abuse he endured from Parnell. Eventually, he was
kicked out of the family home and his relationship with
his father would remain damaged for the rest of his life.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
I never reached out to talk about it with my parents,
and they never pushed to find out. And yeah, thinking back,
a close relative said he was lucky to survive his
teen saying there was times he spoke of suicide, and yeah.
In June nineteen eighty one, Parnell was convicted of the
abduction of Timmy White and sentenced to seven years seven
(22:55):
whole years for that. In December of nineteen eighty one,
almost nine years to the day after Stephen had been taken,
Kenneth Parnell was put on trial for the abduction of Stephen.
Stephen would testify against his captor, and the entire trial
was televised, including his testimony. Though he was regularly sexually abused,
molestation charges against Parnell were dropped when a court ruled
(23:18):
the statute of limitations had expired. While he was sentenced
to another seven years for Stephen's kidnapping. The laws in
California at the time allowed sentences for multiple convictions to
be served concurrently rather than consecutively. Due to the concurrent
sentencing laws, Parnell would only serve an additional twenty months
in prison for the kidnapping and false imprisonment of Stephen,
(23:40):
in addition to the sentence he was serving for the
crimes against Timmy, and he was paroled in nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
That is just such a groucharable. Yes, yeah, of justice,
miscatriage of justice very much. Yes.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Murphy and Poorman, remember Poorman was the kid that was
one of Stephen's friends at high school that helped him
kidnap Timmy, and Murphy was the guy that lured Stephen.
We were convicted of lesser charges, both claiming they knew
nothing of the sexual assaults on Stephen. Murphy was sentenced
to five years, of which he served just two before
being released. Porman served his time in a juvenile work
(24:19):
camp and I don't know how much time he served.
I couldn't find that information. At twenty years old, in
nineteen eighty five, Stephen married seventeen year old Jody Edmondson
Jody stated, quote, he was very proud of who he was.
He was just very well grounded for a person that
had gone through what he had gone through.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
The couple went on to have two children, a daughter
named Ashley and a son named Stephen Junior. Although he
continued to blame himself for what happened in some ways,
he seemed to have found peace. Having a family helped,
and his mom Case said he was a great father.
Stephen did work with child abduction groups, worked with groups
that searched for missing children, and spoke to kids about
personal safety, along with giving interviews about his kidnapping. With
(25:02):
a growing family, he and his wife had some financial struggles,
and so he began working as a consultant for the
mini series I Know My Name is Stephen to make
some money. He also made a cameo appearance in the show,
which was watched by forty million people in May nineteen
eighty nine. While Stephen never seemed to get the help
he needed, he used to say, quote, why pay a
psychologist one hundred dollars an hour to sit and talk
(25:24):
out a problem when I've been talking to reporters for
nine years. It's a good substitute end quote. Media also
seemed to be part of the problem, though the story
was regurgitated incessantly. He expressed the belief that repeating the
story would sustain awareness of child objections, and he never
refused an interview. But he seemed to believe that eventually
(25:44):
the reporters would just get everything they wanted and that
he could finally be left alone. But they never did.
They just kept pounding him.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Animals I know.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
September sixteen, nineteen eighty nine, was a particularly rainy night.
As he was leaving work to drive home from his
job at Pizza Hut, his manager suggested that he drive
the company truck home that night to be safer. Stephen
reminded the manager that he had a suspended license and
if he were to get into an accident, it might
not look good for the franchise. He declined the offer
(26:14):
and got on his motorcycle to head home. Just three
miles down the road, he collided with a driver coming
out of a nearby migrant camp. Stephen was not wearing
a helmet and died within an hour of head injuries.
He was only twenty four.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
YEO you know, oh my gosh, so ye Corey right,
the driver Antonio Loera loyerra Maybe fled the scene in
the hit and run and was later identified by witnesses.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Found later he surrendered in Tijuana, Mexico. He was sentenced
to three months in prison for the accident, but was
found not guilty of vehicular manslaughter. Five hundred people attended
Stephen Stainer's funeral on September twentieth. Fourteen year old Timmy
White was pallbearer. Oh gosh no, His sister Corey said,
(27:05):
you can say he had a rough life, but it
didn't even last long enough to see where it would
have gone.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
End.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Quote Jody Stainer, a young twenty year old widow, remembering
his pain, said he's not hurting anymore. Nobody can hurt
him now. In what a prosecutor described as the would
be last hurrah of an aging pedophile, Kenneth Parnell in
two thousand and three, at over seventy years old and
in a wheelchair, attempted to convince his former caretaker sister
(27:35):
to deliver a four year old boy to his Berkeley
apartment for five hundred dollars no ancestry. She went to
the police instead. Parnell was arrested and charged with conspiracy
to steal a child. Timothy White, now a grown man,
was subpoena to testify at his criminal trial, and although
Stephen was dead, his prior testimony was read to the
jurors as evidence in this case. The prosecutor said that
(27:59):
with the three strikes law, Parnell could face life in prison.
While his criminal history was focused on by the prosecution,
the defense tried to convince the jury to not focus
on the past, saying, quote, what happened thirty some years
ago doesn't help us here today, end quote, claiming his
past history of abducting other children was somehow irrelevant. His
(28:20):
lawyer stated that Parnell would never consider what he did
a kidnap. He simply wanted to raise an abandoned boy.
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Yeah, they'll praise it anyway.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
God ah God, lawyers sometimes, right, you're hilarious those lawyers,
because lawyers spinning that pile of shit bullshit.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, one's a fucking punch in the throat sometimes the
shit that comes out of their mouth, Like, what does
this have to do with the answer is everything, And
we all know the answer is fucking everything. Just because
you pose it as a question doesn't make how dare you?
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Yeah, and he's a child molester and he's gonna always
be a child molester.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
Absolute yes, why yes?
Speaker 1 (29:04):
So? Pushing back, the prosecution warned that Parnell had been
a lifelong predator, noting that Parnell asked the woman for
a child quote with a clean bottom end quote, indicating
a disturbing purpose. They stated, quote the defendant is a
danger at any age, is a threat to children of
any age.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
The following year, Parnell was convicted and sentenced to twenty
five years to life in prison by a judge who
called him quote a poster child for the three strikes
law end quote. Kenneth Eugene Parnell died in two thousand
and eight at the age of seventy six at the
California Medical Facility in Vaccaville of natural causes. Timothy White
would later become a deputy in the Los Angeles County
(29:45):
Sheriff's Department. However, he died on April first, twenty ten,
at the age of thirty five from a pulmonary embolism.
Nearly five months later, in late August, a statue of
Stainer and White was dedicated in Applegate Park in Mercid.
The residents of Yukaya carved a statue showing a teenage
(30:06):
stainer with a young white in hand while escaping their captivity.
And that's the end of the story.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Tanya, that is more bitter than sweet.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I know what a heartbreak it is.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
What no matter who you are in the story, Steven,
except fucking for Kenneth that pig right, Oh my gosh.
I was like, I hope this motherfucker is gone. I
know it's the eighties, and when I kind of jumped
ahead when I saw that he had died, I.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
Was like, good, yeah, good. I feel like, why did
he get to live for seventy six years while Stephen
got twenty four seventy six and poor Timmy got thirty five.
It's like I don't know life, I don't know. Or
sometimes this fucking nasty s child molester got to live
(31:02):
for seventy six years, and you know, yeah, some of
it was in prison where he belonged, but him.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
Only getting seven years, I don't understand that, just as
a moral compass for the laws, seven years for what
you've done to that boy. We've all been children, you
know what, you know the scar you don't maybe know,
but you know it was awful.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
Yeah, to tell him like not only molest him, okay,
like that's horrific, but to tell him his family didn't
want him, and they, oh, they just can't afford you anymore.
So you know they just said fuck you. I guess right.
That's more emotional scars on top of the emotional scars
that you're in nexting. It's just fucking evil to do
(31:48):
that to a child with your ill.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Intentioned Why else do you The sad part is why
else do kids get taken? Yeah, so if they've been gone, yes,
check out the back or he's establishing it right now,
right right.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
It's a sad, sad said, but.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
I'm glad that you brought it because now part two
has got me wondering because this seems to wrap everything up.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Oh yeah, Carrie Stainer just a boiler alert, Yeah about
Carrie Stainer. So if you heard of him, you know
it's coming. So anyway, my friend, Well, thank you all
for listening to this week's US and thank you Shannon,
And if you could please before you stop listening this week,
(32:39):
hit the subscriber follow button on whatever app you're listening to.
It really helps us out. If you would like more
episodes with Shannon and I, you can join our Patreon.
You can find that at Patreon dot com. Slash t
NT crimes like Dynamite, T and T. You can also
go to our website Crimes Andconsequences dot com. You can
(32:59):
find out information in there. You could also subscribe through
the Apple Podcast app if you have an iPhone. I
think that's everything I've covered, really all the business. So
until our next episode, my friend.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
All right, you have a wonderful weekend. Happy holidays everybody anywhere.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Yeah, that's a great one. So I will see you
next time.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
See you. Bye,
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