Cary Anthony Stayner (born August 13, 1961), also known as the Yosemite Park Killer, or simply the Yosemite Killer, is an American serial killer and the older brother of kidnapping victim Steven Stayner. He was convicted of the murders of four women between February and July 1999. The murders occurred in Mariposa County, California, near Yosemite National Park. Stayner was sentenced to death penalty, death for the four murders, and is still on death row at San Quentin State Prison in California.

Early life

Cary Stayner was born on August 13, 1961, the third of five children born to Delbert Foy and Kay Stayner in Merced, California, Merced, California. He had three sisters and a younger brother, Steven Stayner, Steven Gregory Stayner. On December 4, 1972, 7-year-old Steven was abducted in Merced, California, by child molester Kenneth Parnell. He was held by his abductor away in Mariposa County, California, and later in Mendocino County, California, until he was aged 14, when he managed to escape with another of Parnell's victims, Timothy White (abduction victim), Timothy White. Cary later said that he felt child neglect, neglected while his parents grieved over the loss of Steven. When Steven escaped and returned home, he received massive media attention which resulted in the 1989 release of a television miniseries based on his experience, ''I Know My First Name Is Steven'' (also known as ''The Missing Years''), based on the True crime (genre), true crime book of the same name, and Stayner once again felt overshadowed by the attention his brother got. Steven, who had married and had two children, died in a motorcycle accident in 1989. When he was 3 years old, Cary was diagnosed with trichotillomania and was put on medication, though the condition continued to affect him during his high school years; the consequential bald spots led to him being severely bullied and having to perpetually wear a baseball cap. Although it is believed that his brother's kidnapping contributed to Cary's sexual deviancy, Stayner claimed to authorities after his arrest that he had begun fantasising about abducting and murdering women since he was 7, prior to the abduction of his brother. Additionally, despite his intelligence being noted by his classmates and teachers and his being placed in accelerated classes in school, he continued having fantasies about women being gang raped before he was a teenager. While his sister's friend was staying over at his house, he even exposed himself to her. Due to his cartoon contributions to the school newspaper, Stayner was chosen as the "most creative" student in his graduating class at the age of 18 at Merced High School. After graduating, Stayner worked as a window installer at a glass company which is where he allegedly developed a fantasy about ramming a truck into the workplace, killing everyone there, and setting the place on fire. In 1991, Stayner tried to gas himself to death with carbon monoxide. In 1995, he was admitted to a mental institution after claiming to have had a nervous breakdown and was released after receiving treatment. He was also arrested in 1997 for possession of marijuana and methamphetamines, although these charges were eventually dropped.

Victims

Confirmed

In 1997, Stayner was hired as a handyman at the Cedar Lodge motel in El Portal, California, just outside the California State Route 140, Highway 140 entrance to Yosemite National Park. Stayner found all of his confirmed victims at the Cedar Lodge motel. Between February and July 1999, he murdered at least two women and two teenagers. * On March 18, 1999, the first two victims, 42-year-old Carole Evon Sund and 16-year-old Argentine exchange student Silvina Pelosso, were found in the trunk of the charred remains of Sund's Pontiac (automobile), Pontiac rental car. The bodies were burned beyond recognition and were identified using dental records. Sund was strangled with rope and shot but was not raped while Pelosso was raped and shot. A week later a note was sent to the police with a hand-drawn map indicating the location of the third victim, Sund's 15-year-old daughter Juliana "Juli" Sund. The top of the note read, "We had fun with this one." Investigators went to the location depicted on the map and found the remains of Sund, who had been raped and whose throat had been cut. Detectives began interviewing employees of the Cedar Lodge motel where the three victims had been staying just before their deaths on February 15, 1999. One of those employees was Stayner, but he was not considered a suspect at that point because he had no criminal history and remained calm during the police interview. * On July 22, 1999, when the decapitation, decapitated body of NatureBridge, Yosemite Institute employee Joie Ruth Armstrong, a 26-year-old naturalist, was found, eyewitnesses said they saw a blue 1972 International Scout parked outside the cabin where she was staying the day prior on July 21. Detectives traced this vehicle to Stayner, which led to him becoming the prime suspect in the case. FBI agents John Boles and Jeff Rinek found Stayner staying at the Laguna del Sol nudist resort in Wilton, California, Wilton, where he was arrested and taken to Sacramento for questioning. During his interrogation, Stayner shocked the agents when he confessed not only to Armstrong's decapitation but to the murders of Pelosso and the Sunds and the sending of the map for finding Juli Sund's body. His vehicle yielded evidence proving his link to Armstrong.

Suspected

Following his arrest, Stayner was suspected of being responsible for other homicides and disappearances in addition to his four known victims. Given that similar offenders started their violent crimes at far younger ages, investigators have stated that they think Stayner may have additional victims. * 28-year-old Patricia Marie "Patty" Hicks Dahlstrom last contacted family in September 1982 after relocating to Merced, California from Washington State. She had joined a religious following, the San Anda Apostolic Church, founded by cult leader Donald Gibson. Hicks was one of the group members who were detained in December 1980. An investigation into the religious organisation revealed that sexual assaults had been carried out under various religious pretences. Gibson was put on trial in September 1981, and was found guilty of four sex offences. Afterward, Hicks decided to leave the cult and was last seen by her roommate taking public transportation to the Yosemite National Park. A severed arm and hand were recovered from Yosemite National Park on June 28, 1983. By 1988, a skull was also discovered near the original scene. In April 2021, genetic genealogy identified the remains as being those of Hicks. Stayner is known to have been acquainted with Gibson at the time of his 1981 trial, which he attended. Authorities believe Stayner may have chosen to kill Hicks in retaliation for her testimony against Gibson. * On December 26, 1990, Stayner's paternal uncle, 42-year-old Jesse Jerrold "Jerry" Stayner, with whom Cary lived in Merced, California, was shot to death in his house with his own shotgun. The murder was never solved and Stayner became a suspect after his arrest. Cary later claimed that Jesse molested him around the same time that Steven was kidnapped when he was 11. * In October 1994, severed human hands were found near the New Melones Reservoir. On December 13, 1994, a headless and handless torso was found in a cluster of trees off Camp 9 Road near Vallecito, California by a group of boys who were burning yard debris. A forensic pathologist determined that the detached hands belonged to the body. In December 1995, the remains were identified as belonging to 24-year-old Sharalyn Mavonne Murphy. Her head has never been found. The FBI investigated Murphy's homicide to determine a link between Stayner due to similarities between her death and the murder of Armstrong. Authorities also reviewed the case of 34-year-old Denise Smith, whose decomposed body was discovered in a 50-gallon burn barrel off Jacksonville Road near Don Pedro Reservoir in December 1994. * 20-year-old Michael Larry "Mike" Madden planned to meet friends at Sand Bar Flat Campground in the Stanislaus National Forest near Sonora, California on August 10, 1996, for camping and fishing. On that day, he left his family's home at around 5:00 a.m. He was never seen again. At 2:00 a.m. on August 12, 1996, Madden's companions showed up to the predetermined spot, but they found no sign of him. Authorities have considered that Madden may have been a victim of Stayner who committed his crimes near Yosemite National Park, 75 miles east of Sonora.

Trial and conviction

Stayner was tried in federal court for Armstrong's murder since it occurred on federal land. To avoid a possible death sentence, he pleaded guilty to premeditated first-degree murder, felony first-degree murder, kidnapping resulting in death, and attempted aggravated sexual abuse resulting in death. During the sentencing hearing, Stayner stunned the courtroom when he suddenly broke down in tears and apologized. "I wish I could take it back, but I can't," he said. "I wish I could tell you why I did such a thing, but I don't even know myself. I'm so sorry. I wish there was a reason. But there isn't. It's senseless." Lesli Armstrong, Armstrong's mother, started crying as she listened to Stayner, and said afterward that she believed his apology was genuine. Stayner was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Stayner pleaded insanity defense, not guilty by reason of insanity to the other murders in state court. Stayner also admitted that he had intended to murder two Finnish girls in 1998 but fled when the girls' advisor arrived. His lawyers claimed that the Stayner family had a history of sexual abuse and mental illness, manifesting itself not only in the murders, but also his obsessive-compulsive disorder and his request to be provided with child pornography in return for his confession. Dr. Jose Arturo Silva testified that Stayner had obsessive-compulsive disorder, mild autism, and paraphilia. He was nevertheless found sane and convicted of three counts of first degree murder with special circumstances and one count of kidnapping by a jury on August 27, 2002. After being sentenced to death for the brutal killings, Stayner has been housed at the Adjustment Center on death row at San Quentin State Prison in California since 2002. Stayner remains on death row though there have been no executions in California since a 2006 court ruling over flaws in the administration of capital punishment in the state.

Media portrayals

* Stayner's case was featured in an episode of ''American Justice'' produced in 2002. * In 2011, Stayner's investigation and arrest were featured in an episode of ''FBI: Criminal Pursuit'', titled "Trail of Terror", airing on Investigation Discovery. * In 2013, the history of Stayner's progress from student to the convicted murderer was told in an episode of the U.K. television series ''Born to Kill?'' titled, "Yosemite Park Slayer." * The American Court TV (now TruTV) television series ''Mugshots'' released an episode on the Stayner case titled "Cary Stayner – The Cedar Lodge Killings". * In 2018, the Reelz channel aired an hour-long documentary about the murders titled ''Yosemite Park Killer''. * On January 26, 2019, ABC News broadcast a 20/20 (U.S. TV program), ''20/20'' episode covering the Stayner brothers, titled "Evil in Eden". * August 30, 2020 HLN (TV network), HLN aired "The Yosemite Murders: The Missing Women (Part 1)" and "The Yosemite Murders: The Evil Side (Part 2)", from the documentary series ''How It Really Happened''. * October 31, 2020, Casefile, an List of Australian crime podcasts, Australian true crime podcast, released the first of two episodes on Stayner with the title "The Yosemite Sightseer Murders." The second episode was released on November 7, 2020. The podcast released an episode on Steven Stayner's kidnapping earlier in 2020. * April 2022, a Hulu three-part documentary "Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story" focused on the lives of Steven and Cary Stayner.

References

External links

* Documentary series from Court TV (now TruTV
"MUGSHOTS: Cary Stayner -The Cedar Lodge Killings"
episode (2002) at ''FilmRise'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Stayner, Cary 1961 births 20th-century American criminals American male criminals American murderers of children American people convicted of murder American prisoners sentenced to death American rapists American serial killers Crime in California Criminals from California Living people Male serial killers People convicted of murder by California People convicted of murder by the United States federal government People convicted under the Federal Kidnapping Act People from Merced, California People on the autism spectrum People with obsessive–compulsive disorder American people with disabilities Prisoners sentenced to death by California Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government Violence against women in the United States Yosemite National Park