Hidden in Plain Sight: The Tragic Story of Steven Stayner

Deep dive, True crime 25 March 2024

This article contains descriptions of violent or distressing events – reader discretion advised

Table of Contents

Kidnap

Steven Gregory Stayner was born in Merced, California, on April 18th, 1965. He was the middle child of four siblings: his older brother, Cary; his older sister, Cindy; and his two younger sisters, Jody and Cory. In 1972, when Steven was seven, the siblings lived with their parents, Kay and Delbert, in a three-bedroom suburban home on 1655 Bette Street in the city of Merced, a small, rural community about 60 miles west of Yosemite National Park. Due to its proximity to Yosemite, Merced has the slogan, ‘Gateway to Yosemite’.

Before moving to Bette Street, the family had previously lived in northern Merced County on a 20-acre farm ranch with an almond orchard. Steven loved playing outside and running around the almond trees with his dog. But the farm physically took a toll on Delbert’s health, and in 1970, he had back surgery after slipping a disk. Then, in 1971, the dry summer and insufficient irrigation forced them to sell the farm and move to the city.

Steven missed the freedom of living on the ranch, and he was frequently in trouble for cutting through the neighbours’ yards. He missed his dog, who they had given up to friends living in the country. He also missed his friends from his previous kindergarten class and would often get into fights with classmates at his new school, Charles Wright Elementary.

However, by the end of 1972, Steven was adjusting well to his new home. He was happier, and he had begun to make friends. On December 4th, Steven finished school at 2 pm. It was his best friend Sharon Carr’s birthday, and he would be going to her house later to give her a present. But he had some chores he needed to do first, so despite the rain, he headed home. Besides, his parents had previously reprimanded him for going to a friend’s house after school without asking permission first, and he didn’t want another whooping from his dad.

Taking his usual route, Steven was just a few blocks from his house when he was approached by the then 30-year-old Ervin Edward Murphy handing out gospel tracts and claiming to be seeking donations for the church. Murphy asked Steven if his mother would be willing to donate any items, and when Steven replied that she would, Murphy offered Steven a ride home. Steven was apprehensive and refused at first, but Steven grew up with a strong Mormon faith running through his family, and he had no reason not to trust one of his elders, particularly one from the church.

Watching the interaction from his white Buick truck sat 41-year-old Kenneth Parnell. Parnell wanted a little boy to raise as a son, and he kept religious tracts in his truck which he had used to hand out to other kids walking home from school. On this occasion, he had asked Murphy to make the introduction because he figured Murphy’s small height and simple-minded demeanour would make him less intimidating to a small child.

As soon as Parnell saw that Steven had agreed to Murphy’s offer, he drove up to them. Murphy opened the rear door, and seven-year-old Steven Stayner willingly climbed in.

However, instead of being taken home to his mother, Steven was driven 25 miles away to Parnell’s rented two-room run-down cabin at Catheys Valley Cabin Resort in Mariposa County, 50 miles from Yosemite Lodge where he and Murphy worked. On the way, Parnell stopped at a payphone and pretended to call Steven’s parents, telling Steven that they had agreed for him to stay the night with Parnell. Parnell took Steven inside the cabin, where several toys waited for him.

That night, Parnell made Steven shower and get into the cabin’s solitary bed with him, naked. Murphy slept on the sofa and could hear Steven’s cries in the next room. For the next seven years, this would be Steven’s new normal.

On December 5th, the day after Steven’s abduction, Parnell and Murphy needed to return to work, so the three of them drove to Yosemite Lodge. After dropping Murphy off at his cabin, Parnell took Steven to a remote area and forced the terrified child to perform oral sex on him. Steven later explained that he didn’t want to be fighting Parnell every night, so he just did what Parnell wanted him to do.

After the assault, Parnell moved Steven to his private room in the employee dorm building of Yosemite Valley Lodge. Parnell would give Steven sleeping pills so that he could attend his job as the hotel bookkeeper. This went on for several days, with Steven only given a bucket to use as a toilet. Murphy would stop by to check on Steven, taking him food, books, and toys. Murphy was kind to Steven and tried to comfort him. Steven liked him and called him ‘Uncle Murphy’.

A few days later, on December 11th, Parnell, Murphy, and Steven returned to Parnell’s rented cabin at Catheys Valley. Parnell left Murphy in charge of Steven and took a trip to Bakersfield to visit his mother. When he returned, he bought back a six-week-old Manchester Terrier puppy that his mother had given him. He presented the puppy to Steven, who was thrilled with his new companion. He called her ‘Queenie’.

Parnell did not tell Steven where he had been but instead said he had been away for the day as he had been to court. He told Steven that his parents no longer wanted him as they couldn’t afford to take care of him and that a judge had granted Parnell custody of Steven.

During his trip to Bakersfield, Parnell had stopped in Merced at a service station and spotted a missing flyer of Steven. He made a mental note of the flyer’s description of Steven, along with his date of birth and full name. With this information in mind, Parnell told Steven that his new name would be Dennis Gregory Parnell and that Steven had to start calling Parnell ‘Dad’. A couple of days later, Parnell cut Steven’s hair shorter and dyed it a darker colour, eradicating the description of Steven’s ‘light brown, shaggy, collar-length hair’ provided on the flyer.

The next day, Parnell drove Murphy back to Yosemite. Parnell also spoke to his boss and quit his job. He drove Steven back to the cabin and promptly molested the terrified boy. The abuse towards Steven was now intensifying, and thirteen days after he first kidnapped Steven, Parnell sodomised him for the first time. When Parnell had finished, he gave Steven, who was sobbing in pain, sleeping pills.

The next morning, Parnell traded in his Buick for a Rambler, making his connection to Steven’s kidnapping even harder for the police. That day, he, Steven, and Queenie left Catheys Valley and drove 200 miles to Santa Rosa, where they spent the next few weeks checking into run-down motels. It was inside a motel room that Steven spent his first Christmas away from his family.

The Search for Steven

Kay had been running some errands the afternoon of Steven’s abduction and was 10 minutes late picking him up. She hoped he had gone straight home, but he was not there when she got in at around 2:20 pm. Initially, neither Kay nor Delbert was too concerned, as Steven didn’t always return home immediately, but as time ticked on, they became increasingly worried. They called Steven’s friends in case he had gone to one of their houses. Delbert returned to the school and drove around the neighbourhood looking for him, but nobody had seen him. By 5 pm, they contacted the Merced Police.

A search resumed that night, assisted by the local Boy Scouts. Searches took place of gardens, sheds, wooded areas, construction sites, and anywhere Steven could be hiding or lying injured. Delbert scoured the streets well into the night and searched a local junkyard by torchlight.

The local radio station alerted its listeners of Steven’s disappearance. By the next day, news bulletins were being broadcast across television stations and printed in the newspapers. A large police presence filled the streets of Merced with officers canvassing all homes and businesses within a ten-block radius.

That night, Delbert drove to Catheys Valley to visit Kay’s father, Bob Augustine, and tell him the news about his grandson. Bob actually lived at Judy’s Trailer Park, which was the same trailer park that Parnell’s cabin was at. Little did anyone know that Steven was residing just 200 feet away from his grandfather.

Searches continued for a few days, assisted by volunteers in the local community and members of the Mormon church. Delbert and Kay searched tirelessly for Steven and cooperated with the police in any way they could, despite the heartbreak they were going through. Polygraph tests were carried out on both Delbert and Kay, the results of which indicated that neither parent had any involvement with Steven’s disappearance. On December 6th, Kay and Delbert awoke to find the FBI excavating their property.

Delbert feared Steven had been murdered and drove around the area looking at mounds of dirt in the hills that could be freshly dug graves. He would keep a sawed-off shotgun on the seat of his pickup in case he saw someone with Steven. Kay on the other hand never doubted Steven was alive and never left the house or made sure someone else was there in case Steven called. She never gave up, and together with some of her friends created flyers to send to schools and businesses.

Several psychics contacted the family, and although sceptical, the family and police followed up on all theories, desperate for leads. One psychic led them to the cabins at Catheys Valley trailer park, but astonishingly, they were never checked. The family assumed the psychic’s connection was Steven’s grandfather. Bob had not cooperated well with the police when questioned, but the officers were satisfied he wasn’t involved, and he passed a polygraph test.

Due to the proximity of Yosemite National Park to Merced, the FBI contacted the chief ranger in charge of law enforcement at the park, requesting a list of the park’s employees. However, not only did the list arrive three months later, but when it did arrive, it only contained half of the employees’ names. The employees were paid fortnightly, with half paid one week and the other half paid the week after, and the list provided to the FBI did not include the employees who had been paid the week Steven went missing. As Parnell’s name was not on the list, the FBI could not check for his name against their list of sex offenders.

The rangers had searched Yosemite National Park. It was known that the Curry Company, the company responsible for hiring employees for the park’s hotels, employed criminals, including sex offenders, and with Parnell and Steven staying right under their noses, it is clear the search was not adequately carried out. Furthermore, there did not seem to be a willingness to cooperate with the FBI. When the FBI visited the park requesting to hang flyers, the manager stated that posters of a missing child would scare his customers. The manager argued that a warrant would be needed as Yosemite was a national park, and so fell under federal rather than local jurisdiction. No one from Yosemite Park recalls ever seeing one of the flyers.

On Monday 11th December, the search was officially called off, leaving the Stayner family devastated. Christmas 1972 came and went. Steven’s present, a G.I. Joe action figure he had said he wanted remained unopened under the tree.

In 1973, a child’s cowboy boot washed up on the bank of Bear Creek in north Merced. The overgrown shoreline was searched, while a boat dragged through its waters looking for a child’s remains. Thankfully, the boot did not belong to Steven.

These were harrowing times for the Stayner family, who had no idea if Steven was alive or dead. Kay and Delbert approached various news teams asking for help but were told Steven’s disappearance was now old news. But the family never gave up their efforts, and Delbert and his friends continued their searches, scouring the area for any sign of Steven.

Later that year, Delbert and Carey repainted the garage, though Delbert made sure Carey didn’t paint over the signature of his name Steven had graffitied there the day before he disappeared. The visual reminder of Steven’s mischievous days with his family remained on the garage wall for many years to come.

Steven’s New Normal

After Christmas, Parnell found work as a bookkeeper and alternating front desk clerk at Santa Rosa’s Holiday Inn. He hired sitters to take care of Steven while he was working. Parnell threatened Steven by telling him he would be locked up in a children’s home if he told anyone the truth about who he was.

On January 2nd, 1973, Parnell enrolled Steven at Steel Lane Elementary School. The paperwork listed Steven as Dennis Parnell, with Yosemite Elementary registered as Steven’s previous school. However, Steel Lane did not follow up on the delays in retrieving Steven’s paperwork from Yosemite, nor did they ask Parnell for Steven’s birth certificate. In fact, that month, the Bellevue Union School District had received several of Kay’s missing juvenile flyers with a letter requesting the district circulate the flyers to its schools, which included Steel Lane Elementary. The flyers were thrown out and never distributed, so the staff at Steel Lane did not recognise Dennis Parnell as missing Steven Stayner.

So not long after coming to terms with the move his family had made to Merced, Steven had to once again adjust to a new school and make new friends. On February 24th, Parnell and Steven moved to a small trailer in Mt. Taylor Trailer Park on the edge of town. Steven changed schools again to Kawana Springs Elementary, and Dennis Parnell’s new paperwork trail was now taking root.

In April, Steven turned eight, and Parnell’s terrifying assaults continued. One night, when Parnell was sleeping, Steven tried to run away but didn’t get far down the road before he found himself lost and scared and returned to the trailer before Parnell woke up. Parnell’s manipulation was not only sexual but also psychological. As much as Steven missed his family and wanted to return to them, he believed they didn’t want him and felt he had nowhere to go. Steven thought of his parents often and would scan newspaper and television reports to see if his parents were looking for him.

Steven was beginning to settle into his new life. Although the trailer was run down, Steven liked it because he could play outside and run around with his dog, just as he had loved to do back on his family’s ranch. He was also starting to make friends and became good friends with a boy called Kenny Matthias. As Steven and Kenny’s friendship developed, Steven would spend time at Kenny’s house, and Parnell used the opportunity to ask Kenny’s mother if she would babysit Steven. She agreed.

Later that year, Steven fell sick, and Parnell had to take him to a doctor. Even with no paperwork, Parnell was somehow able to get Steven treatment. Parnell even occasionally took Steven to Denny’s restaurant, but he was never recognised. Parnell had grown confident, hiding Steven in plain sight.

In November 1973, Parnell could afford to rent a comfortable, spacious house in Santa Rosa, though it meant Steven had to change schools once again to Doyle Park Elementary, leaving behind his best friend, Kenny Matthias. However, Parnell allowed Kenny to sleep over, and the two remained friends. Parnell was also entering into a relationship with Kenny’s mother, Barbara.

By February 1974, Parnell lost his job at the Holiday Inn and took a job delivering newspapers. The pay wasn’t enough to continue financing their new house, so he and Steven moved back to motels in Santa Rosa. However, Steven was able to return to Kawana Elementary, where he reunited in the classroom with his friend Kenny.

By the spring, Parnell found a job at the El Tropicana Motel. Parnell and Barbara’s relationship intensified. Her husband, Bob, would often come home drunk and beat his wife, and Parnell was someone she could turn to. Parnell and Steven were still living in motel rooms with just one bed when Parnell asked Barbara to move in with them. The three of them would share the bed. One night, Parnell and Barbara were drunk and started having sex in front of the now nine-year-old Steven before forcing Steven to join them and have intercourse with Barbara.

In June, Parnell resumed his job at the Holiday Inn, and he, Steven, and Barbara moved to the North Star Trailer Park. Again, there was just the one bed that the three of them shared. During the eighteen months the three of them lived together, Steven was raped a further eight more times. Although Steven did not like Barbara, Steven said that he was relieved when she was around because Parnell’s abuse towards him decreased.

Parnell’s lust for small boys did not end when he kidnapped Steven, and in December 1974, he attempted to take another child, but this time, with Steven’s help. Parnell drove Steven to a shopping mall in Santa Rosa and made him approach any boys out alone. However, Steven deliberately sabotaged his role in Parnell’s abduction attempts. He would tell Parnell the boys refused to go with him and lied about the conversations he was really having.

Approximately six months later, in May 1975, Parnell talked Barbara into helping him take a child. She tried luring a young boy, who was in the Santa Rosa Boys’ Club with Steven, to go with them, but as soon as they approached Parnell’s car, the boy got scared and ran away.

Presumably, to escape detection, the trio moved eighty miles away to a trailer park in Willits, Mendocino County, and Steven was made to change schools again to Brookside Elementary. Parnell struggled to find work, and they moved less than a month later to Harbor Trailer Park in Fort Bragg, where, with the financial assistance of his mother, Parnell opened a Bible store. Again, Steven had to change schools, this time to Dana Gray Elementary, where Parnell listed Barbara on the paperwork as Barbara Parnell, Steven’s mother.

One weekend, Steven was caught shoplifting and was briefly in police custody. Steven could have opened up to them about who he was and the abuse he was suffering, but instead chose to stay quiet, more afraid of the punishment he was going to get from Parnell or being sent to a care home if he did tell.

Parnell’s Bible store was a failure and ended up closing. By the spring of 1976, Barbara gained custody of her four youngest children, including Kenny, who all moved in, adding further financial strain on Parnell. Their trailer was too small for all seven of them, so Parnell purchased a converted school bus. However, they could not keep the bus at the trailer park, and they ended up moving to the nearby Anchor Trailer Park. It was here that Kenny informed Steven that Parnell had tried to make a move on him, though Steven ignored Kenny’s accusation. The financial strain on the family caused cracks to appear in Parnell and Barbara’s relationship, and by June of that year, Barbara took her children and went to live with another man she had recently met through her work. With Barbara now gone, Parnell’s abuse of Steven intensified once again.

Parnell got a new job as a bookkeeper at Wells Dental Supply in Comptche, Mendocino County. Parnell rented a mobile home from a colleague, and he and Steven moved to Comptche in July. It was a happy time for Steven. He had his own bedroom, and he loved the outdoor life Comptche provided. Steven attended Mendocino Middle School and made good friends. He even got his first girlfriend, Lori MacDonald. Steven and his friends would all hang out together, and by sixth grade, he was smoking marijuana.

Parnell still had a roving eye for other young boys and would invite Steven’s friends to his trailer when Steven wasn’t there. Kenny Matthias, who had already informed Steven about Parnell’s advances, told Steven about another incident in which he had gone to visit Steven at the trailer. Parnell had made sure to send Steven to a friend’s house, and Steven had no idea Kenny would be coming. Parnell then attempted to molest Kenny, although Kenny was able to get away before anything happened.

According to the book, ‘I Know My First Name is Steven’ by Mike Echols, Steven then confided in Kenny about the abuse he was experiencing by Parnell. When Kenny asked Steven why he didn’t tell anyone, Steven said he didn’t want to tell on his dad.

In a later incident, Barbara and her children visited Parnell in Comptche. One day, everyone except Parnell, Kenny, and nine-year-old Lloyd went shopping leaving the two boys alone with Parnell in the trailer. Parnell began touching Kenny, but Kenny ran off, leaving his younger brother alone with Parnell. Allegedly, Parnell then proceeded to rape Lloyd.

Parnell tried it on with many of Steven’s friends, sometimes offering them money. One boy he offered money to was 10 years old. The boy declined Parnell’s advances. Another time, Parnell purchased cigarettes for Steven’s good friend George Mitchell. Parnell served Steven and George beer and got them drunk. According to a police report filed at the time by George’s mother, Parnell sodomised George.

During another incident, Parnell got Steven and another schoolboy, Jeff, drunk and proceeded to take nude photographs of them together in the shower. Parnell had taken nude photographs of Steven in the past.

In the late spring of 1978, 13-year-old Steven went to a party where he smoked marijuana and got drunk. He started crying and told several of his friends, including George Mitchell and his girlfriend Lori, that his real name was Steven, not Dennis, and he wanted to go back to his real home. His friends thought he was messing about and put the outburst down to drunkenness.

In the spring of 1979, Parnell put down a deposit on a piece of land in the Arkansas Ozark Mountains in Franklin County. He planned to live in a trailer on the land until he could build himself a cabin. But it would take a few weeks for the land deal to come through, so in July 1979, Parnell and Steven made a sudden and temporary move to a caretaker’s cabin on Mountain View Ranch in Manchester. Parnell had made a deal with the owners to guard the land (and the cannabis crops), and in return, Parnell could stay in the cabin rent-free.

Steven was devastated about the move. He had lived in Comptche for three years, and he had friends, happy memories, and his own bedroom there. The new cabin was basic, with only one bedroom and two beds. There was no electricity, and the washing facilities and toilet were outside.

Parnell found a new job as a night-time desk clerk at the Palace Hotel in Ukiah, 40 miles away from their new home. In November, Steven transferred to Point Arena High School, though he was often absent due to the remote location of their cabin and transportation issues getting to school.

Steven was now 14 years old, and although Parnell still frequently abused him, Parnell’s sexual interest in Steven was waning the older Steven got. Parnell still wanted to kidnap another child and planned on taking the child to his new place in Arkansas. Several times, Parnell tried to get Steven to help him, driving Steven to Santa Rosa and telling him to approach boys as he had done before, but each time, Steven foiled the plan, just as he had previously. Eventually, Parnell realised Steven would be of no help, but it didn’t take Parnell long to manipulate someone else into assisting him instead.

Randall ‘Sean’ Poorman was a troubled teenager looking to escape his home situation, and Parnell took advantage of that by seducing him with cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol. Parnell also stole marijuana from the ranch, and he used Sean to sell it for him. In November 1979, Sean went to the cabin to stay the weekend with Parnell and Steven, and Parnell began to tell Sean about his wish for a child. Just as he had done with Murphy, Parnell told Sean that he wanted to help a boy, someone he could rescue from a bad home. Parnell offered Sean $50 to help him. Sean accepted.

At around 8 am on the morning of February 14th, 1980, Parnell and Sean drove to the area around Yukayo Elementary School in Ukiah and watched the kindergarteners arriving for school. Parnell already had his eye on a boy that he wanted to kidnap. He had followed him after school and knew the route he took. Failing to spot the boy, they planned on returning later.

In the meantime, they visited charity stores where Parnell purchased Sean a briefcase as a reward for helping him. Sean would later use his new briefcase to carry his pornography. Parnell also purchased items of girl’s clothing that could be used as a disguise, as well as a mattress. Then they went to a drugstore where Parnell purchased sleeping pills to sedate the boy, just as he had done to Steven. At around 11 am, Parnell and Sean returned to the school. Spotting the boy, Parnell drove a short distance away before parking. Parnell and Sean were poised and ready to put their plan into action.

Timmy White

Timmy White was happy when he left his kindergarten class for the day. His class had had a Valentine’s Day party, and he had dressed as a cowboy for the occasion. Clutching his goody bag full of Valentine’s cards, he left the school and began the walk to his babysitter’s house.

As the 5-year-old walked down the street, he approached a car with an older boy squatting down next to one of the tyres. The boy called over to Timmy, asking him for his help, but Timmy refused and continued on his way. Suddenly, he heard the boy running up behind him, and so Timmy ran too, but the boy caught up to him and grabbed him. Timmy desperately grabbed hold of a chain-link fence, but the boy was stronger than him and was able to prise his tiny fingers from the fence before dragging him kicking and screaming back to the car.

Timmy was thrown into the backseat and heard the door slam as the car quickly pulled away. Terrified, he was forced to swallow pills and then lie down before being covered with a blanket. Confused by what was happening, Timmy lay there, not knowing who these men were or where they were taking him.

Borrowed Time

Arriving back at the Manchester cabin, Parnell carried the sleepy Timmy inside. He undressed him and changed him into charity shop pyjamas before laying him on the bed and giving him another sleeping pill. Before Sean left, Parnell handed him some whisky and marijuana, along with some nude photos of one of Sean’s classmates. He also gave him a couple of photos of the intersection in which they had kidnapped Timmy as a souvenir of their day. Sean dropped all the items into his new briefcase, happy with his rewards. He never returned to the cabin again.

Steven found out about his new ‘baby brother’ later that day when Parnell collected him from school, and Timmy was lying sedated on the car’s back seat. Steven felt terrible for the boy. He knew the cabin only had two beds and Timmy would have to sleep in the same bed as Parnell. As a victim of Parnell’s sexual abuse, Steven knew exactly what lay in store for Timmy White.

Back in Ukiah, a search for Timmy resumed as soon as the babysitter alerted Timmy’s mother that he had not arrived at her house after school. The police were quickly called, followed by land and air searches. News channels ran reports about the missing five-year-old, and missing child posters were produced. Just as Delbert and Kay had done when Steven disappeared, Timmy’s mum and stepdad, Angela and Jim, drove around the neighbourhood, desperately searching for their son.

Timmy spent his first week at the cabin constantly forced to take sleeping pills. During the day, Steven would be at school and Parnell would be home watching him. But at night, Parnell needed to go to his night security job at the Palace Hotel in Ukiah, so Steven would look after Timmy. However, there was a period of time each day, after Steven left for school and just before Parnell returned from work, that Timmy was left alone in the cabin. But Timmy was too afraid of Parnell to try and escape, just as Steven had been. Plus, the cabin’s extremely rural location also made it impossible for a drugged-up 5-year-old to even try.

Steven was so anxious that Parnell would abuse Timmy while he was at school that he would return home at lunchtime just to check on him. Eleven days after the kidnapping, Parnell dyed Timmy’s hair brown, bringing painful memories flooding back to Steven. And the more Steven looked after Timmy, the more certain he was that he could not let Timmy suffer the same fate that he had.

So Steven hatched a plan to rescue Timmy by hitchhiking to Ukiah, 40 miles away. Once there, he would deliver Timmy somewhere safe and then hitchhike back to the cabin before Parnell returned from work and realised Timmy was gone. They would be moving to Arkansas soon, and Steven knew he would need to act quickly. Arkansas was a couple of thousand miles away from Ukiah, and there was no way he and Timmy could hitchhike to Ukiah once they were in Arkansas.

A daytime escape was not an option with Parnell home in bed, so it would need to be at night when Parnell was at work. Steven knew the potential dangers of two young boys getting into a stranger’s car in the middle of the night. Also, it was the rainy season, and it could be cold, wet, and stormy. Steven also understood the serious trouble he would get into with Parnell. But he knew he needed to do something to help Timmy. He had considered telling a teacher, but he was too afraid that Parnell would get into trouble and go to jail if he did.

Steven’s first attempt was one week after Timmy’s abduction. But they didn’t get far before lighting flashed across the sky and rain began to pour down, forcing Steven to lift Timmy onto his shoulders and return to the cabin cold and wet. Their second attempt a couple of days later yielded the same result.

Parnell remained oblivious to Steven’s rescue mission and was preparing himself for the move to Arkansas. There was a lot of media and police attention around Timmy’s disappearance. In fact, one evening, while Parnell was at work, the police turned up at the hotel asking if any suspicious males had recently checked in, and Parnell had even shown them the guest registry. With all the attention around the case, Parnell needed to get Timmy away from the area as soon as possible.

However, Parnell’s planned move did not include taking Steven with him. On February 27th, Parnell began digging a hole approximately six feet long and three feet deep on a hill behind the cabin, a hole that was to become Steven and Queenie’s grave.

Hero

On March 1st, 1980, Steven made his third escape attempt. He waited for Parnell to leave for work and then took Timmy into the night. Thankfully, the boys had not travelled too far on foot before a Mexican national man called Armando Gomez picked them up in his truck and gave them a lift all the way to Ukiah.

The boys arrived in Ukiah around 9 pm and wandered around aimlessly for a couple of hours, searching for Timmy’s house. But Timmy was disorientated in the dark, and they couldn’t locate it. At one point, the pair passed the Palace Hotel where Parnell was working his night shift. Parnell had a new job there as a security guard, and Steven desperately needed to get Timmy somewhere safe so he could return home without bumping into Parnell first. Exhausted, Steven used a phone box to get the address of the police station.

A little after 11 pm, Steven and Timmy arrived at the Ukiah police station. Steven didn’t want to go in for fear of being identified and getting Parnell into trouble, so he stood outside and gently encouraged Timmy to go in alone. Standing back a little, he watched as Timmy approached the building before opening the door a crack and peering inside. But afraid of the officer he saw, Timmy turned and fled back through the parking lot and down the street into Steven’s arms.

Officer Bob Warner was confused by what he had just seen and curious as to why two young boys were wandering around alone so late at night. Not wanting to chase them and scare them away, he radioed for assistance. When patrolling officer Russell VanVoorhis responded to say he had got them, Officer Warner got into his patrol car and pulled up alongside them. To his surprise, Officer VanVoorhis was holding the younger of the boys and told him that this was Timmy White, the boy that had disappeared two weeks ago after school. Officer Warner then turned his attention to Steven, who told the officers his identity. Stunned, the officers took Steven and Timmy back to the station for questioning.

Initially, Steven was terrified that he was being considered as a suspect. But equally, he was wary about telling the officers too much and getting Parnell into trouble. But eventually, and with a lot of coaxing, Steven did open up and tell them where they could find Parnell. However, throughout his questioning, Steven always maintained that Parnell never molested him and was good to him. Shortly before 2 am that evening, on the morning of March 2nd, 1980, Kenneth Parnell was arrested. He was taken back to Ukiah police station where a terrified Steven was forced to identify him as his and Timmy’s kidnapper.

Timmy’s mother and stepfather arrived at the police station as soon as they got the news. Initially, Angela White did not recognise her son due to his dishevelled appearance and dyed hair, and Angela fainted with the stress of the ordeal. However, she quickly realised it was him and held her son tightly as relief washed over her. She thanked Steven for returning her son to her. Before returning home, Timmy was taken to the local hospital and checked by a doctor for signs of sexual abuse. Thankfully, none were found. In the early hours of the morning, Steven gave a statement. It began:

‘My name is Steven Stainer [sic]. I am fourteen years of age. I don’t know my true birth date, but I use April 18, 1965. I know my first name is Steven, I’m pretty sure my last name is Stainer [sic], and if I have a middle name, I don’t know it.’

Later that day, a search warrant was issued for the Manchester cabin. Officers searched for evidence that Timmy had been there, and they found his bag of valentines from his school on the day that he disappeared, along with the cowboy costume he was wearing. They also discovered the grave Parnell had dug. Steven was anxious about Queenie and refused to return home without her. So later that day, Steven accompanied officers back to the cabin. Gathering Queenie and some belongings, Steven returned to the patrol car and looked back at the cabin before returning to Ukiah.

At noon on March 2nd, Steven was taken to the press room where Timmy was sitting with his parents. Upon seeing Steven, Timmy ran up to him and reached his arms up in the air for Steven to lift him up. As Steven lifted Timmy onto his shoulders, camera flashes erupted across the room, capturing images of the two boys who had saved each other’s lives.

Return Home

After the press conference, Steven began the 240-mile trek from Ukiah to Merced, where his family and best friend Sharon eagerly awaited his arrival. Crowds of well-wishers lined the streets, eager for Steven’s return. As the police car pulled up outside of 1655 Bette Street, camera flashes exploded, and a tumult of news crews and reporters rushed around him. Kaye and Delbert pushed their way through the crowd and hugged their son for the first time in seven years, tears streaming down their faces.

**Steven with his parents, Kay & Delbert**

After seven years away from his family, 14-year-old Steven was finally home. He bathed in an endless supply of clean water, washing years of ground-in dirt away. He wore new, clean clothes, not the second-hand charity shop clothes he was used to. And he awoke in freshly laundered clean bed sheets.

Emotionally, however, things were difficult. It felt strange hearing a man other than Parnell call him “son”, and he felt uncomfortable calling Delbert “Dad”. What Parnell had told him about father-son relationships also played heavily on his mind, and he didn’t know whether Delbert would expect the same sexual activities from him that Parnell did.

The relationship between Steven and his older brother Cary was also difficult, and they struggled to get along while sharing a bedroom together. Cary had spent the years during Steven’s absence wishing on a star that his baby brother would come home, and while he was grateful his wish had come true, he also begrudged the attention Steven was getting, not just from the media, but also from their parents. Carey resented his parents’ obsession over Steven’s disappearance, and now he was home, Steven was still getting all their attention.

On March 3rd, Steven was questioned again by the police and provided them with the details of the second man involved in his kidnapping. Ervin Murphy was arrested on March 4th at the Yosemite Lodge, where he still worked. The park manager and the same man who refused to help the police when they initially investigated Steven’s disappearance seven years prior watched as Murphy was taken away in handcuffs. On March 5th, Murphy appeared at Merced County Court and pleaded not guilty to the charge of kidnapping. His bail was set at $50,000, which was $30,000 more than the Ukiah court had set for Parnell. He was held in Merced County jail to await trial.

The media were dubbing Steven a hero for his role in rescuing Timmy. On March 4th, after just a couple of days of being home, Steven and his parents drove to San Francisco to appear on Good Morning America. Steven told the TV presenter that he was not interested in the celebrity. He just didn’t want Timmy to go through what he had been through.

Later that month, the Stayner household received a call informing them that the $15,000 reward money that had been offered at the time of Timmy White’s disappearance should go to Steven. The Timmy White Reward Committee had organised a public presentation, and Timmy would hand the money to Steven personally. The ceremony took place in Ukiah on April 6th, Easter weekend, and an excited Timmy handed Steven a check with the eyes of the media watching again.

After the ceremony, the Stayners extended their trip in their camper van. Steven showed his parents the route he and Timmy had taken the night they escaped. They went to the Palace Hotel where Parnell had worked. They travelled to Comptche and visited the place that meant the most to Steven because of the friendships he’d made there. He also reunited with his once-girlfriend, Lori. The next day, they drove out to Mountain View Road and saw the cabin where he had spent the last nine months with Parnell, and his parents witnessed firsthand the squalor Steven had lived in. They even went behind the cabin to look at the grave Parnell had dug, and Steven realised just how much danger he had been in.

After the Easter break, Steven enrolled at Merced High School. However, the media relentlessly pursued Steven. Reporters would walk into his school and follow Steven around. They would hound him with questions, particularly about the molestation allegations. As a result, Steven was bullied and accused of being a homosexual.

After four days at school, the constant taunts culminated in Steven getting into an altercation with another boy who called him homophobic slurs like “faggot” and “queer”. Steven raged and punched the boy in the face, giving him a black eye and causing blood to gush from his nose. The principal knew that the other boy was a troublemaker and was sympathetic towards Steven, but despite this, the principal suggested that Steven take two weeks off school.

Thankfully, Steven did have his good friend Sharon still looking out for him though. After the incident, she organised a pool party and invited all Steven’s friends and classmates from before he had disappeared, as well as any friends she knew would make Steven feel welcome. It was a good party, and Steven was able to relax and reminisce about the good friends he had left behind in Comptche, hoping to see them again soon.

Steven still adamantly denied any sexual abuse by Parnell. However, not long after the Stayners returned from their Ukiah trip, the police informed Steven that the Polaroids of him and Jeff in the shower had been discovered. It turned out that the police hadn’t secured the Manchester cabin as a crime scene, and a number of reporters had walked through taking evidence for themselves. One reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle had removed the photographs Parnell had taken of Steven and handed them over to the Merced police.

After this, Steven had little choice but to admit to everything Parnell had done to him. Yet tragically, Steven didn’t really get the support he should have done. Not only was he bullied by some of his peers, but his parents did not see the need for therapy, instead believing the family should handle their affairs privately. “He got on with his life,” his sister Cory said in an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “But he was pretty messed up, and he never got any counselling. My dad said he didn’t need any.”

Steven’s home life did not improve. He had been used to a lot more freedom and independence living with Parnell, and he found it hard to adapt to his parent’s rules. Kay and Delbert struggled to come to terms with the fact that Steven was no longer 7 years old but a teenager. It was also difficult for Steven to adjust to not being called Dennis anymore, and sometimes his family struggled to get his attention. He drank heavily, smoked marijuana, and took drugs, causing the tensions between Steven and his parents to increase.

In September 1980, Steven went up to tenth grade. However, he struggled academically. He had already spent so much time away from school, and with the trials coming up, he would be away from the classroom even longer, adding more problems to Steven’s already difficult return home. The following year, those trials began. Two separate trials were held. The first was for the kidnapping of Timmy White, and the second was for the kidnapping of Steven Stayner.

First Trial – Timmy White

The first trial against Parnell was for the kidnapping of Timmy White, and it began in June 1981, in Mendocino County.

Sean Poorman was at court to testify against Parnell. Sean had himself already been tried in juvenile court for his role in Timmy’s kidnapping. Because he fully cooperated with the investigation, the original charge of kidnapping was reduced to false imprisonment, and he had been sentenced to two years in a juvenile facility.

Timmy White also testified and identified Sean as the person who had thrown him into Parnell’s car.

Steven also testified, and he identified Timmy as the boy Parnell had kidnapped. He also confirmed that before Timmy’s kidnap, Parnell had asked Steven for his help in kidnapping other boys.

When Parnell took the stand, he tried to blame Timmy’s kidnapping on Sean Poorman and his stepfather, Henry Mettier Jr, saying that Mettier was blackmailing him. According to Parnell, Mettier knew the truth about Steven and threatened to harm Parnell’s mother if Parnell didn’t kidnap a child that Mettier could then trade for drugs or money. Parnell claimed to be at home on the day of Timmy’s kidnap when Mettier and Poorman suddenly turned up with Timmy. However, Timmy testified that Mettier was not his kidnapper.

On June 29th, the jury found Parnell guilty of kidnapping in the second degree. On September 25th, the judge sentenced Parnell to seven years, the maximum time that could be given.

Second Trial – Steven Stayner

During the investigations leading up to Parnell’s trials, the Merced police investigated the sexual assaults against Steven and a number of other boys.

However, the three-year statute of limitations in California meant that Parnell could only be charged for the most recent assaults against Steven between 1977 and 1980. Typically, this was the period when Steven was maturing, and the assaults against him were decreasing. However, Steven still documented 87 assaults during this period.

While gathering evidence, Merced police visited the different schools Steven had attended, interviewing his friends, some of whom claimed to have also been abused by Parnell. However, because the abuse was outside the Merced County District, all that Merced police could do was hand the information to Mendocino County. But Mendocino County didn’t follow up on any of the reported assaults.

In the end, the Merced district attorney decided against trying Parnell for any of the counts of molestation Steven had documented. Not only did they want to protect Steven (although Steven ended up testifying in court about the abuse anyway), there also was not enough evidence to prove sexual assault. Even the nude photographs discovered of Steven and other boys could not be used as evidence due to the way they had been passed around by reporters, meaning it could not be proven that Parnell took them.

Ultimately, Parnell was not charged with the numerous sexual assaults on Steven or any of the other boys. So when Parnell was extradited to Merced County to appear before the court in December 1981, six months after Timmy’s trial, it was only for the kidnapping of Steven Stayner.

However, the three-year statute of limitations was again an issue, although the DA argued that Steven’s kidnapping was of an ongoing nature, and thankfully, the charges stuck. However, as Parnell had made no ransom demands, he received a reduced charge of second-degree kidnapping.

Parnell’s defence argued that as Parnell had not used force and that Steven got into the car of his own free will, kidnapping was the wrong charge. The defence also argued that Steven was happy to stay with Parnell because he was unhappy at home. They argued that he had hated the family’s move away from the farm ranch, and he disliked the physical discipline he received at home. Kay and Delbert took the stand and admitted to occasionally punishing the children, but not with excessive force.

Parnell did not take the stand.

Also standing trial for the same charge of kidnapping was Ervin Murphy. Although there was enough evidence to prove Murphy’s involvement in Steven’s kidnapping, the statute of limitations also applied to him. When Murphy took the stand, he recounted the events surrounding Steven’s kidnap honestly.

On the day of Steven’s kidnapping, Murphy had planned on doing some Christmas shopping in Merced. However, he fell asleep missing the bus, and was woken up by Parnell knocking on his door. Parnell offered Murphy a lift to Merced, which he accepted. After he had done his shopping, Parnell drove them to Yosemite Parkway. Parnell claimed that he was studying to become a minister and asked Murphy to hand out religious tracts to children walking home from school. Parnell had told Murphy that he wanted to adopt an underprivileged child as he felt he could do better than the child’s parents had and asked Murphy to help him take one of those children. Murphy had himself been abused as a child, and so the plan made sense to him.

So Murphy stood outside the Red Ball Gas Station and did what Parnell requested. Before kidnapping Steven, Murphy’s first couple of attempts to entice children into Parnell’s car were unsuccessful. The children stated that they had to go home, and Murphy let them go.

After they had taken Steven, Parnell threatened Murphy, telling him he would get into the same trouble as him if he told the police. Murphy claimed to have tried to call the police but lost his nerve as soon as someone answered the phone. Parnell blackmailed Murphy financially by saying that he would tell the police that he was the kidnapper unless he deposited some of his pay into his account. Murphy eventually stopped the payments, but in 1974, Parnell, desperate for cash after losing his job, attempted to blackmail him again, although failed when Murphy hung up the phone.

Murphy claimed he knew nothing about the abuse of Steven. When he had been arrested, he told the police he was relieved that Steven was okay.

On January 7th, 1982, the jury found both Parnell and Murphy guilty of conspiracy to kidnap and second-degree kidnapping. On February 3rd, the judge carried out his sentencing of the two men.

Under California law, the two convictions – conspiracy to kidnap and second-degree kidnapping – had to be merged, and Parnell received a term of seven years in prison, the maximum that could be given. However, as this was the second offence, in other words, because the kidnappings of Steven and Timmy overlapped, Parnell could not be convicted for the same crime twice. Ultimately, because Parnell had already received seven years for kidnapping Timmy, he was not required to serve the full term and only received an additional 20 months for Steven’s kidnapping.

So once again, Steven did not get the justice he deserved.

Ervin Murphy received five years for conspiracy to kidnap and five years for second-degree kidnapping. Again, these terms could not be served consecutively, and overall, Murphy was sentenced to five years for his role in the kidnapping of Steven. This was longer than the 20 months that Parnell received.

Ervin Murphy was released on June 21st, 1983, after serving just three years out of his five-year sentence.

Kenneth Parnell was released on parole in April 1985 after serving just five years. Overall, Parnell received less time than Steven did.

In August 1982, Steven’s kidnapping prompted California lawmakers to change state laws, allowing consecutive prison terms ensuring offenders served consecutive sentences for each offence.

Barbara Matthias had fully cooperated with the authorities. She claimed to have been unaware that Steven had been kidnapped. She was never arrested or charged with any violation.

After The Trials

Although the media’s attention died down after the trial, the coverage of Steven’s abuse led to further harassment at school, and Steven finished his senior year without graduating.

When Steven turned 18, he had access to Timmy’s reward money. Much of this money was allegedly spent on drug debts and alcohol. He was however able to purchase a small mobile home in Atwater, and he moved out of the family home. He and Sharon remained close, eating pizza and watching TV in his trailer. They even went travelling together.

By 1984, Steven committed to turning his life around. He had already given up alcohol after a drinking binge which caused internal bleeding hospitalised him, and could have had fatal consequences. He spent his spare time completing his GED, and he also participated in a program visiting kindergartens and elementary schools which was aimed at preventing child abduction. The thought that he could help to stop what happened to him from happening to another child gave Steven a new sense of purpose and was something he continued to do for the next few years.

After spending most of the money he had received, Steven was forced to find work and got a job at a meat packing plant. There he met Jody Edmondson, and the two began dating. A year later, in June 1985, they married. Steven was 20, and Jody was 17. They had two children, a girl, Ashley, and a boy, Steven Junior.

Meanwhile, Parnell had been released from prison in 1985 having served just five years of his sentence. When the terms of his parole ended two years later in 1987, he was no longer required to report his whereabouts to the authorities, and Steven found it difficult not knowing where Parnell was or whether he was abusing other children. Steven was naturally very protective of his own children and made sure they didn’t go out alone and that he or someone else was always watching them.

In 1988, Steven accepted work as an advisor on a movie about his life. It was based on the manuscript of the book ‘I Know My First Name is Steven’ by Mike Echols. Both the title of the film and the book were taken from Steven’s written police statement in March 1980, the night he and Timmy turned up at the Ukiah police station.

Steven had been going to college to train for a career in law enforcement, and during the movie, he got to portray a police officer escorting the actor playing himself through the crowds as he returned home to Merced.

**Steven as a police officer in the movie about his life**

Steven hoped the movie would spread awareness about preventing child abduction. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, he said, “Maybe some kid out there that’s missing will see it and come forward and make an attempt to go home”. The movie aired in May 1989.

On 16th September 1989, Steven went to his job at a pizza restaurant in Atwater. When his shift ended, he began the fifteen-minute drive home on his motorbike. It was raining, and the roads were wet, and though Steven was an accomplished driver, he was extra careful as his helmet had been stolen three days earlier. Steven was driving under the speed limit when suddenly, a car pulled out in front of him and stalled. Steven could not stop in time and slammed into the car. The impact threw him forty-five feet from his bike fracturing his skull. The driver of the car fled the scene.

Other motorists stopped to help Steven as he lay on the side of the road drifting in and out of consciousness. He was rushed to Merced County Medical Center but was pronounced dead. He was just twenty-four years old.

The driver, Antonio Loera, fled to Mexico. Loera was charged with hit and run and manslaughter, but the manslaughter charge was dropped after an investigation of the wreckage revealed Loera’s car had manufacturing faults with a defective carburettor and loose throttle. He was sentenced to three months in prison, twelve months probation, and he was ordered to pay $100 to a restitution fund.

The day after Steven’s death, the movie ‘I Know My First Name Is Steven’ won four Emmy awards. Steven never got to know this.

Steven’s funeral service was held on September 20th, 1989, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which he had joined shortly before his death. Four-hundred-and-fifty people attended. Timmy White, who was now 14 years old, was a pallbearer.

Steven’s sister, Jody, told the congregation:

“I’m so glad that he went as Steven Gregory Stayner, our brother”.

Steven was laid to rest at the Merced County Cemetery. The inscription on Steven’s casket read ‘Going Home’.

Who Was Kenneth Parnell?

Kenneth Eugene Parnell – the man who stole Steven’s childhood and ruined the lives of other young boys he molested – was born on 26th September 1931 in Amarillo, Texas. His parents, Cecil and Mary, divorced in 1937, and Mary moved with Parnell and her three other children from a previous marriage to Bakersfield, California.

Mary was a deeply religious woman. She required her children to accompany her to the Assembly of God Church three times a week, and she would teach her children the Bible and make them pray daily.

Parnell had a troubled childhood, beginning with his parent’s divorce when he was 5 years old. Parnell was so upset that he started to self-harm. Shortly after his parents separated, he pulled out four of his teeth with a pair of pliers. When he was 8, he shone a torch in his eyes for so long that he required corrective treatment. He thought about suicide monthly, and at the age of 9, he punctured the soles of his feet by jumping off a shed roof onto wooden boards with nails poking through. In another incident, he took the safety catch off a loaded .22 pistol and aimed it at his abdomen threatening suicide. He did this in front of his mother.

In 1944, Mary invested in a boarding house, and in 1945, when Parnell was 13 years old, one of his mother’s boarders befriended Parnell and persuaded him to engage in fellatio with him. Soon after the encounter, Parnell set fire to a pasture and was sent to Bakersfield Juvenile Hall on the recommendation of a psychiatrist who hoped that locking him up would cure his ‘perversion’.

After a few months, Parnell was released, and shortly after turning 14, he stole a car. He was arrested and sent to a facility for juvenile male offenders. He remained incarcerated until February 1947, and while there, engaged in homosexual behaviour. In December 1947, 16-year-old Parnell was arrested for committing public sex acts with men.

A couple of months later, he stole another car and ended up in California’s Lancaster facility. He escaped the facility and returned to Bakersfield, but while there, he grew infatuated with a young boy. He was re-arrested and sent to Kern County Jail in Bakersfield. He tried to take his life by drinking disinfectant. When he recovered, he was sentenced to 90 days in a state mental hospital in Napa, but wanting to return to the young boy, he once again escaped, returning to Bakersfield in a stolen car. He was re-arrested and sent back to the Lancaster facility.

Parnell was released in May 1949 and moved back in with his mother. Later that year, he met and married 15-year-old Patsy Dorton.

In March 1951, 19-year-old Parnell purchased a fake deputy sheriff’s badge and used it to impersonate a police officer. He approached 9-year-old Bobby Green, who was playing with his friends outside Bakersfield. He told Bobby that he matched the description of an escaped juvenile offender and that he needed Bobby to accompany him for questioning. Parnell then drove the terrified boy to a remote area in Kern River Canyon and sexually assaulted him.

Parnell was arrested six days later. At a preliminary hearing held on the same day, Parnell confessed to sodomising Bobby and making him perform fellatio. He also confessed to thinking about strangling Bobby so that Bobby couldn’t tell anyone what Parnell had done. But instead, Parnell drove Bobby back to the place he had been taken from. Parnell was held at Kern County Jail until April 20th, when he appeared before a judge and pleaded guilty to the charge of ‘lewd and lascivious contact on and with the body, members, and private parts of a male child under the age of fourteen’. The judge ordered that Parnell be held at Kern County Jail for three separate psychiatric evaluations.

On May 11th, the judge heard the findings of the psychiatric reports in which they concluded Parnell was a sexual psychopath and recommended treatment in a state mental hospital. The judge ordered Parnell to be sent to Norwalk State Hospital for an official evaluation, and there he was diagnosed as a sexual psychopath without psychosis and legally sane.

After the diagnosis, another hearing was held on June 22nd, and the judge ordered that Parnell be committed to Norwalk State Hospital for an indeterminate amount of time until he was deemed suitable for release.

Sometime during this period of Parnell’s hearings and incarceration, his wife Patsy gave birth to a daughter. One of his psychiatrists stated that Parnell seemed excited and was asking about various treatment options. In June, Parnell wrote to the judge from Norwalk Hospital complaining about the lack of treatment opportunities, asking the judge to consider releasing him back to Bakersfield for outpatient services and supervision.

It is questionable whether this was a genuine desire to get better and be with his daughter or an attempt to manipulate the judge into an early release. However, on September 11th, 1951, he took matters into his own hands by sawing a lock from a window and escaping. He was captured a couple of weeks later and placed in the maximum-security ward.

On October 14th, Parnell managed to escape again. He was captured four months later in February 1952 in New Mexico. Although the judge made efforts for him to be readmitted to Norwalk State Hospital, ultimately, he was sent to San Quentin’s maximum-security prison in California, serving a little over three years.

It is worth noting that during Parnell’s prison escapes, he never visited his daughter.

Parnell was paroled in April 1955 on the condition that he receive ongoing psychiatric treatment, a condition he didn’t meet. He visited his mother in Bakersfield, and while there, he got a job that violated his parole conditions. In September 1956, at his parole violation hearing, Parnell was sentenced to Folsom State Prison for three months until December 17th, when he was paroled to Bakersfield.

During a later interview with an East Bay Express journalist in September 2000, Parnell stated he molested Bobby because his pregnant wife was too big for him, and he needed to find “another outlet”.

Unbelievably, during the initial investigation into Steven’s disappearance, the police had requested a list of all known child molesters in Merced and the surrounding counties. However, despite Parnell’s conviction for molesting Bobby Green, Parnell had not been registered as a convicted child molester, so his name was not on the list.

Parnell and Patsy divorced in 1957. In August of that year, Parnell married Emma Schaffer, who was ten years his senior. During their marriage, Emma gave birth to his second daughter. Emma would go on to divorce Parnell in 1961. Parnell claimed to have married a third time in 1968, though no records of a marriage or divorce exist.

In 1960, Parnell moved to Utah. Desperate for money, he used a revolver to hold up a service station in Salt Lake City. In 1961, he was convicted of armed robbery and grand larceny. Parnell was released in September 1967 under the condition he never enter the state of Utah.

For the next few years, Parnell drifted from job to job until May 1972, when the Curry Company hired him as a night auditor at Yosemite Lodge. Parnell had lied on his application about his criminal past and mental health history, and Yosemite National Park was a good place to lay low. It was there that Parnell met thirty-year-old Murphy.

Ervin Edward Murphy was born on July 11th, 1941, in South Dakota. Murphy’s mother was abusive, and he remembers her beating him with a strap when he was 3. Soon after this incident, his mother deserted the family, leaving his father to raise him and his nine siblings. When Murphy was 16, he dropped out of school and left home. He drifted around California doing menial work until the mid-1960s when he joined the Job Corps and learned kitchen work. But he was kicked out of the Job Corps after he was racially abusive towards a Black trainee. Murphy then drifted around again until 1969, when the Curry Company hired him.

Murphy was described by many of his colleagues as a likeable character. He was the lonesome type but would do anything for anyone else. He liked people and wanted to be liked in return. Murphy hadn’t planned to stay long at Yosemite but felt he had found friends there.

Murphy was easily influenced by others and tended to believe everything he was told, and it is easy to see how someone like Parnell could manipulate Murphy into helping him abduct a child. And so in December 1972, Parnell and Murphy kidnapped 7-year-old Steven Stayner as he was walking home from school in Merced.

Parnell’s mother described him as honest, saying he loved children and animals and would never harm anyone. She said that Parnell had visited her many times, and he never had a child with him. However, it is worth noting that during the case against him for assaulting Bobby Green in 1951, Mary was the one who hired an attorney for her son, so she knew exactly what he was capable of.

In April 1985, Parnell was released on parole due to good behaviour after serving just five years for the kidnappings of both Timmy and Steven. His two-year parole stipulated that he wasn’t allowed to leave Alameda County, he was not allowed in the company of children, and he had to attend regular counselling sessions. His parole officers checked on him up to six times per week at the boarding house in Berkeley City, where he had been assigned. The public was outraged that a convicted child kidnapper was now walking among them.

After completing his parole in 1987, Parnell got a job as a volunteer caretaker in a boy’s home in Oakland, California. His criminal history went unchecked. After the movie ‘I Know My First Name Is Steven’ aired in May 1989, Parnell’s identity was uncovered, and he was fired from his job.

In December 2002, the police received a tip-off that Parnell was attempting to abduct another young boy. The 71-year-old was in poor health and received 24-hour-a-day nursing care at his Berkeley apartment. He had suffered a stroke and had a number of ailments, including emphysema and diabetes.

He had offered his caregiver’s sister, Diane Stevens, $500 to procure an English-speaking Black boy between 4 and 6 years old for him along with a birth certificate. Presumably, Parnell realised the necessity of a birth certificate from his experience of kidnapping Steven.

Diane was aware of Parnell’s past and feared he may ask someone else to do it if she refused, so she accepted his offer. She informed the police and worked with them to carry out a sting operation.

On January 3rd, 2003, Diane told Parnell that she had found him a boy. She arranged to first drop off the birth certificate at his apartment in return for $100. She would then collect the boy from her car and return with him in exchange for the remaining $400. Diane wore a wire as she entered Parnell’s apartment to deliver the birth certificate. The police then entered the apartment and found the $400 ready to complete the transaction. He was arrested. A search of his apartment revealed children’s clothing, books, videos, and toys, along with pornography, condoms, and sexual aids.

In a jailhouse interview, Parnell claimed his motive was innocent, and he wanted to raise the boy like any child. However, at his trial on February 2nd, 2004, Diane testified that Parnell requested the child have a clean rectum, clearly indicating sexual intent.

Timmy White and Sean Poorman both testified against Parnell at the trial, and a transcript of Steven’s 1981 testimony was read to the jurors.

Although there was no actual child in the case, there was enough evidence to prove the charges against Parnell of solicitation to commit a felony, trying to buy a human being, and attempted child stealing. He was convicted on February 9th, 2004, and was sentenced to twenty-five years to life under California’s three strikes law.

At the trial, Timmy hugged Sean Poorman, forgiving him for his part in his kidnapping.

On January 21st, 2008, 76-year-old Kenneth Parnell died of natural causes whilst incarcerated at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, California. He served less than four years of his sentence.

Aftermath

Ten years after Steven’s death, the city of Merced called on residents to propose names for the city’s parks honouring Merced’s notable citizens. Steven’s family asked for a park to be called Stayner Park in memory of Steven and to raise awareness of the plight of missing children. However, the request was rejected because the Stayner name could also be associated with Steven’s brother, Cary, who went on to murder four women. (Read about Cary’s case here.)

In 2010, after lengthy discussions, a monument of Steven holding Timmy’s hand and leading him to safety was erected in Merced’s Applegate Park. It is a monument to Steven’s bravery and a message of hope to families of other missing and kidnapped children.

But sadly, one person was missing from the unveiling of the statue. On April 1st, 2010, the same year the statue had been erected, Timmy White tragically passed away from a pulmonary embolism. He was just 35.

Timmy had been a deputy at the LA County Sheriff’s Department and was married with two children. Before his passing, Timmy gave talks to students about stranger danger and kidnapping. By following in the footsteps of the teen hero who rescued him from the hands of a prolific paedophile, just like Steven, Timmy too was a beacon of hope shining light on the dangers of child abduction.

Sources

Books

From Victim to Hero: The Untold Story of Steven Stayner. Jim Laughter. 2010. Buoy Up Press.
I Know My First Name is Steven. Mike Echols. 1999. Pinnacle Press.

Court Documents

Parnell v Superior Court (People) (1981) Civ. No. 50913. Court of Appeals of California, First Appellate District, Division Two. May 21, 1981.
People v. Parnell California Court of Appeal. June 28, 2006.

Newspaper Articles

Californian (Salinas) – Parnell Sex Charges Dropped. Volume 109, Number 94. April 18, 1980. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Daily Kent Stater – Kidnapping Suspect Freed on Bail. March 6, 1980. Via Daily Kent Stater Digital Archive.
Desert Sun – Boy’s Kidnapper Sentenced. Number 46. September 26, 1981. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Evening News – Mystery Woman Meets Stayner’s Real Parents. March 19, 1980. Via Google Books.
Hanford Sentinel – Kenneth Parnell Convicted of Trying to Buy Little Boy. February 10, 2004. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Hanford Sentinel – Man Who Kidnapped Steven Stayner Goes on Trial in Child-Buying Case. February 3, 2004. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Hanford Sentinel – Parnell Gets 25 Years to Life for Trying to Buy Little Boy. April 16, 2004. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Hanford Sentinel – Stayner: Life With Kidnap Suspect. Volume 1981, Number 296. December 16, 1981. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Lodi News-Sentinel – Missing Boy’s Saga Continues. March 4, 1980. Via Google News.
Los Angeles Times. Second Man Seized as Kidnapping Suspect. March 5, 1980. Via Newspapers.com.
Napa Valley Register – Convicted Child Kidnapper Arrested. Volume 140, Number 150. January 5, 2003. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Napa Valley Register. Hunt for Child Called Off. Volume 111, Number 105. December 13, 1972. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Napa Valley Register – Mendocino County Doesn’t Want Parnell. Volume 125, Number 186. April 5, 1988. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Napa Valley Register. Reward Upped. Volume 111, Number 236. May 15, 1973. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Napa Valley Register – Stayner Kidnapper Having Hard Time Finding a Job. Volume 127, Number 129. January 9, 1990. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Petaluma Argus Courier – 2 Kidnapped Boys Hitchike to Freedom. Volume 144, Number 169. March 3, 1980. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Press Democrat – A Long Road to Trial. Volume 124, Number 97. February 15, 1981. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Press Democrat. Assembly Passes Kidnap Law. Volume 125, Number 259. August 26, 1982. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Press Democrat – Kidnap Accomplice Released. Volume 126, Number 191. June 2, 1983. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Press Democrat – A Swift Conviction of Parnell. Volume 124, Number 211. June 30, 1981. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Press Democrat – Kidnap Case Has Happy Ending. Volume 123, Number 115. March 3, 1980. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Press Democrat – Kidnap Suspect’s Troubled Past. Volume 123, Number 116. March 4, 1980. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Press Democrat. Man sentenced to 3 Months in Jail in Stayner Hit-Run Death. Volume 133, Number 76. January 5, 1990. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Press Democrat – Massive Search for Ukiah Youth. Volume 123, Number 102. February 17, 1980. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Press Democrat – Parnell Blames Hank for White Kidnap. Volume 124, Number 207. June 25, 1981. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Press Democrat. Parnell Freed in Bay Area. Volume 128, Number 190. April 5, 1985. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Press Democrat – Parnell Sentenced – 20 Years. Volume 125, Number 86. February 4, 1982. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Press-Tribune (Roseville) – Driver sought in Stayner Accident. Volume 85, Number 66. September 18, 1989. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Press-Tribune (Roseville). Family Remembers Former Kidnap Victim as Survivor. Volume 85, Number 69. September 21, 1989. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
San Bernardino Sun – Kidnap Victim Stayner Dead at 24. Volume 116, Number 260. September 17, 1989. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
San Bernardino Sun – Police Say Stayner Kidnapping Case Pretty Well Wrapped Up. March 21, 1980. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Santa Cruz Sentinel – State Claims Sex Behind Kidnapping. Volume 125, Number 58. March 11, 1981. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
Santa Cruz Sentinel – Kenneth Parnell’s Lonely Odyssey. Volume 124, Number 54. March 5, 1980
Tulare Advance Register. Kidnap Mystery Woman Flees. Volume 98, Number 77, 20 March 1980. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection.

TV / Movies / Videos

20/20 Evil In Eden, Pt 1: Two Brothers Tied to Yosemite, One a Hero, The Other a Monster. ABC News.
20/20 Evil In Eden, Pt 2: Steven Stayner’s Abduction Changes Family’s Life Forever. ABC News.
20/20 Evil In Eden, Pt 3: Steven Stayner Escapes Captor, Returns Home After Seven Years. ABC News.
20/20 Evil in Eden, Pt 4: Cary Stayner Takes Refuge in Yosemite. ABC News.
Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story. First episode date: April 21, 2022 (USA). Hulu.
Entertainment Tonight Report On I Know my Name is Steven. April 20, 1989.
Good Morning America Interview. March 14, 1980.
I Know My First Name is Steven. First episode date: May 22, 1989 (USA). NBC.

Websites

Cinemaholic – How Did Steven Stayner’s Dad Del Stayner Die? April 22, 2022
CNN – Steven Kidnapper Convicted. February 9, 2004.
Crime And Investigation – Going Home: The Story of Steven Stayner.
East Bay Express – Inside the Monster. January 15, 2003.
ENews – Steven Stayner’s Kidnapping, Cary Stayner’s Horrific Crimes and One Family’s Unbelievable Story. April 21, 2022.
Facebook – Steven Stayner: A True Hero.
Guardian – There Was A Lot Of Torment: The Family Who Endured Two True Crime Stories. April 20, 2022.
Imgur – 45 Years Ago Today Steven Stayner Went Missing.
Independent – Two Kidnapped Boys, a Hero’s Return, Then a Tragic Twist: The Unbelievable Story Of Steven Stayner. April 28, 2022.
Jim Laughter – From Victim to Hero.
Los Angeles Times – Man Gets 90 Days in Death Of Stayner. January 5, 1990.
Los Angeles Times – Who Was Steven?: The Little Boy Who Had Been Kidnaped Never Found Himself. September 22, 1989.
New York Post – Captive Audience Revisits 1972 Steven Stayner Kidnapping and His Tragic End. April 21, 2022.
Press Democrat – 24 Years After Ukiah Abduction, White Again Faces Parnell. February 5, 2004.
Santa Cruz Sentinel – Steven’s Other Mother. March 20, 1980
Seattle Times – A Child Abductee’s Journey Back. January 20, 2007.
SF Gate – Child Predator Sentenced to 25 Years to Life / Steven Stayner’s Kidnapper Tried to Buy 4-year-old in Berkeley. April 16, 2004.
SF Gate – Sex Predator Tried to Buy Son ‘To Raise’ / He ‘Just Wanted to be Loved,’ Parnell Says from Jailhouse. January 9, 2003.
SF Gate – Heroism, Tragedy and Cold-Blooded Murder: The Stayner Brothers. January 23, 2019.
Washington Post – Man Pleads Innocent in Calif. Kidnapping of Boy, 5. March 5, 1980.