New Hulu documentary series to retell story of Stayner family’s heroism, tragedy and loss
A new documentary series streaming on Hulu this month will focus on the divergent lives of Merced brothers Steven and Cary Stayner.
While the former even today remains hailed as a fallen hero, the latter remains on death row in San Quentin Prison.
Titled “Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story,” the three-part series tells the story of the Stayner family. Each episode will premiere on the streaming service’s site April 21.
Most longtime Merced residents are aware of the loss, heroism and shock that gripped the Stayner family — and the community — as it repeatedly was thrust into the spotlight between 1972 and 1999.
“This is the story of how a story gets told, and how the media’s magnifying glass impacts the characters caught in the narrative,” a news release about the Hulu series said.
Media portrayals over the years have reflected the public’s fascination with the cases.
Kidnapped boy returns home, as a hero
The traumatic sequence of events began when Steven Stayner, age 7 at the time, was abducted in Merced on Dec. 4, 1972, by Kenneth Eugene Parnell, a convicted sex offender.
Parnell held captive and sexually abused Steven for over seven years, often living a nomadic lifestyle. Parnell posed as Steven’s father and renamed him Dennis Parnell.
By the time Steven was 14, he was living in a remote one-room cabin in Mendocino County with Parnell. On Feb. 14, 1980 Parnell abducted another young child, this time 5-year-old Timmy White.
The second kidnapping prompted Steven to flee the cabin with White. The two boys hitchhiked to Ukiah, were discovered by police and soon reunited with their parents.
Steven told law enforcement that he escaped with White because he didn’t want the younger boy to go through what he endured during his seven-year abduction.
Parnell was arrested and convicted only of kidnapping. He was paroled just five years later from state prison in 1985, but was convicted in 2004 of additional sex offenses after attempting to purchase a child. He died in prison at age 76 in 2008.
Steven’s heroic escape with White was seen as a miracle by his community, where he was lauded as a hero upon returning.
The story garnered constant media attention nationally. It soon resulted in a book, a made-for-television movie and later in 2019, a special two-hour “20/20” episode on ABC. The Hulu series represents the latest of the media and the public’s intrigue with the story.
The family again became the subject of news amid newfound loss when Steven died in Merced in 1989 due to a motorcycle accident. He is survived by his wife and two children.
White, too, died young at age 35 in 2010 from a pulmonary embolism, also leaving behind a wife and two children. He served as a a Los Angeles County deputy sheriff before his death.
That same year, Steven and White were memorialized in Merced’s Applegate Park with a bronze statue. The more than 8-foot-tall memorial depicts the two as young boys, hand in hand, hearkening back to their escape from Parnell.
Family again at center of tragedy
No one could have predicted that the Stayner family would, again, be plunged into the media at an even larger scale.
But 10 years after Steven’s death, his brother Cary Stayner was arrested after killing four women who were visiting Yosemite National Park in 1999.
Cary was a handyman at Cedar Lodge in Mariposa County, where the first three victims, Carole Sund, 42, her daughter Juli, 15, and 16-year-old Silvina Pelosso, were staying.
A vehicle rented by Carole was recovered, burned and containing her charred remains, along with Pelosso’s. Stayner, not yet a suspect, left a note taunting authorities and a map to the body of Juli.
The headless body of another victim, Joie Armstrong, 26, was found in July. Armstrong worked with children in Yosemite.
Investigators eventually tied Cary to the killings and arrested him at a nudist colony near Sacramento. He confessed to all four murders and received a life sentence in exchange for pleading guilty in Armstrong’s murder.
Cary pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in a trial for the Sund-Pelosso killings, but jurors found him guilty in 2002 and sentenced him to die. He remains on death row in San Quentin Prison.
Relatives of the Sunds created a Modesto-based nonprofit offering rewards in the cases of missing persons. The group publicized dozens of cases in 48 states.
Many media renditions of the Stayners’ story has noted apparent mixed emotions by Cary upon his younger brother’s return. Cary appeared to feel a degree of jealousy over Steven’s heroism and the attention he received by his family, as well as the media.
“The story thrusts the Stayners back into the spotlight, forcing us to ask how our appetite for these stories drives a demand the media is eager to satisfy,” the Hulu series’ release said.
This story was originally published April 11, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
