Transcript for FBI finds Cary Stayner has fled to a nudist colony: Part 8
Laguna del sol is like any other resort, except that people don’t have clothes on. There’s camping, and some cabins and there’s shuffleboard and volleyball. There’s a restaurant and a bar and a darts league. I’m told people go to Laguna del sol from all over the country. I don’t think you’re trying to hide if you’re going to a nudist colony, and it’s the last place that Cary Stayner would be a free man. The yosemite park naturalist was found decapitated. The 26-year-old’s body was found Thursday near her yosemite home. Joie Armstrong’s murder sent shockwaves through yosemite valley. Here was another murder in the yosemite area and this time it was actually in the park. This is the second high profile murder case connected to yosemite this year. Three tourists disappeared from the el portal area in February, and were later found dead. People didn’t know what to think. Were they connected? Were they not connected? If they weren’t connected, then what’s happening? I called some of the investigators to ask them, do you think they’re related? And it was a resounding “No.” We have absolutely no reason to believe, no indication if there is any linkage at all. You don’t want to cause undue panic, you don’t wanna cause undue concern until you know the facts. There wasn’t really much time for us to speculate on whether this was related, I mean, it quickly became related. Somebody had spotted a very unique vehicle. A blue and white international scout, the same vehicle that Cary Stayner drove. On the same road where Joie lived, around the same time she was murdered. And that was the first thing that authorities followed up on. The tracks of the vehicle that drove away from Joie’s house left very clear tracks and they were able to get very clear pictures. And then they started looking for this guy Cary Stayner because he would be a natural witness to interview. I was sitting in the bar having lunch and somebody came in and said they’re looking for Cary Stayner. And I said, “What?” And he’s really starting to feel that noose tighten around his neck. Now, Cary Stayner realizes he has to get out. He packs up and leaves and ends up driving to that nudist colony, Laguna del sol. He pitched a tent outside, went in, there’s a bar, and restaurant, and he was socializing with people inside and struck up a conversation with a woman there. He says, “Oh, things are not so well now. I decided to pack up my stuff, in fact, and I’m headed north.” They had put out a bolo, “Be on the lookout for,” on the news, and so it’s gone out that people were looking for Cary Stayner. Authorities set out on a manhunt for him yesterday. It just so happens the woman he struck up a conversation with saw the news. And I immediately picked up the phone and called the FBI and told them that I knew where this person was. That morning FBI agent Jeff rinek gets a call. He’s supposed to meet up with a couple other agents at Laguna del sol right away. So, as I’m driving and proceeding down there, the next train of thought was, oh, my god, we’re going to a nudist colony. For me a nudist colony means Peter sellers, “A shot in the dark,” and a guy walking across the screen with a guitar over his genitals. Laguna del sol, a nudist colony. It’s not a place I ever thought I would be in my FBI career. The manager came out and said, yeah, he’s inside sitting in a corner booth, and you’ll be able to find him because he’s the only one wearing clothes. Got here, parked. And as they walk into the restaurant area, Stayner gets up and puts his hands up. He’s thin. He’s athletic, he’s tall, he’s handsome. He looks like a movie actor to me. And he’s very soft-spoken and cooperative. He didn’t do the, “Hey, who are you, why are you handcuffing me, what’s going on here?” Put him in the car, and he and Jeff drove off and I followed. It’s just the two of them. Stayner’s in the front seat. Rinek has no idea, the magnitude of what is happening. Nobody told him that Cary Stayner is a suspected murderer. What happened during that drive between Cary Stayner and that FBI agent changed the story forever. It was a very pleasant drive. We were two guys that were just stuck together. One thing that special agent rinek is really good at is getting people to open up. You meet someone, and you ask them questions about themselves. And Jeff being Jeff, said, “Hey, Stayner, you’re not any relation to Steven Stayner?” He’d been kidnapped on a Merced street corner in 1972 when he was just 7 years old. And he goes, “Have you ever seen that movie?” I know my first name is Steven. And that’s when Stayner said, “Yeah, that’s my brother.” In that moment, he’s just connecting with some guy he’s supposed to pick up. Well, this is horrible, you are Steven Stayner’s brother, that’s terrible what happened to him. And he went on to describe that unlike what the world expected, life was not happily ever after. All of a sudden Cary Stayner gets upset. He gets emotional about his brother Steven. “My brother was held captive for seven years and his abductor Kenneth parnell only got seven years. How can that be fair?” And he asked me if I thought that was just, and I told him absolutely no. Something truly remarkable happened in that car. Cary Stayner, who had such trouble with relationships and intimacy and connections, developed a connection with Jeff rinek. That would absolutely change this case. So after that, they actually bond over something else. It’s a movie, it’s called “Billy jack.” And the very popular song associated with that movie, called “One tin soldier.” ??? One tin soldier rides away ??? And I said to him, you know you look just like Billy jack, have you ever seen the movie, and he said no. I kept asking him, you sure you never saw “Billy jack”? “Nope, haven’t seen Billy jack.” There was this line in the movie, that, it’s a classic line after they’ve finished their long ride and had their little bonding moment over Steven, they’re walking into the FBI field office and Cary stops and says, “I’m gonna take this right foot –” — And I’m going to whoop you on that side of your face. And there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. It’s a weird little moment, where he’d just finished saying he’d never seen the movie, but he knew the classic line. And he’s laughing and I’m laughing, I’m like, yeah, that’s pretty good. Now they’re walking in and they’re having a good laugh together. And then things sort of take an odd turn. But remember, agent rinek doesn’t really know what it’s about or what to expect. Cary Stayner, on the other hand, knows exactly what he has planned, and it’s going to be a bombshell.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
