Transcript for Two brothers tied to Yosemite, one a hero, the other a monster: Part 1
?????? This story starts in Merced, California. It’s in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by almond groves and peach orchards. The central valley of California, which is in the huge shadow of yosemite. Merced, they call the gateway to yosemite. ??? I started singing bye, bye miss American pie ??? We’re talking 1972. “American pie” was on the radio. ??? Singing this’ll be the day that I die ??? It’s the year of watergate. It was the year that pong was introduced. “The Brady bunch.” ???T’s the way we became the Brady bunch ??? The stayners lived on Bette street. It was a middle class kind of a neighborhood. The parents were Delbert and Kay, and Cary was the oldest of five children, he had a younger brother, Steven, and three sisters too. Del worked as a mechanic in a peach cannery. His mother Kay was always described as distant, somewhat aloof. A woman who raised her children with sort of almost a coldness. Cary was a nice guy. A quiet guy. Our days would be just get on our bikes in the morning and go to the park. Hang out with friends, or skateboard. He loved his brother. Hung out with him, played with him, looked out for him. Steven had walked almost all the way home, and that’s when it happened, a man in a car offered him a ride. So at the same time that the Stayner boys are growing up in Merced, about two hours away in yosemite, there’s a little, stooped, pasty, nebbishy guy named Ken parnell. Kenneth parnell was working at the yosemite lodge, doing the books for them. He was convicted previously of molesting a child. But he found a job in yosemite because that kind of guy could find a job in yosemite. A lot of people run to yosemite to get away from things. And Kenneth decided that he was going to abduct a young boy. He was able to recruit a co-worker of his. A slow-witted fella named Ervin Murphy. And finally, on December 4th, it was a sleety, wintery day, he and Ervin Murphy got into Ken’s big, white buick and drove into Merced. Steven, what happened that afternoon, do you remember, when you were walking home from school? And they saw this little boy, 7-year-old Steven Stayner. Steven had left school, headed straight south from here four blocks. And when he was on yosemite parkway, which leads to yosemite national park, he was approached by Ervin Murphy. Murphy had some religious tracts with him, which he’d been using to approach other kids. He asked Steven if he thought that his mother would be willing to make a charitable donation to a church. At that point, parnell drove up in this old, white buick. Murphy opened the rear door and Steven got in. Instead of taking a right so he could go to his home, they continued directly eastbound. They’re driving out of Merced, going up highway 140. Kenneth parnell stops the car and he goes to a pay phone, he comes back and tells Steven, “Your parents, I just spoke to them. They no longer want you.” And parnell then told him, “You’re gonna be my son.” He was a 7-year-old, thoroughly confused kid. I think he was probably used to an authoritative approach by his parents, so when parnell told him that his parents said he was gonna go with him, I think he probably believed it. Steven’s abduction was sudden, wrenching, brutal — And yet, he’s gonna be hiding in plain sight for years. The moment that Steven Stayner is abducted is the moment that this story of two brothers really begins. And was absolutely pivotal in terms of the monster coming to life.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
