The Most Depressing Follow-up to a Happy Ending Ever: The Steven Stayner Story.

7 min readDec 12, 2017

A sad tale that just kept getting sadder.

By Mike Moran of The Confessional Podcast.

A child being kidnapped by a stranger is a very, very rare occurrence. However, when one does happen it captures the public’s attention like nothing else. And sadly, the emotionally invested are let down most of the time, as very few children abducted by predators return home alive.

So, when a highly publicized kidnapping ends in a heartwarming homecoming, it’s a pretty big deal. And none ended more triumphantly than that of Steven Stayner’s…

…well, until the worst bout of luck ever, came upon the once joyfully reunited.

Trigger Warning: The following gets really, really sad, and involves subjects dealing with sexual abuse, and a lot of other awful things.

On December 4th, 1972, 7 year old Steven Stayner was walking home from school when he was approached by a man handing out religious pamphlets and soliciting for charity donations. The trusting boy soon got into a car with the man and another male driver, as they promised to drive him home and talk to his Mom about donating some items.

Unfortunately, the driver was actually a middle-aged pedophile named Kenneth Parnell. Parnell was a master manipulator who had convinced his accomplice, the mentally-slow Ervin Murphy, that he was a religious leader whom God had called upon to spiritually guide a young boy.

Within hours, Steven was in a remote cabin being brainwashed into accepting that Parnell was now his legal guardian, with his parent’s consent. And for the next 7 years Steven lived publicly as Parnell’s “son” and privately as his object of sexual abuse.

When Steven aged out of Parnell’s preference, he set his mind on a second, younger victim. Though the psychology-battered Steven never tried to escape himself, the thought of another boy going through what he did was too much to handle.

First, Parnell enlisted friend, Barbara Mathias (who had also molested Steven) to do the deed. Parnell always kept himself out of the line of fire. When she failed, he forced Steven to attempt the kidnapping. He intentionally sabotaged the efforts. Finally, he bribed one of Steven’s teenage schoolmates, Sean Poorman with drugs and cash. Sean eventually tried to back out, but was threatened into submission. And soon Steven had a new “little brother” in Parnell’s sick scheme, 7 year old Timothy White.

Steven quickly became emotionally attached to young Timothy, and vowed to keep him from suffering the same abuse he had endured. Steven led a daring escape in the dead of night, miles from civilization, determined to get Timothy home.

And he succeeded.

Of course, the families of both boys were overjoyed to be reunited with their sons and Steven Stayner was hailed as a hero. The nation wept over Steven’s bravery and resilience, and Parnell was taken into custody.

As far as awful, child-exploitation cases go, this one had a pretty happy ending, right?

Well…

Things didn’t go great for Steven when he returned. He was teased in school over the sexual abuse he endured, so much so that he eventually dropped out. Things weren’t much better at home. He was raised by his kidnapper to feel free to drink and smoke as he pleased, and this return to a healthy, normal home-life often put him at odds with his parents. Steven publicly questioned if everyone would have been better off had he never come home, and allegedly at the behest of his father, declined to seek much counseling.

Things eventually got so bad that Mr. Stayner kicked his son out of the house. The very man that spent years obsessing over finding his lost child, actually forced him to leave again.

As Steven entered his early 20s, things were finally starting to look up. He was living a more stable life along with his wife and 2 children. He was is training to become a security officer, had joined the church, and volunteered his time to help others who had gone through similar traumas.

And then one night, on his way home from work, a helmet-less Steven was killed in a hit and run accident on his motorcycle. He was only 24 years old. Steven’s wife was furious when the driver who left her husband to die in the street was punished with a mere 3 months in jail and a $100 fine.

But it gets worse…

As Steven Stayner was hailed as a national hero, his tormentor Kenneth Parnell was rightfully demonized throughout national media as the public cried out for his blood. It was even revealed that he had been arrested years prior for abusing another young boy.

So what did this monster, this horrid child-abusing, psychopath receive as punishment for committing the ultimate of cruelties? The death sentence? Life in a hellish maximum security prison?

Nope.

Seven years.

Seven years for 2 kidnappings, and years of child sexual assault.

And he was out for good behavior in 5.

Just half a decade later he was out on the streets, and (unsurprisingly) trying to find other kids to abuse. In fact he was nabbed in a 2004 sting operation in which he was trying to purchase a 4 year old online. Thankfully he stayed in prison this time, until his death a few years later.

As far as Parnell’s accomplices through the years; Edward Murphy went to jail for 2 years, and Sean Poorman got a stint in a juvenile detention center. Barbara Mathias was never charged.

But that’s not all…

Timothy White’s return home went a lot smoother than Steven’s. Because of Steven’s heroics Timothy did not have the years and years of abuse to recover from that his savior did. Things went back to normal for the child who remained close to Stayner, and was a pallbearer at his funeral.

Timothy even forgave his teenage kidnapper, a repentant Sean Poorman who Timothy felt had been manipulated by Parnell. The two publicly made peace with a hug.

Timothy became a deputy sheriff, advocated and spoke out against child sexual abuse, had a wife and 2 kids, and even helped put Parnell in prison permanently when he was again arrested. Timothy White was the very definition of recovery. He went through a traumatic experience, and came out stronger instead of letting it defeat him. And then…

…he suddenly dropped dead.

At the age of 35, a pulmonary embolism took the young man’s life. After all he had been through, a random medical problem ended the life of Timothy White.

And this final part, you’re not going to believe…

The Stayner family went through a hell most could never imagine. To spend 7 years obsessing over their kidnapped son, only to watch his life fall apart after his return, and then for him to die once things were finally going well? What could possibly make their lives get any worse?

Their other son becoming a serial killer.

Steven’s older brother Cary, who was 11 when he went missing, was convicted in 1999 of killing 4 young women at Yosemite National Park where he was employed.

Cary tried to gain some sympathy from his brother’s plight by suggesting he was neglected by his family as they focused on Steven’s return. Though the parents admitted as much, the jury didn’t buy it though, especially since he admitted to fantasizing about killing women since before his brother’s kidnapping.

That’s not to say Cary hadn’t faced his own amount of childhood trauma; when Cary went to live with his uncle Jesse after his brother died, his uncle was promptly murdered by an unknown assailant. Cary didn’t grieve too hard for this though, as he claims the uncle was molesting him. The young man then attempted suicide in 1991, and developed a drug habit.

After the charred remains of the victims were found in Yosemite in 1997, police suspected Cary and he eventually came clean, but not before trying to negotiate with authorities to trade his confession for a jail supply of…child pornography.

Carey Stayner is currently sitting on death row in San Quentin.