‘How It Really Happened with Hill Harper’: Where is Yosemite serial killer Cary Stayner now, will he be released?
It was the year 1999 when four young women mysteriously disappeared from Yosemite National Park. The key suspect is caught, but it’s up to an exceptionally skilled FBI agent to dismantle his web of lies and denials to draw a confession. ‘Yosemite Murders, Part 2 The Evil Side’ highlights how the cold-blooded murderer Cary Stayner — who initially seemed like a harmless, normal guy — finally came into the clutches of FBI agents.
The summary of the hour-long episode reads: "The prime suspect in the Yosemite murders vanishes just as authorities are tightening the net around him, but in a bizarre twist he is spotted in an unusual hideout that takes even veteran investigators by surprise. Authorities are quickly dispatched to the risqué and unlikely location to bring the suspect in for questioning. An expert FBI interrogator, famous among his colleagues for gently dismantling a predator’s lies and denials, and securing a full confession, arrives on the scene."
So who is Cary Stayner and where is he now?
Born on August 13, 1961, Cary was raised in Merced, California along with his younger brother, Steven Stayner, who was kidnapped by child molester Kenneth Parnell in 1972, when Cary was barely 11. His brother Steven was held captive for more than seven years before escaping and reuniting with his family. As per several reports, Cary later opened up about the incident and confessed he felt neglected while his parents grieved over the loss of Steven. He also revealed that around the time of Steven's kidnapping, his uncle Jesse molested him. While Steven died in a motorcycle accident in 1989, reports say his uncle, with whom Cary was living at the time, was murdered.
Back in 1991, he tried to take his own life. Six years later, he was arrested for possession of drugs like marijuana and methamphetamine. The same year, in 1997, he started working as a handyman at the Cedar Lodge motel in El Portal, California. Cary Stayner was later convicted for four murders between February and July 1999 near Yosemite National Park. Those women were 42-year-old Carole Sund, her 15-year-old daughter Juli Sund, Juli’s 16-year-old friend Silvina Pelosso, and 26-year-old Yosemite naturalist Joie Ruth Armstrong.
After his confession, he sent a note to the police with a hand-drawn map to find Juli's body, which read, "We had fun with this one." He also went on to accept that he had always fantasized about murdering women even before his brother was kidnapped. During his trial, he first pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His lawyers attributed to the history of sexual abuse and mental illness in his family and highlighted his obsessive-compulsive disorder, mild autism, and paraphilia.
However, he was found sane and convicted of four counts of first-degree murder by a jury on August 27, 2002, as per reports. He was later sentenced to death and got a death row at San Quentin Penitentiary in California. As per the latest reports, the now 59-year-old killer is still serving a death sentence. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Cary is not eligible for parole consideration.
Catch the fourth episode of ‘How It Really Happened with Hill Harper’ this Sunday, August 30, at 10 pm ET.