Upon his July 23 release, Stayner returned to the lodge and tried to quickly sell his belongings, police said, before he packed up and left, later arriving at the nudist colony Laguna del Sol, where he began living in a tent. Her body was found 27 feet away from her head in a drainage ditch. Ive never seen anything thats so close to black and white and evil and good as Stayner and our children, said Francis Carrington, the father of Carole Sund and grandfather of Juli. Why did you do that?'" Through the media, authorities alerted the public to be on the lookout for Stayner. "The only time Steve would kill anything like a fish is because we were gonna eat it. He abandoned the group's rental car with the bodies of Carole and Silvina inside, returning two days later to burn the evidence and retrieve the wallet, which he dumped in Modesto to confuse authorities. CNN - Yosemite suspect confesses to 4 killings - July 27, 1999 Parnell, along with Murphy, took Steven to a cabin in Catheys Valley, where he was brainwashed to believe his parents no longer wanted him. In (the) interview, Stayner said he had fantasized about killing women for the last 30 years and described in detail how he murdered all the women, He had strangled Pelosso and Carole Sund in their rented cabin in the Cedar Lodge motel, then took Juli Sund to a lake, where he killed her early the next morning. The FBI is assisting in the investigation because the park is federal property.< Dubs fans picking apart video of possible Poole-Draymond incident, Destructive landslide closes historic California institution, Bay Area mom influencer found guilty of lying about kidnapping, More rain, 'unseasonably chilly' temperatures coming to Bay Area, Horoscope for Monday, 5/01/23 by Christopher Renstrom, Bay Area preschool teacher suspected of dumping body along road, 49ers out in full force at Warriors-Kings Game 7, Shock, fear as 2 killings in 3 days rock quiet Davis, Sold-out Berkeley crowd gets rowdy at country star's concert, Steph Curry killed off the Kings with a smile, Draymond Green rips Domantas Sabonis: 'Lost a lot of respect', Klay Thompson calls Warriors-Lakers series 'a dream come true'. Joie Ruth Armstrong, a naturalist at Yosemite National Park, is shown in this 1998 file photo. Then Carole's wallet turned up in Modesto, which included money and credit cards. He paid a local kid to ride with him to the town of Ukiah, California and he told to go and find him a boy. Rinek believes that was an attempt by Stayner to control what the agents were thinking of him. Once the three of them got back to the field office, Stayner was ready to reveal the naked truth. "The girl I was seeing and her daughters were my original intended targets.". In 1999, four women were murdered in Yosemite National Park. They finally caught up with him at the Laguna Del Sol nudist colony, which he frequently visited. That confidence evaporated on July 22, with the disappearance of another woman Joie Ruth Armstrong, 26, a pretty redhead who worked for the Yosemite Institute teaching children about. See the latest list of Exclusive members-only articles on StrangeOutdoors.com, See more StrangeOutdoors True Crime Stories, The horrific rape and murder of Sophie Louise Hook whilst camping in her Uncle's garden, The miracle rescue of Alan Lee Phillips at Colorados Guanella Pass - the man who turned out to be a serial killer, The chilling story of Thomas Lee Dillon - the Ohio Outdoorsmen killer, https://casefilepodcast.com/case-161-the-yosemite-sightseer-murders-part-1/, https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/stayner-cary.htm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cary_Stayner, https://abcnews.go.com/US/steven-cary-stayner-tale-brothers-horror-heroism/story?id=60529944, https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/me-timothy-white10-2010apr10-story.html, https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/a26040174/cary-stayner-steven-yosemite-murders/, https://abcnews.go.com/US/video/july-25-1999-cary-stayner-arrested-murder-yosemite-60263995, https://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-recalls-moment-family-learned-target-1999-yosemite/story?id=60364987, https://www.theunion.com/news/local-news/stayner-sentenced-to-death/, Tagged: The Yosemite National Park Sightseer Murders, Carole Sund yosemite murders, Juli Sund yosemite murders, Silvina Pelosso yosemite murders, Cary Stayner yosemite murders, Yosemite park murders, Joie Ruth Armstrong, StrangeOutdoors.com Terms of use/Cookie notice/Privacy Policy, Sign up now for a one-time fee for access to over 55 exclusive member articles, The Yosemite National Park Sightseer Murders and the two faces of evil, Exclusive members-only articles on StrangeOutdoors.com, The Yosemite National Park Sightseer Murders, The miraculous escape of the Brazilian and German backpackers at Salt Creek in South Australia, Robert Hansen Butcher Baker - the Alaska Serial killer who hunted his victims in the wilderness, The shocking unsolved Keddie Cabin murders, The disturbing death of Fiona Torbet in the Scottish highlands, The unsolved Williams and Winans camping murders in Shenandoah National Park, The real Wolf Creek - The Backpacker Murders in the Australian Outback, The disturbing story of David Shearing and the Wells Gray Park camping murders, The mysterious death of Carol Laughlin in Yosemite National Park, The frightening case of the Trailside Killer David Carpenter, The mysterious Koh Tao - Death Island in Paradise, The disturbing disappearance of the Beaumont children on Glenelg Beach, The Kamloops Triangle - The British Columbia murders and disappearances, The Delphi hiking murders - Abigail Williams and Liberty German, The Peter Falconio disappearance in the Australian Outback, The unsolved murder of Scott Lilly on the Appalachian trail, The disturbing case of James Jordan - The Appalachian Trail Murderer. Steven Stayners fame was short-lived. Rinek and Boles decided to bring Stayner in for questioning. Joie Ruth Armstrong True Crime in the Outdoors - StrangeOutdoors.com On Saturday, July 24, FBI agents announced at a press conference that a man was in custody on strong suspicion of murder and that a "significant announcement" would be made shortly. Agents descended on the colony and returned him to El Portal on Saturday where he was put through a more lengthy interrogation. CNN - FBI: Handyman confessed Yosemite murder - July 26, 1999 An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request, There is an open photo request for this memorial. On December 4, 1972, at the age of seven, Steven was approached after school by Edward Ervin Murphy, who claimed he was collecting money for the church. Try again later. . Stayner spent his downtime by the rivers, getting high and skinny dipping, police said. On the way to his police interview he confessed to a detective in the car to murdering Joie Armstrong, describing the brutal killing "as if he was reading a soup label," said John Boles, another FBI agent on the case. ", FBI sources claimed that he had already confessed his guilt during the Saturday evening interrogation. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. Teresa Kay Gray, 36, of Modesto. "Thats when I told him, 'You need to go to a doctor, Cary.'" Former FBI Agent Jeff Rinek recalls the moments Cary Stayner approached 26-year-old Joie Armstrong at her cabin in an area of Yosemite National Park in 1999. According to an affidavit, during an interview with FBI agents, Stayner "made statements to the agents in which he admitted killing Joie Ruth Armstrong" last Wednesday. Some 80 people live in 35 shared units in the area. Then there was another murder. FBI agent Nick Rossi said on February 26, "At this point, we have not yet uncovered evidence to allow us to determine conclusively whether this was a tragic accident or a criminal act. Two weeks later, FBI agent James Maddock, now placed in charge of the investigation, told the press, "We feel almost certain that the women were victims of a violent crime.". Jeff Rinek, a former FBI agent, is the author of "In the Name of the Children," a true-crime account of the cases he has investigated during his career with the FBI, including the Cary Stayner case. Many local residents were convinced that no one person could have created so much horror, "'The logistics of it say it had to involve more than one person, said Letty Carolyn Barry, owner of the Yosemite Rosebud Lodge, west of Cedar Lodge. The brilliant, bubbly, strawberry-blond naturalist lived with her boyfriend and a second roommate in a cabin near Yosemite. Stayner is suspected in the killings of Julie Sund, left, and Silvina Pelosso FBI agents had questioned Stayner after. Carole Sund, her daughter Juli Sund and friend Silvina Pelosso were missing for a month before their bodies were found. Use the links under See more to quickly search for other people with the same last name in the same cemetery, city, county, etc. They began searching the area. Resend Activation Email. When he was picked up,. She also worked at the Yosemite Institute with Kidd, and though the two werent friends, they did know each other. Mr. Stayner said on Monday. He was sentenced to death in December 2002 and remains on death row. Serial killer confessed to his crimes after bonding with FBI agent Cary later got into a job repairing glass and moved in with his uncle Jerry. Armstrong's body was found nearby. Stayner surprised them by saying said he would give them closure on what happened to Joie Armstrong and "more," but in exchange, he asked to see child pornography. The car described was known to people in the area as Stayners car, and the FBI began looking for him as a potential witness to interview about Armstrongs murder. The hire car company confirmed that Carole had never returned the rented Pontiac, nor told them that they were extending their agreement. Im just horrified when I think of what happened in that room, what my daughter felt when she realized she was in serious trouble, said Carole Carrington as she asked the judge to sentence Stayner to death. Something was clearly very, very wrong. "Her mother, sisters, and a family friend had been missing for a month by the time Gina Sund read her poem in front of a thousand or so people who gathered in Modesto," writes Time.