MarkMiller

Title
Kenneth Parnell, kidnapper of Steven Stayner, dies at 76

Link
Kenneth Parnell, kidnapper of Steven Stayner, dies at 76
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Excerpt

(01-22) 15:10 PST VACAVILLE -- Convicted sex offender Kenneth Parnell, known for the 1972 kidnapping and seven-year-long confinement of Steven Stayner, died Monday in the state prison hospital at Vacaville.

Parnell, 76, died of natural causes, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said. He had been on what the prison called hospice status.

A three-time inmate, Parnell had most recently been imprisoned since 2004 after being convicted of attempting to buy a 4-year-old child in Berkeley. He had been sentenced to 25 years to life under the "three strikes" law.

On Dec. 4, 1972, Parnell kidnapped 7-year-old Stayner in Merced. He kept him from running away by showering him with gifts and telling him his parents could no longer afford him.

The events that led to his arrest began when Parnell abducted another boy, 5-year-old Timmy White of Ukiah, in February 1980. Stayner, then 14, escaped with the boy two weeks later and hitchhiked 40 miles to the Ukiah police station, telling authorities that Parnell had molested him and that he didn't want Timmy to suffer the same abuse.

Parnell, a former motel clerk who served three years in prison for molesting an 8-year-old Bakersfield boy in 1952, denied he had abused Stayner.

Parnell was convicted of kidnapping, sent to state prison and was paroled in 1985. He was not charged with any sex crimes because under the law at that time, the additional charges would not have added any time to his sentence.

Stayner later died in a motorcycle accident. He was the younger brother of Cary Stayner, the motel handyman who was sentenced to death for killing three tourists and a Yosemite park naturalist in 1999.

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Comment:

Finally......How odd that I just made a post early this morning about meeting Steven Stayner. For years I have followed this. I couldn't help it. It was as if god was making me pay attention.

Meeting him the day he was returned sitting directly across from me at a donut shop on Main Street in Merced.

I was reading the News paper all about it. The Merced Sunstar had rushed out a paper for the morning edition. I had it held up as my ROP teacher (the class held outside of school) asked me what I was reading. I made the comment..."The only thing in the entire paper...all about Steven Stayner coming home". Then my teacher said. "Mark, put your paper down." There he was. Steven Stayner. He looked a little angry. I looked over to my teacher in disbelief and siting next to him was Carey Stayner.

Years later I went to work in Yosemite and worked for the Uniform Dept. for Personal. I discover the forms for the accomplice of Parnell. He was working in Yosemite at the time of the Kidnapping.

Of course then there my friends and my hang out. The Cedar Lodge bar. Cheaper drinks than any place in the park....that is where Carey killed his first victim.

So Kenneth Parnell is dead. Thank God....it took him fucking long enough. Good riddance.

Zane

"So Kenneth Parnell is dead. Thank God....it took him fucking long enough. Good riddance."

Well, isn't this nice....

MarkMiller

I so would have liked the chance to spit on him...just once. Or throw a rock at his face...or trip him down concrete stairs....

Refuge51

What a sad life Steven Staynor had. He was kidnapped, molested, then saves a small boy from the same fate, never quite refits back into his family, who I thought were wacky anyway, he meets his soulmate, has a child or two? And ends up dead. His life was so short yet he tried so hard to live it right. It breaks my heart. Then this shit of a brother who was able to actually live his life, winds up being a serial killer?

And last but certainly not least, Parnell the pedophile, lives a very long life and dies peacefully.

I can't figure it out...

gorillamom

It's so sad. Seems like those of us who try to do and be good end up being fucked in one way or another while the criminals get their rocks off knowing they messed someone else up.

__________________

The Clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power,
To tell just when the hands will stop
On what day or what hour.
Now is the only time we have,
So live it with a will,
Don't wait until tomorrow,
The hands may then be still.

Elliott

This man should've reached an excruciating end at the hands of another prisoner than being allowed to die of old age. I remember reading a story (it may have been as recent as a year ago), that Parnell tried to get his nurse to bring him some boys. That Stayner family sure went through some extremely awful shit. The abduction, and untimely death of Stephen, and than it turns out another one of their sons was a serial killer. Jesus.

__________________

MarkMiller

I have to post now. I can't keep myself from not posting on this.

Steven Stayner suffered a great deal from this situation. His family suffered for decades and now I am afraid that Steven Stayners name will be remebered because of his brothers murders. Sad.

He was a good person that tried to do the best he could. Let's remember him as a hero for saving Timmy White. If you are ever near the California town of Ukiah, stop by and see the statue the town errected of Steven with Timmy White. He is a real American Hero!

Elliott

__________________

Refuge51

I never connect the dot between Steven and his brother. To me life is about choice and Steven chose proudly. I will always remember him as a hero.

Jonesy

There are no dots to connect. It is pure nurture. Same as with the strange individual trying to 'buy' 4 year-olds. His case, of course, is another testament to the fail of jail.