How did Steven Stayner die?: Steven Stayner (April 18, 1965 – September 16, 1989) was a kidnapped victim in the United States. Stayner was stolen on December 4, 1972, in Merced, California, by child molester Kenneth Parnell.
How did Steven Stayner die?
Stayner died in a motorcycle accident on his way home from work in 1989.
Stayner died of catastrophic head injuries on his way home from work on September 16, 1989, when his motorcycle collided with a car in a hit-and-run accident.
Witnesses later recognized the alleged driver of the automobile. Timmy White, 14, was a pallbearer at his funeral, which was attended by 500 people.
Stayner’s captor, Kenneth Parnell, convinced co-worker Ervin Murphy to lure seven-year-old Steven into their van on 4 December 1972, telling the boy: “Your parents, I just spoke to them. They no longer want you.”
When he didn’t return home, Steven’s parents – Delbert and Kay Stayner – alerted the authorities but there were no leads. Meanwhile, his captors had renamed Steven as Dennis Parnell and he was enrolled in schools as Parnell’s “son” during seven years of abduction and sexual abuse, as reported by the LA Times.
Steven was beaten and plied with drugs and liquor while his captors constantly moved around California. The Seattle Times reports missing-person fliers were actually sent to schools he attended but no one recognised Steven from the picture.
The story of Steven Stayner’s kidnapping
Stayner was contacted on his walk home from school on December 4, 1972, by a guy called Ervin Edward Murphy, who had met convicted child rapist Kenneth Parnell while they both worked at a resort in Yosemite National Park.
In February 1980, Parnell kidnapped his next victim, five-year-old Timothy White. The now 14-year-old Steven decided to escape with White on 2 March 1980 after witnessing the child’s suffering.
Steven’s high-school girlfriend, who knew him as Dennis, told ABC News he told her he wasn’t going to “let that child go through what I had already been through”, adding if he didn’t “take care of it now, it will just get worse”.
While Parnell was working as a night security guard, the children hitch-hiked to Ukiah, California, Timothy’s home town. The boys alerted the police and were finally united with their families.
Steven went on to marry Jody Edmondson in 1985 aged 20 and they welcomed two children, Ashley and Steven Jr, who Stayner was naturally very protective over.
Over the next four years, he worked at Pizza Hut while lecturing about personal safety at schools. Tragically, Stayner was killed in a hit-and-run motorcycle accident in September 1989 while returning from a Pizza Hut shift.
What Happened to Kenneth Parnell ?
Hours after Steven Stayner reported Parnell’s crimes, he was arrested and convicted of kidnapping. Sentenced to eight years, he served only five before being released, as reported by CNN.
In 2004, 72-year-old Parnell was sentenced to 25 years to life after an informant told police he expressed interest in buying a four-year-old boy for $500.
Parnell remained incarcerated until his death in 2008 at the California Medical Facility, where he died of natural causes.
