The kidnapping that shows brotherhood comes in many forms, a teenager saving a child after seeing his distress.
Steven Stayner was walking home from school on December 4th 1972 when he was stopped by a man claiming to be a church representative seeking donations. When the man asked if Steven’s mom would be willing to give something to the church, Steven agreed that she would. The representative offered to give Steven a ride to his home so they could get the donations that very day. A white Buick driven by a second man pulled up, Steven willingly got inside with the representative.
However, the church representative wasn’t legitimate. His name was Ervin Murphy a worker from a Yosemite National Park resort worker who had been manipulated by a co-worker into aiding him in kidnapping a boy. Kenneth Parnell claimed he was an aspiring minister and wanted a young boy to “raise him in a religious-type deal”.
Parnell drove Murphy and Steven to a cabin nearby Catheys Valley rather than taking Steven as he promised. At the time, Steven didn’t know that Parnell’s cabin was only a few hundred feet from his maternal grandmother’s home.
From day one in the cabin Parnell began sexually abusing Steven. The mental abuse hit a peak in the first week Parnell got irritated by Steven’s continuous pleas to be returned home. Parnell told Steven that his parents could afford to have five children and that they didn’t want Steven anymore. Steven was only seven.
Over the following years, Parnell began calling Steven his son and calling him Dennis Gregory Parnell. He also allowed Steven to come and go with minimal restrictions even leaving him unattended as he went to work, Steven manipulated to the extent that he didn’t try escaping.
Steven later said that even if he did escape he didn’t know how to get help.
One of the very limited things that helped Steven through his captivity was a dog called Queenie. Originally, Queenie was gifted to Parnell by his mother who did not know of Steven’s existence. Parnell handed the responsibility of Queenie to Steven.
For 18 months during Steven’s captivity, a woman began living with him and Parnell, Barbara Mathias becoming another abuser of the nine-year-old boy. Mathias claimed she “only” raped Steven on nine separate occasions each time Parnell was involved. Mathias claimed she didn’t know that Steven had been kidnapped only knowing him as “Dennis”.
In 1975, Parnell ordered Mathias to lure in another young boy for him to abuse. He had a boy in mind, one of the members of the Santa Rosa Boys’ Club that Steven attended. Mathias was told to use Stayner as bait. The kidnapping attempt was unsuccessful.
It seems the want for another young boy was because Steven had begun puberty and no longer fit Parnell’s preferences for victims.
Parnell did as he ordered Mathias to do, using Steven as bait to try and lure another young boy into his trap. It didn’t work and Parnell soon believed Steven lacked the ability to be his accomplice in the act. Steven later said that he was purposefully sabotaging the attempts, it wasn’t clear just how he was doing it.
February 14th 1980, Parnell enlisted the help of one of Steven’s friends, Randall Poorman. The two kidnapped five-year-old Timmy White from Ukiah. When Steven saw Timmy’s distress his desire to escape was reignited, he had to get Timmy back home to his parents.
Steven’s plan would take place on March 1st of the same year. Parnell left the two boys alone as he went to work his night security job. Steven took Timmy and the pair hitchhiked all the way back to Ukiah, when they were unable to reach Timmy’s home, they went to the police.
By daybreak on March 2nd, Parnell was arrested on suspicion of abducting both of the boys. A short background check revealed Parnell had a previous conviction for sodomy in 1951.
Steven and Timmy were both reunited with their respective families that day.
In 1981, Parnell was sentenced to seven years for both boys’ kidnappings. If that isn’t infuriating enough, Parnell was released on bail in five!
Steven’s life was troubled after his escape, he struggled to adjust to the life of a “regular” teen. He was bullied in school for what he went through and eventually dropped out.
He was still struggling on September 16th 1989. That fateful day Steven was riding his motorbike home, ready to see his wife and two kids, he was hit by a car in a hit-and-run accident. Steven suffered fatal head injuries, dying at the scene of the crime.
500 people attended his funeral, with Timmy White acting as a pallbearer.
In 2004, Parnell was once again convicted at age 72. He had tried getting his nurse to bring him a young boy in for 500 dollars. The nurse knew of his previous crimes and reported the request to the police.
At the trial, Timmy testified and Steven’s previous testimony was read to jurors as evidence.
Parnell was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, dying on January 21st 2008 of natural causes.
Timmy White became a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputy, he sadly passed away on April 1st 2010 from a pulmonary embolism.
Just five months after he passed away, a statue of a teenage Steven holding five-year-old Timmy’s hand was erected in Applegate Park in Merced, California.
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