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[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any time you need support
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please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support please see the show
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notes for this episode on your app or on our website this episode involves crimes against children it
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won't be suitable for all listeners the small californian farming town of merced
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lies 130 miles southeast of san francisco providing access to the sierra nevada mountains
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and california's central coast surrounded by almond groves and peach orchards the town's slogan is gateway to yosemite
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an 80 mile drive leads right into the heart of the famous yosemite national park a remote area of
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rugged wilderness that spans close to 750 000 acres the merced community is close-knit
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with residents enjoying the range of outdoor activities on offer including skiing fishing hiking and
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swimming tree-lined neighborhoods featuring numerous bike paths and parks make merced an ideal place to raise a
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family from 1967 to 1971 the staina family lived on a 20-acre farm ranch just outside
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of masad county parents kay and adele had married weeks after they first met and had gone on to have five children
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carrie cindy stephen jodie and corey dell worked as a mechanic at a local page cannery
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and also grew almonds on the family's farm the stainers were a loving family as practicing mormons they enjoyed
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attending church services twice a week and in their spare time the children loved exploring their large property
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once a month the family would spend the weekend camping at a nearby lake middle child stephen loved the great
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outdoors and would explore the farm for hours with his dog daisy he and his father often went
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fishing together but it was a running joke that stephen couldn't keep quiet long enough for them
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to catch anything the summer of 1971 was hot and dry and adele's almond crops struggled due
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to poor irrigation he and kaye decided to sell the ranch and move their family to suburban merced they purchased
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a three-bedroom single-story home in a lower middle class neighborhood that had a swimming
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pool in the backyard to provide relief from the summer heat move was difficult for seven-year-old
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stephen who missed rural life at first he struggled to adjust to his new school of charles wright elementary but by
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september of 1972 he was settling down and making friends on the evening of sunday december 3 1972
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steven attended the birthday party of his friend sharon giving her a stuffed koala bear as a
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present when he returned home stephen raved to his parents about how much fun he had
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had at the party and told them how much he was looking forward to christmas in a few weeks time
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he was so excited that he had trouble falling asleep that night the next morning monday december 4 was a
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regular day in the stayna household after breakfast kaye inspected her four eldest children
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to make sure they were presentable for school while the youngest corey wasn't yet old
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enough to attend carrie cindy stephen and jody then walked the 12 blocks to charles wright
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elementary together with sixth grader carey keeping watch over his three younger siblings
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[Music] [Music] [Music] stephen finished school at 2pm which was an hour earlier than his brother and sisters he
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usually walked the half mile home with friends but it was raining and cold so kaye
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decided to pick him up on her way home from running some errands she arrived at the school at 2 10 hoping
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stephen had anticipated that she would pick him up and was waiting for her however there was no sign of him
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kaye drove home keeping an eye out for steven along the way she didn't spot him on the streets and
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when she arrived home at 2 20 he wasn't there either at three o'clock kaye and dell returned
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to charles wright elementary to pick cindy and jody up from school carey wasn't there as he typically walked home
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with friends both cindy and to jody told their parents they hadn't seen steven since
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lunchtime this wasn't an immediate cause for concern as steven had recently been in
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trouble for going to his friend's house after school without seeking his parents
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permission first dell had punished him with a belt to the backside as a deterrent
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but they were certain he had disobeyed them again when they arrived home kaye phoned
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several of stephen's friends in an effort to locate him his friend sharon said she and stephen
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had walked side by side until partying at their usual spot on union avenue just before the yosemite parkway
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stephen usually walked the rest of the way with a boy named hector but hector's mother had picked him up
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from school that afternoon to go shoe shopping the stainers drove around town checking
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with any of stephen's friends that they passed on the street when there was still no sign of him by 5
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pm they phoned the merced police station to report him as missing an officer arrived at their house
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shortly after and took a statement regarding steven's appearance his parents described him as four foot
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eight inches tall weighing 60 pounds with shaggy light brown hair and brown eyes he was last seen wearing
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blue jeans a light tan coloured coat and cowboy style boots like steven's parents the police officer
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wasn't overly concerned missing children in merced usually turned up playing at a friend's house
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or in someone's backyard and foul play was almost unheard of additionally the officer hadn't noticed anything unto
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ward at the steiner residence the police searched the neighborhood while tracing all the possible routes
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stephen may have taken home from school they focused on yosemite parkway now known as the central yosemite highway
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as it was stephen's usual path home an employee at a petrol station recalled seeing stephen walking eastbound towards
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his home sometime before 3 pm but hadn't noticed anyone suspicious in the area at 6 00 pm reserve police officers and
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members of the local boy scouts troop joined in on the search in the cold rain an announcement about stephen's
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disappearance was also broadcast on the local radio station dell and kaye left their other
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children in the care of family friends and headed out to a nearby junkyard to scour through the darkness
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for any sign of their son just after midnight dell was summoned to the police station
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given that most missing children cases end up involving one or both of the parents the police
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captain blatantly asked adele if he had killed steven dell was furious at the allegation
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and volunteered to participate in a polygraph test to prove his innocence the station
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didn't have one on hand but the captain agreed to send for a polygraph examiner from the nearby city
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of sacramento within the next few days the following morning of tuesday december 5
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the police arrived at the steiner residence to install recording equipment in case someone
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called demanding a ransom for stephen's safe return the fbi offered the merced police use of
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their laboratory in washington if needed but because there was no evidence that stephen had been taken
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across state lines they were unable to become actively involved in the case a bulletin was sent out to other
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californian law enforcement agencies while the media picked up the story and started reporting on stephen's
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disappearance statewide police continued a thorough search of merced county with assistance from members of the
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mormon church officers on foot and in flat-bottomed boats searched the overgrown shoreline
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of the nearby bear creek while a search and rescue boat dragged through the waters
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but found nothing more than an old tyre the police were working on an early theory that the stainers may have been
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in debt and had sold their son to bail them out later that day the polygraph equipment
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arrived in merced and both kaye and adele were tested the results indicated that the couple
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had no financial issues and that neither of them were involved with stephen's disappearance
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the search efforts continued for days with no results and on friday december 8 the community
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banned together to conduct a wide scale search the police announced that would likely
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be the last major search of the area unless any evidence was discovered the weather was still cold and rainy
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with temperatures the previous evening falling below 30 degrees fahrenheit or minus one degree celsius
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causing puddles on the ground to freeze over police held concerns that if stephen was
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still alive he could die from exposure to the elements over 100 off-duty police officers and
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firefighters were joined by county jail inmates and concerned citizens who had taken the day off work to hunt
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the merced county area for any sign of steven they checked fields drain pipes and
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other potential hiding spots and door knocked in a one square mile area from where stephen was last seen
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the neighbouring sheriff's department in mariposa county searched a 50-mile radius in their
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district dell searched night and day checking empty buildings abandoned houses and garbage dumps for
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any evidence that might lead to his son nothing of interest was found prompting the merced police to issue a statewide
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bulletin confirming they were now considering the possibility that stephen had been
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kidnapped or had met with four play they created a list of all known sex offenders living in merced
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and surrounding counties but were unable to link any of them to stephen's disappearance
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given merced's proximity to yosemite national park police theorized that stephen may have
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been abducted and taken there the park was and is a tourist hot spot featuring 1200 square miles of deep
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valleys grand meadows giant forests and a vast wilderness visitors participate in a range of
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outdoor activities there including hiking horseback riding picnicking rock climbing and fishing
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a search for steven had been conducted by u.s forest service rangers throughout the parks campgrounds and
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meadows but had failed to uncover anything of note police requested a list of all the
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park's employees including those working within its lodges and hotels the list was provided but the park
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ranger was uncooperative he didn't feel that stephen's disappearance had anything to do with
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the park and didn't want posters of a missing child put up in case of deterred tourists
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by monday december 11 one week had passed without a single sign of stephen and the search was officially called off
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the stena family were devastated and struggled to come to terms with stephen's disappearance
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dell told reporters that kaye was handling things better than he was and that she had been reassuring their
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other children that stephen would return home del added quote but late at night after we have said our
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prayers i can hear her crying three weeks passed and christmas came and went without any further sign of
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steven kaye and dell tried their best to make christmas day a happy time and several townspeople including one
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dressed as santa claus stopped by with presents for the stainer children in an attempt to cheer them up
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presents for stephen were left under the tree with his parents deciding they would stay there
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until he came home the stain is believed that stephen had been kidnapped on his way home from
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school or had accepted a ride from one of the many tourists who passed through town
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during trips to yosemite several psychics contacted the family to offer their services
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one said stephen was locked in the trunk of a car while another said he had accepted a
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ride on a motorcycle and had been thrown off and was buried under some leaves although the stainers thought these
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theories sounded foolish they followed up on every single lead possible in late december local newspaper the
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sacramento bee offered a 1 000 reward for information leading to steven's safe recovery
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on december 28 the police announced they had followed up on several leads but none that had led anywhere
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they confirmed to the press that they still hadn't uncovered any evidence to indicate that stephen had been kidnapped
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or had met with foul play the new year passed by with no breakthroughs then in early 1973 a child's cowboy
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boot similar to the one stephen had been wearing washed up on the bank of bear creek
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in north merced officers recommenced their search of the creek in anticipation of discovering stephen's
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remains but it was determined that the boot didn't belong to stephen at all in a bid to keep the case in the news
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the stainers contacted numerous television stations across the united states to see if they would run
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steven's story but we're told it was now old news and no channels were interested
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on may 15 1973 dell and k announced a 5 000 reward was available for steven's safe return or for the
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arrest and conviction of persons responsible for his disappearance the reward money was raised by members
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of the community and not for profit organization the elks club but no credible leads emerged
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steven's school friends had difficulty comprehending his sudden disappearance with one friend telling kaye that his
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birthday wish was that stephen would come home over the following months merced police
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received the occasional phone call from citizens wanting to report small details
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but nothing substantial came to light whenever a child went missing under similar circumstances in california or
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surrounding states the police checked for any parallels to stephen's case but failed to find a connection
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as the one-year anniversary of stephen's disappearance approached case dana told the fresno b newspaper
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we know that someday we will be a family again of course it gets rougher as christmas
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approaches i just don't know what i'm going to tell the other kids when they ask about
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buying gifts for stevie just last night corey asked me if stevie was going to bed
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i told her yes he's going to bed somewhere kaye told the mercury newspaper that stephen got along well with everyone
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regardless of their age and that he particularly loved the babies dogs and kittens she fondly recalled
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steven's habit of writing his name on everything in the stayna residence from the outdoor fences to his bedroom
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wall leaving constant reminders of him throughout their home when asked about her hopes for her son's
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return kaye said i know there is a 50-50 chance that stephen is dead and that any time they could come and
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say well we found him it's not good but we found him i pray that if he is dead please let us know because this not
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knowing is enough to drive you insane dell was adamant that the family would never relocate
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in case stephen ever came looking for them by 1974 the police continued to receive
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an average of three to four potential leads per week and was still dedicating around six hours each week to
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the search their presiding theory was that stephen had met with four play with a
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perpetrator from outside the merced area on the second anniversary of stephen's disappearance
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kaye told the indiana gazette newspaper that her belief that stephen was still alive
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was stronger than ever she said we know he's alive there's no other way after two years a body would be found
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every group of children we see every child walking by check in late 1975 just after the third
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anniversary of stephen's disappearance the merced police were summoned 160 miles southeast to a mental health
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facility in the city of bakersfield a patient in his mid-20s named tom wilson who had a long history of mental illness
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wanted to confess to participating in steven's disappearance he told the attending officers that he
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had been motivated to do so after recently hitching a ride with stephen's grandfather
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police looked into wilson's claims but concluded he was lying and wasn't involved in any way
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the false confession left adelstayner completely dejected as he was already struggling to cope
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he often took steven's old clothes out of his cupboard hoping to remember what he smelt like
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dell was convinced someone in merced knew the truth about what happened to his son
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but were choosing to remain silent one day the stayner family were out driving when dell spotted a suspicious looking
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man standing on the roadside next to a mound of dirt he pulled over and stared at the man
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until the man eventually walked away dell became convinced that stephen was buried under the mound of dirt
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and pleaded with the police to dig it up but with no evidence to support his suspicion
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no further action was taken by 1980 eight years had passed since stephen went missing
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at 11 30 a.m on thursday february 14 1980 five-year-old timothy white finished kindergarten for the day at uko
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elementary school in ukya a picturesque winegrowing region 237 miles north of merced known by friends and family
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as timmy he had spent the morning making valentine's day cards with his classmates
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which he had tucked away in his lunchbox the young boy was just three feet six inches tall with platinum blonde hair
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blue eyes freckles a cheeky grin and a faint scar on his chin on this particular day he was wearing
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brown pants a long-sleeved checkered shirt blue jacket and a pair of brown cowboy boots
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like usual timmy was expected to walk the three blocks from school to his babysitter's house
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which he had done many times he walked the majority of the way with the classmate
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then the two parted ways when they were less than a minute from timmy's destination
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at 11 30 a.m timmy's babysitter diane and several of the other young children she looked after stood on the front
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porch waiting for timmy to come into view as the minutes passed there was no sign
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of him diane began to worry and at 12 30 she called timmy's mother angela white to let her know that her
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son never arrived angela immediately called the police and two officers were dispatched to search the
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area between uko elementary and diane's home similar to steven steiner's case the police weren't immediately concerned
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as they were sure timmy had wandered off or was just playing with a friend when there was still no sign of him by 3
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pm the police became concerned that timmy may have gotten lost or met with foul play
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they ramped up their search efforts enlisting the help of reserve officers and police cadets to canvass the town
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and retrace timmy's last known steps two days later on saturday february 16 tracking dogs were led between diane's
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house and the elementary school however it had been raining heavily for several days
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and they weren't able to detect anything the rain also hindered police efforts to
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search the mountainous terrain by helicopter and the air searchers were cut short
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the search continued on land with officers checking all nearby creeks amid concerns timmy
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may have drowned the white's plastered missing person flyers around town and the community banned together
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to offer a fifteen thousand dollar reward for timmy's safe return as with stephen's case there wasn't a
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single piece of evidence to indicate what had happened to timmy and two weeks passed with no breakthroughs
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then just after 11 pm on saturday march 1 1980 officer bob warner was on duty at
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the ukiah police station when he saw a small boy with tears in his eyes peering through the station's glass door
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before quickly walking away aware that it was very late at night for a young boy to be
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out officer warner followed the child outside and saw him run down the street towards an older boy
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concerned that the pair would flee if he tried to approach them officer warner called for backup
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shortly after officer russell van voros arrived in a police car and pulled up beside the two boys asking
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for their names the younger one replied timmy what officer van voris was so shocked he had
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to ask the boy to repeat himself to make sure he had heard properly the older boy then said
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my name is stephen and i've been missing in merced for seven years angela white was called with the news
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that there was a boy at the station claiming to be her son she rushed to the station
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but when she saw the boy she didn't recognize him he was filthy dirty with dark brown hair
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unlike timmy who was platinum blonde angela fainted on the spot and when she came too
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she realised that was timmy after all but his hair had been dyed and he clearly hadn't bathed in weeks
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the two hugged in silence for 20 minutes after which timmy cheered up and asked about his six-year-old sister
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and their cat the older boy claiming to be stephen told the police that timmy had been kidnapped by the
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same person who had been holding himself captive for just over seven years he said he
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wanted to make sure timmy didn't go through the same thing he himself went through
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and had been planning to bring him home for a week and a half but his plans had been delayed by the
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stormy weather at first he refused to provide any information about their kidnapper
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whom he referred to as his dad but he eventually broke down and told them the person responsible was
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kenneth parnell who worked at the palace hotel in ukya less than half a mile from the police
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station stephen vehemently denied that parnell had subjected him or timmy to sexual
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abuse an officer from ukiah telephoned the merced police station to confirm if they had a missing child
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named steven steiner on their records another officer then called the steiner household
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to inform kaye and dell they would be over shortly with some news about their son
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at the time their eldest son carey was away camping with friends in yosemite national park
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and the stainers assumed the news related to him the officer arrived at approximately 3
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am and delivered the news that stephen had been found alive the family were in shock but overcome
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with joy with dell sitting down and weeping they were informed that they couldn't
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see stephen immediately but the parents and children stayed up all night talking excitedly
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in the morning steven's siblings ran up and down the street knocking on their neighbor's doors
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to let them know the good news that their brother was coming home the ukiah police had stephen write a
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brief statement about his life with parnell it began my name is steven steiner i am 14 years
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of age i don't know my true birthday but i use april 18 1965. i know my first name is stephen
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i'm pretty sure my last name is stayna and if i have a middle name i don't know it
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through this statement and future interviews with law enforcement and journalists
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it emerged that on the afternoon of december 4 1972 stephen had been approached by two men
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one of whom was then 41 year old kenneth parnell the men were giving out religious
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pamphlets and asked stephen if his mother would like to make a donation to the church
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offering him a ride home so he could ask her stephen agreed and got into the car they
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were driving but the men drove straight past his street telling him they were going to
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their place for a while and would call his mother from there stephen thought the two men seemed nice
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so he trusted what they said he recalled sitting back and enjoying the car ride taking in the new scenery as they drove
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further out of town than he had previously been at some point during the drive parnell
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stopped the car to use a pay phone upon his return he said he had spoken to steven's parents
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who agreed that stephen could stay with him for the night the men drove into the kathy's valley
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area of yosemite national park to a small trailer park where parnell rented a redwood cabin
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unbeknownst to stephen his own grandfather lived at the trailer park at the time
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and was only 200 feet from their rental cabin much to stephen's delight parnell had a
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selection of toys waiting for him while he played with them parnell began asking stephen about his family
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as well as his likes and dislikes parnell worked at the yosemite valley lodge and the next day they moved to the
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employee dorm building where he had a small private room when he went to work he drugged stephen
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with sleeping pills this continued for several days with stephen given a bucket to use as a
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toilet the other man involved in the kidnapping stopped by to bring steven food toys and to keep
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him entertained stephen found this man to be friendly and kind and he liked having him around
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a week later on sunday december 10 parnell drove stephen back to the cabin at kathy's valley
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in mid-december he brought stephen a six-week-old manchester terrier puppy named
00:33:16
queenie whom stephen adored parnell used queenie to soften the blow as he delivered the news to stephen that
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his parents could no longer afford to keep him and that a judge had therefore granted
00:33:30
parnell permanent custody stephen started crying saying his family needed him at home but
00:33:38
parnell replied well i don't think they really need you right now that night parnell dyed steven's hair
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dark brown and cut it into a different style on december 17 1972 parnell quit his job and traded his car
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for a rundown rambler american he drove stephen and queenie 200 miles to the californian city of santa rosa
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where they spent the next few weeks checking into various motels on january 2 1973
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parnell enrolled stephen at still lane elementary school under the name dennis parnell telling
00:34:29
the faculty he was stephen's divorcee father he listed yosemite elementary as stephen's previous school
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but nobody at still lane contacted the former school to ask for dennis parnell's records
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nor did they ask parnell to produce dennis's birth certificate disdainers had actually sent a letter
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and a copy of stephen's missing person poster to every elementary school district in
00:34:59
california but administrators at the bellevue union school district where still lane elementary was located
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had thrown it out without passing it on to the local schools had a copy made it to steel lane stephen
00:35:15
might have been recognized parnell got a job at the front desk of the sena rosa holiday inn
00:35:23
and also made extra money as a door-to-door bible salesman he used a local agency to hire
00:35:30
babysitters for stephen threatening to spank him if he ever said anything about being taken from merced
00:35:38
stephen became accustomed to his new life as dennis parnell and slowly accepted that parnell was his
00:35:46
new father on february 24 1973 they moved into a dilapidated trailer at the mount taylor trailer park in santa
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rosa and stephen changed schools to kiwana springs elementary stephen liked it at his new school and
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made many new friends including kenny mathias who became his closest his teacher noted that he was adjusting
00:36:14
well and was well liked by his classmates on april 18 1973 stephen turned to eight
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years old one night after parnell fell asleep he snuck out of the trailer with the
00:36:29
intention of finding his real family he made it a few blocks but became lost and scared
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and returned to the trailer before parnell woke up later that year stephen fell ill with
00:36:45
the mumps and impetigo two highly contagious infections common among schoolchildren
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pinell had no choice but to take him to the doctor who didn't pick up on anything out of
00:36:58
the ordinary between the pair as parnell answered all questions on steven's behalf
00:37:03
and wouldn't let stephen speak at all in november 1973 parnell rented a house in santa rosa with a backyard
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for queenie steven liked the new house but was upset that he had to move schools again
00:37:21
this time to doyle park elementary which meant leaving behind his best friend kenny regardless he had become used to
00:37:30
moving schools and quickly settled into doyle park parnell became more relaxed and would
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sometimes take steven to the local denny's restaurant which was often filled with diners from
00:37:43
all over california due to its proximity to the freeway but no one ever recognized stephen
00:37:52
in february 1974 parnell quit his job at the holiday inn when new laws dictated that he was no longer allowed to smoke
00:38:01
at the front desk he took a job delivering newspapers but it didn't pay well so he and stephen moved back into santa
00:38:10
rosa's rundown motels steven returned to kawana elementary to attend fourth grade where he was reunited with
00:38:19
kenny and soon after parnell started dating kenny's mother barbara mathias in june 1974
00:38:29
parnell resumed his job at the holiday inn and he stephen and barbara moved into
00:38:35
the north star trailer park kenny and his other siblings continued to live with their father
00:38:43
only seeing barbara on occasion in december 1974 parnell attempted to convince stephen to help him kidnap
00:38:57
another young boy to join their family they drove to the coddington shopping mall in santa rosa
00:39:05
where parnell made steven approach any boys who were on their own and try to convince them to
00:39:10
come with him stephen deliberately foiled the plan lying to parnell about the conversations
00:39:18
he had with the boys and saying they refused to go with him after two hours parnell gave up and
00:39:26
they finally went home in may of 1975 parnell ordered barbara to try to coerce a boy from
00:39:36
stephen's boys club to come home with them but the boy ran off leaving parnell furious
00:39:44
to escape detection they moved to willets a remote area in california's mendocino
00:39:50
county where stephen once again changed schools parnell was unable to find work so a
00:39:58
month later they moved to the rundown harbour trailer park in fort bragg a coastal town in mendocino county
00:40:08
parnell used his mother's money to open a bible store called triple a bibles books and gifts
00:40:15
which was a financial flop ten-year-old stephen still living as dennis parnell enrolled in the fifth grade at dana gray
00:40:25
elementary school and was free to walk around town on his own during his spare time
00:40:32
at one point he was caught shoplifting and was escorted home by the police but it didn't occur to him to tell them
00:40:39
who he really was parnell was furious about the shoplifting telling stephen he had
00:40:46
crossed the line into becoming a criminal in the spring of 1976 barbara gained custody of her four children
00:40:57
and with stephen and parnell they moved out of the trailer and into an old converted school bus
00:41:04
containing eight wooden bunks the bible shop went out of business and in june barbara left parnell for another man and
00:41:14
she and her children moved out of the bus [Music] in july parnell and stephen moved to a
00:41:22
mobile home in the small rural town of komchi where stephen was thrilled to have his own
00:41:28
room he settled in making friends at the mendocino middle school where he joined the football team and
00:41:36
went on his first date with a girl he spent most of his time outdoors and helped panel grow vegetables and
00:41:45
raise rabbits pigs and chickens komchi was a very liberal town with easy access to cannabis
00:41:53
which steven began using along with alcohol and cigarettes one night when he was
00:42:00
drinking he told his girlfriend at the time that he wanted to go home to his real family but she dismissed the
00:42:07
statement as drunken nonsense in july of 1979 parnell and stephen moved 50 miles south of komchi to an isolated
00:42:20
cabin on the unoccupied mountain view ranch in the mendocino county town of manchester
00:42:27
the owner of the property grew an abundance of cannabis crops and wanted someone there to guard
00:42:33
against trespasses as a bonus parnell realised he could take small amounts of cannabis from the
00:42:40
crop owners without them noticing stephen was devastated by the move not only did he love komchi
00:42:49
but the cabin in manchester was small with only one room no electricity an outhouse and an
00:42:56
outdoor shower parnell got a job 50 miles northeast in ukiah working as a desk clerk at the palace
00:43:05
hotel while stephen enrolled at point area high school where he attended classes sporadically
00:43:16
on february 14 1980 stephen was horrified when parnell showed up to pick him up from school
00:43:24
with five-year-old timmy white in tow when they returned to the cabin steven did his best to take care of the young
00:43:33
boy playing with him and taking him to feed the farm animals when timmy said he wanted to go home
00:43:41
steven promised to take him on his first attempt it was raining heavily and he tried to piggyback timmy away
00:43:50
from the cabin but timmy was distressed and asked to go back on the evening of saturday march 1
00:43:59
parnell left for his night shift at the palace hotel stephen made dinner for himself and
00:44:05
timmy and then dressed them both in warm clothing slipping a buoy knife into his right
00:44:11
boot he said goodbye to his beloved dog queenie promising to come back for her at
00:44:19
approximately 7 pm the pair left the cabin although the area had very little traffic they managed to hitch a ride
00:44:29
with a mexican driver who spoke of very little english from stephen's limited spanish he
00:44:36
understood that the driver was following another car all the way to ukiah he spent the whole
00:44:42
journey with timmy on his lap worried that parnell would find them before he could get timmy to safety
00:44:51
at approximately 9 pm they were dropped on the outskirts of ukya steven's plan was to take timmy to his
00:44:59
babysitter's house but when they arrived there nobody was home timmy tried to remember the directions
00:45:07
to his family home but was confused so stephen used the nearby pay phone to find the address of
00:45:14
the local police station to get there they had to walk past the palace hotel where parnell was working at the time
00:45:26
when they approached the police station stephen encouraged timmy to walk the final three quarters
00:45:33
of a block by himself but when timmy reached the door he was scared and ran back to stephen
00:45:41
that's when the police approached them and stephen made the split-second decision to tell the
00:45:47
truth about who he was officers arrived at the palace hotel and placed parnell under arrest for the kidnapping of timmy
00:46:00
white and steven steiner he was taken to an interview room at the ukiah police department
00:46:07
so that stephen could identify him through the safety of a glass window stephen quietly confirmed parnell to be
00:46:15
his captor but the officer then opened the door to the interview room and pushed stephen inside putting him
00:46:23
face to face with parnell the officer asked stephen if he was sure parnell was the perpetrator
00:46:31
causing stephen to scream to be taken from the room by 4 30 a.m on sunday march 2
00:46:40
1980 police had obtained a search warrant and a team of 20 officers headed to the
00:46:46
mountain view ranch cabin with stephen in tow the media caught wind that something was
00:46:53
going on because the usually quiet police station had become a hive of activity the police tried to create a diversion
00:47:02
to prevent members of the press from following them but their attempts were unsuccessful
00:47:09
by the time they arrived at mountain view ranch it wasn't long before news helicopters
00:47:14
circled overhead and reporters began arriving on the scene the one-room cabin was in a cold dark
00:47:24
and desolate area with attending offices noting that it was no place to house a child
00:47:32
inside resembled a messy dungeon with dirty clothes and cooking utensils scattered everywhere
00:47:39
amongst the clothes investigators found the outfit timmy had been wearing on the
00:47:44
day he went missing as well as the collection of valentine's day cards he had been holding onto
00:47:52
stephen scooped up queenie and returned to the police car to head back to ukya where a press conference was scheduled
00:47:59
to take place at midday he was so dirty that the police had to wear their car out
00:48:09
during the press conference stephen sat with queenie and shyly but calmly answered questions
00:48:15
about why he decided to bring timmy home he commented i knew what parnell was doing was wrong
00:48:25
i just gave timmy a whole life ahead of him with his parents stephen said he had initially considered
00:48:33
returning to parnell after dropping timmy at the police station because he was so accustomed to
00:48:39
their life together when one reporter asked how he felt about parnell now steven responded i feel sorry for
00:48:49
him but was cut off by an officer who advised him not to answer timmy sat on stephen's lap and told
00:48:59
reporters that stephen was his friend and had taken care of him and read him comic books
00:49:09
at seven that night steven was finally reunited with his family at their home in merced
00:49:17
his parents had been warned not to expect the small child they had lost but an independent teenager on his way to
00:49:26
becoming a man the stainers and 230 of their friends and relatives gathered to greet steven
00:49:34
with a welcome home party while camera crews and news reporters swarmed outside the reunion was extremely emotional for
00:49:45
stephen and his family with many tears of joy shared stephen was shy and overwhelmed by the
00:49:52
situation and had to ask his siblings to remind him of their names kaye and dell presented him with the
00:50:00
unopened christmas presents that had been waiting for him in their living room since 1972
00:50:06
with dell commenting that he wished he had more presence to give stephen told the reporters it felt good
00:50:16
to be home again dell credited his wife's unwavering christian faith and prayer for steven's safe
00:50:23
return quote she kept the faith she prayed and i'm convinced it was the work of the
00:50:31
good lord that made this possible after seven years i call this nothing but a god-given miracle
00:50:40
k said i told everybody from the beginning that he would come back to us i have faith in our heavenly father
00:50:52
stephen's older brother carrie had heard the news of his brother's return while driving home
00:50:57
from his camping trip that night the two brothers slept side by side on the family's living room floor
00:51:06
carey later told author mike eckles for his book i know my first name is steven i had a hard time trying to get to sleep
00:51:16
that night i stayed up a long time just looking at steve while he slept and listening to him breathe i just
00:51:24
couldn't believe that my brother was home again i went outside that night and i walked
00:51:31
several blocks away and then looked up at the stars and started to wish on one again but then i remembered that
00:51:39
steve was back home and so i thanked the star instead the next day dell told the la times
00:51:48
newspaper that he felt somewhat sorry for kenneth parnell kaye said i don't like what he did
00:51:58
it was a very very cruel thing to do but now that we have steve i thank the good lord
00:52:05
that parnell had the sense to raise him well and to treat him right i mean god so many kids are killed
00:52:14
and our stephen was saved [Music] on march 4 parnell appeared in the ukya justice court
00:52:25
where he pleaded not guilty to the kidnappings of steven steiner and timmy white
00:52:31
bale was set at twenty thousand dollars and he was held at the merced county jail
00:52:36
to await trial when news of parnell's arrest circulated those who knew him were in shock
00:52:47
colleagues at the palace hotel described him as a personable man who was well liked by other employees
00:52:54
they recalled times when parnell had brought stephen into town and introduced him as his son dennis
00:53:02
one colleague said that stephen was a really nice kid and that no one suspected he and parnell
00:53:09
were anything but father and son a security guard who worked the night shift with parnell
00:53:17
recalled that around the same time that timmy white was kidnapped parnell mentioned that he wanted to
00:53:23
adopt the child at no point did steven indicate to anyone a desire to leave the stepfather of one of stephen's
00:53:34
friends commented there was a part of their relationship that i saw that was supportive
00:53:42
there was a giving and a concern i don't think that is something that you just put on
00:53:48
because you are with people that is what makes this thing so paradoxical i mean this is going to be a challenge
00:53:56
for people to accept they don't want to see that side of it stephen's seventh grade teacher at
00:54:05
mendocino high school told author mike eckles that one day in class he and his students had discussed an
00:54:12
article about missing children afterwards steven's friend damon approached the teacher
00:54:19
and said dennis claims that he was taken away when he was real young and his parents said that they didn't
00:54:27
want him anymore the teacher thought the comment was very strange but he was then interrupted
00:54:34
and didn't follow up on damon's claim despite spending a lot of time thinking about it
00:54:42
kenneth parnell's mother mary told the san francisco examiner that her son couldn't be responsible for the
00:54:49
kidnappings as he had visited her several times a year over the past seven years and never had a child with
00:54:56
him mary described parnell as an honest fellow who loved children and animals and would never
00:55:05
harm anyone however she also recalled an incident that she referred to simply as the trouble
00:55:28
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shipstation.com make ship happen the trouble mary spoke of related to parnell's extensive criminal history
01:01:26
parnell had committed a long list of crimes dating back to his adolescence he had a troubled childhood beginning
01:01:34
with his parents divorce when he was five years old parnell his mother and her two children from a
01:01:42
previous marriage moved from their hometown in texas to the city of bakersfield in california
01:01:49
parnell was so upset to be leaving his father that he tried to pull four of his teeth
01:01:54
out using a pair of pliers he continued to have episodes of self-harm and suicidal thoughts
01:02:02
and at the age of eight he shone a torch into his eyes for so long that he required corrective
01:02:08
treatment at nine years old he intentionally jumped from a shed roof onto a pile of
01:02:14
timber boards that had nails poking up puncturing his foot in the process in 1945 when parnell was 13 years old
01:02:25
he was sent to a juvenile facility after it was discovered he had performed oral sex on an older man
01:02:32
he was released after a few months then at the age of 14 he stole a car and was sent to a
01:02:39
boarding school for juvenile offenders in 1947 parnell moved back in with his mother
01:02:47
in bakersfield and was arrested for committing public sex acts with men in 1948 he stole another car
01:02:56
and was sent to another juvenile facility but escaped a few weeks later he was recaptured within days and sent
01:03:05
to the kern county jail in bakersfield where he tried to take his own life by drinking disinfectant
01:03:14
after parnell recovered he was sent to a state mental hospital in napa for 90 days
01:03:20
but managed to escape returning to bakersfield in a stolen car to meet a boy he had become infatuated
01:03:27
with he was rearrested and sent back to the juvenile facility where he stayed until his release in may
01:03:35
1949 and moved in with his mother he then met a woman named patsy joe daughton and the pair married shortly after
01:03:47
on march 20 1951 nineteen-year-old parnell bought a fake deputy sheriff's badge at
01:03:53
an army surplus store and approached three young boys who were playing in an area
01:03:58
outside of bakersfield he flashed the badge and convinced the nine-year-old bobby green
01:04:06
that he matched the description of a juvenile skp and he needed to take him back to his
01:04:12
parents house to clear up the matter parnell then drove bobby to a remote area in the kern river canyon and sexually
01:04:21
assaulted him before dropping him back at the location he had picked him up from afterwards bobby ran home and
01:04:30
told his parents and parnell was arrested six days later in court parnell casually admitted to
01:04:38
the crime and was charged with child's dealing a crime against nature and the act of copulating the
01:04:46
sexual organ at his trial on april 20 1951 parnell pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of
01:04:55
lewd and lascivious contact with the private parts of a male child under the age of 14.
01:05:03
a judge ordered he'd be examined by three separate psychiatrists all three of whom concluded that parnell
01:05:10
exhibited characteristics of a sexual psychopath and recommended treatment in a state
01:05:15
mental hospital around this time parnell's wife patsy joe gave birth to their first child a daughter
01:05:26
parnell was sent to norwalk state hospital for an official diagnosis to enable the court proceedings to
01:05:33
progress with a more detailed understanding of his mental health he was diagnosed as a sexual psychopath
01:05:42
without psychosis and was deemed legally sane medical staff recommended that he returned to court to be committed as a
01:05:51
sexual psychopath for an indeterminate period on june 22 1951 parnell was committed to norwalk state
01:06:02
hospital for as long as treatment and rehabilitation took for him to be deemed well enough for
01:06:08
release on september 11 1951 parnell escaped from norwalk by soaring a lock from a clothes
01:06:18
room window he was captured by authorities on september 24 and placed in norwalk's maximum security
01:06:26
wing on october 14 he managed to escape again and was caught four and a half months
01:06:33
later in albuquerque new mexico this time he was sent to a californian state prison
01:06:40
to serve five years to life parnell was granted parole in april of 1955 on the condition that he received an
01:06:51
ongoing psychiatric treatment which he never did he and patsy joe divorced in early 1957
01:07:00
without parnell ever meeting his daughter in august that same year parnell married
01:07:07
a woman named emma who was 10 years his senior and the two had a baby girl on august 22 1959
01:07:18
parnell held up a service station in salt lake city utah with a revolver and was sentenced to
01:07:24
five years to life emma divorced him and he was released in september of 1961 on the condition he never returned to
01:07:33
utah in 1972 parnell applied for a job with the curry company in yosemite national park which was
01:07:44
responsible for hiring employees to work in the parks hotels due to its isolated location yosemite
01:07:53
was a good place for people with a criminal history to lay low and the curry company was known to hire
01:08:00
convicted criminals parnell lied on his application when asked if he had any prior criminal
01:08:07
or mental health history and was hired as a night auditor working the desk at the yosemite lodge
01:08:16
during the initial stages of the investigation into stephen's disappearance the police had requested a list of all
01:08:23
the park's employees however the park ranger who provided the list had made a critical error
01:08:32
employees of the curry company were paid fortnightly with half of them paid one week and the
01:08:38
other half paid the week after the ranger had only provided police with a list of the
01:08:46
employees who had been paid the week stephen went missing but parnell was paid the alternative week
01:08:54
meaning his name wasn't included on the list in steven steiner's initial interview
01:09:04
with police he had refused to disclose the identity of the second man involved with his kidnapping on march
01:09:13
3 1980 he was interviewed again this time revealing that the other man was ervin murphy
01:09:20
who had been working at the yosemite lodge cleaning the industrial ovens since 1972
01:09:28
he was described as a simple and lonely man who was easily influenced by others and
01:09:34
very eager to please colleagues said he was a hard worker who went above and beyond for his friends
01:09:42
but was also gullible naive and easily led astray murphy was arrested without incident remarking to police that he was
01:09:53
relieved to hear that stephen was okay and hadn't been killed by parnell he claimed to have called the merced
01:10:02
police department several times over the years to tell them about the kidnapping
01:10:08
but had lost his nerve every time someone answered the phone recounting the events of december 4 1972
01:10:18
murphy told police that he had planned on catching the 8am bus to merced to do some christmas shopping
01:10:25
but he fell asleep and missed the bus he later awoke to parnell knocking on his door
01:10:32
who suggested they go into town murphy was thrilled at the offer of a lift and went with parnell to the merced
01:10:40
mall to buy some christmas presents when he was finished shopping parnell asked murphy if he would help hand out some
01:10:48
religious pamphlets as parnell claimed he was studying to become a minister murphy agreed and the duo drove to the
01:10:57
yosemite parkway where parnell told murphy to hand the pamphlets out to the children who were
01:11:03
walking home from school parnell had previously told murphy that he wanted to adopt an underprivileged
01:11:12
or abused child while they handed out the pamphlets he asked for murphy's help in picking
01:11:19
out a young boy to be his son as murphy himself had been abused by his mother as a young child he said that parnell's
01:11:28
plan made sense to him so he stood out the front of a gas station on yosemite parkway
01:11:35
and did as he was told when steven steiner walked by murphy told him he was from the church
01:11:43
and asked whether his family might like to make a charitable donation as it was raining murphy told stephen
01:11:51
that the minister would give him a ride home so that he could ask his mother hanel
01:11:57
pulled up in his buick and stephen and murphy got in parnell then told stephen they were
01:12:05
going to the yosemite lodge where he and murphy lived in the employee dorm building
01:12:10
and would call his mother from there to ask if stephen could stay the night murphy recalled thinking to himself that
01:12:19
something wasn't quite right but he found comfort in the fact that steven seemed relaxed
01:12:25
and wasn't crying over the next few days murphy checked in on steven regularly bringing him food comic books and a
01:12:36
small battery-operated motorcycle to keep him entertained a week after the abduction when parnell
01:12:44
drove stephen to his cabin in kathy's valley they passed the volunteers who were
01:12:49
driving up and down the highway looking for the missing boy murphy continued to visit the duo at the
01:12:56
cabin and looked after stephen while parnell went to visit his mother when parnell decided to leave town for
01:13:04
good he threatened to tell the authorities that murphy was the kidnapper unless he agreed to deposit some of his
01:13:11
fortnightly pay into parnell's account murphy reluctantly agreed but stopped the payment years later
01:13:21
in 1974 pannell tracked murphy down and once again attempted to blackmail him into continuing the payments
01:13:30
but murphy refused on march 5 1980 ervin murphy appeared in merced county court where he pleaded not guilty to the
01:13:42
kidnapping of steven steiner bail was set at fifty thousand dollars thirty thousand more than the ukiah
01:13:50
court had set for kenneth parnell murphy was held in the merced county jail to await trial
01:13:59
that same day two officers took stephen to the small red cabin in kathy's valley
01:14:05
where parnell had first taken him after being kidnapped stephen continued to deny being sexually
01:14:12
abused by parnell but now that his extensive criminal history had come to light police doubted whether stephen was being
01:14:21
truthful merced police also spent five hours gathering evidence at the mountain view
01:14:31
ranch cabin and other buildings on the property the cabin had never been secured as a
01:14:37
crime scene and a number of reporters had since walked through and contaminated the area
01:14:43
with some even taking evidence for themselves the investigation was complicated by the
01:14:50
fact that parnell and stephen had moved around frequently throughout the years meaning
01:14:55
police departments from multiple counties were involved officers from the differing
01:15:02
jurisdictions were struggling to fill one another in while some were deliberately withholding
01:15:07
information altogether a reporter from the san francisco chronicle presented the ukiah police
01:15:15
with some polaroid photographs he had taken from the mountain view ranch cabin that showed stephen and one of his
01:15:22
friends naked they were handed to the merced police but were unable to be used as evidence
01:15:29
against parnell because it couldn't be proven that they had been taken from the cabin
01:15:36
steven continued to deny being subject to any sexual abuse the merced police spent three days in
01:15:45
mendocino county visiting each school stephen had attended since his kidnapping and questioned his friends and to their
01:15:53
parents some of the children had told their parents they had been abused by parnell
01:16:00
but because the abuse occurred outside of the merced county district miss said police had no choice but to
01:16:07
hand the information over to mendocino county district attorney richard finn whom they assumed would take action
01:16:17
however finn was seemingly disinterested in the sexual abuse claims and didn't bother to follow up the
01:16:24
accusations finn had no formal training in psychology but on march 13 he attempted to
01:16:33
hypnotize timmy white to see if he could uncover any information that could help with the
01:16:38
case timmy had already told police he had been kidnapped by parnell and one other
01:16:45
unknown man but under hypnosis he described the accomplice in such a detail that the police identified him as
01:16:53
fifteen-year-old sean poorman timmy also denied being subject to any sexual abuse
01:17:03
a few days later sean poorman was located and placed under arrest he had gone to
01:17:09
the same school as stephen but the two were more acquaintances than poorman liked hanging out at steven's
01:17:17
house because parnell supplied him with whiskey and cannabis he was fully cooperative with police
01:17:25
admitting that in mid-november 1979 parnell said that he wanted another little boy
01:17:32
but adoption was too much of a hassle instead he said he wanted to find a kid on the street that didn't have a good
01:17:40
home and offered poorman 50 dollars to help him find a suitable child on february 14 1980
01:17:50
poorman and parnell drove to ukiah and bought some girls clothing and hair dye with the intention of kidnapping timmy
01:17:58
and then disguising him as a girl at 11 30 a.m they parked parnell's car on the curb a few streets away from
01:18:07
timmy's school and pretended there was something wrong with the tyre their plan was to ask for timmy's help
01:18:15
and then throw him into the back seat of the car but when timmy walked by he refused to
01:18:22
help and kept on walking poorman ran after him and timmy tried to save himself by clinging to a chain-link
01:18:31
fence but poorman pried him off bundled him into the backseat and covered him with a blanket
01:18:39
he then forced the sleeping tablet down timmy's throat and the trio drove to parnell's cabin
01:18:45
where poorman left timmy and parnell alone and had nothing further to do with the
01:18:50
situation pullman was initially charged with kidnapping but because he cooperated
01:18:58
with authorities the charges were reduced to false imprisonment given he was a minor he was released
01:19:06
into his parents custody to awake court proceedings on april 6 1980 steven steiner was
01:19:17
awarded the fifteen thousand dollars of reward money offered for timmy white's safe return
01:19:25
a ceremony was held in ukiah city park where timmy presented stephen with a check for the money
01:19:31
which was placed in a trust for him to access when he turned 18. afterwards stephen's family drove him to comchi so
01:19:40
he could visit with the friends he made during the happiest time of his kidnapping
01:19:46
from there the family went to mountain view ranch where stephen picked up his favorite goat to take back to merced
01:19:53
with his family soon after merced police presented steven with the naked polaroids that the
01:20:02
reporter had found in the cabin and he finally admitted to being sexually abused
01:20:07
by parnell he said that he was assaulted on the first night of his abduction and the abuse escalated from there
01:20:16
occurring whenever ervin murphy wasn't around by the time parnell moved stephen to
01:20:23
santa rosa the abuse had become an almost a daily occurrence in the spring of 1974 when parnell
01:20:33
first started dating barbara mathias the pair had sex in front of then eight-year-old stephen
01:20:40
barbara also willingly raped stephen at parnell's insistence when barbara moved in with stephen and
01:20:49
parnell the three shared a bed and the abuse continued for the next 18 months stephen said he didn't like barbara but
01:20:58
put up with her because when she was around the abuse he received from parnell decreased
01:21:05
significantly when she moved out in 1976 the abuse against stephen once again increased
01:21:14
in frequency by the time stephen was going through puberty parnell was no longer attracted to him
01:21:23
the abuse now occurred approximately once every three weeks and by early january of 1980 it stopped
01:21:30
altogether it was at this point that parnell insisted on finding another young boy to
01:21:38
take steven's place stephen later told author mike eckles from the start i recognized my situation
01:21:48
as life-threatening and i knew that i had to do what parnell wanted me to do i knew that he might kill me if i didn't
01:21:57
do it there's some times that you just have to go along with things you have to learn to never say never
01:22:06
because you never know when you're gonna have to do something just to survive in california at the time the statute of
01:22:18
limitations for sexual abuse was three years given stephen had been abused over a period of seven years this
01:22:27
meant that parnell could only be charged with the most recent assaults that occurred between 1977 and
01:22:33
1980 while the pair were living in mendocino county stephen documented a total of 87 sexual
01:22:42
assaults that occurred within this time frame these were presented to district attorney richard finn
01:22:49
along with the reports taken from several children who claimed to be sexually assaulted by parnell
01:22:55
in his trailer at comchi shortly after finn was replaced by a new district attorney
01:23:02
joe allen who ultimately decided not to prosecute parnell for any of the sexual offences committed
01:23:09
against stephen allen later told author mike eckles this decision was based on a desire to
01:23:17
protect steven in contrast a sergeant from the mendocino county sheriff's department told eccles
01:23:26
that county law enforcement at the time had a strange attitude toward prosecuting adults who were accused of
01:23:32
sexually assaulting children the sergeant said i worked sex crimes and i couldn't get
01:23:40
the district attorney to prosecute they wouldn't even file the case in the lead-up to parnell's preliminary
01:23:52
hearing a psychiatrist for his defense team injected him with sodium pentathor more commonly known as truth serum and
01:24:00
then interviewed him on video while he was under the effect of the drug the defense hoped to get testimony that
01:24:08
could work in parnell's favor but the answers he gave were so disturbing that the videos were discarded to avoid
01:24:16
doing any harm in court on april 9 1980 preliminary hearings for both kenneth parnell and ervin murphy
01:24:26
were held in a closed merced court both men were charged with kidnapping child stealing
01:24:33
false imprisonment and conspiracy to kidnap while parnell was also charged with child molestation
01:24:40
[Music] to ensure parnell didn't face an unfair trial for the kidnapping of timmy white
01:24:48
a gag order was placed to forbid those in court from talking to the press about the outcomes of the hearing
01:24:56
stephen was the first of several witnesses to take the stand putting him face to face with parnell
01:25:02
for the first time since his arrest he told the courtroom that he had always remembered that his name was stephen
01:25:10
but parnell had threatened to spank him if he ever told anyone his real identity
01:25:17
it wasn't until he was in the fifth grade that he realized he had been kidnapped
01:25:22
and not given away by his family at that point he often considered running away but never put the plan into action until
01:25:32
timmy white arrived the defense for both clients referred to the three-year statute of limitation
01:25:40
that existed for the crime of kidnapping and argued that as stephen had been abducted outside
01:25:46
this time span the statute had run out and therefore neither man should face charges
01:25:54
in response the prosecution debated their stance that the kidnapping continued for as long as stephen was
01:26:00
being held by parnell and to judge velasco agreed on april 17 he ordered both parnell
01:26:09
and murphy to stand trial for the kidnapping of stephen as stephen didn't testify about the
01:26:17
sexual abuse and because the 87 counts he reported were not admitted to the court
01:26:23
the child molestation charges against parnell were dropped due to insufficient evidence the
01:26:30
stainers didn't pursue the matter as they were eager to get steven's life back on track
01:26:38
the preliminary hearing for timmy white's kidnapping was held on april 15 in a closed courtroom in the
01:26:45
mendocino county superior court parnell pleaded not guilty to all charges sean poorman
01:26:54
testified against him saying that parnell never even paid him the fifty dollars he had promised for
01:27:00
his participation in the kidnapping when poorman was asked why he went along with parnell's plan
01:27:08
he responded he wanted to build his family he wanted a little boy judge james luther concluded there was
01:27:19
enough evidence for the case against parnell to proceed to trial on april 29 merced county district
01:27:28
attorney pat halford lodged a motion to have parnell tried on counts of sodomy and oral copulation
01:27:35
against steven saying he believed he had gathered enough evidence for the charges to be
01:27:41
upheld public defender john ellery wanted stephen to undergo psychiatric testing
01:27:48
to determine if the sexual acts were real or whether they were a figment of his imagination
01:27:54
[Music] a judge denied this request saying he could find no compelling reason for stephen to
01:28:01
undergo such testing the defense planned to file a motion to have the sex abuse charges dismissed
01:28:09
before the trial life returned to normal for timmy white and his family who were eager to put the kidnapping
01:28:22
incident behind them and move on timmy returned to kindergarten and resumed his daily
01:28:29
walks from school to his babysitter's house the stainers paid him some of the reward
01:28:36
money they had raised when stephen was missing and also gave him a t-shirt that read
01:28:42
i'm somebody special timmy wore the shirt to school with pride and enjoyed the attention he got from his
01:28:51
classmates and townspeople meanwhile stephen began ninth grade at merced high school
01:28:59
the school's principal joseph reeves told the mercedes sunstar newspaper we are all going to turn ourselves
01:29:08
inside out to help him but one of the best things we can do is let the kid forget it
01:29:15
if he can handle this he can handle anything he can handle life however when the details emerged about
01:29:25
the sexual abuse stephen endured he was bullied by his classmates some accused him of being gay and a
01:29:33
willing participant with only stephen's siblings and some other classmates standing up for him he had trouble
01:29:42
making male friends but was very popular with the female students stephen dated many young women later
01:29:50
admitting he did so to prove his heterosexuality case dana quit her job as a cook at the
01:29:59
local hospital to be home with her family despite the backlash stephen faced at school
01:30:06
he continued to tell his story in the hopes that other children wouldn't have to go through an ordeal
01:30:12
like his he became a symbol of hope for parents of missing children and volunteered his time to helping
01:30:21
missing children groups many people who followed stephen's story were curious as to why
01:30:29
he didn't leave parnell when he had so many opportunities to do so psychologists put forward multiple
01:30:37
theories including that stephen had become attached to parnell on a parental level depending on him for
01:30:44
food clothing and shelter parnell was also highly manipulative and maintained power
01:30:52
over stephen by being constantly on the run parnell successfully kept stephen isolated and
01:30:59
alone with parnell being the one constant in his life in addition some theorized that stephen
01:31:09
was so ashamed of the sexual abuse that he decided to endure it rather than have it publicly
01:31:15
known in his evaluation of stephen psychiatrist robert walb concluded steven was essentially trapped and bound
01:31:28
within the unconscious mind of dennis the name given to him by parnell when dennis saw the active distress of
01:31:37
the younger child timmy white his satisfaction with the myth of being dennis began to deteriorate when he saw that
01:31:46
timmy was treated with kindness and concern by the officer the mythic person was subordinated to
01:31:53
the real person and the young man spoke his true name it is my absolute belief that with the
01:32:01
acknowledgement of his true identity steven steiner freed himself from his state of being kidnapped
01:32:09
from a psychological point of view he was still in a state of kidnap until he spoke his name
01:32:16
thus ending a psychic capture that lasted 2644 days on june 7 1981 sean poorman was
01:32:31
convicted of false imprisonment for his involvement with timmy white's kidnapping
01:32:36
and sentenced to two years in a residential juvenile facility the following day kenneth parnell's
01:32:44
trial for timmy's kidnapping commenced at the superior court in alameda county where he pleaded not guilty
01:32:53
it had been moved from mendocino county to ensure a fair trial the trial ran for close to
01:33:01
three weeks when parnell was called to the stand he blamed timmy's kidnapping on sean
01:33:08
poorman and poorman's stepfather henry media jr claiming they blackmailed him into
01:33:14
committing the crime parnell claimed that henry knew the truth about stephen and had threatened to hurt parnell's
01:33:23
mother if he didn't steal a young boy that henry could trade for money or drugs parnell said he was
01:33:31
home on the afternoon of february 14 1980 when poorman and his stepfather suddenly appeared at the cabin with
01:33:38
timmy saying they had kidnapped a child on the stand henry media jr denied ever meeting parnell
01:33:48
stephen or timmy which was backed up by timmy himself who testified that henry was not his kidnapper
01:33:58
in closing arguments on june 29 the defense argued there was enough reasonable doubt
01:34:04
to acquit parnell of the kidnapping charges and urged the jury to consider the lesser charge of false imprisonment
01:34:12
instead the jury deliberated for two hours before declaring parnell guilty of kidnapping
01:34:22
as the verdict was delivered parnell bowed his head and sighed on september 25 1981
01:34:32
judge m.o subraw sentenced parnell to the maximum of seven years in prison the defense pleaded for leniency given
01:34:42
that timmy hadn't been harmed but sabraw rebutted timmy had not been physically harmed but we do not know the
01:34:51
extent of the fright fear and anxiety this little boy must have suffered we can all be grateful for what we saw
01:34:59
here in court he appears to be a bright bouncy little boy and we can take comfort in that but
01:35:07
we cannot conclude that no harm has been done as the trial for steven steiner's kidnapping approached
01:35:17
irvin murphy's lawyers attempted to have their client tried separately to kenneth
01:35:22
parnell but their request was denied on december 10 1981 the trial of both men commenced at the haywood hall of
01:35:32
justice in alameda county running for several weeks the defense maintained that the statute
01:35:40
of limitations had passed and that after that stephen had chosen to stay with parnell
01:35:45
at his own free will they claimed he was happy to be away from his family because
01:35:51
his parents sometimes physically disciplined him and he didn't agree with their move from
01:35:56
the farm ranch to suburban merced kaye and del steiner both took the stand and admitted they sometimes smacked
01:36:05
their children albeit very rarely but insisted they never used excessive force and believed any punishments they dished
01:36:13
out were appropriate to the situation ervin murphy's defense argued that murphy himself had been a victim of
01:36:22
panels as parnell had manipulated him into the kidnapping and he had gone along with it because he
01:36:28
was so eager to please they argued that murphy only played a part in the initial kidnapping
01:36:35
not steven's ongoing captivity and therefore the statute of limitations had passed
01:36:43
when murphy was called to the stand he was so poorly presented with greasy hair dirty
01:36:49
clothes and broken glasses that judge sabraw postponed the trial until he could have a shower and clean
01:36:56
himself up when the trial resumed murphy testified openly about his involvement with the
01:37:03
kidnapping repeating the same story he had told police from the start and insisted he had no idea that parnell
01:37:11
intended to sexually abuse stephen merced police chief harold colberth told the court
01:37:20
murphy allowed himself to be used while he's not intellectual by any means certainly i think the man knows right
01:37:28
from wrong and he participated in a very very serious crime he covered it up and did not come
01:37:37
forth with information that was needed to help find stephen or clear the case up
01:37:42
for all those years stephen testified to being ashamed that he had obeyed parnell
01:37:50
and that he himself couldn't comprehend why he didn't leave or tell someone about his true identity
01:37:58
merced psychologist to dr philip hamm who had evaluated stephen testified that his parents had raised
01:38:05
him to do whatever adults told him to do without question and he was therefore particularly
01:38:12
vulnerable to respect to the influence of adults to explain why stephen didn't leave
01:38:18
parnell dr ham stated when first abducted steiner was confused shocked and afraid
01:38:27
he began feeling enraged emotional blocking occurs a sense of hopelessness despair giving
01:38:35
up and turning himself over to his abductor follows unable to understand his feelings and
01:38:43
finding it less painful to avoid them he began to act and respond as though he were dennis parnell
01:38:49
the identity parnell assigned him as stana became increasingly dependent on parnell
01:38:56
he became incapable of forming another choice from an adult point of view we can ask
01:39:03
why didn't he leave but from a child's perspective the question is if my parents want me why don't they
01:39:11
come get me on december 22 inmates found out about the sexual abuse parnell committed
01:39:21
against stephen and beat him in prison resulting in broken ribs and an injured knee
01:39:28
he was transferred to an isolated cell but given the all clear to return to court
01:39:34
the trial was put on hold for christmas and resumed on january 4 1982 for closing arguments
01:39:43
district attorney pat halford stated any verdict that's not kidnapping and kidnapping for conspiracy
01:39:52
i think would be a cruel joke on stephen and it would be a sad and tragic day for
01:39:57
justice in merced county and alameda county and any other county in this state on january 7 1982 the jury
01:40:12
found both kenneth parnell and ervin murphy guilty of second-degree kidnapping and
01:40:18
conspiracy to kidnap murphy was visibly shaken when the verdict was delivered sighing loudly and chewing on his
01:40:27
knuckles while parnell showed no emotion but started blinking rapidly both men were remanded in
01:40:36
custody until sentencing the following month outside court case dana told reporters
01:40:43
[Music] i'm very happy the jury came in with a guilty verdict but i'm anxious about the sentence
01:40:50
parnell will get it could be a very long sentence or it could be very short it will be up to the judge but we want
01:40:59
to keep this fellow off the street when the sentencing took place on february 3 the stana family chose not to attend as
01:41:10
they felt it was more important that their lives returned to normal judge sabraw told parnell
01:41:18
a seven-year-old boy was taken from his home and lied to told that his parents didn't
01:41:24
want him anymore presumably didn't love him anymore the resulting psychological impact that
01:41:32
this obviously had on this young boy now 16 years of age is something that he's struggling with now
01:41:38
and will be struggling with for the rest of his life the impact that this had on his family
01:41:45
is difficult to measure and difficult to perceive and to fully appreciate all this conduct was callous deceitful
01:41:54
insensitive and as far as the court is concerned fully justifies the imposition of the
01:42:00
maximum sentence that's available judge sabraw sentenced parnell to the maximum of seven years the californian law at
01:42:11
the time dictated that two kidnapping sentences couldn't be served consecutively
01:42:17
given that parnell had already received a seven year sentence for the kidnapping
01:42:22
of timmy white this meant he only received an additional 20 months for the charge of
01:42:28
conspiracy to kidnap steven sabrour acknowledged this was an incredibly lenient sentence
01:42:35
and clarified quote this is not in keeping with what the court feels is an appropriate term
01:42:43
but it is in providing with the law required judge sabraw then turned to murphy and
01:42:51
sentenced him to five years in prison he acknowledged murphy's clean criminal record and
01:42:58
the fact that he eventually accepted responsibility for his role in the crime but highlighted that he didn't come
01:43:05
forward to authorities earlier so that stephen could be returned to his family the public was outraged at the outcome
01:43:14
with one jury member telling reporters that the trial was a waste of time and taxpayer dollars
01:43:21
calls were made for the legislation to be changed in order to prevent anyone from using this legal loophole to secure
01:43:28
a lighter sentence in the future an article in newspaper the press democrat stated the maximum sentence the judge
01:43:38
was allowed to impose on parnell was 20 months there is something very wrong with our
01:43:44
criminal justice system when a seven-year kidnap is punished by a sentence of only 20
01:43:50
months stephen expressed his disappointment in parnell's sentence saying he would have liked to see him
01:43:57
behind bars until he was 90 years old and unable to hurt anyone else in contrast stephen said he felt sorry
01:44:06
for ervin murphy and that he would one day like to see him again six months later in august of 1982
01:44:17
the state assembly of california voted unanimously in favour of new legislation to increase the prison terms for
01:44:24
multiple kidnappings the legislation was signed off by the governor on september 30
01:44:31
1982 stephen later told author mike eckles people are always asking what would you say to parnell if you
01:44:41
ever saw him do you have any feelings towards him i told them straight out that i spent
01:44:47
seven years with him he treated me well he looked after me i thank him for keeping me alive and i'm
01:44:55
grateful to him for that but stephen also said he hated parnell with a passion for stealing seven years of his life and
01:45:05
for making him miss out on all the experiences and memories his family had created without
01:45:10
him over the years stephen had spent so much time away from school testifying at both trials and
01:45:20
providing interviews to the press that he struggled academically he also struggled at home
01:45:27
as he wasn't used to taking orders he found it difficult to follow his parents rules against the drinking alcohol and
01:45:34
smoking cannabis this created tension in the home and kaye and adele fought constantly they never addressed
01:45:43
the sexual abuse stephen endured and the family refused to seek counselling one night stephen asked his parents if
01:45:53
he could visit parnell in prison but they acted as though they never heard the question
01:46:00
on april 18 1983 stephen celebrated his 18th birthday giving him access to the 15 000 reward
01:46:09
money he had sitting in a trust fund along with twenty five thousand dollars he had made from selling his story to a
01:46:16
production company who wanted to turn it into a movie he allegedly spent the money within
01:46:24
three months including on drugs alcohol a pile of speeding tickets he had amassed
01:46:30
and by lending money to his sister for her upcoming wedding steven finished his senior year but
01:46:38
failed several subjects meaning he didn't secure his high school diploma he moved out of home and rented a
01:46:46
trailer with his cousin david in the town of vatwater 10 miles north west of messer
01:46:52
where he got a job at a meatpacking plant and worked on completing his high school equivalency diploma
01:47:00
on june 21 1983 ervin murphy was released from prison after serving just over three years of
01:47:08
his five-year sentence in 1984 stephen was hospitalized for several days after a drinking bander afterwards
01:47:20
he stopped drinking altogether and moved back to his family home he focused on turning his life around
01:47:27
telling author mike eckles i think that my survival has a lot to do with the way i was raised
01:47:34
the first seven years of my life and i can't let what happened to me with parnell get to me
01:47:42
i fought too hard for those seven years to make it to give it up now on april 5 1985 kenneth parnell was
01:47:53
released due to good behavior after serving just five years in prison his two-year parole stipulated that he
01:48:02
wasn't allowed to leave alameda county and that he had to attend regular counselling sessions
01:48:08
and was not allowed in the company of children he was assigned to a boarding house in
01:48:14
the city of berkeley where his parole officers checked on him up to six times a week
01:48:21
the public was outraged by parnell's early release with many berkeley residents scared that
01:48:27
a convicted child kidnapper now walked among them dana told the sacramento bee newspaper
01:48:36
he is dangerous to kids young boys and to the families of the children i just hope the people at berkeley are as
01:48:44
progressive as they are supposed to be and have taught their children to protect themselves
01:48:52
merced county district attorney pat halford once again attempted to file sexual abuse charges against parnell in
01:49:00
mendocino county before the statute of limitations expired halford told reporters that if parnell
01:49:08
was convicted he could face up to seven years in prison for every count of molestation
01:49:14
meaning he could be behind bars for upwards of 50 years the authorities didn't contact steven to
01:49:22
ask if he would be willing to cooperate if the prosecution went ahead but it didn't matter because on april 16
01:49:30
1985 mendocino county district attorney vivienne ricorcus announced she would not be prosecuting
01:49:38
parnell for the sexual abuse charges her reasoning was that authorities knew about these crimes
01:49:46
prior to the trial and had chosen not to prosecute when they had the opportunity
01:49:54
on june 12 1985 20 year old stephen married his girlfriend 17 year old jodie lynn edmondson
01:50:02
whom he had met the previous summer through mutual friends the two wed in a private mormon service
01:50:09
in that water with only close family in attendance six months later jody gave birth to the
01:50:17
couple's first child a daughter they named ashley by the time stephen turned 21 in april
01:50:28
of 1986 both he and jody were working 50 hours a week at a kentucky fried chicken fast
01:50:35
food restaurant and living in a mobile home with two of stephen's cousins stephen told the sacramento bee that he
01:50:44
no longer suffered any ill effects from the kidnapping or sexual abuse while he was bitter about the time
01:50:51
parnell stole from him he said it was almost as though those years happened in someone else's life
01:50:59
he also believed that being ripped from his family at a young age had instilled him with a deep desire to
01:51:05
have a close family life as an adult stephen said that the most devastating impact of his
01:51:13
abduction was that his relationship with his siblings suffered as did the relationship between his
01:51:19
parents who had since divorced he explained we had a hard time staying together it had sort of changed
01:51:30
everybody my dad became more moody and a lot more irritable steven clarified that his years spent
01:51:41
with parnell were not altogether unhappy quote i hate the guy for what he did for
01:51:48
taking me away from my family and i kind of blame all the bad things that happened afterward on him
01:51:56
i hate him for it but then he kept me alive for those seven years i had good times i got into trouble at
01:52:05
school i was real rowdy just like any normal kid while he didn't think parnell should
01:52:13
have been released from prison stephen believed he was unlikely to harm anyone else
01:52:18
as the 54 year old had a heart condition and was unlikely to live much longer parnell
01:52:26
completed his parole on april 5 1987. after this the authorities had no jurisdiction over him
01:52:35
and he was free to go wherever he pleased parnell secured a job as a security guard for a boy's home
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in the californian city of oakland where his criminal history went unnoticed in may that year jody gave birth to her
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and stephen's second child a son they named stephen gregory steiner ii the following year steven was employed
01:53:06
as an advisor for a television mini-series about his kidnapping in which he also played a small role as
01:53:13
one of the policemen who reunited stephen's character with his parents the series was titled i
01:53:20
know my first name is stephen and was written by mike eckles author of the book on the case
01:53:28
it aired on the nbc network in may of 1989 and was well received by the public earning both an emmy and
01:53:36
golden globe nomination for best miniseries afterwards parnell was uncovered and immediately fired from his job at
01:53:47
the boy's home in oakland by september 1989 24 year old stephen was working as the assistant manager
01:54:00
at a pizza hut restaurant in atwater at approximately 5 p.m on september 16 he finished his shift and hopped on his
01:54:10
new kawasaki ex-500 motorbike to begin the 15-minute journey home stephen typically wore a helmet but his
01:54:20
had been stolen three days earlier and he had yet to replace it as he drove past the meatpacking plant
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where he had landed his first ever job a plymouth fellary sedan pulled out in front of him
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and stalled stephen was driving under the 55 mile speed limit but was unable to brake in time
01:54:44
he swerved and crashed into the driver's side door of the plymouth sending him 45 feet from his motorbike
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the driver fled the scene in the plymouth and stephen was rushed to merced county medical center
01:54:59
having sustained severe head injuries at 5 35 pm he passed away later that evening the driver of the
01:55:12
plymouth was identified as 28 year old factory worker antonio loera who was known to have been
01:55:18
drinking alcohol prior to the crash he had abandoned the plymouth at a nearby shopping center
01:55:26
and fled to mexico on september 19 loera's wife successfully convinced him to meet the authorities at the san
01:55:34
ysidro border crossing south of san diego once he crossed the border back into the
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united states loire was arrested and charged with felony hit and run and misdemeanor manslaughter
01:55:49
due to the amount of time that had passed since the crash he couldn't be tested for blood alcohol
01:55:55
levels and therefore couldn't be charged with the drunk driving lower pleaded not guilty to wall charges
01:56:06
stephen's funeral was held on september 20 at the merced church of latter-day saints with over 500 people
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in attendance including many of those who had been involved with the investigation
01:56:19
into his kidnapping over the years stephen's casket was inscribed with the words
01:56:26
going home and a large heart-shaped wreath with the word daddy on it was placed on
01:56:32
top from the front row steven's two young children held long stemmed roses while his wife
01:56:40
jody openly sobbed [Music] stephen's sister corey gave an emotional goodbye saying that stephen had brought their
01:56:50
broken-hearted family back together again she added even though he has passed into
01:56:57
another life we're so very grateful that he went as stephen gregory stayner our brother we will always remember you
01:57:06
and we will never forget you but remember this is not goodbye this is until we meet again
01:57:16
case dana said she felt as though her son had been on loan to her family having been taken so soon after his
01:57:24
kidnapping ordeal timmy white who was now 14 was among the pallbearers after the funeral he said
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[Music] obviously it's tragic i don't think we have any more to say [Music] jody told reporters steve heard a lot
01:57:47
but he always seemed to get through it no matter what he was a survivor now it doesn't really matter
01:57:59
in the lead-up to antonio lohere's trial further investigation of the wreckage revealed the plymouth had a defective
01:58:07
carburetor and loose throttle two manufacturing faults that had likely caused it to stall
01:58:15
as a result the manslaughter charge against low era was dropped on december 21 1989 he pleaded
01:58:25
no contest to felony hit and run and was sentenced to three months in a county jail
01:58:33
loera said he was sorry for fleeing the scene and hoped others could learn from his
01:58:39
experience thirteen years later on december 20 2002 the berkeley police received a tip-off
01:58:52
that kenneth parnell was attempting to abduct another young boy the 71 year old was in poor health
01:59:00
suffering from emphysema and diabetes in late december he had allegedly offered his friend
01:59:07
diane stevens 500 to procure a child for him preferably quote an english-speaking
01:59:15
black boy between four and six years old he also wanted the boy's birth certificate
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diane accepted the offer out of fear that parnell would find someone else to do it if she refused but
01:59:31
never intended to go through with it instead diane worked with the police to enact a sting operation
01:59:41
a listening device placed on her telephone recorded a conversation between herself and parnell
01:59:47
in which he said that if all worked out well with the boy he would also consider buying a young
01:59:53
girl he was recorded saying quote i can't handle but one at a time you know on january 3 2003 diane called parnell
02:00:08
and said she was going to collect a little black boy from interstate they agreed that diane would leave the
02:00:16
boy in her car while she delivered the birth certificate in exchange for 100 she would then hand over the boy for the
02:00:24
remaining four hundred dollars diane wore a wire as she entered parnell's apartment and made
02:00:33
the first exchange she then said she was going outside to collect the boy at which point the police stormed in and
02:00:42
placed parnell under arrest a search of his apartment revealed children's books videos and clothing stuffed animals
02:00:52
condoms pornographic videos sex toys and a bottle marked libido pills parnell was charged with conspiracy to
02:01:02
commit child stealing solicitation to commit felony kidnapping and attempting to buy a person
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as this was parnell's third attempted kidnapping california's three strike law dictated
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that he could face life in prison steven steiner's father dell told the associated press
02:01:26
that man should have never gotten out of prison in the first place he should have gotten life when he took
02:01:32
stevie all those years ago former mendocino county district attorney joe allen told the ukiah daily journal that he
02:01:42
wasn't surprised upon hearing the news quote i think it was in the cards once a pedophile
02:01:51
always a pedophile we don't want to think people are totally beyond redemption that runs against
02:01:58
our historic western christian principle that everyone should have a final chance
02:02:05
the inadequacy of the sentences that were handed down in the 1970s and 1980s are illustrated nicely by kenneth
02:02:13
parnell parnell admitted to attempting to buy a child but claimed his motive was innocent
02:02:23
he told the san francisco chronicle time is running out on me i wanted to raise him just like
02:02:32
any child i wanted to be loved i guess it was wrong i thought a child would love me for what i
02:02:41
am and not what i was it's easier for a child to become attached to me when they're young
02:02:51
parnell's trial was held in alameda county superior court on february 2 2004 where he pleaded not guilty to
02:03:01
all charges his lawyer tried to argue that his previous kidnappings of steven steiner and
02:03:08
timmy white were irrelevant and shouldn't be allowed to be used against him but the judge ruled that the jury should
02:03:16
be informed of his criminal past timmy who was 29 years old at the time testified against parnell as did
02:03:26
parnell's co-conspirator in timmy's kidnapping sean poorman in court poorman apologised to timmy and the two
02:03:36
men shared a hug the jury found parnell guilty of all charges and he was sentenced to 25 years to life
02:03:48
outside court prosecutor tim wellman told reporters i think he is a poster child for the
02:03:55
three strikes law he has been committing felonies since he was 19 years old the defendant is a danger at any age
02:04:05
the defendant was looking for one last hurrah one last stephen steiner one last timmy white
02:04:16
four years later on january 21 2008 76 year old parnell died in prison from natural causes prosecutor wellman
02:04:27
remarked kenneth parnell's death brings to a close his long criminal history of victimizing young children
02:04:40
in his adult years timmy white had grown up to become a deputy sheriff for the los angeles county sheriff's
02:04:47
department he married a woman named dina and the couple had two children in his spare time
02:04:55
timmy gave talks to students about the dangers of kidnapping and shared his personal experience on
02:05:02
the subject then on april 1 2010 timmy suffered an unexpected pulmonary embolism
02:05:11
at the age of 35 and passed away suddenly in a short statement about his death his loved ones remembered him as a man
02:05:22
who was passionate about his family his career and boating they said we were so proud of him
02:05:32
he will be greatly missed taken from us in the prime of his life timmy's longtime friend chris poe told
02:05:41
the signal newspaper that timmy was one of the most genuinely good people he knew with a strong moral
02:05:49
compass quote tim didn't preach he was just a good example he knew who he was he was a fierce friend and the strongest
02:06:01
family man i ever saw to memorialize stephen and timmy an eight-foot tall bronze statue of them
02:06:11
holding hands as a fourteen and five-year-old was erected in merced's applegate park the life-size sculpture
02:06:20
cost fifty thousand dollars and was created by a renowned local artist named paula b slater
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the city of merced contributed close to 150 thousand dollars in renovations to the park
02:06:34
adding an ornamental metal archway to the statue paula slater told the merced sunstar
02:06:42
newspaper bronze lasts for centuries so this will be here a long time many future generations will
02:06:51
be affected by it and will know of stephen's courage and the message of his life
02:06:58
even though it was short he did so much good the statue was officially unveiled on
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august 28 2010 with the stayner family declaring it was not only dedicated to stephen and
02:07:13
timmy but to all missing children case dana told the sun star that was steve's goal to help missing
02:07:24
children and to stop it from happening during the unveiling ceremony a crowd of family members and supporters
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gathered and laid flowers as a musician played amazing grace on bagpipes steven's 24 year old daughter ashley
02:07:45
told reporters my father really inspires me every day i really aspire to be like him
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a plaque beneath the statue provided a brief overview of stephen's ordeal and concluded
02:08:05
may this memorial to steven steiner's heroism and to all child victims stand as a
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beacon of hope to families of children still missing [Music] you