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00:01:38
notes for this episode on your app or on our website [Music] on thursday july 22 1999
00:01:52
50 fbi agents arrived in feresta on the western edge of yosemite national park the wintery conditions that had clouded
00:02:01
the region months earlier had since dissipated replaced by warmer weather and greener
00:02:07
scenery the area where the female human remains were found was relatively unknown to tourists
00:02:16
its dense woodland and grassy meadows were split by a rushing stream the granite summits of yosemite valley
00:02:24
were visible in the distance trampled of vegetation revealed what had likely taken place there
00:02:33
it appeared the woman had been chased into the woods by an assailant before they got into a struggle she put
00:02:40
up a fight wounding her wrist in the process but her attacker overpowered her the victim was then cleanly and
00:02:51
forcefully decapitated with a large sharp instrument although the victim's head was nowhere to be found investigators
00:03:00
were still able to identify her less than 100 yards away was the cabin where missing 26 year old
00:03:09
naturalist joey armstrong lived [Music] in the 1990s the cedar lodge in el portal was owned and operated by a man
00:03:48
named gerald fisher located on highway 140 the lodge was a popular rest stop for
00:03:55
visitors to yosemite national park its grounds stretched across 27 acres at the base of a tree-covered hillside
00:04:04
with the merced river flowing nearby all up there were 211 rooms in the hotel which were divided between several
00:04:14
buildings the lodge had all the amenities one would expect including a restaurant and a swimming
00:04:21
pool in the summer of 1997 gerald hired a young man to carry out general maintenance duties
00:04:30
and upkeep at the cedar lodge like other employees the newcomer lived on site in a studio
00:04:37
apartment above the restaurant friendly dependable and seemingly normal he established a good rapport with his
00:04:46
boss and co-workers he was an unremarkable average joe type of guy who mostly kept to himself
00:04:55
yet he did have one noteworthy feature his surname in february 1999 carol sand her teenage daughter julie and
00:05:09
sylvina peloso an exchange student staying with the pair were murdered in proximity of
00:05:15
yosemite the trio had been visiting the region for a brief holiday but disappeared from the cedar lodge
00:05:23
after a two-night stay the hotel's employees were questioned and although several raised suspicions the facility's
00:05:33
maintenance man did not his reputation as an unassuming boy next door coupled with an
00:05:40
unblemished police record kept him off investigators radars he remained calm and collected when
00:05:48
answering questions and was ruled out after providing an alibi carol and sylvina's bodies were
00:05:57
discovered in the charred remains of their rental car a few hours drive northwest
00:06:04
the killer then taunted police by sending them a map that led to julie's son's body 30 miles
00:06:10
from where her mother was found the triple homicide came to be known as the yosemite sightseer murders
00:06:20
investigators returned to the cedar lodge on the lookout for the source of dark pink fibres found on julie's body
00:06:29
the hotel's maintenance man escorted detectives across the grounds using his set of master keys to let them
00:06:37
into each room he happily chatted about his life and family specifically his younger brother stephen
00:06:47
it was a peculiar and intriguing topic but the interaction didn't raise any red flags
00:06:54
the man's willingness to help was appreciated and the detectives left the sunned peloso case inevitably hit a
00:07:05
roadblock the trio's killer remained a mystery though investigators were certain that a group
00:07:12
of local men all of whom had a history of violence were responsible by the time they were spotlighted as
00:07:20
suspects the men were in police custody for a litany of reasons none of which related to carol julie or
00:07:28
sylvina's murders five months later joey armstrong was killed in ferrasta the crime scene was about a 30 minute
00:07:40
drive from the cedar lodge along a route that branched off to where carol julie and sylvina were found
00:07:48
the fbi were quick to establish there was no connection between the crimes they told the public there was no reason
00:07:57
to believe there was a continuing threat in the area or that a killer or killers planned to
00:08:03
act again the evening before joey armstrong's remains were found in the forest behind
00:08:14
her home a u.s park service firefighter was visiting the area as he drove along forester road he
00:08:23
noticed a familiar car parked on the edge of the woods it was a blue and white 1972 international scout suv
00:08:33
an off-road vehicle akin to a jeep it just so happened that the firefighter knew who owned the distinctive car
00:08:45
after learning about this sighting fbi agents returned to the cedar lodge they ascended the
00:08:52
stairs leading to the floor above the restaurant and arrived at the apartment belonging to the hotel's
00:08:58
maintenance worker knocks to the front door went unanswered the man wasn't home a search
00:09:08
of the grounds also failed to locate him the agents continued looking they crossed the highway at the lodge's
00:09:17
entrance and headed towards the merced river on the other side something moving about in the river
00:09:25
caught their attention it was a man swimming naked the act was a public offence so the
00:09:33
agent summoned him out of the water he turned out to be the very person they were looking for
00:09:43
kerry stayner had been working as the cedar lodge's maintenance man for the past
00:09:48
two years as a formality he'd been questioned about the yosemite sightseer murders
00:09:56
stayner wasn't technically a lodge employee at the time of the triple homicide his job was seasonal and he'd been laid
00:10:04
off a month earlier due to lack of work he remained living at the hotel and found himself with an abundance of
00:10:13
free time this gave the avid outdoorsman plenty of opportunities to explore the woods
00:10:20
around his home by late march the spring tourist season was kicking off steiner was rehired one month after the
00:10:32
murders he was never suspected for the crime and even when his blue and white international scout suv
00:10:41
was sighted near joey armstrong's cabin on the afternoon she was killed it still didn't raise concerns
00:10:50
it was thought he might have seen something significant while in the area that's all
00:10:59
kerry steiner emerged naked from the merced river he dressed and gathered up his backpack
00:11:06
then accompanied the waiting fbi agents to his apartment stayner remained calm when questioned in relation to joey
00:11:14
armstrong's murder he denied involvement and allowed his suv to be searched nothing of importance was
00:11:23
found yet steiner was far more evasive when it came to his backpack when detectives requested to inspect it
00:11:35
he refused they seized the item and obtained a search warrant inside of the bag they found a camera a
00:11:44
beer bottle sunflower seeds tanning lotion a harmonica and a fictional crime novel titled black
00:11:52
lightning the book featured graphic descriptions of women being slaughtered with knives
00:11:58
and power saws stayner's backpack also contained duct tape a 22 caliber revolver and a knife
00:12:09
although troubling these items were legal they were also everyday tools for a handyman who lived in the woods
00:12:19
as they didn't directly implicate stana in joey's murder he was let go the following day of friday july 23
00:12:32
kerry steiner didn't show up for work he'd never taken a day off before so his colleagues checked his apartment
00:12:42
he wasn't home when the county sheriff was informed that stayna was missing there was little doubt that he had fled
00:12:50
after coming under scrutiny for joey armstrong's murder as he was known to be armed tracking him
00:12:58
down became a top priority police across the state were ordered to be on the lookout for the 37 year old
00:13:07
who was tall and lean with tanned skin and cropped graying dark hair local media were informed and soon the
00:13:16
stainer name was making news across the state once again joey armstrong's cabin into the
00:13:26
encompassing woodland was still crawling with fbi agents and local law enforcement
00:13:32
that evening a park ranger stood by the stream near where joey's body had been found
00:13:40
they headed downstream and after 40 or so feet spotted something floating in the
00:13:46
shallows it was joey's head 150 miles away in sacramento county janet demand was preparing for a typical
00:13:59
weekend night of drinking and darts janet was a resident of laguna de sol a clothing optional resort on the
00:14:09
outskirts of sacramento city shortly after 11 pm janet ventured to the resort lounge
00:14:17
where she noticed a familiar face sitting at the bar the man had visited the resort a few
00:14:24
times before and as recently as march that year janet remembered that visit well he had
00:14:32
worn a t-shirt featuring the word yosemite and a cap embroidered with the cedar lodge logo
00:14:40
his outfit prompted janet to ask him about the yosemite sightseer murders it was the talk of the town as the three
00:14:48
victims had only just been discovered the man explained that he had gotten out of yosemite
00:14:56
because there were cops everywhere when janet spotted the same man at the laguna de sol lounge nearly four months
00:15:05
later she approached him again he was focused on a television screen above that displayed the news so their
00:15:13
conversation was brief she asked how he was doing he said that he had packed up his truck and was
00:15:21
planning to head interstate to somewhere like oregon or utah the next day janet woke early and
00:15:31
happened to catch the morning television news an fbi agent appeared on screen urging
00:15:38
viewers to contact the bureau if they came across carrie steiner wanted for questioning in relation to
00:15:45
the murder of joey armstrong janet recognized the fugitive as the man she had spoken to
00:15:53
at laguna de seoul on several occasions including the night before at the bar she rushed to the telephone
00:16:04
after calling the fbi janet alerted the manager of laguna de sole that a wanted man was residing on site
00:16:14
groundskeepers were immediately dispatched to the area where kerry stayner had pitched his tent
00:16:20
the day before they began pruning nearby shrubs to subtly keep an eye on him until police arrived eventually
00:16:31
steiner emerged he was scheduled to check out the next morning of sunday july 25
00:16:40
yet he started packing up and preparing his vehicle as though he were planning to leave that
00:16:46
very moment resort staff feared he knew something was awry and was making a hasty escape
00:16:59
stainer checked the daily paper and conveniently his getaway hadn't yet made headlines
00:17:06
this seemingly gave him a false sense of security instead of fleeing the resort he put on
00:17:13
a cap and went to grab a bite to wait at 9 00 a.m half a dozen fbi agents and local police officers arrived at laguna
00:17:24
de seoul they were directed to the on-site restaurant where several guests were eating breakfast
00:17:31
many of them naked sitting alone at a corner booth with his back to the door was a man who immediately drew
00:17:40
their attention unlike the people around him he was wearing clothes jeans a t-shirt with yosemite on the
00:17:49
front and a camouflage patterned hat it was kerry stayner as soon as stana noticed the man moving
00:17:59
towards him he stood and raised his hands he remained calm as he was handcuffed and informed that he was under arrest
00:18:11
it was a two-hour drive to the fbi field office in sacramento throughout the journey stayner engaged
00:18:19
his escorts in light-hearted chit-chat unfazed by his predicament at one point the conversation steered
00:18:27
towards another member of the stayna family carey was the eldest of five children
00:18:35
he had three sisters and a brother stephen the stainer siblings were close but carey was particularly protective of
00:18:44
stephen who was four years his junior the pair had a strong bond they spent their early years playing together in
00:18:54
the wilderness around their home and enjoyed frequent family trips to yosemite national park
00:19:01
when kerry was 11 his brother vanished without a trace steven steiner's story is covered in
00:19:10
episode 154 of case file during stephen's absence kerry would often retreat outdoors for
00:19:19
respite from his grieving family at night he'd look up at the stars and wish for steven's safe return
00:19:30
years passed and kerry found a joy in art he was voted most creative in his graduating class
00:19:38
and many believed he would go on to have a career in graphic design yet carey's youth was overshadowed by
00:19:47
steven's disappearance he felt abandoned and neglected seven years after his little brother
00:19:56
vanished carey's wish came true stephen returned home alive at age fourteen he had been abducted
00:20:06
by a pedophile and held in captivity for seven years carrie and stephen shared a room
00:20:14
together from then on but their relationship was fraught and they argued constantly carey blew off steam by
00:20:22
taking solo trips to yosemite where he ran through the woods swam naked and smoked cannabis
00:20:31
as kerry recited these experiences to his arresting officers in 1999 he became emotional mainly
00:20:40
over the inadequate sentencing his brother's kidnapper had received by the time stayner was placed in an
00:20:49
interview room at the fbi's field office he was once again upbeat but his cooperation thereafter came had
00:20:57
a disturbing cost i'd like to see pictures he requested of little girls although he was unwilling to say it
00:21:10
explicitly stana was asking to view child exploitation material in exchange for a
00:21:17
statement the urge to see such imagery stena said had been gnawing away at him his entire
00:21:25
life the fbi had no intention of giving stayner what he wanted instead they pretended to procure the
00:21:34
illicit content to buy the time and keep him rambling on in the meantime detectives offered him
00:21:43
pizza in an effort to get him to open up about the reason he was arrested the murder
00:21:49
of joey armstrong stayner took a bite and remarked this will be my last meal as a free man
00:22:00
he then looked at the detectives directly and said i can give you closure i can help answer
00:22:08
questions about joey and more nearly two decades earlier in 1982 kerry steiner was driving along a back
00:22:24
road that connected cedar lodge to farasta daylight was fading so he flicked on his headlights
00:22:33
as they swept across the frame of an old dilapidated barn steiner caught sight of something
00:22:39
sheltering within it was a large hairy and muscular beast stayner believed it was bigfoot an
00:22:48
ape-like creature of north american folklore the beast leapt up and ran into the
00:22:55
surrounding woods while emitting a shriek that sounded like a woman screaming through a bullhorn the sighting sparked
00:23:04
an obsession stana often returned to faresta in the hopes of seeing bigfoot again
00:23:13
one such visit occurred on wednesday july 21 1999. stayner parked his car on the edge
00:23:21
of the woods and a ventured inward he came across a stream and began tossing rocks into it when he
00:23:29
glimpsed the young woman through the trees she was moving back and forth between a cabin and her car
00:23:37
packing it with items no one else appeared steiner assumed she was alone as he spied on her he felt a disturbing
00:23:50
and familiar urge brewing inside him [Music] kerry steiner first thought about killing women when he was just
00:24:02
seven years old this predated his brother's abduction so the thoughts were unrelated to
00:24:09
stephen's ordeal he would stand in front of shop windows while fantasizing about the female
00:24:17
clerks inside dying his visions became increasingly sadistic and by age eight steiner was imagining
00:24:27
trapping a neighborhood girl in a bunker and forcing her to undress in his teens he molested his sister's
00:24:36
fourteen-year-old friend and confronted her while naked on another occasion he exposed himself
00:24:44
to her his sister also witnessed to this incident but steiner acted as though but were
00:24:51
only a joke after his parents separation in the mid 1980s stayner moved to message to live with
00:25:00
his uncle jerry years later jerry was killed after interrupting a home invasion he had sustained a single gunshot to the
00:25:11
chest administered by his own shotgun kerry stayner was questioned in relation to the slaying
00:25:19
but was not considered a suspect after providing an alibi steiner later alleged that he had been
00:25:27
sexually abused by his uncle stayna left merced soon after and in 1997 took the maintenance job at the cedar
00:25:39
lodge throughout this time he expressed interest in women but rarely pursued them and barely spoke
00:25:47
about dating in 1998 steiner began casually dating a waitress who worked at the cedar lodge restaurant
00:25:58
she had two daughters aged 10 and a seven stina supervised the girls while their
00:26:05
mother worked and they enjoyed hanging out with him over time steiner began fantasizing
00:26:13
about killing his girlfriend then raping and murdering her daughters before setting their house on fire
00:26:22
whenever he went to carry out the attack he would lose his nerve then one night he finally decided to go
00:26:31
through with it on the night of monday february 15 1999 steiner went to his girlfriend's house
00:26:45
with the intention of making his violent fantasy a reality when a male visitor happened to stop by the house
00:26:54
steiner was forced to abandon his plans surging on adrenaline he returned to the
00:27:01
cedar lodge and climbed into the hot tub to calm down he was soon joined by two teenage sisters who were staying at
00:27:10
the hotel neither girl was alarmed nor felt there was anything off about the older man sharing the tub
00:27:21
they were completely oblivious to the fact that he was considering killing them steiner was quietly plotting his plan b
00:27:31
murder scenario in which he would rape and kill the two teens before him instead
00:27:39
once again his plans fell through after he realised the pair were in the company of their
00:27:45
father frustrated stayner got out of the tub and spent the rest of the evening wandering aimlessly around
00:27:54
the hotel grounds he eventually meandered towards the remote block of rooms on the edge of the woods
00:28:04
the area was near deserted aside from a red pontiac parked out the front of room 509
00:28:12
which was emitting a warm glow from within steiner wandered past and glanced through the room's window
00:28:22
he noticed three female guests inside carol julie and sylvina were exhausted after a long day exploring yosemite
00:28:34
national park the trio had retreated to their hotel room at the cedar lodge to settle in for their final night stay
00:28:45
carol rested on her bed with a book while julie and sylvina watched television together
00:28:52
the adjacent hotel rooms were empty they had the area all to themselves at 11 pm the women were startled by a
00:29:04
knock at the door carol moved to the window and saw a man standing outside dressed in camouflage pants and a black
00:29:13
shirt he introduced himself as the hotel's maintenance man and spoke of a leak upstairs
00:29:22
he wanted to see if it had impacted their room but carol refused to let him in the men told her that he would retrieve
00:29:32
the hotel manager carol let her guard down and opened the door every 26 seconds there's a break-in in
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00:36:10
carrying his backpack it contained its usual stockpile rope duct tape a knife and his revolver
00:36:20
he moved into the bathroom and pretended to look for the non-existent leak after a little while he re-entered the
00:36:29
room pulled out his gun and told the women that nobody would get hurt if they kept
00:36:35
quiet he took their money and car keys before ordering them to lie face down on the beds
00:36:44
using the duct tape he bound their hands behind their backs stayner shot julie and sylvina inside
00:36:53
the bathroom he then returned to carol gagged her and strangled her to death with carol's limp body in his arms
00:37:06
steiner emerged from the hotel room out into the parking area he moved towards the pontiac popped the
00:37:14
trunk and lowered carol's body in he then separated the teenagers julie was left in a neighboring vacant
00:37:24
room whilst dana took sylvina into 509's bathroom and strangled her in the bathtub
00:37:32
her body was placed alongside carols julie asked steiner if he was going to kill her
00:37:41
he answered no before forcing her into the pontiac's passenger seat she was concealed by a pink blanket
00:37:50
taken from the hotel room prior to leaving cedar lodge steiner went about concealing his crimes
00:38:00
he cleaned room 509 thoroughly and left some wet towels on the bathroom floor to imply that the guests had checked out
00:38:09
after showering it was after five o'clock the following morning of tuesday february 16
00:38:16
when stayner drove the pontiac away from the lodge the following 90 minutes was spent
00:38:23
driving around aimlessly eventually he pulled into a paved viewpoint at the don pedro reservoir
00:38:33
it was an area stana was familiar with having camped and fished there with his family throughout
00:38:39
his childhood stayna carried the still bound julie up a hiking trail and to a secluded spot out of view of
00:38:50
the parking area julie was lowered onto the pink blanket steiner told her that he loved her and
00:39:00
that he wanted to keep her but he couldn't bear to look at her as he slit her throat
00:39:07
turning her face away so he didn't have to witness his own callous brutality he hid julie's body under a poison oak
00:39:16
bush gathered up the pink blanket and headed back down the rise towards the pontiac
00:39:25
before he left the reservoir stainer stopped to admire the sunrise [Music] stena then drove to nearby tuolumne
00:39:36
county and pulled onto an old dirt logging road he drove deep into the forest until the
00:39:43
car jolted and stopped a tree stump had embedded into the pontiac's undercarriage
00:39:50
preventing it from moving any further by now daylight was pouring through the trees
00:39:59
fearing he might be seen stana ditched the car and walked to a nearby pay phone to
00:40:05
order a taxi [Music] not long after jenny paul pulled up in her cab her passenger was a casually dressed
00:40:20
decent looking man carrying a backpack he looked tired as though he hadn't slept at all
00:40:27
the night before his friends had ditched him he explained and he needed a ride back to a hotel
00:40:34
near the yosemite national park jenny obliged the man quickly fell asleep and only stirred when nearing his
00:40:44
destination he engaged jenny in small talk which primarily centered around the topic of
00:40:53
bigfoot [Music] stana paid the 125 taxi fare using cash from carol's son's wallet
00:41:02
and made his own way back to the cedar lodge the next day he was back into wallamy
00:41:09
county he drove down the old logging road and pulled his suv to a stop near the pontiac at first
00:41:20
stayner had opted to leave the car as is thinking it wouldn't be linked back to him
00:41:26
but doubts had since crept into his mind and he decided to torch it just to be safe
00:41:34
stayner then carried out a series of crafty and sophisticated cover-up techniques
00:41:40
that he had learnt from watching true crime shows he drove to the city of modesto and
00:41:46
tossed carol's wallet onto a busy street to throw off search efforts once they inevitably commenced
00:41:53
[Music] he re-entered room 509 and changed the bedding later he penned the anonymous letter
00:42:02
directing authorities to julie's son's body purposely writing we had fun with this
00:42:08
one to imply that multiple perpetrators were involved knowing the note would be analyzed he
00:42:17
placed a page on top of it and scrawled random names that left behind imprints that would further confuse
00:42:24
investigators he also paid a kid he met at a fast food restaurant to lick the letter's envelope
00:42:32
and stamp for him although he skipped town to laguna de seoul when the bodies were found
00:42:40
he opted to return to yosemite a permanent departure in the height of a murder investigation
00:42:47
would only raise suspicions it was smarter for steiner to stay poored his efforts paid off steiner was
00:42:57
completely overlooked as a suspect in the yosemite sightseer murders life for kerry steiner carried on as per
00:43:06
usual [Music] four months later stayner was standing in the farasta woods partaking in his ongoing search for
00:43:17
bigfoot there was no sign of the beast but something else had caught his eye overcome by a familiar impulse he
00:43:28
returned to his car and retrieved his backpack joey armstrong was watering plants on
00:43:36
her front porch when stayner he complimented her on how nicely she had done up the cabin
00:43:43
and asked if she'd ever seen bigfoot joey hadn't but said that one of her roommates might have
00:43:52
stayner asked if they were home joey responded no before turning to face the front door
00:44:02
behind her stayner pulled out his gun and held it to her head he forced the joey into her bedroom and
00:44:12
onto the bed she fought hard but steiner managed to restrain her hands behind her back
00:44:19
and to gag her he then dragged her outside and put her into the back of his suv as he drove off joey leapt out of the
00:44:31
car window she gained her footing and sprinted into the woods stayner pumped the brakes and scrambled
00:44:40
out the car before giving chase it took him a while to catch up but when he did the pair fell to the
00:44:48
ground in a heap near a stream mid-fight stayner took the knife from his back pocket and
00:44:56
slit joey's throat the forceful cut resulted in decapitation stina considered keeping joey's head as
00:45:07
a trophy but ultimately decided against it kerry steiner intended to kill many more
00:45:19
women including three finnish tourists who stayed at the cedar lodge in 1998 armed with a metal pipe and duct tape he
00:45:29
tried accessing the trio's room using his master key he inadvertently woke the women up in the process causing
00:45:37
one to yell out in panic steiner then fled the scene no one had any idea he was behind the
00:45:46
thwarted break-in in fact he was tasked with the checking the locks to the room and reassuring the women they were safe
00:45:57
weeks later steiner was compelled to kill several women he saw at the masada river
00:46:03
but he lost his nerve when a man appeared then there were the young daughters of
00:46:09
his current girlfriend and the teens from the cedar lodge hot tub stainer told detectives
00:46:18
if you hadn't got me there would have been more stana's crimes came as a shock to those
00:46:26
who knew him though he was a quiet loner he also came across as a regular guy who joked around
00:46:34
with colleagues friends described him as trustworthy and gentle he had enacted strangely when carol
00:46:42
julie and sylvina disappeared nor had he discussed the case with others as such many struggled to believe he was
00:46:52
guilty including his family after all the tragedy the stainers had endured with stephen
00:47:00
they couldn't comprehend how their eldest son could be a serial killer by now evidence of stayner's presence
00:47:09
had been found throughout the feresto crime scene his fingerprints were in joey armstrong's bedroom
00:47:17
and his footprints and the tyre tracks from his suv were pressed into the sand driveway
00:47:24
alongside her cabin steiner remained silent and stoic when indicted for joey's murder
00:47:33
charges in relation to the yosemite sightseer murders were also on the horizon investigators were still
00:47:41
searching for evidence that directly implicated steiner in the triple homicide on july 24 steiner agreed to take
00:47:51
detectives on a guided tour of his crime scenes in the farasta woods he retrieved the
00:47:59
knife he'd used to kill joey armstrong his bloody fingerprints were still on the handle
00:48:07
he also disclosed where the knife he used to kill julie's sonde could be found the weapon was recovered
00:48:16
along with the duct tape that matched the tape stuck to the fifteen-year-old's ankle
00:48:23
steiner pleaded not guilty when charged with the first-degree murders of carol sund julie sonde and sylvina peloso
00:48:32
as well as burglary robbery and kidnapping although he had withheld this from his
00:48:38
initial confession stayner eventually admitted that his crimes were sexually motivated
00:48:46
he had murdered sylvina peloso because she was too distraught to follow orders julie sund was kept alive
00:48:55
as she was willing to do what she was told he had intended to kidnap and rape joey
00:49:01
armstrong but killed her when she resisted as such he also faced charges related to
00:49:10
attempted sexual assault and rape stayner insisted that the murders were opportunistic and that he'd
00:49:18
acted alone the fbi faced backlash over this revelation they were accused of having tunnel
00:49:27
vision for trying to link local criminals to the crimes which allowed kerry stayner to slip
00:49:34
through the cracks although some evidence was tenuously linked to their initial suspects
00:49:41
the connections relied mostly on hearsay unreliable confessions and criminal histories
00:49:49
investigators also focused too heavily on the calls from the person who tried to access
00:49:55
carol's son's bank account who to this day has never been identified another blow came in the form of jenny
00:50:05
paul the taxi driver who had picked steiner up the night he killed carol julie and sylvina jenny came forward
00:50:14
only after learning of stayner's arrest the fbi had never made inquiries with local cab companies during their
00:50:23
investigation even though it was standard practice for them to do so following a major crime special agent
00:50:32
james maddock who fronted the yosemite sightseer murders investigation was placed on administrative leave over
00:50:39
his handling of the case even though fbi officials supported his conduct morale at the sacramento field office
00:50:48
was low due to the negative press coverage matic was devastated to think that joey
00:50:56
armstrong could still be alive had he not incorrectly assured the public that the yosemite murderer
00:51:03
was in jail in a highly divisive move prosecutors sought the death penalty against steiner
00:51:13
in relation to joey armstrong's murder describing his crimes as especially cruel
00:51:20
heinous and depraved as he didn't want to die stayner's survival instinct kicked in and he pleaded not guilty
00:51:30
despite having already confessed to the crime in exchange for the prosecution dropping
00:51:37
the death penalty in september 2000 stayner changed his plea to guilty joey's mother leslie agreed to the deal
00:51:48
saying that watching stana die wouldn't bring her daughter back the police stipulated that stina would
00:51:55
be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole pardon or any other kind of release for
00:52:03
the length of his natural life stana maintained his not guilty plea for the yosemite sightseer murders
00:52:13
during a preliminary hearing in june 2001 an employee of the cedar lodge revealed
00:52:20
that steiner had disappeared for a brief period on the day carol julie and sylvina
00:52:26
vanished and couldn't be tracked down by staff on day three of the hearing stayner's
00:52:34
six-hour long murder confession was played to the court at one point a smile crept over stana's
00:52:42
face sylvina peloso's father noticed and flew into a rage he called steiner a son of a [ __ ] before storming out of
00:52:54
the courtroom for the remainder of the audio presentation stainer kept his head bowed and his
00:53:02
fingers plugged into his ears it was ruled that there was enough evidence for stayna to stand
00:53:09
trial for the crimes in may the following year stayner changed his plea from not guilty to innocent by reasons
00:53:20
of insanity his defense team were now claiming that he suffered from obsessive compulsive
00:53:27
disorder depression and unspecified psychosis if found guilty but insane stayner would
00:53:36
face the possibility of a life in a mental health facility if found guilty but sane there was still
00:53:44
a chance he would be executed during his trial in july the defense claimed that their client's problems
00:53:53
predated his birth mental illness ran in the stainer family furthermore kerry's mother fell over
00:54:02
whilst pregnant with him which might have damaged his brain from the age of two onwards stayner
00:54:10
exhibited obsessive compulsive behaviours beginning with the chronic habit of pulling out hair
00:54:18
this evolved into full-blown psychosis stana spoke of having visions of floating heads
00:54:26
and hearing voices coming from the tv telling him to kill and that the world was coming to an end
00:54:34
a court-appointed forensic psychiatrist spent more than 21 hours interviewing steiner
00:54:41
and reviewed over 400 reports he testified that stayner showed signs of depression
00:54:49
narcissism and schizophrenia and was socially dysfunctional he diagnosed steiner with several sexual
00:54:58
disorders including pedophilia sexual sadism and erectile dysfunction a neuropsychologist appearing on behalf
00:55:08
of the defense said a scan of stayner's brain showed abnormalities in the parts that
00:55:14
controlled emotional impulses however a medical expert for the prosecution disagreed he believed the scans looked
00:55:25
normal after two days deliberation kerry steiner was found guilty on all charges
00:55:36
he was also found to be of sound to mind with the jury citing the methodical and
00:55:42
elaborate efforts he went to to cover up his crimes they said this showed a consciousness of guilt
00:55:50
that indicated stana knew what he was doing was wrong their recommendation was unanimous kerry
00:55:58
stayner should receive capital punishment on december 12 2002 steiner was formally sentenced
00:56:08
to death by lethal injection steiner was sent to san quentin state prison the only facility in california that
00:56:18
still performed executions since the death penalty was reinstated in california in 1978 only 13 inmates have been
00:56:29
executed the last execution took place in 2006. the backlog is due to the lengthy
00:56:38
appeals process which can take many years before death row inmates have exhausted
00:56:44
all their options holding inmates on death row costs 150 million dollars more annually
00:56:52
than if they were serving life without the possibility of parole in march 2019 the death penalty was
00:57:02
suspended in california by governor gavin newsom who labeled it a costly failure
00:57:08
unfairly applied to people of color and the mentally disabled however the moratorium is only in place during
00:57:18
governor newsome's tenure and the next governor of california may seek to have the death penalty
00:57:24
reinstated kerry stayner remains on death row in san quentin he is still fighting
00:57:32
appeals room 509 at the cedar lodge is no longer available to the public and is now being used as a storage space
00:57:47
the carol sund carrington memorial reward foundation is no longer in operation having closed
00:57:54
in 2009 over the decade it was running the foundation paid 47 rewards totaling 250
00:58:04
000 in the wake of her murder friends and family established the joey armstrong memorial fund
00:58:13
which offered trips to national parks for underprivileged children the fund received
00:58:19
so many donations that the yosemite national institute was able to establish the armstrong scholars program
00:58:28
it gave teenage girls the opportunity to spend 10 days in the yosemite wilderness where
00:58:34
they would be taught to hike cook climb and sleep outdoors one of joey's former students applied
00:58:43
for the scholarship writing on her application [Music] joey became the red-headed free spirit
00:58:51
in my life that kept encouraging me to ignore my fears experience everything and to live a life
00:58:58
to the fullest no one person has affected me more kerry steiner worked to sell the rights
00:59:08
to his story for an autobiographical film adaptation of his crimes when a reporter saw an exclusive
00:59:16
interview with the killer stayner demanded in return get hold of producers in la i want a
00:59:25
bidding war criminologist michael rustigan stated steiner was driven by the desire for
00:59:33
fame possibly the same that his brother received after surviving his ordeal to guarantee he wouldn't profit from his
00:59:43
story carey steiner was required to sign a 10 million dollar restitution order to go
00:59:49
to the joey armstrong memorial fund to spare her family any further distress he was forbidden from ever speaking
00:59:59
writing or communicating with anyone about her death the sun and peloso families both filed
01:00:08
wrongful death suits against the cedar lodge and kerry stayner it questioned why carol julie and
01:00:17
sylvina were put in a remote room with few other guests nearby why stayner was allowed to wander
01:00:24
the grounds unsupervised with a master key and whether there was an adequate lock
01:00:30
system on the hotel room door it also argued that the cedar lodge conducted inadequate background checks on its
01:00:39
employees if they had they would have learnt that steiner had made threats to kill a previous employer and
01:00:48
torched their workplace the families were clear that the suit was more about accountability than
01:00:56
money they wanted to send a message to the community that accommodation providers needed to be held
01:01:03
to the highest standards of care in order to protect their guests yen's sons settled for one million dollars
01:01:13
the peloso family rejected their settlement offer as it didn't even cover their legal fees
01:01:20
in may the following year a judge threw out the peloso's case saying the cedar lodge managers couldn't
01:01:28
have foreseen carrie steiner's actions [Music] shortly after confessing to his crimes
01:01:37
kerry steiner took the advice of detectives and panned letters to his victims although they weren't around to read
01:01:45
them the letters would provide stayner the opportunity to speak candidly and personally about what he
01:01:52
had done offering further insight into his mind in a letter to julie sund he wrote
01:02:01
my weakness to control my evil desire has led us both to this crossroad you on one hand
01:02:10
have crossed over to a place of which now i can only dream of going and i am going someplace far worse
01:02:23
[Music] [Music] you