Smiley Faces

Happy True Crime Thursday my True Crimers! 

So first things first I have to tell you guys something. I was thinking about what to write about this week when the Smiley Face Killers randomly popped into my head. I was going back and forth on it, but then....I was going for a walk around my neighborhood with my husband and cousin when I looked down to see this. To them they are like "oh that's cool," to me it blew my mind and I took it as a sign that I needed to go with my gut and write about the Smiley Face Killings for this weeks blog! 

Since the year 1997, former NYPD detectives Kevin Gannon, Anthony Duarte along with Dr. Lee Gilbertson a professor of criminal justice, have investigated dozens of mysterious "accidental" drowning cases involving college-aged men. They believe that the deaths are actually the work of a group of serial killers they have dubbed the Smiley Face Killers. They were given this name due to the creepy spray-painted smiley face left at the sites where the bodies were recovered. 

Most of the young men were athletic and successful in their lives, they all disappeared after a night of drinking with friends and were never heard from again. The team believes that these men were targeted, killed and dumped into local waterways by a group of highly sophisticated serial killers that uses that dark web for communication, picking college towns to kill in. 

This story is much different than ones I have written before, as what I stated above is at this point just theories they have put together. To this day the cause of death is still listed as undetermined or accidental drownings.  At the end I want you to think for yourself whether or not you feel these cases are connected or if they were just tragic accidents and the similarities are just coincidences. 

So now I'm going to tell you about a few of the men involved.


Todd Geib was 22 years old when he went missing in the early hours of June 12th, 2005. He was at a bonfire party in an orchard close to his home in Casnovia, Michigan. He was reported missing later that day by his mother, and a large man hunt began. His body was found 3 weeks later in a lake that had previously been searched. It was ruled an undetermined drowning. The night of his disappearance Todd had made several calls from his cellphone, one of them to a friend who heard Todd say "I'm in a field" before the call dropped. His remains had very little signs of decomposition, which would have been present if he had died the day he went missing. Alcohol and antidepressants were found in his system, but it was reported that he was not suffering from any form of depression at the time. A smiley face was spray-painted on a tree near where his body was found. 

21 year old Lucas Homan disappeared from La Crosse, Wisconsin on September 29, 2006. The day he went missing he had been celebrating Oktoberfest with his friends, after a night of bar hopping he headed home around 10 pm with a friend. Somehow they got separated during their walk. The friend ended up in the ER detox with a head injury after being picked up by police. He told investigators he couldn't remember anything from that night. The morning of October 2nd Lucas' body was found not to far from the shore of the Mississippi River. The autopsy report noted "acute alcohol intoxication was a major contributing factor" to the ruling of it being an accidental drowning.  According to Gannon and Dr. Gilbertson, Lucas had various injuries to his head, hand and arms, they theorized that a mark on his forehead may have been a footprint that was the result of Homan being held down. A spray-painted smiley face was found near where Lucas' body was found. 


January 19th, 2008 Tommy Booth, age 24 was celebrating a friends 21st birthday with a group of friends. Surveillance video shows him entering the bar, but no video of him leaving. About 2 weeks after he went missing his body was found face down in a creek behind the bar. His death was ruled a probable drowning, there were no signs of trauma. Strangely the area had been searched several times in the weeks before his body was discovered, but no one had seen Tommy. His body was found in full rigor mortis, which sets in 24-36 hours after death. According to Gannon and Dr. Gilbertson this is inconsistent with the belief that Tommy drowned the night he disappeared. They also noted that the body appeared to be staged, 3 sticks were strategically placed around his body and there were shoe and drag marks in the soil. A smiley face was painted on a wall of the bar under a deck. 

24 year old Navy veteran William Hurley went missing on October 8th, 2009 after leaving a Bruins hockey game in Boston, Massachusetts. William called his Fiancee Claire about halfway through the game saying he wanted to leave. When Claire arrived at the stadium to pick him up he was no where in sight. She called him to find out where he was waiting, he answered and she heard him ask someone where he was located.  "99 Nashua Street," William also told her his phone battery was going dead. She drove to the address, but no William. She called him again, but his cellphone was dead. She drove around for over an hour before she returned home. He never returned home himself. 6 days after his disappearance his body was found in the Charles River, close to where he asked Claire to pick him up. Investigators said there wasn't signs of foul play and they ruled it an accidental drowning. William's mom received a copy of the autopsy report and had a physician analyze it. She found that he had GHB in his system along with alcohol and that he reportedly suffered blunt force trauma to the head, eye socket and his left leg. A smiley face was found painted near the river. 


December 16th, 2014 Paul Kochu was drinking and watching Monday Night Football with friends. After drinking way to much his roommate stated that Paul "cut himself on broken glass or something, so we came home, helped clean that up." Paul was last seen around 1:30 am when his friends left to get food, when they returned he was gone. Ten days later police released surveillance footage of Paul heading in the direction of the 10th Street Bridge downtown at 2:45 am. It shows him stumbling around and swaying while trying to walk and holding his hand with a bandage on it. It wasn't until March 20th, 2015 that his body was found floating in the Ohio River. His body was nude with a small cut on his hand, 3 broken ribs and a 1 inch wound on his scalp.  He had a blood alcohol level of 0.15, almost double the legal limit. His death was ruled an undetermined drowning. His parents have voiced their suspicions that they believe there was foul play involved in their sons death. They have raised money to hire a forensic pathologist to review the autopsy results, nothing new has been announced yet. A smiley face was found painted nearby. 

Dakota James, age 23 was walking back to his apartment on January 25th, 2017 at 11:30 pm after a night of drinking with friends and co-workers. He never made it home. The last known sighting was caught on a surveillance camera in downtown, showing him enter a dark alley. This was the last time he was seen alive. When Dakota didn't show up for work the next day his boss contacted Dakota's family. They filed a missing persons report 72 hours later. Down the road they also hired a private investigator who organized a massive citywide search, this led to the discovery of Dakota's body in the Ohio River on March 6th.  Pittsburgh police theorized that he most likely fell into the river while crossing a bridge near city center and drowned, believing his body traveled almost 10 miles and even went through a dam before it was discovered. However with all the traveling they thought the body went through there was no visible damage. Smiley face was spray painted on an underpass by his body. 

By this point I think you guys have an idea of why they believe that these cases are so similar. Let me tell you how this theory even began. This all began with the death of a gentleman by the name of Patrick McNeill in New York City. The 21 year old went missing on February 16th, 1997. He was last seen leaving a bar called the Dapper Dog on Manhattans Upper East Side. His body was recovered April 7th, he was found floating in the water near a pier in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. It appeared to be an accidental drowning, but Gannon who was on the case at the time vowed to Patrick's parents that he would find out the truth. Gannon retired in 2001 and enlisted his old partner Duarte to help him find out what happened to Patrick. 

They reported finding overwhelming evidence that suggested Patrick had been killed and then placed in the water. Intoxication was consistent with drugging, a car was seen following him after her left the bar, ligature marks on his neck, charring on his head and torso, and his body positioning in the water was inconsistent with a normal drowning. They soon found several other young men who died in very similar circumstances. 

Regardless in 2008 the FBI during a press release stated "they have reviewed information about the victims provided by two retired police detectives, who have dubbed these incidents the Smiley Face Murders." "To date we have not developed any evidence to support links between these tragic deaths or any evidence substantiating the theory that these deaths are the work of a serial killer or killers. The vast majority of these instances appear to be alcohol related drownings."

To this day they are still working on these cases, in January 2019 the Oxygen Channel released a docu-series "Smiley Face Killers- The Hunt for Justice" to try to bring light to the investigations. I would highly recommend watching it. 

So what do you think? Please leave your thoughts in the comments and I will see you all next week! 

Resources: 

https://www.oxygen.com/crime-time/six-alleged-victims-smiley-face-killings

https://allthatsinteresting.com/smiley-face-killer-theory


https://www.romper.com/p/what-is-the-smiley-face-killers-theory-oxygens-new-docuseries-investigates-a-series-of-unsolved-drownings-15918456

Guilty? or Not Guilty?

Lizzie Borden took an ax 

and gave her mother forty whacks, 

when she saw what she had done 

she gave her father forty-one. 

Happy True Crime Thursday. Hope you all have had a good week so far. I came to the conclusion this week that quite a few people don't know about this lady. So I thought I would spread the word. For this weeks story I'm going to talk about Lizzie Borden.

Lizzie Borden was born July 19th, 1860 in Fall River, Massachusetts. Her parents were Andrew and Sarah Borden, she had an older sister named Emma. Unfortunately Sarah passed away in 1863 of uterine congestion and a spinal disease. 3 years after Sarah's passing Andrew remarried to Abby Gray. Andrew was a very successful business man in the fields of manufacturing and real estate development. Most of Andrews family lived in a more fashionable neighborhood (The Hill) than they did. He was very frugal and content with their home, he was never bothered to upgrade his house with indoor plumbing or electricity even though he easily could have afforded to. His net worth was around 10 million dollars in today's money. 

The household was a religious one and the family would regularly attend service at the Central Congregational Church. Lizzie was very involved in church activities, organizations and taught Sunday school. She was very outgoing.  Her sister Emma was the opposite, she would rarely leave the house and was described as "prim, confident, reliable." When old enough, the girls helped their father manage his rental properties. The relationship between Abby and the girls wasn't a good one, Lizzie was convinced that she was only after her fathers money, they rarely would eat meals together and would address her as Mrs. Borden. 

Fast forward to July 1892 the family had a huge argument, Lizzie and Emma left the house to go on vacation to New Bedford, Massachusetts. Lizzie upon returning stayed in a rooming house for 4 days rather than going home. Tensions had been growing within the family for months prior, mostly over Andrew gifting real estate to different members of Abby's family among other things we will get to later. 

On August 3rd Abby called Dr. Seabury Bowen for a house visit, the entire household had become violently ill, she feared it was poisoning. The doctor said most likely it was due to bad food, but offered to take a look anyways, Andrew angry as Abby for wasting money ordered him to leave. That evening the girls uncle John (Sarah's brother) arrived for an unannounced visit, he allegedly was there to discuss business with Andrew. He stayed in the upstairs guest room. 

The next morning after breakfast was served; Andrew left for his morning walk around 9 am, John left shortly before that to run a few errands, but stated he would be back by the noon hour, Emma wasn't in town so this left Lizzie, Abby and Bridget also known as Maggie (their maid) in the home. The morning of August 4th was also the day that Andrew and Abby Borden were found brutally murdered in their home.

Crime Scene photo

Lizzie was the first to find her father's dead body, it appeared that he had been bludgeoned to death while he was lying on the sofa sleeping, his face was almost beyond recognition. She screamed for Bridget, when Bridget saw the gruesome scene she ran to fetch Dr. Bowen who lived nearby. A neighbor named Adelaide Churchill saw all the commotion and came over, it was then that her and Bridget discovered Abby in the upstairs guest bedroom. She was also dead, her head badly beaten. 

The police were soon summoned to the scene, they searched for evidence of an intruder and found none. They also looked around for a murder weapon, they discovered a hatchet-head with a broken handle. They suspected this of being the murder weapon as the break in the handle appeared fresh, strangely they didn't find blood anywhere except on the bodies of the victims. The crime scene was quickly contaminated as it was filled with people other than the police and the family was given a lot of leeway in cleaning up the house. The autopsy's were performed right there on the kitchen table.

Photos and skull replicas of Abby and Andrew 

Abby's body was cold, indicating that she was attacked first, the coroner estimated sometime between 9 am and 10:30 am. She was struck multiple times first while facing her killer, one of the strikes to the side of her her head caused her to turn around and fall face down on the floor, she received about 18 blows. Andrews body was warm indicating that he was killed between 10:30 am when he arrived back home after his walk and 11:10 am. He was struck in the face 10-11 times. 

Authorities soon came to the conclusion that the murders had been committed by someone within the Borden home. They seemingly never focused on Bridget, their suspicions were fully turned to Lizzie.

Lizzie was arrested on August 11th and she entered a plea of "not guilty," she was transported to the Taunton Massachusetts jail, 8 miles north of Fall River. Her trial began in New Bedford, Massachusetts on June 5th, 1893. At this point in time the jury was made up of all men, women weren't allowed to be on a jury. By the time the trial began, Lizzie was already a media sensation. 

During the investigation, inquest and trial, a number of suspicious occurrences were found. I'm going to tell you some of the major ones. 

1.) Remember Abby having the suspicious of the family being poisoned? Well, it was discovered that Lizzie had tried to buy cyanide from a drug store, but was denied because a prescription was required. What was it for? Was she able to get it somewhere else? 

2.) On the morning of the murders, after Andrew had returned from his walk he discovered he wasn't able to enter the front door. The lock was jammed and Bridget had to let him in. During this time Bridget testified that she heard Lizzie laughing from the top of the stairs (where Abby was found later.) Lizzie denied this happened.

3.) After coming home Andrew asked Lizzie where Abby was, Lizzie told him that she had received a letter to visit a sick friend. They never discovered such a letter or a known sick friend. 

4.) Andrew told Lizzie he still wasn't feeling very well and that he wanted to rest on the sofa and take a nap. Lizzie stated that she had removed his boots before he laid down. When police discovered his body, he was wearing his shoes. 

5.) During questioning Lizzie kept giving different answers as to where she was when the murders occurred. She claimed to have been in various places. She also appeared both calm and erratic. Later it was explained that she had taken morphine to calm her nerves. 

6.) There were rumors that Lizzie was a Kleptomaniac, it was even said that she had stolen from Andrew and Abby and that they knew about it. 

7.) The wills were missing. Andrew's will most likely would have left his estate to his wife, leaving little to nothing to Lizzie and Emma. If Abby died first Andrews estate would automatically be left to his daughters. 

During trial Lizzie's attorney emphasized she was very close with her father, was a good girl and was very involved with the church. That she could never commit such a terrible crime. Her sister Emma showed strong support for her and testified on her behalf. June 20th, 1893 it took only 90 minutes of deliberation to acquit Lizzie of murder, due to lack of forensic evidence. 

Lizzie and Emma received a significant portion of the estate. Lizzie changed her name to Lizbeth after being bullied around town. A song was made up about her (Opening paragraph above), her home would be egged and rumors were spread all over town. The sisters lived together until around 1904. Lizzie met a woman by the name of Nance O'Neill. They developed a strong bond, some even speculated that they were lovers. Emma didn't approve and abruptly moved out and the 2 never spoke again. Lizzie flaunted her money while alive buying lavish items. 

In 1926 Lizzie had her gallbladder removed, afterwards she became chronically ill. She died of pneumonia in Fall River. Emma died 9 days later of kidney problems in Newmarket, New Hampshire. The sisters were buried side by side near their father in the family plot in Oak Grove Cemetery. After Lizzie's death she left $30,000 to the Fall River Animal Rescue, $500 in trust for care of her father's grave and $6,000 to her closet friend, and to her cousin. 

There are many that speculate whether Lizzie was actually the murderer, due to the lack of evidence and her good girl persona. Many other suspects have been named, but the 3 main ones that I have heard about are Bridget, Uncle John and an illegitimate son that was discovered of Andrews. If you are interested in hearing these theories I would do some research of your own. This blog would turn into a novel if I listed all of the conspiracy theories! 

No one else was ever investigated for the crime and to this day the case is unsolved.

Below I posted some pictures for you (taken myself). Some are of the infamous house, today It's a bed and breakfast, they also host tours during the day. The others are of the family plot in Oak Grove Cemetery.  

I visited both of these locations this last April and I have to tell you it was such a strange feeling being in a home knowing 2 people had been murdered there. Leaving me even more curious about the events that took place that day. Enjoy and I'll see you guys next week! 

                                         

Kitchen table where autopsy was preformed 

The Parlor 

Gurney used to carry the bodies 

Similar couch Mr Borden was murdered on, in the exact spot

Room Mr. Borden was in 

   

Pieces of China found in the home

Guest Room 

Guest Room, Gentleman is standing right where Abby was found 

The books wrapped in plastic were actually books of Lizzie's 

Lizzie's Room 

Emma's Room 

Kitchen 

Kitchen

Resources:

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/lizzie-borden/

https://www.littlethings.com/lizzie-borden-axe-murders/7

Room 1046

Happy True Crime Thursday my Lovelies! I contemplated this week what kind of story I wanted to do and I decided on doing an unsolved case, and it's definitely a mystery even to this day. Hope you enjoy!

For this story we are going to go back to 1935, Kansas City, Missouri. It was January 2nd and a well dressed young man entered in the President Hotel and checked in under the name Roland T. Owen from Los Angeles. He looked like he had the body of a boxer he was a little heavyset, he had a cauliflower ear (an ear that's become thickened or deformed as a result of repeated blows) and he had a large white scar on the left side of his head.  He asked for an interior room that wouldn't have a window facing the street, even more curious he didn't have any luggage with him. The bellboy took him up to room 1046.

Mary Soptic a cleaning woman at the hotel walked in on a very nervous acting Roland later on that same day, she said he was either worried about something or afraid. His shades were drawn, a single lamp was the only light source. Shortly after the maid arrived he abruptly left, but asked her to leave the door unlocked as he was expecting a friend to come by. A few hours later when she stopped by to deliver him some fresh towels she found him lying on his bed, but he was fully dressed. A note laid on the desk, it read "Don, I will be back in fifteen minutes. Wait."

Room 1046

The next time that she saw him was mid-morning the following day. His door was locked from the outside so she had to use her hotel key that opened every door in the hotel. She again found him sitting in the dark, alone, but while she proceeded to clean the room she overheard him say "No, Don," "I don't want to eat, I am not hungry. I Just had breakfast. No. I am not hungry." Mary definitely found the situations strange, but it wasn't over yet. Later that day she was bringing a new set of towels up to the room, she knocked on the door when she heard 2 men talking and then she was answered by a rough sounding voice, that wasn't Roland's. When she offered the towels, the man told her they didn't need any, so she left.

Around 11 pm on January 3rd a worker for the Kansas City water department offered a ride to a young man walking along 13th street, about a mile and a half from the hotel. It was Roland. Robert Lane stated he was in pants and an undershirt, with no coat and had a deep scratch on his arm. Something about the way he cupped his hands made Robert think he was trying to hide the blood from a much deeper wound somewhere else on his body. Roland asked to be dropped off somewhere that he could get a taxi. When Robert asked him what happened to his arm, his reply was a mumbled "I'll kill that **** tomorrow." He hopped out when they reached the taxi stand and that was the last interaction he had with him.

As Thursday night turned into Friday morning a guest a few doors down from 1046 heard arguing from what sounded like both female and male voices. The operator noticed that the phone in 1046 had been off the hook for awhile, concerned they asked a bellboy to go check on it. When he knocked on the door a deeper voice told him to come in, but the door was locked. He told the guest this, but the man inside didn't acknowledge it, instead he said "turn on the lights." The bellboy knocked for several more minutes, but with no luck he shouted "put the phone back on the hook," and walked away. Come 8:30 am the phone was still off the hook, a bellboy was sent up. When he knocks there is no response, he lets himself in with his passkey and notices Roland, naked in the bed, dark stained sheets. He thinks it's just a passed out drunk so he puts the phone back on the hook and leaves. The phone was off the hook yet again, and by the time a 3rd bellboy went up to deal with the situation he would discover a man within 2 feet of the door on his knees and elbows, holding his bloody head in his hands.  He turned the light on, placed the phone on the hook and looked around the room. "I saw blood on the walls, on the bed and in the bathroom." Scared he quickly left the room and ran downstairs to tell his manager what he had just seen.

Detectives soon arrive and they discover that Roland was tied up around his neck, ankles and wrists, he had been stabbed repeatedly in the chest. One of the stab wounds had punctured his lung and his skull was fractured, he had repeated blows to the right side. He was alive, though drifting in and out of consciousness. A detective asked him who had been in the room with him, he answered "nobody." The detective then asks well how did you get hurt? "I fell against the bathtub." Did you try to commit suicide the detective asks, "No." He then slipped into a coma and died in the early morning hours of January 5th, 1935. Detectives stated that he had been stabbed 6-7 hours before they arrived on the scene, meaning he had already been stabbed when the bellboy came in the room the 1st time.

Who in the hell was this guy? And what kind of stuff was he into?

As the Kansas City PD tried to gather evidence it wasn't easy. Whoever assaulted Roland had stripped him and his hotel room bare. There were no towels, no shampoo, no clothing. All they could find was a necktie label, a hairpin, an unlit cigarette, a safety pin, a small unopened bottle of diluted sulfuric acid, and a broken water glass in the sink. Only prints found were that of a woman lifted from the telephone stand. Their bigger mystery was trying to figure out who Roland T. Owen was. Several people could identify him, but strangely they all knew him by different names. He had stayed in several hotels prior to staying at the President. He touched the lives of many people, yet he remained a mystery. Police and media put out many calls to help identify the true identity of the man, but no one could claim him as their own.  They were also puzzled as to who this "Don" person was as well as the woman that was heard and that left her prints behind, neither could be located.

Police announced that March that they would be burying their mystery man in a potter's field. Before the burial an anonymous male donor called up the funeral home to cover the expenses to have him buried at the Kansas City's Memorial Park Cemetery instead. The man went on to say that this Roland guy had jilted a woman that he knew and that the three of them met as the hotel about it. "Cheaters usually get what's coming to them," then he hung up. They received the cash and the only ones in attendance of the funeral were police detectives. An anonymous order was received and laid on his grave, it was 13 roses with a card that read "Love forever-Louise."

About a year later a woman name Ruby Ogletree was reading a magazine article about the mysterious man and his murder, it included a picture. She recognized him as her son Artemus Ogletree, he had been missing since April 1934 from Birmingham, Alabama. He was 17 at the time he went missing.  

Police now knew who the victim was, but were still left with a lot of questions that to this day they still don't have the answers to. Who was the man with the rough voice that told the maid to go away? Who was Don? Whose fingerprints were those? Who was Louise? Maybe we will never know. 

Hope you guys enjoyed this one and I will see you all next week! 



Resources:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/545298/love-forever-louise-mystery-room-no-1046

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/5h35o3/the_mystery_of_room_1046/

All in the Family

Happy True Crime Thursday, I am so stoked for this weeks blog!! Over the weekend we rented a trailer to go camping, upon returning the camper the owner and I got on the topic of True Crime and he brought this story to my attention. It's two stories that I decided to put into one since there is a connection. So thank you to Richard for the inspiration!


It's December 4th, 1972 and Steven Stayner who is 7 years old at the time is walking home from school in Merced, California. He is approached by a man collecting church donations and handing out religious pamphlets. He asks Steven if he thinks his mother would be willing to make a donation. He replied that she would, the man asked him where he lived and offered to give him a ride to their home to get the donations. Steven got into the car and that was the last time Steven was seen for 7 years.

Steven had no idea the car he was getting into was that of a monster. It was the car of pedophile Kenneth Parnell who had convinced a man by the name of Ervin Murphy to be his accomplice. The two of them worked at a resort together in Yosemite National Park, Kenneth told Murphy that he needed to help him abduct a young boy so he could raise him in a religious-type deal. Ervin fell for it, he was a trusting, naive and simple minded man. He drove a confused and frightened Steven to a cabin nearby Catheys Valley, this cabin he would eventually learn was only several hundred feet from his maternal grandfathers house. Kenneth molested Steven the first night in the cabin and just 13 days later began raping him.

Kenneth told Steven that he had been granted legal custody of him because his parents couldn't afford so many children and they didn't want him anymore. For the next 7 years Steven lived publicly as Kenneth's "Son" changing his name to Dennis Gregory Parnell, the two of them moved around California frequently. After 7 years Steven became to old for Kenneth's preferences, he wanted a second younger victim. Soon Steven had a new "little brother," 7 year old Timothy White. He instantly became emotionally attached to Timothy and made it his mission to keep him from suffering the same abuse that he had gone through. One night Steven led a daring escape in the middle of the night, they were far away from civilization, but he was determined to get the out of there. And he did. He succeeded. The families were thrilled to have their boys back and Kenneth was taken into custody.

Happy ending right? Not so much.

Upon returning Steven was heavily bullied at school over the sexual abuse he went through, so he ended up dropping out. He had a really hard time adjusting to normal life and didn't want to go to counseling. In his early 20's things started to turn around for him, he got married and had 2 children, was training to become a security officer, had joined a church and was volunteering to help others who had gone through similar traumas. Tragically one night when riding his motorcycle home from work he was killed in a hit and run accident. He was 24 years old. 500 people attended his funeral, 14 year old Timothy White was a pallbearer.  

As for his kidnapper it was revealed that he had been arrested prior for abusing another young boy, he was sentenced to only 7 years in prison, but was paroled after 5!! He was arrested again in 2004 after trying to buy a 4 yr old online, he was arrested and died in prison a few years later.

The Stayner family went through a lot with losing Steven not only once, but twice. However this wasn't the only trauma the family went through. Steven had an older brother, Cary Stayner. Little fact about Cary he murdered 4 people and is known as a serial killer...

Cary was 11 years old when his brother was kidnapped, a former classmate said Cary "loved his brother. You know, hung out with him, played with him." People said that Cary was kind of a quiet guy, he liked to ride bikes, skateboard and hang out with friends. In reality Cary was having a tough time during his childhood emotionally. He would always wear a hat because he was compulsively pulling his hair out.  He developed behaviors that made other uncomfortable, such as exposing himself to his sisters friend. He had a compulsion with trying to get close to women or be sexual with them, but he wasn't able to develop any sort of interpersonal relationship with any woman."


When Steven came back home, a press conference was held out side the Stayner house, "everyone was smiling, there was a lot of jubilation, but if you look in the background of this photo you will see Cary in a baseball cap not smiling at all. They had a very strange relationship after that, Steven was getting a lot of attention and to Cary was a different person.

After high school Cary seemed lost in where he was going in life. Shortly after Stevens tragic death an uncle that Cary was living with was shot and killed in the home, the murder was never solved. Cary stated he was very close to his uncle, but he molested Cary when he was around 11 years old. After his death Cary had a couple nervous breakdowns of which on was "fairly violent." He stated to a friend that he felt like jumping in a truck, driving it through the shop and killing the boss and killing everybody in the office, and then torching the place. His friend told him "you need to go to a doctor Cary." Instead he took refuge in
Yosemite to get lost in nature. He would lay naked out in the open, smoking pot trying to find peace with whatever was going on in his head.

In 1997 Stayner got a job as a handyman at the Cedar Lodge only 7 miles from the gate of his beloved national park. Fast forward to February 14th, 1999. Carole Sund, her 15 year old daughter Juli and 16 year old Silvina Pelosso an exchange students staying with the Sunds checked into the Cedar lodge, they were on vacation to see Yosemite. On the 15th they took a hike to see the wonders of the park during the day and that night they rented a couple videos to watch from the front desk. They were never seen alive again. The Inn staff claimed that when they cleaned the room the next morning there was no evidence of foul play, check out had been completed in advance and the hotel keys were left in the room. On March 18th a hiker found a burned up 1999 Pontiac, when police arrived on scene they found two charred bodies, they were unrecognizable, but within a couple days they were identified as Carole and Silvina.  Where was young Juli?  Police received a note shortly after the bodies were found, this note contained a map and the words "we had fun with this one." On March 25th miles away from where they were found the first bodies and from the help of the map provided they found the badly decomposed body of Juli, her throat had been cut out to the point of almost being decapitated.


Just a few months later police received a phone call from a man that was worried about his friend 26 year old Joie Ruth Armstrong's whereabouts. She was a nature guide in Yosemite park and was set to visit him in Sausalito, but she did not appear as planned and he was growing concerned. Police came out to her cabin where they found her car parked out front, it looked as though it was all packed and ready to go for her trip. Her mutilated body was discovered the morning of July 22nd by some park rangers. Unlike the first murders where there was little evidence left behind, there was quite a bit left behind in Joie's case, including tire tracks and footprints. A witness was able to describe a vehicle that was outside of her house, this led police to Cary Stayner, whom they had spoken with back when the first murders happened, but didn't believe he was a suspect.

Cary was located at a nudist colony that he would frequent quite often, they asked if they could talk to him and it didn't take long before they received a full confession to not only killing Joie, but the other 3 woman as well. He was promptly arrested. Cary plead not guilty by reason of insanity, due to various psychological problems. A doctor testified at his trial stated that Cary had autism and obsessive- compulsive disorder. His lawyers argued that Stayner had dealt with sexual abuse in his past and that played a role in him becoming a murderer. Well that didn't work, they found him sand and in 2002 he received a death sentence and is currently on death row at San Quentin State Prison in California.

And there you have the story of the Stayner brothers! How crazy that all of this went on within one family.

See you guys next week!
Resources:

https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/kidnappings/steven-stayner/

https://medium.com/@michaelmoran/the-most-depressing-follow-up-to-a-happy-ending-ever-the-steven-stayner-story-745e166d75cb

https://abcnews.go.com/US/steven-cary-stayner-tale-brothers-horror-heroism/story?id=60529944