Crime!
Con... I don't... I don't have a second camera here.
I'm gonna... I'm gonna try something else.
One sec.
Uh... Crime!
Conspiracy, all things that i love to consume, and i know you do too, you sick-minded intellectual, beautiful freak.
In today's video, we are going to be discussing the disappearance of stephen stainer, and this has to be one of the craziest stories i think i've ever told on this channel.
Typically, when we cover crime related topics, it ends up with the person either being found dead or However.
This story has a very unique twist.
It involves tragedy and heroism, and it details a story of one family just trying to live a normal life after blow.
After blow
So let's get into it.
Obviously, I want to address, I'm in Canada right now.
I do not have my usual setup, but it's kind of cozy in here, isn't it?
This is my old office, but I put all my antiquing stuff, my fun finds that I found in a fireplace.
So we have a little cozy Canadian true crime session right now.
Just had to say that.
Also, I apologize for the audio.
Again, I don't have any of my proper filming equipment.
So if it sounds like ass, it sounds like ass.
So...
I apologize in advance.
Let's get into it.
So who is Stephen Stainer?
Stephen Gregory Stainer was born to parents Delbert and Kay Stainer on April 18th, 1965 in Merced, California.
He had three sisters and one older brother.
And the Stainer family would live a relatively normal life until December 4th 1972, when everything would change.
This family would seemingly any reprieve for the rest of their lives.
So on Monday, December 4th 1972, seven-year-old Stephen Stainer was on his way home after school when a stranger approached him.
The stranger claimed to be a man named Irvin Edward Murphy, who said that he was a church representative and asked local people if they would be willing to donate to the church.
Stephen said that his mother would be willing to.
And this led Irvin to ask where he lives so he could get his mother's information.
And when Stephen told him where he lived, that's when a white Buick would pull up beside them.
Stephen would willingly crawl into the back seat.
And this began the traumatic tale of Stephen Stainer.
So once Stephen was in the car, he would be driven to a cabin in Cathy's Valley, which was about half an hour northwest of Merced.
And unbeknownst to his family, he would be held captive here, within proximity to his own grandfather's.
Now it is important to know that Murphy was not working alone.
He was actually working with another person, Kenneth Eugene Parnell.
Kenneth was a troubled man, to say the least, having a rough youth and spending many years in prison, before kidnapping Stephen.
When he was five, Kenneth's father, Cecil Frederick Parnell, walked out on his mother and his three siblings.
And, following this event, Kenneth would begin a string of crimes, including car theft arson, leading to spending many years in juvenile detention.
He's just warming up at this point.
Just warming up.
In a newspaper written about Kenneth.
It says He has shown a peculiar tendency to search for trouble and punishment, reported Dr Richard D Lauenberg, a psychiatrist who examined Parnell in 1951 at the behest of the Kern County Superior Court.
And Kenneth strange behavior throughout his life.
When he was four-year-old, he would try to remove his own teeth with his fingers, despite them not even being loose.
I can't even imagine how hard that would be.
I don't even know how you do- of eight or nine, he shot himself in the abdomen and jumped off the roof of a barn onto a wooden plank with hundreds of nails sticking out of it.
This guy likes pain, okay?
What do you call that?
What do you call that?
I feel like I should know this.
I think I looked it up.
A masochist.
He's a fucking masochist at nine years old.
And in 1951, when he was 20 years old, Kenneth would lure an eight-year-old boy with a retired deputy badge he just had lying around from a thrift store, portraying himself as a police officer which guys just love to do that, Ted Bundy.
Maybe, I don't know.
There's a handful of them.
He would then severely SA the young boy and he would get sentenced to four years in prison.
But then he would escape and then he would be brought back to serve the rest of his term.
So as you can see, Kenneth was very much not well from the beginning.
So it is no surprise that he would continue to be a fucking terrible person. for the years to come.
Irvin had met Kenneth at a resort at Yosemite National Park where they were coworkers.
Kenneth would be a nighttime janitor perfect job for a psycho kidnapping asshole and it is unclear what Irvin's job exactly was.
However, while working, Kenneth was able to convince Irvin to help him to abduct children, so he could quote raise him in a religious type deal.
What?
I keep wanting to look to my left.
I keep wanting to look over there and say, what?
But you're not, what?
I'm just gonna do that if I want a second angle now on.
And when friends and family were asked to describe irvin, they said quote those who knew him saw him as a trusting, naive and simple-minded man.
What a great, what a great description of somebody.
If somebody called me a trusting naive, simple-minded woman, i'd be offended.
And Kenneth clearly took advantage of Irvin given these qualities.
And Kenneth was the one driving that white Buick that abducted Stephen.
And it was also his cabin in Cathy's Valley that Stephen was taken to.
So Irvin would be left on the sidewalk when Kenneth and Stephen took off in the Buick.
On the very first night that Stephen was captive, he was unfortunately essayed by Kenneth.
And roughly two weeks later, he would be essayed regularly by Kenneth.
Stephen obviously wanted to go home.
He's just a scared little person kid at this point and i hope this guy's fucking, i hope these guys fucking rot in hell for this.
But his captor would tell steven that his parents had given him legal custody to be his parent and that they basically just didn't want him anymore.
So i can't even imagine what that would do to a little child like psychologically.
The first night they had said they called my parents and said it's all right that i stay tonight.
The second night they said that they had called him again and said that i could stay another night.
Then um, when i went to uh, went out and came back and said he went to court and got in possession of me and said that i was his and eventually kenneth would change stephen's name to dennis gregory parnell and he would also enroll him into numerous schools while in captivity just to remain normal alone a lot.
He also would allow Stephen to drink at a very young age.
And also, he let Stephen freely leave whenever he really wanted to, but he would always come back.
Stephen stated that he could have left at any point really, but he just didn't know where to get help.
And a random woman named Barbara Mathiest lived with Stephen and Kenneth for about a year and a half while they were in a Santa Rosa area.
And during that time Barbara claimed that she had no idea what was happening and fully assumed that Kenneth and Stephen were.
Strange is that Stephen would tell interviewers that in 1975 Kenneth would instruct Barbara to lure a young boy into their car just outside Santa Rosa Boys Club.
But the kidnapping attempt would be unsuccessful.
Womp womp.
Sounds like it's not a legend anymore, Barbara.
But yeah, I find it really hard to believe that Barbara was completely clueless of what was going on between Kenneth and Stephen.
Despite Stephen calling Kenneth dad, it should have been obvious by his body language that Stephen was not comfortable with kenneth ever and that the two were not related because they didn't look alike either.
Plus, who the fuck would be willing to go along with the kidnapping of a child just so nonchalantly, especially if the person was instructed to do so?
It's, in my opinion, that she knew what she was doing and she knew what the fuck was going on.
I've been told that you called him dad.
How long before you started calling him dad?
Do you have any idea when that started?
Um, that started about a week after my abduction.
What were your thoughts during the seven years about your parents?
Did you think about them?
And if so, what went through your mind?
Through the seven years.
I don't remember what went through my mind, but I thought of my parents very often.
But Stephen would have to suffer for years in captivity, traveling around with Kenneth while being violated by him regularly.
It had to be just absolutely torturous and miserable.
However, in early 1980, Stephen was see and take an opportunity.
March 1st 1980, 14-year-old Stephen would finally escape of the grasp of his captor and get the help he so desperately needed.
But he wasn't alone.
As sickening and disgusting as it sounds, Kenneth grew less interested in Stephen as time went on, almost as if he doesn't like boys after they hit puberty.
Because, you know, He's a .
Parnell and Steven together realized that Steven was growing up and that he was no longer gonna be able to be controlled by Parnell.
Parnell wanted another kid.
So once Stephen hit puberty, Kenneth started to go out and look for younger boys to kidnap and basically replace him.
Furthermore, as Stephen got older, Kenneth would start to use Stephen to abduct younger boys, which reminds me of a movie I really like because it was really well done with Angelina Jolie.
The Changeling which I'm wondering now.
Is that?
No, it was based off a different case.
Never mind.
But The Changeling, very interesting movie.
Similar premise.
He used boys.
This guy used boys to abduct other boys.
And then he would like, I'm not going to give it away.
You should watch it.
Anyway, let's continue.
So at this point he's using Stephen to do what Irv successful, because Stephen would basically purposefully sabotage the attempt every single time.
Props to Stephen.
And this led Kenneth to start resenting Stephen.
However, in February 1980, Stephen and a friend, Randall Poorman, would kidnap a five-year-old boy named Timothy White in the city of Ukiah, California.
So on the night of March 1st, Kenneth would leave for his job as night security, as he usually did, and this basically meant that steven and timmy were now alone.
However, as mentioned previously, this wasn't abnormal at all.
It happened all the time.
But steven would grab timmy and they would hitchhike into nearby ukiah where he would try to find timmy's house.
So, after searching for a while, he couldn't, so ended up going to a police station and when questioned, steven would say, quote unquote i know my first name is steven.
And this line would become infamous after he was brought home and the media coverage began to look into the case.
I know my first name is steven.
And that became the title of a book, it became a television movie and it made Stephen famous.
Seven long years ago, a youngster in California vanished.
Everyone thought he was dead at this point.
He'd rescued another boy.
This is Stephen today.
He is holding five-year-old Timothy White.
Who could make this up?
Every television network, every magazine cover every movie executive.
There wasn't anyone not interest.
So on March 2nd, Purnell would be arrested from his job and be charged with abduction of two counts of kidnapping.
So he was sentenced to seven years and parole after five.
What?
It's just not enough time.
It's just not enough.
Not even close.
He kidnapped a child and did awful things to him for years.
I don't understand the justice system, I guess.
I don't know.
Because Parnell would not be charged for SA.
That occurred in Merced County, since he was apprehended in Mendocino County and he was outside of the statute of limitations.
So I
I guess that makes sense.
But still, kidnapping is only seven years, especially for the length of time that he had Stephen.
Like, are you fucking kidding me?
Irvin Murphy and Randall Poorman would be convicted of lesser charges for aiding in kidnapping of both children.
And Stephen would recall that Murphy was extremely kind to him when he was first held captive and told investigators that he believed that Murphy was as much a victim as he was.
Which, like...
It's hard because I understand to a certain degree, like maybe the same thing happened to Irvin.
I'm not I'm not even sure.
We're not sure like that happened to Stephen.
He was groomed and then made to kidnap people.
So, and it's just that Stockholm syndrome, like when you're a child, they're so easily moldable, you know, and easy to take advantage of.
Unfortunately, I don't know.
I don't know how to feel about like Irvin Murphy and stuff.
I do think that he was a victim.
Absolutely.
But yeah, I mean, you got to know what's right and wrong.
You know, you see other kids not doing that, you'd think it's like not good to do, but then i understand also that you're horribly afraid of kenneth.
So anyway, but the case of stephen stainer is a very traumatic yet brave tale of a boy who persevered through horrible conditions while saving another from the same fate.
The car pulled up and i got in and they they passed the road And the case would absolutely blow up on the news and attract lots and lots of media attention.
So as soon as Stephen was returned to his family, he actually began touring around the nation to different morning shows and numerous interviews in front of his family home, which I can't even imagine that like after going through that as a kid, still like he's 14, and then having to do all that like
What a fucking nightmare.
So over the past seven years, Stephen had been living in the shadows, just yearning to escape.
But now that he's free and was thrust into the spotlight, it kind of became unavoidable.
And on Good Morning America, Stephen was asked if his parents had changed at all, if he recognized his siblings and things like that, all while his lawyer was present.
And while it was great to have Stephen back home, he really, really struggled to get back into normal life.
He was used to being an only child first of all, so having to share a room with his brother Carrie, and share things with his other siblings was just relatively a new concept for him.
People believed that his siblings were happy to see him.
However, it was believed that Kerry, his older brother, wasn't too keen on sharing a room with him.
But if you look in the background, there's something worth noting, and it's Kerry in his baseball cap and he's not smiling at all.
And when Steven returned to school, he was absolutely ostracized by his peers.
Not only because cameras constantly surrounded him, but the public knew that he had been taken advantage of by an old fucking freak.
So his peers would question his sexuality and even infer that he enjoyed it.
Like...
Kids are so fucking cruel.
And it was like a different time.
I mean, kids still do that even now.
But oh, my God.
Like, I can't even imagine the life that like that life is insane.
Like so much sympathy, goes out of high school and start drinking, leading to a very strained relationship with his father, who would inevitably kick him out of his home.
And in an interview with Newsweek, Stephen told reporters that his father would refuse to hug him once he was home and that the cameras were away, which is so fucking sad.
You would think that after losing your child for seven years, you'd show a little bit of compassion.
But his father is almost as much as a heartless monster as Parnell almost a grown man and yet my parents saw me at first as their seven-year-old.
After they stopped trying to teach me the fundamentals all over again, it got better.
But why doesn't my dad hug me anymore?
I guess seven years changed him too."
So sad.
So Stephen would continue dealing with reporters and cameras for years and years after the trials.
But in 1985 he would get married to a 17-year-old named Jody Edmondson, and he would have two children, Stephen Jr and Ashley.
His family would live in Merced California, the place where he was abducted, and he would work at a pizza shop.
And on the side, Stephen would work with a child abduction group, basically to aid in the search for missing children and prevent more from disappearing.
So basically, he's a fucking saint.
However, on September 16th 1989, on his way home from work, Stephen's motorcycle would collide with Antonio LeRae's car and it would kill him almost instantly.
So once again, the Stainer family would lose their child in another tragic event.
Except this time, it was not only his parents who lost a son.
It was siblings who lost a brother, a wife who lost a husband, and two children who lost a father.
And shortly before he died in 1989, a two-part miniseries would be released with the title Know, My Name is Stephen.
And the plot would detail Stephen's station with Timmy White and so on.
And following his death, a book would be written by author Mike Eccles of the exact same name.
So all this media would basically further.
So in 2010, the city would reveal a large bronze statue with Stephen standing holding Timmy White's hand, leading him away from the cabin.
Stephen's story was heroic and tragic at the same time, and the statue will forever remind passerbys of his struggles, But most of the attention that Stephen was receiving was leaving the siblings feeling neglected by their parents.
I mean, he had been missing for seven years.
So it's not unimaginable that the parents would put all this attention on him when he came back after being abducted.
While his other siblings would be able to deal with it, Carrie, on the other hand, would not.
And he would grow incredibly spiteful and then gain some of his own media attention in the years to come, where the crazy twist of events comes in.
While Stephen's story was abruptly ended by tragedy Cary, the lesser known Stainer brother, was about to write his own one, far darker than anyone else could have ever imagined.
He would become the Yosemite Killer.
Yeah.
What?
On a sightseeing trip to Yosemite, Carol's son, her daughter Julie and their friend Silvina Peloso vanished in February of 1999.
Weeks later, Carol and Silvina's bodies were found in their charred rental car down a cliff.
We have recovered two bodies from the trunk of the vehicle.
But where was Julie?
The killer sent the FBI this hand-drawn map with a chilling message.
We had fun with this one.
So when Stephen disappeared, older brother Kerry, who was 11 at the time, was completely distraught.
He was the big brother and lightly felt guilty that he couldn't protect his younger brother.
And Stephen's kidnapping would haunt Kerry for years and years to come.
And when the book I Know My First Name is Stephen came out, Eccles would quote Stephen saying I remember going out one night after Steve disappeared and wishing on a star that my brother would come back home.
I did that almost every clear night from then on until Stephen finally came back home.
I never did tell anyone about it. but I remember wishing brother would come back home.
Sounds sweet, right?
Well, he's a fucking murderer, so less sweet.
And this became such a ritual for Carrie that he continued doing that even after Stephen came home.
Even though Stephen had came home, he would still go out every single night.
He would walk several blocks away.
He would pick a star and begin to repeat the wish that Stephen would return home before he would remember that Stephen was home and he was safe.
So he would then thank the star instead.
Again, sounds really sweet until you find out he's a fucking murderer.
The sad fact about Carrie's childhood after Stephen was rediscovered was basically that he was overshadowed by Stephen and had essentially been left behind.
He was only 11 at the time, so he really still needed guidance.
But everything became about Stephen.
They would withdraw withdrawal emotionally from Carrie and they would just put their sole focus into finding Stephen.
And then, when Stephen was found, they would put their sole focus into all the media attention that was happening, into how he was doing and everything.
And Delbert the father would swing between two versions of himself one that was consumed with slower slide and depression, and one that would solely focus on finding Stephen.
So I can't imagine being a sibling at that time, just and watching your parents just basically implode from the inside out and not parenting you because they're so focused on that.
Like I obviously have sympathy there as well, but less because he inevitably became that they did have were neglected in favor of the child that they lost.
And Cary would have unique gifts and talents that his parents wouldn't see, because the spotlight was on the missing Steven.
While he attended Merced High School, he would actually be nominated as the most creative student, with many believing that he would actually become a graphic artist and cartoonist when he got older.
And he also played baseball where he was positioned in the outfield, which I was too.
Not that I want to have any qualities, you know, similar to a killer or anything, but I just I just thought that'd be interesting little fact about me.
Left field was my position.
So anyway, but Kerry was a very quiet and reserved individual, potentially feeling like his feelings or opinions weren't valued from his family because they were more focused on the child that they lost.
But he was also described as one of the nicest people you could meet and was rarely bothered by anything.
Like he didn't really have any anger. or issues or anything like that.
So Carrie would be 18 by the time his brother came home, basically a man standing on his own merits and probably fully accepting that he would never see his brother again, but his brother would come into the picture again, thus thrusting Carrie back into the shadows.
But of course, Carrie was glad that Stephen was home, of course, even thanking the stars that he had wished countless times for his brother to come back.
But Stephen was home, and with that came the media firestorm yet again.
Stephen would just come home hero, basically.
And neighbors who lived near the Stainers for about 20 years were called Stephen's return home, basically made Carrie just return to being the brother.
Michael Coleman specifically, would live next to the Stainers for about 20 years and would tell SFGate quote unquote.
When Stephen came home, Carrie was put back on the shelf.
He was in the background always.
And Victoria Floris Tatum, another longtime neighbor, told SFGate at all the publicity Stephen was getting.
I think Carrie wants as much attention as Stephen got.
And he would, and he would.
Victoria, Victoria, prophesize that a little bit, I think.
Sounded like Rick Grimes when I said that, I think.
I think of the dead all the time.
Carl, get back here.
I'm rewatching The Walking Dead.
And Carrie's alienation and internal turmoil were compounded by his brother's untimely death in 1990 of normalcy in life.
Stephen again would die in a motorcycle accident and through.
The death was tragic but it only furthered to solidify Stephen's like hero fame, even after he was dead.
And this would lead Carrie to just grapple with his own feelings of inadequacy and emotional distance from his and loss at his home could have been what made Kerry want to move in with his uncle, Jesse Stainer.
So in 1990, while Kerry and Jesse were living together, Jesse would be found in his home dead from one gunshot.
And when the murder of Carrie's uncle Jesse, was reported in the newspaper, it would be Stephen Stainer's name that was used in the headlines, not Carrie's.
Carrie's name would not be mentioned at all in the article.
It would say, Stephen Stainer's uncle murdered.
You're really poking the bear, media.
And Carrie, who had found work in multiple trades jobs such as moving worked for a long time as a glass cutter, where he'd fix broken windows and install new ones.
And at one such job, he'd be working with a longtime friend, Mike Marchese.
Marquise?
Probably Marquise, sorry.
Who found him punching plywood until he bled and just kept going.
Carrie had told Mike that he's basically having a nervous breakdown and that he wanted to drive into work and kill everyone there and then torch the place.
Just a big red flag right there, if you ask me.
Following this incident, Kerry would become a handyman at Cedar Lodge in El Portal, on Highway 140 heading towards Yosemite National Park.
We're getting there.
We're getting to the, yeah, we're getting there.
And City Lodge is positioned in an absolutely beautiful area surrounded by mountains and it's isolated, And this was basically a peaceful place for everyone, and Carrie could enjoy the beautiful mountains and would often smoke a little pot while sunbathing naked persist until 1999, when Carol's son, her daughter Julie and Julie's friend Silvina Peloso went missing along with Carol's 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix.
And the search for these women would be the largest ever mounted in Yosemite at any time, according to at the time FBI agent Jeff Riddick handling the case.
And after several weeks all three women's bodies lodge, having been set on fire, with two bodies in the trunk.
And Julie would be discovered about 40 miles away from the burned out car after investigators received a letter in the mail containing a roughly drawn out map area.
Investigators get a break.
A letter in the mail with a crude map showing an area about 40 miles from where the burned car was found.
Earlier this afternoon, investigators discovered the body of a homicide victim.
Body of 15-year-old Julie Sund was identified earlier in the week.
And a group of ex-cons would come into the sights of investigators.
Michael Roy Larwick and his half-brother Eugene Earl Dykes were the top suspects at the time.
Dykes had multiple convictions. on gun, drug, and sizzle charges.
And Larwick, whose childhood home was near the abandoned, torched car, allegedly shot at a police officer trying to pull him over days after the vehicle was discovered.
So they would obviously be taken into custody and questioned anyone saying that they had the wrong guy, basically.
But it's understandable why federal agents would think that they had the man responsible, given all the connections.
Basically,
Considering that Larwick's criminal history included assault and other SA and attempted manslaughter and even an arrest where he would be found with a fucking rocket launcher.
But Larwick would even offer to submit a polygraph test and he would also offer his DNA to clear his name.
I've done a lot of things.
I'm no angel, but you've got the wrong guy.
He's a piece of shit.
I don't, I have no sympathy for him, but that's, I mean, you know, he didn't do it clearly.
And investigators would naturally have the wrong guy, which would become apparent when Joey Armstrong disappeared in July of 1999, five months after the first three killings.
26 year old Joey Armstrong, a naturalist working at Yosemite, living on the West, And her decapitated body would be found half a mile away, with her head just floating in the water nearby.
And investigators would find lots of evidence at Joey's crime scene.
And Kerry Steiner's car was very distinct.
We'll show a picture of it here.
Very non-incognito, you know?
And it had been seen at the area during the times of the murder.
So he was initially brought in as a witness quality after another person recognized him as a person of interest to investigators and called the authorities.
But at this point, Kerry still wasn't suspected of committing the crimes.
And the investigators were actually familiar with him after having questioned him after the first three murders.
They just basically wanted to ask him questions at this point.
So when FBI agent Jeff Riddick finds him at a nudist colony, they find it odd that he raises his hands above his head.
Like, way to give it away, dude.
What the fuck?
Carrie was not treated like a suspect at all.
Like when he was being questioned, he and two other agents were eating fucking pizza.
And that's when he began to spill his guts and tell the investigators that he could give them more information about Joey Armstrong and more.
Kerry would confess to Jeff Renick while alone that he killed Joey Armstrong, as well as Carol, Julie and Sylvina.
And Jeff Renick has actually written a book about it, titled In the Name of the Children an FBI Agent's Relentless Pursuit of the Nation's Worst Predators.
And in this book he details the time he spent with Kerry Stainer and the horrifying request he made during his confession.
That connection ultimately got Stainer to confess to killing Joey Armstrong.
But before admitting to killing the sightseers, Reinach says Stainer tried to negotiate.
He wanted images of young girls, his family, to get the reward money and to end up in a federal prison near his family.
Reineck recalls asking him to pick one.
What's the one thing?
It's the one thing only, and he chose the pornography.
So for Kerry's confession, he established conditions for his continued cooperation.
He wanted his family to get the reward money for the discovery of the women that he killed.
He also wanted to be placed in a prison close to his family.
And finally, he wanted images and videos of The young girls.
And he actually thought that they would give these things to him if he dangled the confession in front of the investigators' faces.
This guy couldn't be a bigger POS.
I can't even, like, the audacity, the audacity of this piece of shit monster motherfucker.
My God.
But investigators would tell him that he could pick one of the things that he wanted so much.
And he would choose the images of the little girls over the money for his family and the proximity to his family.
It's a fucking nightmare.
What?
And of course, he would confess after not receiving the photos, as Jeff Rinnick would tell him of the catharsis that he would feel if he did confess.
And there might have been also which I think is a big, a big possibility that he just wanted to seize any sort of spotlight or fame from these crimes, given that the spotlight was taken away from him so many times, from his brother so many decades ago.
And Kerry would claim that these inclinations of death and murder would predate Stephen's kidnapping.
When he was as young as six and even seven years old, he would be 37 at the time of apprehension.
So he had avoided succumbing to these desires for about three decades and may continue to fight these demons today as he sits on death row, which I'm sure he does.
So why might have Carrie finally given in after so long?
Perhaps it was inevitable, but a psychiatrist that evaluated Carrie for his defense team.
The Stainer family experienced extensive abuse and mental illness.
Steven had been kidnapped by a PDF
But he wasn't the only one that suffered these abuses.
Stephen and Carrie's father Delbert, had been ordered into therapy after essaying his own daughters.
And even Carrie himself would begin peeping in on his appropriately when she was only 10 years old.
And Carrie had even become a victim of SA from his own uncle, Jesse Stainer, mere months after Steven's disappearance.
And if you remember, Jesse was killed by a gunshot.
So after Carrie Stainer was convicted for those other murders, Jesse Stainer's case would be reopened.
So history of SA in the Stainer family seemingly went back generations, which is horrific, making the fact that Steven would be kidnapped by somebody that committed the same abuses.
Cary seemed so normal throughout his childhood and throughout his adulthood, and even his friends didn't suspect him of doing anything like this.
It just goes to show that you never know when somebody's hiding a very dark side to them, and that deep-seated trauma can manifest when you least expect it, for many reasons.
Their childhoods and how they ended up in adulthood offer a compelling example of the nature versus nurture concept, which I always talk about during most of the true crime deep dives that I do.
Both brothers endured trauma, yet their paths led entirely different directions.
Stephen would become a symbol of resilience and strength, while Carrie became a serial killer and a cautionary tale.
Stephen's abuse was a seven-year-long nightmare, where his abuse could be nightly at the hands of his captor.
And when he emerged from captivity he was a hero for his rescue of a young boy and he was able to function well enough to find a wife and even start a family, and Carrie faced trauma that had similarities, yet some differences to Stephen's.
He was allegedly abused by his uncle, someone he should have felt safe and protected by.
And grappling with this just compounded the emotional vacuum left by his brother and his parents' neglect.
It left him isolated in his own way, just as Stephen was really received any sort of public attention or support that may have helped him process these feelings of neglect and rage.
Perhaps Carrie's life could have had a different outcome if he was treated like an equal and was supported by his siblings and his parents.
That said, if his statements of his very dark inclinations predated the abduction of Stephen and his abuse are factual, then perhaps And one could speculate that Stephen was somehow motivated by the spotlight that he had gained to make an effort more towards having a normal life basically versus Carrie, the one in the shadows didn't have the same fire lit beneath him to pursue that kind of normal life.
So I think the greatest shame and honestly, one of the cruelest ironies of this whole story is that Steven, a boy who saved another young boy from the abuse that he suffered for so many years, was the one who had his life cut short.
With so much in his future.
Carrie, the brother who would go on to murder four women, lives to this day.
And though it may be on death row, he got to breathe the pleasures that life offered for 37 years and, though now in prison, continues to create his art.
So that about wraps up this story.
Very, very crazy case.
I was reading about it.
I can't even remember.
I think I was in just I couldn't believe it.
So I hope you got something out of the video today.
You know, another cautionary tale, if you will, you know, be careful out there.
Obviously, my heart goes out to the family and friends of the victims.
Obviously, I also want you guys to know that I do donate part of the proceeds of these videos to victims families and to help people as well, because I think that's important.
I think it's important to tell stories and to keep them alive.
But I also think it's important to give back.
So i just want to let you guys know that and also uh, let me know what else you guys want to see in the in the comments down below.
I know i've been doing a lot of the true crime deep dives lately.
Let me know if you want to see more, if you've been really liking them.
It seems like you guys have been liking them based off of all the comments and and views that you guys uh, are giving them.
But let me know if you want to see other stuff too.
I'm always
