- Kenneth Parnell
Infobox Person
name = Kenneth Eugene Parnell
caption =Mugshot from the California state sex offender registry
birth_date = Birth date |1931|9|26|mf=y
birth_place =Amarillo, Texas
death_date = Death date and age|2008|1|21|1931|9|26
death_place =Vacaville, California Kenneth Eugene Parnell (
September 26 1931 –January 21 2008 ) was an American convictedsex offender , known infamously for hiskidnapping of seven-year-oldSteven Stayner in Merced,California .Early life
Parnell was born in
Amarillo, Texas , during the region's fableddust bowl era during theGreat Depression , to Mary O. and Cecil Frederick Parnell. He later moved with his mother, his two half-sisters and a half-brother toBakersfield, California . Parnell was raised mostly without his father, who abandoned the family when he was six. He spent much of his adolescence in and out of juvenile hall andmental institution s, showing many signs of disturbance at a very young age.In March 1951, Parnell was arrested for sodomizing a young boy, as well as impersonating a police officer (Parnell had used a fake deputy sheriff's badge he purchased from an Army-Navy surplus store), sending Parnell to jail for almost four years two months later. He was convicted for the crime in 1952. [cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/01/04/molester.arrest/ | title=Alleged attempt to buy child leads to arrest of kidnapper | publisher=
CNN |date= January 4, 2003 | first= | last= | accessdate =2008-08-17] While receiving treatment at Norwalk State Hospital, he cut a lock from a clothes room window and escaped, staying free until February of the following year, when he was finally apprehended inAlbuquerque, New Mexico .In a
January 15 2000 , interview with "East Bay Express " journalistKaty St. Clair , Parnell said that he kidnapped and molested the boy because his wife was pregnant and that he "had to find another outlet."cite news | url=http://www.eastbayexpress.com/2003-01-15/news/inside-the-monster/ | title=Inside the Monster | publisher=East Bay Express |date=January 15 2003 | first= | last= | accessdate =2008-08-17] Parnell claimed to have been married three times, but only two records of his marriages are known to exist. He married Patsy in 1950, who gave birth to their daughter the following year. They divorced in 1957. Later that year, Parnell married Emma, a woman ten years his senior. She too gave birth to a daughter soon after their union."I Know My First Name is Steven", Mike Echols, 1999, Pinacle Books, ISBN ISBN 0 7860 1104 1]He denied in that same interview having been molested himself, though Mike Echols' book "
I Know My First Name is Steven ", says Parnell was indeed molested at the age of 13 by a boarder in a rooming house his mother owned in Bakersfield. He was arrested forhomosexual public sex acts in 1947.More than a decade after the sodomy case, Parnell went back to jail for
armed robbery inUtah . While in prison, his second wife filed for divorce. Parnell claimed to have married a third and final time in 1968. As of February 2008, no records have been found substantiating Parnell's claim of this union.Child abductions
On
December 4 ,1972 , Parnell abductedSteven Stayner with the help of Edward Ervin Murphy, a co-worker at the Yosemite hotel where Parnell worked as a night auditor. Parnell went on to tell Steven that his parents couldn't afford to keep him anymore, that a judge had given Parnell legal custody of him and that his new name was "Dennis."On
February 14 ,1980 , Parnell abducted five-year-oldTimmy White from aUkiah, California , street, with the help of a 14-year-old boy who was an acquaintance of Steven's.Parnell's arrest
Refusing to let the boy endure the abuse he had been going through for so long, Stayner waited until Parnell had gone to his night-shift job at a local motel on
March 1 1980 . After Parnell left, Stayner, carrying Timmy on his back, hitchhiked to Ukiah, where his intention was to return Timmy to his home and then 'escape' himself (still believing that Parnell had legal custody of him). Unable to locate Timmy White's home, he took the boy to the Police Department where the truth of what had taken place over the last seven years slowly came to light. By daybreak the following morning Parnell had been arrested, and while checking into Parnell's past, his record of the 1951 sodomy conviction came to light, although at the time Steven insisted that Parnell had not sexually abused him.Parnell's 1981 trials
Parnell was tried for kidnapping both Stayner and White, but not for the sexual abuse he inflicted upon Stayner. He served five years of his seven-year prison sentence. His accomplice from Steven's kidnapping served two years of a five-year prison sentence; the Ukiah minor who helped kidnap Timmy White served time in a juvenile facility.
Steven Stayner died in 1989 of injuries sustained in a
motorcycle accident. According to the 2000 St. Clair interview, Parnell said upon learning of Steven's death, he cried for the first time since he was about nine years old. The interviewer, though, questioned his sincerity.2004 convictions
In January 2003, Parnell was arrested again after trying to coerce his caregiver into buying him a four-year-old boy. [cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/01/04/molester.arrest/ | title=Alleged attempt to buy child leads to arrest of kidnapper | publisher=
CNN |date= January 4, 2003 | first= | last= | accessdate =2008-08-17] Parnell was, by this time, 71 years old and in ill health, suffering fromdiabetes andemphysema , plus other ailments brought on by astroke he suffered earlier, requiring near 24-hour-a-day nursing care in his cluttered apartment in the 2600 block of Mathews Street in Berkeley.The caregiver, Diane Stevens, was aware of Parnell's past and cooperated with police in setting up a
sting operation that would lead to his arrest. According to Diane Stevens' testimony, Parnell requested the child have a "clean"rectum , indicating a sinister purpose.cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/02/09/stayner.kidnapper.ap/ | title='Steven' kidnapper convicted | publisher=CNN |date= February 9, 2004 | first= | last= | accessdate =2008-08-17] He paid $100 for a birth certificate and had $400 on his person for the completion of the transaction when he was to receive the child onJanuary 3 2003 . Parnell was arrested that day."I wanted a family," Parnell told authorities after his arrest.
Parnell was convicted on
February 9 2004 , on the charges of attempting to purchase a child and attempted child molestation, even though the child in question was nonexistent. The prosecution successfully argued that sexual aids andpornography found in the apartment, along with Stevens' own testimony, were enough to prove that Parnell's intentions were less than pure. Parnell was sentenced to 25 years to life under California's "three strikes" law.Prosecutor Tim Wellman said that Parnell "was looking for one last hurrah. One last Steven Stayner, one last Timmy White."
Death
Kenneth Parnell remained incarcerated until his death. [ [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/22/BAV2UJOJN.DTL "Kenneth Parnell, kidnapper of Steven Stayner, dies at 76"] , San Francisco Chronicle,
January 22 2008 ] According to prison officials at the California State Prison Hospital inVacaville, California , Parnell died ofnatural causes . He had been underhospice care for some time.Media adaptations
Stayner's life with Parnell was documented in the 1989
made for TV movie "I Know My First Name Is Steven" (also released as "The Missing Years"). Parnell was portrayed (in an uncredited role) byArliss Howard . In 1991, a true crime book byMike Echols of the same name was published, the manuscript from which the screenplay had been adapted.External links
*imdb title|0097553|I Know My First Name Is Steven
References
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