For those of you who might not be familiar with the case, Steven Stayner was kidnapped in 1972, when he was seven years old, by a man named Kenneth Parnell. This story was told in the TV movie I Know My First Name Is Steven, which periodically airs on various cable stations.
He escaped when he was 14, and was later reunited with his family. However, the reunion rather troubled because–needless to say–a lot had changed since then.
Tragically, Steven Stayner died at 21 (or 22) in an automobile accident. (Tragedy would strike the Stayner family again–about two years ago, Cary Stayner, Steven’s younger brother, was arrested as the “Yosemite Park Killer.”)
Steven’s kidnapper was given a relatively light sentence, served his time, served his parole, and basically disappeared, since he was no longer required to report his whereabouts.
Until this month. Apparently Kenneth Parnell apparently still has an appetite for young boys:
That was my head exploding. From the link in the OP:
Let me get this straight. Parnell kidnapped a 7 year old boy and sexually abused him for 7 years. The boy goes to the cops after 7 years because Parnell kidnapped another 5 year old boy.
Then they go to court and the sexual abuse charges are thrown out because the statue of limitations ran out? WTF? Parnell got caught in 1980, 7 years after taking the first boy, and the sex abuse charges were out of date in 1981?
Am I missing something here?
Gah, my head is going to explode again…and I won’t even start on getting just five years for kidnapping two boys.
It was a loophole. The statute of limitations for kidnapping was 7 years or such. The “criminal event” of kidnapping took place on a date, say January 1, 1980. That meant that as of January 1, 1987, the kidnapper could no longer be charged with a felony kidnapping charge because the statute of limitations had expired. At the time Steven came forward, they could only charge him with crimes that hadn’t met their statute of limitations. In this case, it was probably gross sexual imposition or perhaps false imprisonment – minor charges considering the circumstances.
In this particular case it’s almost enough to make you wish the parents had taken justice in your own hands. (They couldn’t get him for kidnapping the other child because it was his own kid, I think. It’s been a long time since I read about the case.)
In any event, most states have closed the loophole, partially in response to this particular case, but also in response to the priest scandals where victims haven’t come forward for years after the fact. Now in recognition of how easily children are scared into silence, most states have amended their statutes to extend x years (e.g. 7 years for kidnapping) beyond the victim’s 18th birthday.
If it’s any consolation, they would have put Parnell away for much longer had it happened today.
Either I am reading something incorrectly, the article has the facts wrong or you have the kidnapping and sexual abuse confused. (I don’t mean that in a bad way, I am just confused by your post) The cite states that Parnell was convicted of kidnapping, not child abuse.
The article states that the sexual abuse charges were the charges that went past the statute of limitations and were dropped. What I don’t understand, if the article is correct, is why the sexual abuse charges were dropped. Did the statute of limitation for sexual abuse start when the first abuse occured or when the last abuse happened?
I’ve seen the movie, and it’s horrifying enough. Even more so, considering Cary Stayner’s later crimes. But why, I ask, is there such a thing a statute of limitation on kidnapping and child molestation? What is wrong with this picture? Bleah.
Here is a pretty good link to the story, including the tragic back-story of Steve Staynor.
I’m from Ukiah, CA and was still living there when this situation originally broke. In fact, my brother worked with Ken Parnell and had actually met Steve Staynor a few times. Troy (my brother) was a bus boy at the Palace Hotel in Ukiah, where Parnell worked as a night-clerk, I believe. Steve came in to the hotel occasionally, as Parnell’s son, and Troy, who was only a few years older, would chat with him sometimes. Timmy White, the 5 year old Parnell kidnapped from Ukiah, was not related to Parnell, BTW. Parnell was not convicted of sexually assaulting Timmy because he didn’t sexually assault him – Steve rescued him before such an assault could take place. And he wasn’t convicted of sexually assaulting Steve because of the statute of limitations thing.
Be sure to check the link above for the appalling comments of Parnell’s defense attorney, who apparently has a different definition of “monster” than I do.
Slanderous, IMO. And false. Even leaving the sexual abuse out of it (and remember, Steve Staynor was 7 years old when Parnell began raping him – 7 years old!), anyone who would kidnap a child from a loving family and convince him that his parents had freely given him up to this stranger is a monster in my book.
Frankly the whole thing leaves me thinking two things. First, it leaves me (an atheist of long standing) wishing there was a Hell. I would be delighted to pay for my own sins if I could be assured that Parnell would pay for his. Secondly, it leaves me hoping that Timmy White (who is now in his late 20s) was raised to be as grateful to Steven Staynor as he should be. And I hope he has manifested that gratitude by living the kind of happy and productive life that Steve was cheated out of.
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