Investigator believes Stayner had accomplice
Patty
September 30, 2001 Posted: 06:45:01 AM PDT
By MICHAEL G. MOONEY
Modesto BEE STAFF WRITER
Did Cary Anthony Stayner act alone?
That question is being raised again, as the one-time motel handyman sits behind
bars, awaiting trial on charges that he single-handedly and savagely killed
three Yosemite sightseers.
Stayner, who already has been sentenced to life in prison for the grisly murder
of Yosemite naturalist Joie Armstrong, is the only one charged in the February
1999 slayings of Carole Sund, 42, of Eureka, her daughter, Julie, 15, and family
friend Silvina Pelosso, 16, of Argentina.
But many people, including family and friends of the victims, continue to be
convinced that Stayner could not and did not act alone in the brutal killings.
Francis and Carole Carrington, the parents of Carole Sund and grandparents of
Julie, long have believed that Stayner had accomplices.
"So far," Francis Carrington said Friday, "we haven't been able to pin anything
down."
But a Calaveras County bounty hunter believes a convicted child molester he
tracked down in mid-1999 played a role in the deaths of the Yosemite sightseers.
Stephen Sanzeri of Murphys has told authorities they should take a long look at
Paul Leckey Candler Jr. Sanzeri believes Candler was involved in the murders,
based on statements he said Candler made to him and private investigator Rick
Janes. The pair arrested Candler in June 1999 in Alabama after he jumped bail in
Tuolumne County on charges unrelated to the Yosemite slayings.
Since June 2000, Candler has been at the California Correctional Institution at
Tehachapi, where he is serving a 17-year sentence for continuous sexual abuse of
a 12-year-old.
Candler's name surfaced briefly during the height of the FBI-led investigation,
but authorities at that time said they did not consider him a suspect.
But Rhonda Dunn, a Chicago woman who told The Bee last year that Stayner and two
or possibly three other men stalked her, has identified Candler as one of those
men.
The Sunds and Pelosso vanished Feb. 15, 1999, from the Cedar Lodge in Mariposa
County. They were on an excursion to Yosemite National Park.
Their bodies were discovered about a month later at separate locations in
neighboring Tuolumne County.
The charred remains of Carole Sund and Pelosso were found in the trunk of their
burned-out rental car. Julie Sund's body was discovered on a wooded hillside
overlooking Don Pedro Reservoir. Her throat had been slit.
Similarities abound
For months, the FBI investigation focused on a loosely knit group of drug users
and career criminals, and on a number of occasions, authorities announced that
they believed the people responsible for the crimes were in custody.
Then, in July 1999, Joie Armstrong was found dead, the victim of a grisly
decapitation. The trail led to Stayner, who shocked authorities by telling them
he had killed the three sightseers.
Stayner subsequently reached a plea bargain and was sentenced to life in prison
for Armstrong's murder. He is awaiting trial in the sightseers' deaths, and, if
convicted, could receive the death penalty. Stayner is scheduled to return to
court Oct. 29 for a hearing to determine whether the trial should be moved from
Mariposa County.
Sanzeri and Janes continued to believe that Stayner did not act alone. They said
they tried for months to get law enforcement to listen to their theory about
Candler.
"Neither one of us know Stayner," Janes said. "But we have talked to people who
know him, and they said he couldn't have done it by himself."
No one paid much attention to Sanzeri and Janes until Sept. 6, when they were
interviewed by a Mariposa County sheriff's detective assigned to the
Sund-Pelosso investigation.
Lt. Brian Muller, a spokesman for the Mariposa County Sheriff's Department,
confirmed Friday that a detective interviewed the pair.
Muller said the investigation remains open and, as a result, he could not
comment further on Candler.
He did say, however, that information on the possibility of someone else being
involved in the Sund-Pelosso murders is being investigated thoroughly.
Sanzeri said the description in The Bee's story about Dunn in May 2000 prompted
him to contact authorities.
Dunn had described being stalked in July 1998. At the time, Dunn, a respiratory
therapist, and her mother were staying at Cedar Lodge.
Dunn described one of the men she saw with Stayner as 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-7.
Sanzeri said Candler stands 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-8.
Dunn said the man she saw had medium to long wavy, blond hair.
Sanzeri said Candler has medium-length, wavy, light brown hair.
Dunn said the man she saw had an elaborate tattoo on his right forearm with a
devil.
Sanzeri said Candler has an elaborate tattoo on his right forearm and a
she-devil tattoo on his left forearm.
Dunn said the man who followed her had a funny walk, almost bowlegged. "He
reminded me of Cornelius, one of the characters in the movie 'Planet of the
Apes.'"
Sanzeri said Candler is bowlegged.
Dunn said the man who followed her was driving an older blue Ford F-150 pickup.
Sanzeri said he and Janes saw an older blue Ford F-150 pickup parked at
Candler's former residence in Arnold.
Dunn said she saw the man hanging around Cedar Lodge. She is convinced he was
the same man who played "bumper tag" with her car as they drove toward Yosemite.
Once in front of her car, Dunn said the man repeatedly sped up and slowed down.
She said she eventually passed the pickup and got away.
After reading the newspaper story, Sanzeri contacted Dunn through a Eureka
attorney who represents Jens Sund, Carole Sund's husband and Julie's father.
Sanzeri said he asked Dunn about the man she saw with Stayner.
Dunn was able to pick Candler's picture out of a photo lineup Sanzeri prepared
and mailed to her.
Sanzeri said no tattoos were visible in any of the pictures Dunn reviewed.
In addition, Dunn told Sanzeri that the man she saw was wearing a black T-shirt,
blue Levi jeans and cowboy boots.
Sanzeri said Candler was wearing a black T-shirt, Levis and cowboy boots when
arrested in Alabama a year later.
Dunn recently told The Bee she remains convinced Candler followed her and her
mother that day in July 1998.
"I'm sure it was him," she said. "He was a lot more aggressive toward me than
Stayner."
Candler felt sorry for victims
Sanzeri said he first encountered Candler in November 1998 when he posted two
bail bonds for the former Atwater and Modesto resident. Candler's girlfriend at
the time, Barbara Dobbins, requested the bonds, Sanzeri said.
Attempts to contact Dobbins were unsuccessful.
Sanzeri said Candler had several brushes with the law, including convictions on
weapons, drugs and false imprisonment charges.
Two months after the Sund and Pelosso slayings, in April 1999, Candler and
Dobbins canceled their post office boxes in the Tuolumne County community of
Moccasin. A short time later, Sanzeri said, Candler jumped bail and the two left
the state.
Sanzeri and Janes tracked the couple to Warrior, Ala. As they tried to take them
into custody on June 5, 1999, Sanzeri said, the couple sped away in a car with
Candler driving.
On June 6, Sanzeri and Janes said they returned to the house and found Dobbins
alone.
"She was very hysterical," Sanzeri said. "It took us 15 minutes to settle her
down for a half-decent conversation."
Sanzeri continued: "After she calmed down, I asked her why she and (Candler) had
evaded us. (Dobbins) stated to us that (Candler) thought we were the 'feds' and
were looking for him regarding the girls that were murdered."
Dobbins then told Sanzeri that Candler "felt bad about what happened to the
girls."
Sanzeri and Janes said they caught up with Candler on June 7 at a motel. Sanzeri
said Candler initially refused to come outside.
When Candler came out, Sanzeri said, a scuffle ensued in front of Janes and
several police officers who had come to assist with the arrest.
Candler was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of what Sanzeri called
"minor injuries."
While at the hospital, Janes asked Candler why he ran away. The private
investigator said Candler told him he believed Janes and Sanzeri were FBI agents
investigating the death of the sightseers.
Janes said Candler told him he felt sorry for the girls.
Investigators believe in theory
Sanzeri and Janes -- who are ex-police officers -- said the statements by
Candler and Dobbins are significant because they were made without any
prompting.
The investigators said they are willing to take lie-detector tests.
Sanzeri said he has only a theory at this point. He has no physical evidence to
connect Candler to Stayner, let alone the deaths.
Still, he believes Candler -- at the very least -- has information about the
killings.
Sanzeri said Candler and Dobbins had been staying in a remote cabin on Grizzly
Road -- less than two miles from where Julie Sund's body was discovered.
On Feb. 22, 1999, Sanzeri said, a fire damaged a portion of the cabin. It was
about a week after the Yosemite sightseers were seen alive.