Sund/Pelosso/Armstrong 7/26/99
JoAnn
cute! Help!
JoAnn
"Is this life we're living
all part of a great design?"
-Nona Hendryx
JoAnn
<http://www.modbee.com/metro/story/0,1113,93299,00.html>
Excerpts from modbee:
Handyman charged in grisly killing; prime suspect in others
By MICHAEL G. MOONEY
BEE STAFF WRITER
(Published: Monday, July 26, 1999)
A motel handyman written off months ago by investigators
emerged Sunday as the man suspected of beheading a 26-year-old
naturalist at Yosemite National Park, as well as a prime suspect in the
brutal slayings of three Yosemite sightseers more than five months ago.
James Maddock, special agent in charge of the FBI's Sacramento
office, said Stayner was arrested Saturday night and charged with
Armstrong's murder. He was expected to be arraigned today in federal
court in Sacramento.
But FBI investigators made
***another startling discovery while questioning Stayner and searching
his apartment above the Cedar Lodge Restaurant***,
***evidence linking him to the brutal murders of the sightseers***
"During the last 24 hours," Maddock said at a noon news
briefing in Sacramento, "we have developed ***specific information
linking Stayner to the Sund- Pelosso murders***
With Stayner's arrest, we believe no other person involved in any of
these murders is still on the loose.
"The possible involvement of other individuals, aside from
Stayner, in the Sund-Pelosso case is still being evaluated."
Maddock confirmed a report by The Bee, that appeared in Sunday
editions, that Stayner had been questioned during the early stages of
the Sund-Pelosso investigation and subsequently dismissed as a serious
suspect.
"I have asked myself whether we could have done anything
differently," Maddock said, "that might have prevented the murder of
Joie Armstrong. I have struggled with that issue for the last 24 hours,
and continue to do so.
"Nevertheless, when I consider the resources that have been
brought to bear on these cases, the dedication of the men and women on
the task force, the quality of the information we've received from a
wide variety of sources and the extraordinary efforts taken to conceal
and destroy evidence, I am confident we have done everything that
reasonably could have been done."
Francis and Carole Carrington, the father and mother of Carole
Sund and grandparents of Julie Sund, said they were relieved that
someone finally had been identified by name as a suspect in the death of
their loved ones. They also expressed sadness over the death of
Armstrong.
News of Armstrong's death late last week sent shock waves
through the Sund and Carrington families. Francis Carrington, in a
telephone interview with The Bee, said the fact that Armstrong had been
***cut with a knife and decapitated was eerily similar to a wound
suffered by his granddaughter***
Law enforcement sources have ***confirmed that Julie Sund's
throat was cut. The wound was so deep, sources said, that she nearly had
been decapitated***
The Bee agreed to withhold that information until someone was
identified as a suspect in the case.
For months, investigators trying to solve the sightseer murders
have focused on a loose- knit band of ex-cons with a history of
violence, sexual assault and drug abuse. At least 10 individuals were
caught in an FBI- led parole sweep of Stanislaus County at the end of
March.
Grand jury inquiry
In mid-April, more possible suspects and witnesses in the
Sund-Pelosso case were rounded up and ordered to testify before a
federal grand jury in Fresno. A few weeks later, Maddock, without
identifying anyone by name, confirmed what The Bee and other news media
outlets already were reporting: that the key players in the sightseer
slayings had been arrested and were in jail on unrelated charges.
"That was my sincere belief," Maddock said Sunday, "based on
the results of intense investigative efforts and the best information
available at the time. In light ***of yesterday's arrest, however, the
possible involvement of others in the murders of Carole, Julie and
Silvina is being re- evaluated.***"
***Does that mean Stayner may have acted alone? **
Such speculation is premature, Maddock warned. "We have a great
deal left to do on this case. Therefore, I cannot discuss the specific
investigative steps that are still under way."
***Until the murder of Armstrong, sources have told The Bee,
investigators were moving rapidly toward filing charges against at least
one of the unnamed individuals referred to by Maddock -- possibly by the
end of this week.***
The new evidence linking Stayner to the slayings, however, is
likely to have put that ***effort on hold***
{I wonder who that lucky SOB is? Dykes?}
As of Sunday, Maddock said investigators had been ***unable to
establish a connection between Stayner and the unnamed suspects still
jailed***
He also said that no evidence had been uncovered that Stayner and
Armstrong had known each other.
News of Stayner's arrest in the murder of Armstrong and his
apparent involvement in the sightseer slayings, shocked residents of El
Portal, where Stayner had lived for the past two years, and Merced,
where he grew up.
A number of residents in and around El Portal simply cannot
believe Stayner is capable of murdering anyone. They describe him as
pleasant and polite, a dependable worker and nonviolent.
"Lots of people here know him," said Bob Reed, who works at the
Indian Flat RV Park, a stone's throw from the Cedar Lodge. "I'm not
going to believe it until it's proven. They (authorities) have been
wrong about people here before."
Much speculation
Back in El Portal, a number of residents are convinced that no
one person could have created so much horror, especially in the Sund and
Pelosso slayings.
"The logistics of it say it had to involve more than one
person," said Letty Carolyn Barry, owner of Yosemite Redbud Lodge, west
of Cedar Lodge.
***Privately, some members of the Sund-Pelosso task force are
saying the same thing***, sources have told The Bee.
Those sources say it is difficult for some investigators to believe
Stayner could have gotten the jump on all three women without any help,
let alone dispose of their bodies.
During the early stages of the investigation, before the bodies
of the Sunds and Pelosso had been discovered, Maddock said investigators
believed more than one person had committed the crimes.
Maddock said investigators believed the women met a violent end
at or near the Cedar Lodge. Later, reports began to surface that Julie
Sund had been kept alive for a period of time -- anywhere from a few
hours to a few days -- before she was killed. Investigators were told
that the girl may have been brought to Modesto, where she was sexually
abused before being killed.
Maddock said that because Armstrong was killed at a national
park, he will be prosecuted in federal court. It still was not clear
Sunday, however, whether the Sund and Pelosso murders would be the
subject of federal or state prosecution.
A meeting between the FBI, U.S. attorney, Mariposa and Tuolumne
County officials would be held later this week to discuss possible
consolidation of all four prosecutions.
"Now our mission is clear," Maddock said. "We will work with
our task force partners, the U.S. attorney's office and the (Mariposa
and Tuolumne) district attorneys to ensure that Cary Stayner is
successfully prosecuted for the murder of Joie Armstrong, and to see
that charges are filed as soon as possible in the deaths of Carole and
Julie Sund and Silvina Pelosso."
JoAnn
Stayner arrest shocks Merced residents
By DARYL FARNSWORTH and KEN CARLSON
<http://www.modbee.com/metro/story/0,1113,93302,00.html>
BEE STAFF WRITERS
(Published: Monday, July 26, 1999)
MERCED -- People in this city on the road to Yosemite National
Park were dismayed to learn one of their own was linked to Yosemite
homicides.
"I think it's hard to conceive that anyone, in any community,
would think of doing something like that," said Flip Hassett, who has
done everything from manage a hospital to tend bar in this city of
62,000.
Merced, about 70 miles from Yosemite, was thrust into the
spotlight Sunday when the FBI announced Merced native Cary Anthony
Stayner, 37, is charged with killing Yosemite naturalist Joie Ruth
Armstrong and is linked with the murders of three Yosemite sightseers.
"It's just kind of strange because the Stayner family has gone
through a lot," said Henry Strength, Merced County's assistant sheriff.
"Here's a family that has had a son kidnapped, then killed in a traffic
accident, another family member who was murdered and then this."
Strength said department officials have given what little they
know about Cary Stayner to the FBI.
In turn, facts provided by the FBI about the Yosemite slayings
will be passed to Merced County detectives, Strength said, to check for
any similarities with unsolved murders there.
***Other than a drug-related arrest in 1997, Stayner never has
been suspected of a serious crime in Merced County***
Stayner is one of five children, two boys and three girls, born
to Delbert and Kay Stayner. The family lived in a modest single-story
home at 1655 Bette St. in southeast Merced.
After Steven Stayner was kidnapped in December 1972 from a
shopping center on Highway 140, only a few blocks from his home, the
family continued to live in the house in hopes that some day Steven
would return home.
Steven returned home in March 1980. He died in a motorcycle
crash nine years later.
Cary Stayner's uncle, Jesse Stayner, was shot to death in
December 1990. The homicide has not been solved.
The Stayner family lived in the Bette Street house until 1989
when Delbert and Kay Stayner sold it to Ennis Mayberry. Mayberry, now
36, was in the Air Force and stationed at Castle Air Force Base in
Atwater.
"I dealt mostly with the parents and their real estate agent,
and I didn't meet the (Stayner) children," Mayberry said Sunday
afternoon from the Bette Street house.
"I know that the Stayner family was a tight and lovable
family," he said.
Mayberry, now a correctional officer at Dublin's federal
prison, said he has never been uncomfortable living in the house.
"Nothing bad happened here," he said. "And I never have had a bad
feeling about being here. Even though I didn't know him, I did feel bad
about what happened (to Steven Stayner)."
JoAnn
Excerpts from modbee:
Handyman's arrest a stunner
By TY PHILLIPS,
DARYL FARNSWORTH
and JEFF JARDINE
BEE STAFF WRITERS
(Published: Monday, July 26, 1999)
When kidnapping victim Steven Stayner returned to his Merced
family in 1980 following seven years in captivity, he became the focus
of national media attention.
Stayner's sisters and brothers, including Cary, were pushed
into the background.
Now, nearly 20 years later, it's Cary Stayner who stands alone
in the spotlight.
Stayner, an avid outdoorsman who likes to hike and sunbathe in
the nude, has been charged with the murder of 26-year-old Joie Ruth
Armstrong, whose decapitated body was found Thursday in Yosemite
National Park.
He also has been identified as the prime suspect in the murders
of three Yosemite sightseers. That case is more than 5 1/2 months old.
Suddenly, however, FBI investigators are asking a new question:
Who is Cary Stayner?
With youthful and clean-cut good looks, the 37-year-old
handyman at El Portal's Cedar Lodge doesn't much resemble the other men
investigated in the Sund-Pelosso case. Interviews with co-workers and
former neighbors and classmates revealed that most, yet not all, are
shocked at the latest twist in this bizarre case.
In the lodge restaurant on Sunday, where Stayner was known to
eat lunch almost daily, two televisions told the story.
There were audible gasps from women who worked the breakfast
shift, people who knew "Cary" -- as in "Hi, Cary. How are you?"
***"He was a nice, clean-cut guy," said one waitress, declining
to give her name.***
(Cedar Lodge employees have been told there are two people authorized
to speak about the case: the president and his spokesman.) "His hair is
cut nice. He's always clean. He was a very handsome guy, really nice,
polite, friendly."
Her colleague Irmi Freitas recalled ***seeing Stayner in
conversations about the missing and eventually murdered women***
"We all sat in the bar," she said. "We said how we couldn't
believe it about these women. And Cary would be there in the bar when
they were talking about it."
"Nobody believes he would hurt a fly," said Letty Carolyn
Barry, owner of the Yosemite Redbud Lodge, 2 1/2 miles west of the Cedar
Lodge. "He didn't have a criminal record. Everybody likes him. He's a
good worker, showed up on time, and believe me, everybody knows
everybody around here."
The gruesome nature of the murders contradicts everything El
Portal residents believe they know about Stayner.
"This is a small community," said Bob Reed, who works at the
Indian Flat RV Park. "It doesn't take long to find out who the (idiots)
are."
Reed said ***Stayner doesn't fit the methamphetamine user
profile that reportedly applies to the other suspects in the case.
"Cary is too heavy to be a speed freak,***
" Reed said. "He probably smoked some pot, but I've never seen anything
about him that makes me think he was a tweaker (meth user)."
Stayner has no known criminal history, though he was arrested
on March 28, 1997. Merced and Mariposa county narcotics agents
***arrested him for possession and sales of marijuana and LSD. The
charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.***
Stayner was born Aug. 13, 1961, the oldest son of Delbert and
Kay Stayner. He and four siblings were raised in a small, single-story
home on Bette Street in southeast Merced.
If there were any signs of violence, few saw them. But the
Stayner family had more than its share of tragedy.
****Cary was living with his uncle, Jesse Stayner, in 1990 when
Jesse was shot and killed****
in his Merced home. The shooting occurred about 10 years after Cary's
younger brother, Steven, returned home after being kidnapped and
sexually abused for seven years.
The other family, Tim and Vicky Tatum, live next door to the
Stayners' former home. Vicky grew up there.
Once, Cary Stayner accompanied Vicky Tatum and her family on a
camping trip when they were in high school. There,
***Stayner made unwanted sexual advances toward Vicky***, Tim said.
He described Stayner as the kind of guy who "knew how to get
around. He ***knew all the back roads. I wouldn't put anything past
him." ***
He drew cartoons for the school newspaper, and was voted "most
creative" by his senior class.
"I wouldn't say he was really popular," said Nancy
Hamlin-Barber of Merced, who was in Stayner's graduating class.
"Although if someone said, 'Oh gosh, did you see Cary Stayner's
cartoon?' people knew who he was. That's what he was known for."
Denise Smothers-Rust of Merced remembers looking over Stayner's
shoulder in history class and marveling at his intricate drawings.
"I just remember him as a nice guy," Smothers-Rust said. "There
would have been a lot of other creepy guys in school I thought would
have done something like this, but not him."
JoAnn
BEE STAFF WRITER
<http://www.modbee.com/metro/story/0,1113,93307,00.html>
(Published: Monday, July 26, 1999)
SACRAMENTO -- The strain of the past five months filled the eyes of
Francis and Carole Carrington as they listened to the FBI's James
Maddock identify Cary Stayner as a prime suspect in the murders of their
daughter, granddaughter and a family friend from Argentina.
It was a bittersweet moment for the Eureka couple.
"We're happy that the case is maybe coming to a close," Carole
Carrington said Sunday, "that maybe we're learning something."
Finally, someone had been implicated by name in the deaths of
their 42-year-old daughter, Carole Sund; granddaughter Julie Sund, 15;
and Silvina Pelosso, 16, of Cordoba, Argentina. But the big break came
as the result of another horrific death: the murder of Joie Ruth
Armstrong, a 26-year-old naturalist who worked for the Yosemite
Institute.
"I feel so sorry for the Armstrong family," Francis Carrington
said. "We hope this is brought to a just end."
Stayner was a name the Carringtons
***had not heard before from those investigating the deaths of the Sunds
and Pelosso,***
"This is a complete surprise to us," Carole Carrington told
reporters as a noon news briefing outside FBI headquarters was breaking
up. "We received a call (from the FBI) Saturday evening and decided to
drive down here."
The Eureka couple's son-in- law, Jens Sund, decided to remain
at home, also in Eureka.
Sund said he did not plan to attend any of the pretrial
hearings or the trial itself for the person or people ultimately held
responsible for the deaths of his wife and daughter.
"I want them prosecuted, all of them," Sund said. "I want them
to go to the electric chair or whatever they do with them now. (But) I
won't dedicate myself to that. My job is here, with my children.
"It's up to law enforcement to bring them to justice. I still
have a lot of confidence in what (the investigators) are doing."
Sund and his children continue to undergo counseling.
Francis and Carole Carrington said the children -- Jimmy, 11,
Regina, 13, and Jonah, 14 -- seem to be coping well. They continue to
worry about Jens, however, and wonder whether he will be able to recover
fully.
"A lot of things go through your mind," Francis Carrington
acknowledged in an interview earlier this month in Eureka.
"Were they alive when they burned? How did they die? Did they suffer?"
Knowing is best
Carrington said it's better to know the truth, even if that
truth is disturbing, than to let your imagination run wild. That's why
he and his wife plan to attend some of the pretrial hearings and,
eventually, the trial itself.
They want to know exactly what happened to their loved ones.
"Once whoever did this is charged, it will be kind of a
relief," Carole Carrington said earlier this month. "We hope it's an
airtight case."
Francis Carrington agreed.
"I want to be able to say justice is going to be done," he
said. "I want to see them pay the price, whatever it is."
But Francis Carrington said he refuses to allow his family to
be consumed by revenge.
"There's an old saying that if you practice revenge, you're
digging two graves, one for your enemy and one for yourself," he said.
"I don't want to make this a lifelong deal. I want to see the
family get back to normal. I want my children and grandchildren to trust
and love people, not hate people."
Maggie
>There is a picture of Stayner of the front page of the modbee site. He's
>cute! Help!
>
><http://www.modbee.com>
***I know what you mean. Another poster said that he liked to tell people the
story about his brother being kidnapped--I bet that roped in a lot of women.
Although I have long thought it was unlikely that Carole would have given a
ride to a stranger, I think it's entirely possible that if this good looking,
clean cut Cedar Lodge employee (probably what he told people) with the sob
story about his brother had asked for a short lift, she *might* have given him
one.
Maggie
"This would be a great country if you could keep the Republicans out of the
bedroom and the Democrats out of the boardroom."--Lowell Weicker
Maggie
>Her colleague Irmi Freitas recalled ***seeing Stayner in
>conversations about the missing and eventually murdered women***
>****Cary was living with his uncle, Jesse Stayner, in 1990 when
>Jesse was shot and killed****
>***arrested him for possession and sales of marijuana and LSD. The
>charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.***
***I may have to personally lead a crusade to tear Maddock's appendages from
him, limb, by limb. I hope he's having trouble sleeping.
JoAnn
Suspect in beheading linked to triple slaying
Excerpts from the San Francisco Chronicle
URL:
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/07/26/MN45093.DTL>
Cary Stayner -- member of a family traumatized years ago by the
sensational kidnapping of his brother Steven -- is expected to be
charged today in the decapitation slaying of a naturalist and has been
named by the FBI as the prime suspect in the February slayings of three
Yosemite tourists.
In a dramatic press conference yesterday, FBI Special Agent in Charge
James Maddock announced that Stayner, a 37-year-old maintenance man, was
arrested Saturday at a nudist camp near Sacramento. He is scheduled to
appear today in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on charges that he
killed Joie Ruth
Yesterday marked the ***first time that the FBI had officially named
anyone as a suspect in the disappearance of Carole Sund, her 15-
year-old daughter Julie and their 16-year-old friend Silvina Pelosso***
Until now, authorities have said that the key participants in their
killings were all behind bars on unrelated charges.
``During the last 24 hours, we have developed specific information
linking Stayner to the Sund-Pelosso murders,´´ said Maddock, who
declined to elaborate. ``With Stayner´s arrest, we believe that no
other people in any of these murders are still on the loose.´´
The ***FBI's belated naming of Stayner***
seemed to bring a sense of finality to the Sund family, which has
endured months of waiting for answers.
Stayner was questioned early in the Sund-Pelosso investigation, but was
excluded as a suspect. He worked as a maintenance man at the Cedar Lodge
in El Portal, where the three slain sightseers were last seen alive
February 15.
A ***tip eventually led FBI agents to Stayner in connection with
Armstrong's killing***. Investigators then later found ***undisclosed
evidence and information that linked Stayner to the Sund-Pelosso
killings***, Maddock said.
Yesterday, Maddock appeared to be trying ***to head off potential
criticism that the FBI had made a mistake by initially overlooking
Stayner***
``I ask myself if we could have done anything differently that would
have prevented the death of Joie Armstrong,´´ he said reflectively.
``I´ve struggled with that over the last 24 hours, and I continue to
do so . . . (but) I´m confident that we´ve done everything that
reasonably could have been done.``
``I´d say the whole Stayner family was pretty well traumatized by the
Steven kidnapping,´´ Bill Bailey, the now-retired Merced chief of
detectives who supervised the Steven Stayner kidnapping case, said
yesterday.
Years later, the family suffered the effects of another violent crime
when the boys' uncle, Jerry Stayner, was killed in his home in December
1990 in Merced.
Merced County Assistant Sheriff Henry Strength said his department is
***now reopening its investigation into the uncle's death and looking at
Cary Stayner. ``We are looking at him to see if there is any connection
with him and his uncle´s death,***
´´ Strength said. ``Any time we get information on an open homicide,
we need to take a look at that.´´
He said he could not comment as to ***whether Cary Stayner had been a
suspect at the time his uncle was killed.***
Federal authorities, meanwhile, are being very secretive about why they
think Stayner was involved with the sightseers' slayings.
They did say, however, that there was no known connection between
Stayner and a number of people who are currently in jail and are
unofficially considered suspects in the case.
Investigators had found fibers and other physical evidence that
connected a loose-knit group of Central Valley ex-convicts to the
February abductions.
But law enforcement officials were still working on the entire puzzle
and had not charged anyone with the slayings.
``I do look forward to the day when I can share the details,´´
Maddock said. ``I can´t, unfortunately, discuss specific steps that
were taken or not taken.´´
The Yosemite Institute, which employed Armstrong as a naturalist,
maintains its **main office in El Portal and has some housing there for
employees.***
Maddock said yesterday that there was no evidence that Stayner and
Armstrong had a relationship.
From his drawn and haggard look, as well as his clipped tone, it
appeared that ***Maddock was disturbed by the most recent twist in the
Sund-Pelosso murders,*** the high- profile case he has been supervising
for the past five months.
He said that earlier in the long investigation, agents had publicly said
they thought they had the key players in the sightseers' slayings behind
bars.
``That was my sincere belief at the time,´´ he said. ``But in light
of (Saturday´s) arrest, that´s been re-evaluated.´´
CHRONOLOGY OF YOSEMITE KILLINGS
The grisly discovery of 26-year-old Joie Ruth Armstrong's body in
Yosemite National Park on Thursday came just five months after Carole
Sund, her 15-year-old daughter Julie and family friend Silvina Pelosso
were kidnapped and killed while on a sightseeing trip to the park.
Law enforcement officials had been attempting to piece together the
entire puzzle of the trio's disappearance when Cary Stayner, 37, was
arrested Saturday in connection with the killing of Armstrong.
Following Stayner's arrest, FBI agents said connections between the
cases had developed, although they declined to elaborate.
Cliff Griffith
> ***I know what you mean. Another poster said that he liked to tell people the
> story about his brother being kidnapped--I bet that roped in a lot of women.
Maggie,
It must not be Patty to whom you're referring. Here's what she posted:
Ludwig said Stayner rarely spoke about his family or what had
happened
to Steven.
"The only time was when foreigners would come in and he'd start
telling
them, 'Yeah, my brother's famous, he's been on television,' " Ludwig
said
about tourists who came through the town. "But he never really told
people
who his brother was, that he was Steven Stayner. I found out through my
mom."
It doesn't sound to me as if he liked to tell people about Steven or to
use the story as a pick-up line.
Linda
> Although I have long thought it was unlikely that Carole would have given a
> ride to a stranger, I think it's entirely possible that if this good looking,
> clean cut Cedar Lodge employee (probably what he told people) with the sob
> story about his brother had asked for a short lift, she *might* have given him
> one.
>
JoAnn
There is a picture of Stayner of the front page of the modbee site. He's
cute! Help!
Magie wrote:
***I know what you mean. Another poster said that he liked to tell
people the story about his brother being kidnapped--I bet that roped in
a lot of women. Although I have long thought it was unlikely that Carole
would have given a ride to a stranger, I think it's entirely possible
that if this good looking, clean cut Cedar Lodge employee (probably what
he told people) with the sob story about his brother had asked for a
short lift, she *might* have given him one.
~~~I think of Bundy when I see this guy, look how long Bundy got away
with his crimes by being a charmer and not commiting other dumb crimes.
I still think that they would have pulled Stayner in if he even had an
umpaid parking ticket. He didn't and they missed their big chance.
About the dismemberment, shades of the trucker who turned himself in
carrying one of his victims breasts? No telling what they found but I
say it was BIG.
JoAnn
Stayner, Armstrong,Silvina and Mrs. C.
Lots of info on one page.
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/07/26/MN45093.DTL>
Maggie
>> ***I know what you mean. Another poster said that he liked to tell people
>the
>> story about his brother being kidnapped--I bet that roped in a lot of
>women.
>
>Maggie,
>It must not be Patty to whom you're referring.
***It's not.
Linda said:
Here's what she posted:
>
> Ludwig said Stayner rarely spoke about his family or what had
>happened
>to Steven.
> "The only time was when foreigners would come in and he'd start
>telling
>them, 'Yeah, my brother's famous, he's been on television,' " Ludwig
>said
>about tourists who came through the town. "But he never really told
>people
>who his brother was, that he was Steven Stayner. I found out through my
>mom."
>
>It doesn't sound to me as if he liked to tell people about Steven or to
>use the story as a pick-up line.
***You must have missed the post by the person who described how Stayner had
talked with a reporter (TV, I believe) who said he made a big deal of the
connection.
Maggie
>I still think that they would have pulled Stayner in if he even had an
>umpaid parking ticket. He didn't and they missed their big chance.
***Stayner was arrested four times on drug charges in 1997 and was living with
his uncle when he was shot and killed a number of years ago. Surely he was a
suspect in that crime. If the FBI had made any inquiries at all they certainly
would have discovered this info. Additionally, he was, according to a story
you posted today, seen talking to the women at the restaurant.
>
JoAnn said:
>About the dismemberment, shades of the trucker who turned himself in
>carrying one of his victims breasts? No telling what they found but I
>say it was BIG.
***I agree. It was something obvious and irrefutable--not just a few drops of
blood or a knife. I wonder if it could have been photos of the bodies? (But
body parts are still my best guess.)
JoAnn
JoAnn said:
There is a picture of Stayner of the front page of the modbee site. He's
cute! Help!
Maggie wrote:
***I know what you mean. Another poster said that he liked to tell
people the story about his brother being kidnapped--I bet that roped in
a lot of women. Although I have long thought it was unlikely that Carole
would have given a ride to a stranger, I think it's entirely possible
that if this good looking, clean cut Cedar Lodge employee (probably what
he told people) with the sob story about his brother had asked for a
short lift, she *might* have given him one.
~~~I think of Bundy when I see this guy, look how long Bundy got away
with his crimes by being a charmer and not commiting other dumb crimes.
I still think that they would have pulled Stayner in if he even had an
umpaid parking ticket. He didn't and they missed their big chance.
About the dismemberment, shades of the trucker who turned himself in
carrying one of his victims breasts? No telling what they found but I
say it was BIG.
JoAnn
Kitten Spowert
Maggie
>~~~KTVU TV just reported that Armstrong's head was found in the park.
***There goes my head-in-the-apartment theory
JoAnn
<http://www.times-standard.com/mainhed/docs/1999/july_1999/july26_1999/sund_main.htm>
Man accused in Yosemite murder
By Laura Casey
Alameda News Group
SACRAMENTO -- A motel handyman was arrested in the murder of a woman at
Yosemite National Park and named a suspect in the deaths of three Eureka
tourists, the FBI said Sunday.
Cary Stayner is accused of killing 26-year-old Joie Ruth Armstrong,
whose decapitated body was found near her Yosemite housing on Thursday.
Stayner, 37, was arrested Saturday. He is expected to be arraigned today
in U.S. District Court on a murder charge.
Stayner, who was questioned at the time of the previous murders but
ruled out as a suspect, is now believed to have played a role in that
crime, said Special Agent in Charge James M. Maddock.
He would not elaborate on how authorities were led to Stayner. With
Stayner's arrest, investigators said they believe they have all suspects
involved in both cases in custody. Maddock said Sunday that "no other
person involved in any of these murders is still on the loose."
In light of the new development, Maddock said they would be reevaluating
the possible roles of others who have come under scrutiny in the
sightseers case.
"We are looking at whether (Stayner) is solely responsible or if others
are involved," Maddock said.
Over the weekend, the FBI
***scoured Stayner's apartment at the Cedar Lodge where he had been
working since 1997.***
Maddock noted that this has been a very difficult investigation.
***Numerous tips -- many false or unfounded*** --were given to
authorities after the tourists' murders and police had a difficult time
trying to sort out viable information from so many sources.
Maddock said Sunday that the ***head, which had been missing, had been
recovered. He would not elaborate***
.
FBI Spokesman Nick Rossi told The Times-Standard Sunday that
***Pelosso's head was found with the body***
Since early on in the investigation rumors were flying around Tuolumne
County that ***Pelosso's head was missing and that's why forensic
scientists had trouble identifying her body with dental records.***
"There is no truth to those rumors," Rossi said.
He said the identification process was difficult because the bodies were
so badly burned and there were problems getting records from Argentina.
The three women from Eureka stayed at the Cedar Lodge, where Stayner has
***rented a room above the restaurant for the past two years***
.
©1999 Times-Standard
Monday, July 26, 1999 ; a 1
Kitten Spowert
himself in carrying one of his victims breasts? No telling what they
> I thought about that last night but surely they wouldnt bury Juli with
bodyparts or hunks of flesh missing would they? Or would they?...
Kitty..............
JoAnn
<http://www.times-standard.com/mainhed/docs/1999/july_1999/july26_1999/sund_side.htm>
Sund, Pelosso families hope for closure to case
By Nate Ferguson
The Times-Standard
SACRAMENTO -- Family members were surprised to learn a man arrested
Saturday on suspicion of another murder may be linked to the slayings of
three sightseers from Eureka.
They thought the suspects were already behind bars.
Vickie Caton, Carole's sister-in-law and Juli's aunt who now lives in
Alamo near Walnut Creek, said the family was briefed about the
development in the case before Sunday's press conference in
Sacramento. She said she prepared two of Carole Sund's three children
who were visiting her family from their home in Eureka.
But Caton said the news still doesn't bring closure in the case since,
barring a confession, there will likely be a lengthy trial. And Yosemite
conjures up bad memories.
"I don't think I could go to Yosemite for a very long time," she said.
"But the solution isn't to live in fear."
Carole Sund's husband, Jens Sund, had been out of town and said Sunday
night that he wasn't prepared to comment until he learned more about the
news.
In Argentina, the Pelosso family is aware of new developments in the
case based on calls from reporters to their home in Cordoba, according
to Paola Pelosso, Silvina's sister.
Silvina's parents, Jose and Raquel Pelosso had just spent a week in the
United States to appear on a TV news show, Paola said. The Pelossos
returned to Argentina Sunday, but were away from home for the day.
Paola is keeping informed on the case by reading reports on the
Internet.
Humboldt All-Star Cheer-leaders coach Teresa Creech, who coached team
member Juli, said she has always been careful about where the team stays
as they travel for competitions, knowing ***certain motels are safe***.
She said she will be careful -- if not more careful -- from now on.
"We're not going to change it (traveling). That's what we do," she said.
"I've always been a cautious person, but Carole was that way."
The parents of Carole Sund, Carole and Francis Carrington, were at the
FBI's press conference Sunday.
The family showed exhausted relief at the news that the FBI may have
found the killer of their daughter, granddaughter and family friend.
"We're happy that it looks like this case will close,'' Carole
Carrington said.
The Pelosso family spent time with the
***Carringtons this weekend and left for home without knowing about the
arrest,***
said Francis Carrington.
"We feel very bad that they can't be here to see this case resolved,''
he said.
***Before Stayner was arrested, the Carringtons also reached out to the
Armstrong family by offering reward money***
for any information in her case.
"I understand now that they would like to get together,'' Francis
Carrington said.
"We've been going through this a lot longer than they have, so maybe we
can offer them some help.''
©1999 Times-Standard
Monday, July 26, 1999
JoAnn
JoAnn
News
<http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/front/docs/yosemite26.htm>
Motel worker linked to slayings of Sunds
Yosemite deaths: FBI names him prime suspect in tourist killings.
BY BRANDON BAILEY, DAN REED
AND HALLYE JORDAN
EL PORTAL -- The man charged Sunday with murdering a Yosemite naturalist
is a motel handyman who sat with co-workers last winter and shook his
head over the disappearance of three female tourists.
Now, in a radical shift for their investigation, FBI agents have
announced that 37-year-old Cary Stayner is a prime suspect in the
tourists' deaths as well.
Stayner's arrest is the latest sharp turn in a massive, five-month
manhunt that has led police and federal agents from this scenic Sierra
hamlet to a series of rundown homes and trailer parks in Modesto and
other Central Valley farm towns.
Weeks ago, authorities had assured the public that those responsible for
the February kidnapping and slayings of a Eureka woman and two teenage
girls were safely behind bars on other charges while authorities
continued to compile evidence in the case.
But on Thursday, the body of a fourth victim was ***found beheaded and
discarded*** by a stream in Yosemite National Park
.
A federal magistrate Sunday approved a criminal complaint charging
Stayner with murder in the death of Joie Ruth Armstrong, a 26-year-old
naturalist whose decapitated body was found Thursday in a wooded area of
the park not far from El Portal. Stayner is expected to appear in
federal court on that charge today.
Maddock said he hopes to see charges filed ``as soon as possible´´
in the slayings of the Sunds and Silvina.
News of Stayner's arrest brought tears to the eyes of one co-worker, a
woman who often served Stayner lunch or soft drinks at the motel diner.
She recalled talking with him about the slayings of the tourists.
***``He would say, `I just couldn´t believe it,´** ´´ the
woman said Sunday.
Others `re-evaluated´
Previously, authorities acknowledged they were focusing on a group of
ex-convicts who live in the Modesto area but who have never been
formally named or charged in the case. On Sunday, Maddock said, ``The
possible involvement of others in the murders . . . is being
re-evaluated.´´
He added: ``At present, investigators have not established any link
between Stayner and other individuals who have been considered as
possible suspects in the Sund-Pelosso case.´´
That doesn't mean the earlier suspects have been ruled out of the case,
law enforcement sources said Sunday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one source said there was ***still
evidence suggesting the Modesto ex-convicts may have played some role in
either the slayings or their aftermath***
.
If they didn't actually take part in the killings, the source said, they
may have
***handled or helped destroy some of the victims' property or other
evidence after the fact***
.
Still, the arrest of Stayner was an unexpected development to many who
have worked on the case for months. ``It´s definitely caught us by
surprise,´´ said one law enforcement official.
But the arrest was no comfort for Stayner's family, which already had
weathered more than its share of tragedies.
Cary Stayner, who grew up in the Central Valley town of Atwater, had
been working at the Cedar Lodge for nearly two years. A motel spokesman
said Stayner had been temporarily laid off in January and wasn't rehired
until about a month after the three tourists disappeared from the motel.
The motel spokesman said Stayner had
***access to an apartment behind the lodge during the time he was out of
work.***
The 6-foot-tall, 200-pound Stayner is a popular local figure known for
his love of camping and nude sunbathing. He appears to have only a minor
criminal record: He was arrested on suspicion of using and possessing
drugs for sale in 1997, but he was released and formal charges were
never filed.
Several of Stayner's co-workers said Sunday they simply didn't think the
good-looking, friendly handyman was capable of murder. ``He´s so
nice,´´ said one. ``I´m so used to him. . . . He´s just a
great guy, and very funny and intelligent, too.´´
No motive given
In keeping with the tight-lipped stance he has taken throughout the
investigation, Maddock wouldn't say what led investigators to suspect
Stayner or what motive existed for any of the killings. It was unclear
whether Stayner knew
***Armstrong, who had lived in El Portal before moving with friends into
a house inside the park.***
Along with other lodge employees, Stayner had been questioned by
authorities investigating the tourists' disappearance early in the case.
Maddock said Sunday that Stayner wasn't considered a suspect at that
time.
Since February, authorities have combed a large swath of the Sierra and
the Central Valley in their effort to solve the disappearance of Carole
Sund and the two teenage girls whom she had taken on a sightseeing trip
to Yosemite.
Early in the case, investigators had taken a close look at a
***number of El Portal residents who had criminal records, including two
other men who worked at the Cedar Lodge coffee shop***.
Neither man was charged in the tourists' deaths, however, and
authorities later shifted their attention to Modesto -- where Carole
Sund's wallet had been discovered on a busy street.
Until now, the FBI had never officially named any suspects in the case.
But authorities had confirmed privately that they were focusing on a
group of ex-convicts in Modesto, including two half-brothers with prior
records of sexual assault.
Several people in the group were known to use and sell methamphetamine.
They also have been suspected of trafficking in stolen goods.
As of Sunday, however, Maddock said, authorities had found no links
between Stayner and the others who had been considered suspects in the
case.
***Investigators now are scrambling to see whether they can find a
connection, several sources said.***
JoAnn
JoAnn said>About the dismemberment, shades of the trucker who turned
himself in carrying one of his victims breasts? No telling what they
found but I say it was BIG. JoAnn..
MsKi...@webtv.net (Kitten Spowert)
wrote:
I thought about that last night but surely they wouldnt bury Juli with
bodyparts or hunks of flesh missing would they? Or would they?...
Kitty..............
~~~Well....you know the last we heard they were still waiting for
Carole's body and then they were to bury them together in a private
ceremony.
The headstone was put up at that time, bit no burial. With this
disclosure....who knows?
JoAnn
<http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/front/docs/stayner26.htm>
Published Monday, July 26, 1999, in the San Jose Mercury News
Suspect's life marked with tragedy
BY BARBARA FEDER AND GIL JOSÉ DURAN
Mercury News Staff Writers
ATWATER -- Depending on whom you talk to here, there are two Cary
Stayners:
The handsome, clean-cut, ``real good guy´´ who could never have
slain Joie Ruth Armstrong or Carole and Juli Sund or Silvina Pelosso.
And the man who was the subject of ***whispered speculation about the
mysterious death of his uncle nearly a decade ago.***
But until Sunday, the Stayner that Atwater residents were most likely to
talk about was Steven, Cary's younger brother and the victim of one of
California's most infamous crimes.
Then, in 1990, Cary's uncle, Jesse Stayner, was found shot to death with
***his own gun in his Merced home. The crime, which appeared at the time
to involve a burglar, was never solved.***
But at Jesse Stayner's funeral, whispers flew that it
***might have been Cary who was responsible and that his on-again,
off-again drug problems might have played a role***
, said family friend Debra Woods.
Now, in light of Cary Stayner's new arrest, Merced County Assistant
Sheriff Henry Strength said
***officials plan another look at the Jesse Stayner case.***
Although Cary was arrested in connection with narcotics in 1997, he was
never charged, and he had no other criminal record as an adult in Merced
County.
``It´s kind of like the Kennedy family,´´ Strength said of the
Stayners. ``They´ve been through so much.´´
Cary's parents, Delbert and Kay Stayner, could not be reached at their
home in nearby Winton.
Former neighbors described Cary's parents as a hardworking family.
Cary's father worked as a mechanic at the Atwater cannery, retiring when
it changed owners.
``Cary has always been an up-and-up guy,´´ said a young man who
described himself as a longtime friend but refused to give his name. ``I
could never picture him as the type to do something like that. He´s
just the average Joe.´´
Maggie
>``It's kind of like the Kennedy family," Strength said of the
>Stayners. ``They've been through so much."
***Oh, yeah. When I hear "Stayner," I think "Kennedy."
Mignarda
Maggie wrote
>***Oh, yeah. When I hear "Stayner," I think "Kennedy."
>
>
>
Let's see Stayner buy his way out of this one.
__
"I am no swashbuckler, yet I have met steel with steel."
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~mignarda
Unabomber/Zodiac--Now on CD-Rom!
JoAnn
Yosemite murders.
She asked if this will be our next serial killer case. Then she (the
Grace woman) said that Stayner had been linked to the dismemberment
murders of 4 people.
Whoa!
JoAnn
confessed to the beheading and murder of Armstrong. This was before
today's arraignment.
JoAnn
Excerpts:
Handyman Confesses To Yosemite Death
By CHRISTINE HANLEY Associated Press Writer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A motel handyman confessed to the beheading
of a naturalist at Yosemite National Park, the FBI said in an
***affidavit filed today.***
Cary Stayner, who was arrested Saturday,
***provided details about the slaying of 26-year-old Joie Ruth Armstrong
that only police knew about,***
the affidavit said.
Stayner caught the attention of park rangers again last week after
***someone spotted his sport utility vehicle near Ms. Armstrong's
residence an hour after she was last seen there Wednesday night.***
Ms. Armstrong's decapitated body was found Thursday nearby. Her head
wasn't found until later.
FBI agents had questioned Stayner after the body was found -- even
***searching his backpack for her head -- but let him go***.
They decided to ***take him in again after learning that he had failed
to show up to work*** at the Cedar Lodge in El Portal.
Stayner previously was questioned in the slayings but ruled out as a
suspect, Maddock said. He did not elaborate.
``We are looking at whether (Stayner) is solely responsible (for the
sightseers murders) or if others are involved,´´ Maddock said.
AP-NY-07-26-99 1426EDT
07/26
JoAnn
KTVU TV has said the arraignment will be in Sacramento at 1:30pmPDT
He is the prime suspect in S/P
FBI is going to file charges on him for S/P, no date set for that yet
All other court appearances after today will be in Fresno.
Maggie
>FBI agents had questioned Stayner after the body was found -- even
>
>***searching his backpack for her head -- but let him go***.
****This was what was on the ABC site, as well. But CNN says that Stayner
*wouldn't* allow the cops to search his backpack and that's one of the things
that raised their level of suspicion. (I can't help but think he was carrying
that head around with him for a day or two.)
Maggie
>>> ***I know what you mean. Another poster said that he liked to tell people
>>the
>>> story about his brother being kidnapped--I bet that roped in a lot of
>>women.
>>
>>Maggie,
>>It must not be Patty to whom you're referring.
>
>***It's not.
>
>Linda said:
>Here's what she posted:
>>
>> Ludwig said Stayner rarely spoke about his family or what had
>>happened
>>to Steven.
>> "The only time was when foreigners would come in and he'd start
>>telling
>>them, 'Yeah, my brother's famous, he's been on television,' " Ludwig
>>said
>>about tourists who came through the town. "But he never really told
>>people
>>who his brother was, that he was Steven Stayner. I found out through my
>>mom."
>>
>>It doesn't sound to me as if he liked to tell people about Steven or to
>>use the story as a pick-up line.
>
>***You must have missed the post by the person who described how Stayner
>had
>talked with a reporter (TV, I believe) who said he made a big deal of the
>connection.
****Whoops, Linda. Actually it *was* Patty and the woman was a radio reporter.
It was just not the post you posted above. Here's the story:
Mary Ellen Dice, a reporter for KGO radio, said this morning that while
covering the Sund/Pelosso case in February, she met Cary Stayner.
She was swimming in the indoor pool alone at Cedar Lodge when he came in and
got in the spa. He began to talk to her. He told her his name. It had a
ring of familiarity. He said he was the brother of Steven Stayner. He told
her he had worked at the lodge but was laid off in January. She asked him
what he knew about the Sund/Pelosso case and said not much. Then asked what
he was doing with his time but he was vague and mostly wanted to talk about
his brother. She said she even had a creepy feeling then about him. Dice
said he appeared to be very lonely.
This occurs, she says, while investigators are all over Cedar Lodge at the
time.
Everyone now says that they can't believe he did such a thing.
Bradley K. Sherman
>his brother. She said she even had a creepy feeling then about him. Dice
>said he appeared to be very lonely.
I heard Dice on the Radio and *she* gives me a creepy feeling.
Where does sometimes-unemployed Stayner get money for
an SUV, a room at the lodge, and visits to Laguna del Sol?
--bks
JoAnn
4 murders.
They are also looking at the uncle's murder.
Kitten Spowert
purporting to be JFK JR's body being placed in a bag after it was hauled
up on the web. Not that I wanta look but people are greedy and these
days everything is for sale. Kitty...
JoAnn
<http://www.recordnet.com/daily/news/2news072699.html>
Originally published Monday, July 26, 1999
Suspect tied to trio slayings
Latest Yosemite killing
cracks Sund/Pelosso case
By Jennifer Christgau
Record Staff Writer
An autopsy was scheduled Sunday to determine the cause of death, but
Maddock revealed no further details.
"We are surprised and dismayed that one of our employees has been
arrested in connection with the death of Joie Armstrong, and that the
law enforcement indicates there may be a link between him and the
earlier deaths," Cedar Lodge spokesman Jerry Rankin said in a statement.
Stayner has been arrested before, authorities said Sunday.
On March 28, 1997, Stayner was arrested on narcotics charges in the
Merced County city of Atwater. He was booked into Merced County Jail but
released April 1 of that year when
***no complaint was filed,*** Merced County Assistant Sheriff Henry
Strength said.
Of the four charges, three involved marijuana, Strength said:
unauthorized possession of more than 28.5 grams of marijuana, a
misdemeanor; and possession and transportation of marijuana for sale,
both felonies. The remaining charge, a felony, involved possession for
sale of a controlled substance.
"It appears it was going to be methamphetamine," Strength said. But the
charge could also have involved a prescription drug, and Strength said
the information he had was not specific.
At the time of his 1997 arrest, Stayner gave an Atwater address and
listed his occupation as self-employed window installer, Strength said.
Although FBI investigators were seriously looking at members of a
loose-knit ring of methamphetamine convicts already in jail on unrelated
charges, Maddock said developments in the days since Armstrong's death
have changed their focus.
He said that investigators do not know whether Stayner is connected to
any members of the drug ring, but the FBI doesn't believe there are any
more suspects still on the loose.
Maddock would not comment on whether Stayner is considered a
serial-killer suspect or whether he is being investigated for other
homicides.
JoAnn
<http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local01_19990726.html>
FBI names suspect in slaying of trio:
Handyman arrested in fourth Yosemite death
By Mareva Brown and Nancy Vogel
Bee Staff Writers
(Published July 26, 1999)
After five months of intense investigation into the murders of three
Yosemite tourists, the FBI acknowledged Sunday they had overlooked the
man who they now say is the prime suspect: A Cedar Lodge maintenance
worker jailed in the murder of a young naturalist at Yosemite last week.
Meanwhile, authorities in Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties will meet
soon with federal agents to discuss filing charges against Stayner in
the Sund-Pelosso murders.
FBI agents had interviewed Stayner, along with dozens of others who
lived in the area, after the three women vanished Feb. 15, but he was
not considered a suspect until after investigators detained him Saturday
in Armstrong's death.
Employees of Cedar Lodge said Stayner lived and worked intermittently at
the lodge and often stopped in for a Pepsi at the diner where the Sunds
and Pelosso were last seen.
After Stayner was detained, agents discovered "specific" new information
that linked him to the Sund-Pelosso case, the FBI said.
Trail of killings in Yosemite
Investigators have not said how the three died or whether any of them
were sexually assaulted. Similarly, Maddock would not say Sunday how
Armstrong died or whether she was the victim of a sex crime.
But Francis Carrington indicated the Sund-Pelosso killings may have been
particularly brutal.
Meanwhile, as word spread in El Portal of Stayner's possible connection
to the deaths, those who knew him said they were astonished at the news.
"It really convinces me that it's the person you least expect," said a
kitchen worker at the Cedar Lodge, where Stayner lived and worked for
the past two years.
"He's so gentle, he wouldn't hurt a fly," said Letty Barry, owner of the
eight-room Yosemite Redbud Lodge, a couple of miles west of the Cedar
Lodge and near a beach where Stayner liked to skinny-dip.
Barry, who said the sight of Stayner's baby blue, white-striped
International Scout was common along the highway, described the tall,
slim, brown-haired Stayner as "ordinary" looking.
Bob Reed, who said he was a casual friend of Stayner's and works next
door to the Cedar Lodge at the Indian Flat RV Park said he was surprised
at the announcement of Stayner's arrest.
"I'm having difficulty believing this -- I'd like to see it proven
before I buy it," said Reed, who said Stayner told him in late winter or
early spring that he couldn't decide whether to stay in Merced, where he
was making good money, or to return to El Portal, which he loved.
"Everybody liked him," Reed said. "He seemed like a real nice guy."
At least one acquaintance said he found ***Stayner a bit odd***, but
attributed it to the trauma of having had a younger brother abducted and
missing for seven years.
Aaron Ludwig, 16, who lives in Mariposa and works at a Chevron gas
station a few miles east of the Cedar Lodge, said he found it strange
that Stayner bragged to foreign tourists about his brother but never
talked about the case to friends.
Ludwig, who has known Stayner about a year, said he spoke to him once
about the Sund-Pelosso case.
"I don't remember his reaction. I wish I did," he said. "At the time, it
was just like talking to my friend. Everybody was talking about it."
Ludwig said that several months ago the FBI showed him mug shots of some
"scary" characters, none of whom he recognized, in connection with the
Sund-Pelosso case. Since Armstrong's murder, he said, FBI agents have
visited the gas station every day to ask questions about Stayner.
An employee at Cedar Lodge, who asked to remain anonymous, said the FBI
asked him ***Saturday if Stayner had ever talked with him about sexual
fantasies***
.
The FBI's Maddock would not say whether Stayner was being labeled a
serial killer or whether he was being questioned about other, unsolved
cases. But those who have studied serial murders say questions about
sexual fantasies may be relevant to a repeat killer's motive and victim
selection.
"(These type of crimes) don't really have to do with sex," said retired
Sacramento County homicide Detective Kay Maulsby, who helped solve the
I-5 strangler series in the 1980s, putting the killer, Roger Kibbe,
behind bars. "It has to do with power. But it exhibits itself in sexual
acts."
Former California Department of Justice criminal profiler Mike Prodan,
now an agent in South Carolina's justice department, said serial killers
may not appear to be frightening, aggressive or violent until they
contact their prey.
"These people are not mentally ill," said Prodan, who said he is not
familiar with either of the two cases or with Stayner.
"They have issues that make them really dangerous, but these are not
people who are suffering from an irresistible impulse. These are people
who have impulses they don't resist."
He said many killers are very deliberate and controlled, and often are
described by acquaintances as "a quiet guy or a nice guy who kept to
himself."
JoAnn
<http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpnt0e.htm>
Man Confesses To Yosemite Deaths
By CHRISTINE HANLEY Associated Press Writer
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) -- The arrest of a motel handyman
suspected of decapitating a naturalist and killing three Yosemite
sightseers has brought relief to people who could not believe something
so horrible could happen here.
Cary Stayner confessed to last week's beheading of naturalist Joie Ruth
Armstrong, according to an FBI affidavit filed Monday. He provided
details about the killing that only police knew about, the affidavit
said.
***Law enforcement sources speaking on the condition of anonymity said
Monday that Stayner also confessed to killing the Sunds and Pelosso***
.
Stayner, 37, said nothing at a court appearance Monday in Sacramento,
where a federal magistrate ordered him held pending
***arraignment in Fresno on Aug. 6.***
Dressed in an orange jumpsuit, appearing husky and clean-cut, Stayner
nodded as he was asked if he understood the FBI's complaint. The
magistrate ordered a public defender be appointed.
He came under suspicion in Ms. Armstrong's death because his sport
utility vehicle was spotted near her remote cabin an hour after she was
last seen alive there Wednesday night.
***Twice Thursday, park rangers and sheriff's deputies questioned
Stayner and searched his car***
Once, they ***grabbed his backpack to look for Ms. Armstrong's head,
the FBI affidavit said.***
Nothing turned up -- Ms. Armstrong's head was later found near her body
-- and Stayner was let go.
After Stayner failed to show up for work Friday -- his first absence in
a year and a half -- FBI agents looked for him again.
Stayner then confessed to the agents, the FBI said.
He didn't say anything at a court appearance Monday in Sacramento. He
nodded yes when asked if he understood the murder charge against him,
and a public defender was appointed for him.
Maddock said that agents now believe there is a connection between the
murders. One possible
***connection is the way one of the sightseers was killed.
Juli Sund's throat was cut so deeply that she was nearly decapitated,***
The Modesto Bee reported Monday, citing law enforcement sources and an
interview with Francis Carrington, Juli's grandfather.
``Like Mr. Maddock, I feel sad we couldn´t resolve this sooner and
saved someone,´´ Carrington said.
Stayner's uncle Jesse Stayner, died a year later after being shot by his
own gun. The Merced County sheriff's office has
***reopened the case, considering Cary Stayner as a suspect.***
People who knew Cary Stayner in El Portal said he was friendly but
***didn't seem to have close friends***. He would often go to nude
beaches and sunbathe naked in Yosemite, friends said.
Aaron Ludwig, 16, who works at the town's only gas station, said that
despite Stayner's good looks, he ***never had dates or talked about any
girlfriends.***
***``The last time I talked with him he said he was on a dry
spell***,´´ he said.
Stayner was first hired at the Cedar Lodge in August 1997. He took care
of mechanical and electrical breakdowns, and carried a radio so he could
be contacted by the front desk should anyone ask for towels, an extra
cot, or some other need.
Stayner rented a room above the restaurant and ate there regularly. He
wasn't violent in any way, and his criminal record appears limited to
drug charges, four of them filed in 1997.
AP-NY-07-26-99 2108EDT
07/26
JoAnn
<http://www.pressdemo.com/local/news/49649.html>
Suspect tied to Sund case
Man arrested in Yosemite's latest slaying
Jul. 26, 1999
Press Democrat news services
SACRAMENTO --
Cedar Lodge, hunkered along the Merced River as it winds down from
Yosemite, is only a few miles from Armstrong's home in the Foresta
community, an enclave of about 30 cabins in an area not frequented by
tourists.
Earlier targets not charged
The earlier suspects in the Sund killings include a loose-knit group of
ex-convicts from the Modesto area with a history of sex crimes and
methamphetamine use.
Authorities also took into custody two other El Portal men, both Cedar
Lodge employees with records of violent crimes. The men have not been
publicly identified nor charged in the Sund case.
Sources told the San Jose Mercury News that the men, if they didn't
actually take part in the killings, may have handled or helped destroy
some of the victims' property or other evidence related to the killings.
Stayner, a wiry, 6-foot-1 man who often wore a baseball cap and often
frequented a nudist beach just down the Merced River from El Portal, had
one previous arrest.
Authorities say he was arrested in 1997 for possession of marijuana for
sale but was
***released and never charged***.
An avid outdoorsman, he grew up in Merced, Atwater and Winton, a cluster
of farm towns in the Central Valley. The family history was checkered by
tragedy. His uncle was shot to death in Merced in 1990.
After attending high school in Merced, Cary Stayner worked for several
years at C&S Glass in Atwater. Sandy Cox, whose husband owns the
company, couldn't believe Stayner's arrest, especially after the FBI had
given the impression weeks ago it had all the suspects already in
custody.
"We've known Cary since he was a little boy," Cox said. "And we have a
hard time believing this. It just doesn't match up. Out of respect for
his family and the victim's family we don't want to say any more."
Stayner parents leave town
Neighbors said Stayner's parents, who closed up the house and left town
after his arrest late Saturday evening, had lived in a subdivision
composed of neatly spaced mobile homes for about a year. They described
the parents as quiet and friendly, always on the go camping or engaging
in other activities.
On Friday, Delbert Stayner, Steven and Cary's father, said he was sure
his son was not directly involved in Armstrong's death but was worried
that he may have been a witness.
In El Portal, acquaintances said Stayner was a bit of a loner, but never
a troublemaker. He would often go into the Cedar Lodge bar to gulp down
a bowl of soup or, on occasion, have a rum and cola, but little more.
"Yes, I'm shocked. To say the least," said Jim Houtz, who owns the Cedar
Lodge restaurant and regularly tends bar.
"He would have been the furthest of suspects in the locals' minds," said
Kathy Hefner, a manager at the Cedar Lodge restaurant.
A waitress who often served Stayner lunch or soft-drinks at the diner
recalled talking with him about the slayings of the tourists.
"He would say, "I just couldn't believe it,'" she said.
As a maintenance worker, he took care of
***mechanical and electrical breakdowns, and carried a radio so he could
be contacted by the front desk should anyone ask for towels, an extra
cot, or some other need.***
After a ***lengthy interrogation, Stayner was arrested late Saturday
night*** and a federal magistrate in Fresno signed a complaint against
him Sunday morning alleging one count of murder in a federal park. The
crime can carry the death sentence, the FBI said.
© 1998 The Press Democrat
JoAnn
Authorities say Stayner has confessed to four Yosemite murders
Stacy Finz, Michael Taylor, Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 27, 1999
©1999 San Francisco Chronicle
URL:
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/07/27/MNmurders.DTL>
The handyman charged Monday with decapitating a Yosemite naturalist has
***confessed to her slaying as well as to the February killings of three
park sightseers***
authorities said.
Cary Stayner -- a 37-year-old maintenance man at the Cedar Lodge, the
motel just outside the park where the three tourists were last seen --
knew
***details about the four slayings that only the killer might know***
said one source close to the case.
Stayner stood silently in U.S. District Court in Sacramento while being
charged Monday with a single count of murder in the death last week of
naturalist Joie Ruth Armstrong. He nodded his head when a judge asked if
he understood the allegation. If convicted, Stayner could be sentenced
to death.
John Balazs, an assistant public defender with the U.S. attorney's
office, represented Stayner in court and said his mood seemed "fine."
During the interview, Stayner admitted to
***killing not just Armstrong but also Carole Sund, Sund's 15-year-old
daughter Julie and 16-year-old foreign-exchange student Silvina
Pelosso***
said the source close to the case.
Julie Sund was discovered on the banks of Don Pedro Lake a few days
later -- and authorities said her ***head was nearly severed from her
body.***
Agents are ***trying to corroborate Stayner's statements that he killed
the tourists,**** said a federal official who asked not to be named.
Stayner has not been charged in the three sightseers' deaths.
Authorities were hoping that an investigative grand jury in Fresno would
help them gather enough evidence to charge members of the group with the
three slayings women's murders.
But now they are ***questioning whether the men were involved at all***.
"They're not off the hook yet," said the source. "It's very difficult to
believe he (Stayner) did this on his own."
...a park ranger and a Mariposa County sheriff's detective interviewed
Stayner about the killing.
He denied being anywhere near Foresta Road the evening of Armstrong's
death and let investigators search his truck, according to court papers.
When Stayner
***refused to let them look in his backpack, they seized it, fearing
that Armstrong's head***
--missing at the time -- might be hidden inside, according to the
documents. The head was later found near her body.
"In his statement to the interviewing agents, Stayner provided details
about the (Armstrong) crime that are not generally known outside law
enforcement, and which corroborate his confession," court records say.
Merced County authorities say they also want to question Cary Stayner
about the December 26, 1990, shooting death of his 42-year-old uncle,
Jesse "Jerry" Stayner.
Assistant Sheriff Henry Strength of
Merced County said Cary Stayner had been living with his uncle at the
time but had
***not been considered a suspect. "He was somewhere else" when the uncle
was killed, Strength said. "Nothing tied him to the homicide."***
The uncle had come home for lunch from his job as a dispatcher for a
hay-chopping operation when he was shot with his own gun.
Detective Sergeant Rick Marshall said Monday that his review of the case
had turned up no evidence that Cary Stayner was involved in the killing.
Strength said his office is contact ing the FBI to get permission to
talk to Stayner about his uncle's death.
The FBI said little Monday about that killing or the Sund-Pelosso case.
During a press conference Sunday, Special Agent James Maddock said
agents had been unable to make a link between Stayner and the men
already behind bars.
***Stayner has no criminal record***
He was arrested March 28, 1997, in a drug raid on the home of a friend
in Atwater, near Merced, but was released without being charged. "He was
at the wrong place at the wrong time," said one official familiar with
the case.
©1999 San Francisco Chronicle Page A1
JoAnn
JoAnn
<http://www.mercedsun-star.com/stayner.html>
Cary Stayner charged in Yosemite murder – Also suspected in Sund,
Pelosso murders
By Mike De La Cruz
Sun-Star Staff Writer
Merced County Assistant Sheriff Henry Strength verified Sunday Stayner
had been arrested in Merced on drug charges.
Strength said Stayner was
***arrested on March 28, 1997 in Atwater by the Merced/ Mariposa
Narcotics Task Force***
He was ***charged with possession for sale of a controlled substance,
possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, transportation for sale
of marijuana and possession for sale of Marijuana.***
Stayner was booked into Merced County Jail on a ***$35,250 bail and
released on April 1 of that year. No complaint was ever filed,*** the
assistant sheriff said.
At the time of his arrest, Stayner listed himself as a self-employed
window installer.
Strength said this was the only trouble Stayner has had here.
"For us, he doesn't have a history of violence - only of narcotics," he
said.
From what he knows, Strength said he wouldn't think Stayner committed
the slaying of Armstrong and of the three women.
"I'd say, no," Strength said, "one of the crimes is a beheading and the
other involves a burning - however, both are very tragic."
Tragedy would strike the Stayner family again on Dec. 26, 1990 when
Jesse J. Stayner, Cary and Steven's uncle, was shot to death at his home
on Brantley Street. The murder has never been solved.
Strength, said he would ask the sheriff's Major Crimes Unit to review
the near nine-year old murder to see if there is any connection between
the slaying of Jesse Stayner and his nephew, Cary Stayner.
Although FBI investigators were seriously looking at members of a ring
of methamphetamine convicts in jail on unrelated charges, Maddock said
developments in days since Armstrong's death have changed their focus.
He said that investigators do not know whether Stayner is connected to
any members of the drug ring, but the FBI doesn't believe there are any
more suspects still on the loose.
Maddock would not comment on whether Stayner is considered a serial
killer or whether he is being investigated for other murders.
JoAnn
<http://www.kcra.com/lclnews/>
YOSEMITE MURDERS CONFESSION
SOURCES SAY STAYNER CONFESSED TO ALL FOUR KILLINGS
Law enforcement sources tell Channel 3 news Cary Stayner has confessed
to the murders of Yosmite sightseers Carole Sund, her daughter Juli, and
family friend Sylvina Pelosso.
Also, an FBI affidavit says Stayner has confessed to beheading an
employee at Yosemite National Park. Stayner made his initial court
appearance at the Sacramento Federal Courthouse Monday afternoon in
connection with the death of Joie Ruth Armstrong.
JoAnn
Yosemite Suspect Charged
37-Year-Old Handyman Confesses To Murder
<http://kpix.cbsnow.com/prd1/now/template.display?p_who=KPIX&p_story=171311>
Possible Connection To Slayings Of 3 Tourists
Could The FBI Have Prevented Her Death?
SAN FRANCISCO
Monday, July 26,1999 - 08:04 PM ET CBSCary Stayner
(CBS) Motel handyman Cary Stayner was charged with first-degree murder
Monday in the gruesome killing of naturalist Joie Armstrong in Yosemite
National Park. The FBI says the 37 year-old is also suspected in the
murders of three Yosemite sightseers last winter.
Announcing that, with one arrest, they had solved four murders near
Yosemite, FBI agents on Sunday identified Stayner as their prime
suspect. When Stayner appeared for arraignment Monday, court documents
revealed he had confessed to the killing of Armstrong, whose decapitated
body was found just inside the national park last week.
It should have been a triumph for investigators, reports CBS News
Correspondent John Blackstone, but instead they were left wondering
whether their mistakes cost Joie Armstrong her life.
But investigators soon announced that suspects in those killings were
already in custody on other charges.
***"There was a PR motive to that," said Rick Smith, a retired FBI
agent. "I think they were trying to allay any concerns that the citizens
had that there were other people out there committing these murders."
***
{Our toughts exactly!}
But with Armstrong's murder and Stayner's arrest, it is now clear those
***reassurances were tragically wrong.***
The reason for the FBI soul searching, says Smith,
*** is likely to be in evidence not yet revealed. "It will indicate that
an arrest could not have taken place until it did, unfortunately***
" he said. And only after Joie Armstrong fell victim to the killer
investigators missed.
JoAnn
<http://abcnews.go.com/local/kfsn/HomePage/27681_7261999.html>
Held On Murder Charges
Stayner sat quietly in U-S District Court in Sacramento as Magistrate
Peter Nowinski read a summary of the complaint and advised him of his
rights. He was appointed a public defender.
The FBI says Stayner confessed to the beheading death of Joie Ruth
Armstrong at Yosemite National Park.
Agents said in an Affidavit filed that he confessed after he was tracked
down at a nudist colony.
The F-B-I says he's also the prime suspect in the murders of three
Yosemite sightseers.
JoAnn
Stayner Confesses to All Four Yosemite Murders
Sources tell NBC News motel handyman Cary Stayner has confessed not only
to the beheading murder of a Yosemite naturalist, but also to the
murders of the three Yosemite sightseers killed earlier this year.
Stayner was arraigned this afternoon in a Sacramento court in connection
with the murder of Joie Ruth Armstrong, whose body was found last
Thursday near the park employee housing unit where she lived.
JoAnn
<http://news.excite.com/news/r/990726/22/ca-crime-yosemite?printstory=1>
Motel worker charged in grisly Yosemite killing
Updated 10:02 PM ET July 26, 1999
By Suzanne Marmion
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Hotel handyman Cary Stayner was charged
with murder in a U.S. District Court Monday after allegedly confessing
to the FBI that he had killed and beheaded a naturalist in Yosemite
National Park.
Stayner, 37, confessed to murdering Joie Ruth Armstrong after his arrest
on Saturday, according to a court affidavit filed by the Federal Bureau
of Investigation. He was formally charged with the murder in court.
Officials have said he is also a suspect in the murders of three women
tourists near the park in February, and he is reported to be a possible
suspect in the murder of his uncle, who was killed in 1990.
The ***FBI declined, however, to comment on local television reports
that Stayner had confessed to the February killings.***
The FBI affidavit said, "Stayner provided details about the crime that
are not generally known outside law enforcement, and which corroborate
his confession."
The document provided no other details of the crime.
Stayner was not required to enter a plea during his brief court
appearance. The case is in federal court because the crime occurred in a
national park.
A preliminary hearing was set for August 6.
Police questioned Stayner the next day and searched his car, taking his
backpack after he refused to allow it to be searched, the affidavit
said.
REUTERS
LYNN D BAKER
>Excerpts from SFGate:
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/07/2
7/MNmurders.DTL>
>The handyman charged Monday with decapitating a Yosemite naturalist
>has ***confessed to her slaying as well as to the February killings of
three
>park sightseers*** authorities said.
>....knew ***details about the four slayings that only the killer might
know***
>Authorities were hoping that an investigative grand jury in Fresno would
>help them gather enough evidence to charge members of the group with the
>three slayings women's murders.
>But now they are ***questioning whether the men were involved at all***.
>"They're not off the hook yet," said the source. "It's very difficult to
>believe he (Stayner) did this on his own."
My thoughts precisely; I've been rolling this entire thing over in my
brain (such as it is) -- and although I've (most often) believed that this
crime was committed in one session, I still don't see how he solely could
have taken the car to Long Barn, burnt it, and then left the area onfoot,
undetected.
>Merced County authorities say they also want to question Cary Stayner
>about the December 26, 1990, shooting death of his 42-year-old uncle,
>Jesse "Jerry" Stayner. Assistant Sheriff Henry Strength of Merced
>County said Cary Stayner had been living with his uncle at the
>time but had ***not been considered a suspect. "He was somewhere
>else" when the uncle was killed, Strength said. "Nothing tied him to the
>homicide."***
As if we didn't already know that the Anti-Christ is Cary Stayner, it's
possible that he's been committing crimes on an undetected basis for
years (?)
So much for profiling, folks.
So much for knowing much about your friends (all of Stayner's friends
and co-workers have expressed shock that he could *even* be involved
in the slightest.)
Kris
Nora Hiatt
> cute! Help!
>
Thank GOODNESS!!! I was beginning to worry about my sense of taste and
judgement. I think he looks a little bit like my favorite actor,
Tony Bill
Nora
--
Mailto:Nora...@sprintmail.com
Andrew Manar WHERE ARE YOU????
http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/h/i/a/Nora-Ann-Hiatt-WA/
Sherry
wrote:
>
>Where does sometimes-unemployed Stayner get money for
>an SUV, a room at the lodge, and visits to Laguna del Sol?
>
> --bks
s
Maggie
> As if we didn't already know that the Anti-Christ is Cary Stayner, it's
>possible that he's been committing crimes on an undetected basis for
>years (?)
***Several people have mentioned the parallels with Ted Bundy and I think they
may be right. Although Stayner doesn't seem to have the interest in women that
Bundy had (except maybe to kill them), he may well have had Bundy's charm.
Seems to me that we already know of several situations where, in all
likelihood, he talked himself out of being charged with something that a less
smooth-talking or good-looking man might have been arrested for (drugs, uncle's
murder).
>
> So much for profiling, folks.
***Maybe this will be the nail in the coffin. I have always thought that in
this case the profile was crafted to fit the suspects, rather than the other
way around.
>
> So much for knowing much about your friends (all of Stayner's friends
>and co-workers have expressed shock that he could *even* be involved
>in the slightest.)
***Scary, isn't it? And what a shame that the FBI was no better than civilians
at making that determination.
LYNN D BAKER
>>Where does sometimes-unemployed Stayner get money for
>>an SUV, a room at the lodge, and visits to Laguna del Sol?
>> --bks
The "SUV" is a 1971 model, from the reports I've read (sounds like crap.)
The "room at the lodge" ISN'T a room at the lodge. It's a room over the
dining room - not in the motel area.
Nudist camps are pretty cheap to visit.
Kris
Kitten Spowert
can shoot someone maybe even me if the situation were right, but it
takes someone SPECIAL to butcher a fellow human with a knife, something
most people could'nt do underany circumstances. I forgot the point I
was trying to make with this idiotic
rambling....sorry.......Kitty......
vmccu...@my-deja.com
<21569-379...@newsd-112.bryant.webtv.net>,
>
> JoAnn
>
> "Is this life we're living
> all part of a great design?"
> -Nona Hendryx
I would hope that all postings re the Stayner case
also carries the name of Stephen Stayner's child
molester - Kenneth Parnell - and the fact that he
resides, free as a bird, in Berkeley, CA. CNN and
most other t.v. media are protecting this pervert
by not namming him. Channel 2 (KTVU) is the only
local channel to name him and they had tv cameras
in front of him home yesterday morning. The first
place that Parnell took Stephen following his
abduction was to Yosemite where Parnell was
employed. They lived in employee housing for
approximately three months. Parnell was a long
time sex offender who failed to register as
required by law. Publish his name and history as
often as you can. He only served five years for 7
1/2 years of sexually using Stephen Stayner.
Virginia vmccu...@hotmail.com
>
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Kari Sable Burns
horrible crimes, there is no justification but my interest is in
exploring what could have went so wrong with this man's mind and
emotions.
I wonder how much of his childhood family life is responsible for
his rage. As a child he must have felt responsible, as children
generally do when a sibling is harmed. Then during his own
sexually developmental years he learns about his brother's sexual
torture, further adding to his guilt and confusing his emotions.
A few things I remember about the Stayner's case was the mother
saying that at the time of his abduction they were going through
hard times financially with a large, young family. The
grandparents were not particularly helpful or supportive (on the
fathers side I think). These were strict parents, with old
fashioned values. They taught their children to respect and obey
adults. (Which is what got Steven abducted).
Their life was hell of course after the abduction. Family members
had to deal with initial law enforcement suspicion in the
disappearance.
The children lived in an emotionally depressed situation, the
mother said that holidays were very difficult. I believe they
stayed in the same home that was way too small in hopes that
Steven would find his way home. It sounds like everyone, including
the other children suffered greatly during the years they should
have been innocent and carefree.
I also remember the mother discussing their own strict views on
sexuality. They felt homosexual acts were disgusting. Steven
Slayers father dealt with immense anger vented towards almost
everyone after finding out the details of his son's life. He
admitted to having a difficult time even looking at Steven after
knowing what he gone through, for a period.
Children growing up in the shadow of their brother's loss, with
all the associated fears and guilt, feeling helpless, and
unimportant by their parents grief. I'm sure there were some
feelings of jealousy that they did not have the emotional hold on
them there missing brother did.
After Steven was free life was not normal according to his mother.
Stevenhad a childhood of torture to try to overcome during the
most difficult time of a young man's development, while trying to
return to a supposedly normal family life. He had been raised in a
situation where he was allowed to stay late, drink, smoke
marijuana and was now returned to a very different style of
living. He felt like he didn't belong anywhere.
Steven also received a substantial reward for the child he rescued
from Parnell. So he also had a bankroll his family were very much
financially struggling, blue collar people and the children
unspoiled. Steven could afford things like new cars and a flashy
lifestyle, which created animosity between his siblings. All of
this information is from memory of an interview I heard with
Steven's mother on either the Today show or other similar show
around the time the TV movie came out. Steven also made money on
that I believe. By that time he was married with a baby and had
settled down.
It makes me wonder about the impact on other victim's families as
well.
K
: > "We've known Cary since he was a little boy,"
: Cox said. "And we have a
: > hard time believing this. It just doesn't match
: up. Out of respect for
: > his family and the victim's family we don't want
: to say any more."
: >
: > Stayner parents leave town
: >
: > Neighbors said Stayner's parents, who closed up
: the house and left town
: > after his arrest late Saturday evening, had
: lived in a subdivision
: > composed of neatly spaced mobile homes for about
: a year. They described
: > the parents as quiet and friendly, always on the
: go camping or engaging
: > in other activities.
: I would hope that all postings re the Stayner case
: also carries the name of Stephen Stayner's child
: molester - Kenneth Parnell - and the fact that he
: resides, free as a bird, in Berkeley, CA.
The first
Sharonpo
>First of all I make no excuses for a person that commits such
>horrible crimes, there is no justification but my interest is in
>exploring what could have went so wrong with this man's mind and
>emotions.
BTW, before your banishment to <PLONK>ville kicks in on my next newsgroup
reading session, I want to suggest you take a few remedial literacy courses. I
suggest starting with basic English Language with a concentration on
punctuation; then I suggest you brush up on pronoun usage; next I think an
intensive course in verb conjugation is in order; I've heard that "misplaced
modifiers" is a fun course; you might want to take that *before* you take the
subject/verb agreement class. I think the punctuation/missing comma class
should be first on your list, though. Your posts are pretty illiterate,
considering your lofty claims of professional credibility.