What did Kenneth Parnell do to Steven Stayner?

Steven Stayner was an American kidnapping victim. On December 4, 1972, seven-year-old Stayner was abducted in Merced, California, by a child molester, Kenneth Parnell.

He was held by his abductor 38 miles away in Mariposa County, California, and later in Mendicino County, California, until he was 14 when he managed to escape with another of Parnell’s victims, Timothy White.

What did Kenneth Parnell do to Steven Stayner?

On December 4, 1972, Parnell abducted seven-year-old Merced resident Steven Stayner with the help of Edward Ervin Murphy, a co-worker at the Yosemite Lodge, where Parnell worked as a night auditor. Stayner was taken to Catheys Valley.

Parnell told Stayner that his parent couldn’t afford to keep him anymore, that a judge had given him legal custody of him and his new name was Dennis.