Home / Crime and Justice / Serial Killer's Deadly Confession Solves Yosemite Murders After Decades
Serial Killer's Deadly Confession Solves Yosemite Murders After Decades
15 Nov
Summary
- Carole Sund, her daughter Julie, and friend Silvina Pelosso vanished in 1999
- Cary Stayner, a maintenance worker, confessed to killing them and another victim
- Stayner's brother Steven was previously kidnapped and held captive for 7 years
In February 1999, Carole Sund, her 15-year-old daughter Julie, and their friend Silvina Pelosso, an exchange student from Argentina, set out for a trip to Yosemite National Park. However, the three never returned home as planned, sparking a massive search and investigation.
Over a month later, Carole and Silvina's bodies were found in Carole's rental car, while Julie remained missing. The FBI suspected a violent crime had occurred, but the case went cold for years. Then, in 2000, a shocking confession emerged - Cary Stayner, a maintenance worker at the Cedar Lodge where the women had stayed, admitted to killing not only Carole, Julie, and Silvina, but also a 26-year-old Yosemite naturalist named Joie Ruth Armstrong.
Stayner's confession finally cracked the case, though the tragedy was compounded by the fact that he was the older brother of Steven Stayner, who had been kidnapped and held captive for seven years as a child, a story that had captivated the nation. Cary Stayner was convicted in both state and federal courts and sentenced to death, which he currently remains on at San Quentin State Prison.
