Kenneth Parnell
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| Kenneth Eugene Parnell | |
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 Parnell, circa 1975
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| Born | September 26, 1931 Texas |
Kenneth Eugene Parnell (born September 26, 1932) is a convicted sex offender, known infamously for his kidnapping of seven-year-old Steven Stayner in Merced, California.
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[edit] Early life
Parnell was born in Texas, later moving with his family to Bakersfield, California. Parnell was raised mostly without a father, who abandoned the family when he was six. He spent much of his adolescence in and out of juvenile hall, showing many signs of disturbance at a very young age. In 1951, at the age of 19, Parnell was convicted of sodomizing a young boy, as well as impersonating a police officer (Parnell had stolen a policeman's uniform and used it to trick the boy), sending Parnell to jail for almost four years. In a January 15, 2000, interview with East Bay Express journalist Katy St. Clair, Parnell said that he molested the boy because his wife was pregnant and that he "had to find another outlet."
More than a decade after the sodomy case, Parnell went back to jail for armed robbery in Utah.
[edit] Steven Stayner
On December 4, 1972, Parnell kidnapped young Steven Stayner as the boy was walking home from school. In the St. Clair interview, Parnell said he felt he could give the boy a home, ignoring the fact he had a home with his natural family. Parnell began to call Steven by another name, Dennis, and lied to the boy that his parents could not take care of him and that a judge awarded him custody to Parnell and changed his name.
As Dennis Gregory Parnell, Stayner remained in the care of "Reverend Parnell" for over seven years, enduring frequent sexual abuse from Parnell. As Stayner reached puberty, Parnell began to look for other young boys to take his place. He found five-year-old Timmy White, whom he kidnapped from a Ukiah, California, street in early 1980.
Stayner waited until Parnell had gone to his night-shift job as a security guard at a local motel. After Parnell left, Stayner took Timmy to the Ukiah Police Department and told the officers what had happened. Checking into Parnell's past and finding the previous sodomy charge, the police immediately arrested Parnell.
[edit] Parnell's trial
Because of laws on the books then intended to protect minors, Parnell was only tried for kidnapping both Stayner and White, and not for the sexual abuse he inflicted upon Stayner. He served five years in prison and managed to stay out of jail for 18 years. Stayner died in 1989 of injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. In the St. Clair interview, Parnell admitted that upon learning of Stayner's death, he cried for the first time since he was about nine years old.[1]
[edit] In trouble again
In January 2003, Parnell was arrested again after trying to coerce his caregiver into buying him a four-year-old boy. Parnell was by this time 71 years old and in ill health, requiring near 24-hour-a-day nursing care in his cluttered Berkeley apartment. The caregiver, Diane Stevens, was aware of Parnell's past and cooperated with police in setting up a sting operation that would lead to his arrest. Parnell was convicted on February 9, 2004, on the charges of attempting to purchase a child and attempted child molestation, even though the child in question was nonexistant. Parnell was sentenced to 25 years to life in California jail. Under California's "three strikes" law, and given his late adulthood, he will likely die in prison.
According to CNN, prosecutor Tim Wellman said that Parnell "was looking for one last hurrah. One last Steven Stayner, one last Timmy White."
[edit] In popular culture
Stayner's life with Parnell was documented in the 1989 movie I Know My First Name Is Steven. Parnell was portrayed (in an uncredited role) by Arliss Howard. In 1991, a true crime book by Mike Echols of the same name was adapted.
