All language subtitles for Captive.Audience.2022.S01E02_English

NARRATOR: This is how
Steven Stayner looked

when he disappeared at age 7,
seven years ago.

This is Steven today.

My father was a hero.

He saved another child's life.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

I looked up to him for that.

Two young boys are back home
safe, well,

and nobody understands
why they were kidnapped

in the first place.

MAN: Is there any motive

for the taking out
of these two boys?

That's the question
at this time.

They weren't mistreated.

Yeah, I recognize him
when I see him.

The shaggy hair.
[ Chuckles ] Yeah.

Or the mustache.

REPORTER: How do you feel now?

We're just really thankful that
he took good care of him.

That's a blessing in itself
I think.

[ Music continues ]

STEVEN JR.: As kids,
they want us to, you know,

believe a happy fairy tale kind
of, you know, ending.

And it just saddens me to think

that my dad had to go through

all that pain and suffering
just to get his story told.

[ Reporters clamoring
indistinctly ]

[ Mid-tempo music plays ]

[ Beep ]

[ Beep ]

[ Chuckles ]

Last time I saw you
[clears throat],

I never thought about you
being big enough for football.

I thought baseball maybe.

Nah.

Prayed a lot, and so did
thousands of people

up and down this valley
for this little man.

-And he's home.
-It paid off.

It paid off. Yes, it did.

[ Indistinct shouting ]

MAN: Are you happy to be home?
STEVEN: Yes, I am.

ASHLEY:
I've seen some interviews

when he, like, first came home.

You know, my aunts
and my grandma,

they did a lot of interviews.

It's hard on people.

We've never really wanted to,
um,

bring any kind of attention
to ourselves,

but it just
kind of started snowballing.

Because there was just
so many eyes on the story.

REPORTER: Steven Stayner
was in school today

here at Merced Union
High School,

but his mother says she doesn't
want anybody interviewing him

anymore while he's in class.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

Once he started school
in 9th grade, they followed him.

They, you know -- They wanted to
see him first day of school.

REPORTER:
Steve is a ninth grader

at Merced High School's
east campus.

We caught up with him
in wood shop,

last class of the day,

where Steve seemed
just as removed

and oblivious to the media
as he's been since last Sunday,

the day he entered
the media spotlight.

KAY: Back then, the schools
were not enclosed in fences.

You know, you could just walk
in off the street

and start asking questions.

STEVEN: The science class was,
it was okay,

but I don't really
like science that much.

REPORTER: What do you like?

You have any idea what you're
interested in at this point,

technical things
or academic things?

I like the sports
and, uh, wood shop.

I like to work with wood.

REPORTER: Indications are that
his sporadic schooling

of the past seven years

has left him well behind
his current classmates.

He'll get tutoring to catch up.

CORY: A lot of other
kids envied him

or were jealous of the attention
that he was getting.

REPORTER: And after that first
day of science, math,

and the other classes,
some time with a new friend

and a ride home from his father,
Delbert Stayner.

KAY: You just wanted to get
Steve into therapy

so that he could get --
get through it.

And, um...

Del did not like therapists
or psychologists

or psychiatrists especially.

And he fought Steve
getting therapy.

I think the way you look
at things like that back then

was we don't go throwing your --
your stuff out there like that.

Yeah.

So that's why my dad
was against it, I guess.

Okay.

"Oh, I didn't want therapy.

Uh, there was a lot
of suggestions

of getting therapy from people.

I just said no.

I mean, I'm doing just fine.

And so I don't feel I need it,
you know?"

The -- The cadence,
how he talks is -- is -- is --

it's interesting, you know?

He's very blunt, very...curt.

And, uh, I will say,
it's -- it's emotional, though.

I mean, I'm -- I'm feeling --

I'm -- I'm feeling stuff
I wasn't expecting to feel.

To have to deal with it
at such a young age

and in such a public display.

I mean, he was
all over the news.

It was, you know --
He was not --

He did not get to go through
that -- that process

in a -- in a quiet, you know,
in quiet solitude.

[ Reporters clamoring ]

Steve was 14,
almost 15 years old

and a different person.

Totally different person.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

He would start to talk about
things that he had done

as Dennis, and people would
begin to think that he was,

you know, enjoying his life
as Dennis.

YOUNG MAN: Hey, Dennis!

CORY: The only time I ever
noticed a Dennis,

was when he didn't answer 'cause
he would be zoned into the TV,

which never went away.

And my mom,
to get his attention,

did call him Dennis one time,
and that got his attention.

I mean, to him, it was no big
deal, it was his life.

He -- He lived it.
He enjoyed some of it.

He had good friends.
He had good experiences.

And he liked to just forget
about the bad experiences.

I never did understand why
it couldn't be talked about.

Because that was a part
of his life for seven years,

and it should be
part of his life.

The good parts.

Not the bad. The good.

CORY: We wanted to go back
to our normal lives

because that's what kids want.

They want their normal life back

and just want to go about their
day just like anybody else.

Kind of hard to do that when you
got cameras everywhere, though.

-All right, good luck.
-Thank you.

CORY: You know, we all got
a little jealous, also.

A lot of attention
went to Steven.

I was jealous, Jody was jealous,

and my older brother Cary
was off.

He was very off.

He got annoyed with
the constant media attention.

Hey, hey, hey! Steve.

Yeah?

I'm your brother.

Cary?

Yeah. [ Laughs ]

So -- So, this is an interview
with Cary Stayner at what age?

Mid-20s. Yeah, okay. Alright.

Interesting.

"The way I see it, just about
anybody would have done

the same thing in his shoes.

It was wrong what was going on.

So he turned it right.

Anybody would do it if they had
any moral fiber to them."

MAN: Alright!

ANDREWS: "He was just a normal,
everyday kid,

and the media

blew it out of proportion
with a hero."

On behalf of the city of Ukiah,
I want to thank Steve

for starting out
as a victim himself,

then becoming a hero.

"All of the sudden, Steve
was getting all those gifts.

Getting all these clothes,
getting all this attention.

I guess I was jealous.

I'm -- I'm sure I was.

He deserves everything he got."

Reading this,
there's a lot of ways --

"He deserves
everything he got!

Or "he deserves
everything he got."

He -- He -- He was a --
He deserved it.

From my perspective,
as an actor jumping into

Cary Stayner, I was
the supportive brother.

I loved my brother.
I missed my brother.

I wanted to welcome him home.

And yet we did see glimpses

of Cary feeling neglected,

Cary feeling not important.

KAY: What really should
we have done?

Do you overprotect him?

Do you, you know, like we did,
just shove 'em out there

and say, "Here,
tell the world your story"?

There's a lot of things
I wish we'd done differently.

Number one, I would have just,
when Steve came home,

I would have showed the media
that, yes, he's home,

and we're so happy.

And then I would
have disappeared.

I would have just fallen off
the face of the earth

and gone some place else.

Just to save Steve from all
this publicity

that followed him
to the very end.

The district attorney says
there's little likelihood

that Murphy and Kenneth Parnell
will be tried together.

No matter what happens,
the strength of both case --

The strength of both cases

rely heavily on
the interpretation of --

Hi. How are you?
[ Chuckles ]

On the interpretation
of the statute of limitations.

And so the act is done.
Both boys are home safely.

Now comes the laborious part.

It's going to happen here
over the next several months.

To determine what the act was,
whether in fact Parnell did it,

and, if so,
what the penalty will be.

What was it like
living with him?

You know, normal life.

[ Down-tempo music plays ]

REPORTER: What did you do

while you were near the --
near the beach?

Did you play much?

No.

REPORTER: Do you remember
what you did at all?

Did you play by the waterfall?

Yeah.

REPORTER: Did he buy you
new clothes, toys?

Did you have those things
to play with?

Yeah.

Parnell, um, he was around,
he's usually just working.

WOMAN: Did he ever hurt you?
STEVEN: No.

WOMAN: Did he ever try to touch
you in a way he shouldn't have?

No.

REPORTER: Police say Parnell is
a model prisoner,

very quiet and has declined to
talk to anyone but a lawyer.

Parnell was convicted in another
abduction and served time,

but that was years ago.

Friends and officials wonder,
could it be this was a man

who simply wanted sons and
believed this was the only way?

[ Music continues ]

Steven was quiet
and, um, a lot --

seemed a lot like Mr. Parnell,
a little bit withdrawn, but...

WOMAN: Did it seem like
father and son

that you're
accustomed to seeing?

Well, it sure did because
the boy had to go ask Dad

everything he did.

-He was a strange fella.
-He seemed friendly.

WOMAN: And what did their
relationship seem to be?

I-I can't say.

WOMAN: Did they seem
like father and son, really?

I can't say.

REPORTER: The big question now
is a motive.

Why would anyone want
to do such a thing?

"See, what happened was is
I didn't want to talk about it.

And so when the police asked me,
um,

if there was any -- any abuse
involved or anything,

I, uh -- I denied
that there was any."

"The first month after
my return, it was basically

Parnell was thought of as
somebody who was looking for

a family without a mother.

Without being married and stuff,
you know?

And then the pictures showed up,

and that's when they called me
into the police station

and started, uh,
asking me about it."

OFFICER: Steven?

[ Dramatic music plays ]

Steven.

Would you come with me,
please?

STEVEN: Where we going?

[ Music continues ]

OFFICER:
Is this Kenneth Parnell?

[ Music continues ]

MAN: There are some pictures.

WOMAN: Are they being
entered as evidence?

I don't know that.

WOMAN:
Have you seen the pictures?

I have not seen any pictures.

REPORTER: It's been learned that
Polaroid pictures

of little Steven Stayner
in the nude

were found in Parnell's cabin.

[ Sighs ]

How do you say it?

They wanted to know

how he had been molested
or if he had been molested.

And we were adamant we weren't
going to talk about it.

And that's when the media
started getting more mean

about it and wanting
and demanding to know

exactly what had happened to him
and how and why.

Let's get into the nitty-gritty
of what had happened

to this poor kid, and let's,
you know, publicize that.

REPORTER: Charges against
Parnell also have been expanded

to include conspiracy
and lewd and lascivious acts

upon a child.

WOMAN: What do you think
of the charges

against you, Mr. Parnell?

[ Dramatic music plays ]

I think it'd be kind of
embarrassing for Steven to have

to say all these things in front
of a battery of newsmen,

cameras in the public.

Naturally, it would be better
if it were not publicized.

[ Music continues ]

MAN: All rise.

WOMAN:
Kenneth Parnell sat quietly

in his white prison suit
as the judge imposed

the maximum punishment
he could for the kidnapping

of 5-year-old Timmy White
last year.

He got seven for Timmy.

He'll get a lot more
for what he done to Steve.

The man convicted of kidnapping
a 5-year-old boy

from Ukiah, California,
is now back on trial.

Stayner himself
was the first witness

to enter the courtroom
this morning.

MAN: The young man is viewed
as the key witness

in the Parnell trial.

"I didn't want to get on
the stand and talk about it.

I fought it the whole way."

MAN: He appeared somewhat
nervous at times

while testifying,
but showed no emotion

either for or against
Parnell himself.

Stayner says he obeyed
Parnell's orders

not to leave or talk
about his past,

but he never said why.

Parnell is accused of forcing

Stayner to preform sodomy
and oral sex acts.

With a strained,
hesitant whisper,

Stayner confirmed this.

Yeah.

JUDGE: It is the judgment
of this court

that you be confined to the
state prison of California

for the term of 84 months.

KAY: He was given seven
more years, but...

JUDGE: Since you've already
been sentenced to the maximum

84 months in the kidnapping
of Timmy White,

the court is compelled under
current statutes...

KAY:
...it was the second offense,

so he was only required

to serve like a third of that.

JUDGE: A sentence of
only 20 months...

KAY: I mean,
it just boggles the mind.

JUDGE: ...to receive in a case
of this kind.

The circumstances...

[ Dramatic music plays ]

WOMAN: Steve, what about
Parnell's sentence?

Let us through!

WOMAN: Mr. Stayner, would you
care to make a statement?

MAN: You saw it, you heard it.
It doesn't make sense.

Please, he's trying to explain.

[ Music continues ]

KAY: It's a little
ludicrous to think

that he spends
less time than Steve did.

He scares the hell out of me

because he's going
to do it again.

And some other kid,
some other family

is going to go through
what Steve and we went through.

CORY: It wasn't fair.

You know, they looked at it
back then

that a crime like that
wasn't a big deal.

So they didn't have
harsh punishments for it.

WOMAN: Did it disturb you at all
to see Parnell and Murphy?

A little bit, not that much.

He didn't go to counseling.
He didn't, you know --

So he could never get
any of that stuff out.

But I was that annoying
little sister

wherever that stuff came up.

'Cause I asked questions
I kind of regret nowadays.

'Cause he told me.

[ Music continues ]

Both.

I regret that I asked,

I was that
annoying little sister

to keep asking,
keep bugging him.

And I regret really badly

that he told me what happened.

But what do you do
when you already know?

You can't go back.

[ Sighs ]

[ Dramatic music plays ]

People are going to come up
to him, ask questions and stuff,

you know, ask him
real personal questions,

and he might get --

You know, people will gang up --
You know, well, not gang up,

but come around
and ask him questions.

Kids at school
would call him a faggot

and all the mean things
that they could.

We have a good bunch
of kids at our school,

and therefore, I see
no problem with it at all.

In the immediate future,
of course,

Steve's going to have
a hard time

not having girls chase him
down the street

and this kind of thing,
but other than that,

there's no problem.

KAY: Having all of
the information out,

it was painful for Steve.

Which affected how
he continued to grow.

He drank heavy.

A lot of alcohol
and a lot of pot.

He loved his pot.

He didn't really like drinking,
but he still drank.

A lot of pills. I don't know
what else he really did.

Like, I remember him telling me
he did black beauties.

Or no. PCP.

Or both. I can't remember.
[ Chuckles ]

KAY: He was a rabble rouser.
I mean, he wrecked a car or two.

The next four or five years
was really rather chaotic.

There was girl after girl
after girl after girl.

Jody was just the one
that caught him.

What are you doing here?

I don't know.

Do you remember me?
I'm Jody Edmonton.

WRITER: Yeah.

[ Upbeat music plays ]

BOY: Hey, there he is.

Stevie! What did you do,
you forget your purse?

[ Whistles ]

Would you stop it?

He can't help what happened.

But that's not what happened.

My mom didn't know my dad, um,
when they were younger.

None of that is true at all.

Um, we met where he worked.

And we met through
my girlfriend.

ASHLEY: My dad was working
at a butcher shop.

They fell in love, or at least
I think they did.

I love you, Steven.

I love you, too.

It sounds pretty --
pretty romantic, you know?

Two young kids that
fell in love.

And more interesting than just
meeting at a butcher shop,

I guess.

Want to go out sometime?

Okay.

Great.

JODY: Steven was so much more
grounded than the other kids.

He was real calm.

Almost eerily calm,
he was so calm.

I was 16.

And he was three years older
than me, so he was 19.

He didn't mince no words,
he just asked me out,

and it was kind of on
from there for a while.

[ Chuckles ]

He was ready to settle down and
stop that wild and crazy life.

He was really in love
and wanted to start a family.

I ended up getting pregnant
with Ashley, my daughter.

We got married, and soon after
that,

I got pregnant again
with Steven Jr.

He was a great father.

He would take Ashley.

She was 1, 2 years old,
and she'd get whiny,

and he'd make her
into an airplane,

and he would fly her
around the apartment.

I thought it was just
the funniest thing, you know?

KAY: By the time he was through,
she was giggling

and having a great time.

And crisis averted.

ASHLEY:
I was laying on his chest,

and I could hear his heartbeat.

I remember that,
being able to hear that.

He was a good dad.
He was a good family man.

It came natural to him.

KAY: He became a-a husband
and then a father,

and then had to knuckle down

and decide what he was going to
do with his life.

[ "Entertainment Tonight" theme
plays ]

Now to the bizarre story
of Steven Stayner

is coming to television.

That's our "Inside Story"
for today.

REPORTER: Screenwriter JP Miller
conducted hours of interviews

with Cary, Steven, and their
parents, Delbert and Kay,

about the ordeal.

[ Slow-tempo music plays ]

CORY: JP Miller came
and interviewed us.

He was a very nice guy.

I really liked him.
We all liked him.

JP Miller, he was the one that
wrote "Helter Skelter."

And that movie really got me.
[ Laughs ]

But it makes it a lot better
when somebody like that

is writing your life story.

And I know that Steven was
really happy

about the way
that it turned out.

Right.

Right. And we did.

I just didn't want his story
sensationalized --

well, it's sensational enough.

I didn't want it used for...

just money-making purposes,
I guess.

He had the power
to do whatever he wanted.

You know, they contacted him,
and, "Hey, we're gonna do this,

we're gonna, you know,
make this movie."

And he was all for it.

Because it put money
in his pocket,

and I think he wanted
a motorcycle or some dumb thing.

He had a family to support,
so I can understand that.

But, uh, I didn't think
it would lead us anywhere.

[ Chuckles ]

[ Mid-tempo music plays ]

Speed, camera, mark!

KAY: We went down to L. A.,
and we were on the set,

and we met all the actors
and all of that sort of stuff.

You know, Steve thought it
was just great.

And Jody was just over the moon

because she saw somebody that
had a telephone in their car.

They treated us really nicely.

They made us directors' chairs.

And so I was just happy sitting
in my chair the whole time.

[ Laughs ]

MAN:
The two-part drama is called

"I Know My First Name
Is Steven."

It stars Corin Nemec
as the teenage Steven.

Playing Steven Stayner, I mean,
that was -- was just incredible.

I mean, it was the biggest deal
in Hollywood.

And I think that every actor
that was worth their salt

wanted to be, uh, that --
that character.

ANDREWS: I do recall seeing
the family on the set.

I-I think they kept kind of
a division.

They didn't want
too much mingling.

REPORTER: Would you say he looks
just like you did at age 14?

Basically, yeah.

REPORTER: Now 23, Steve
is married with two kids

and looks forward to a career
in law enforcement.

During the filming of
the miniseries,

he even had an opportunity
to portray a police officer.

JODY: He was going to
law enforcement classes

out at the college
here in Merced at the time.

He played a cop
in his homecoming scene.

[ Crowd shouting indistinctly ]

It was definitely something
you don't forget.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

WOMAN: What, uh -- What would
you have told Corky

if you had the chance?

The -- The character of me
that they created was more...

um, I don't know.

He -- He was rude
in a lot of ways.

You know, he talked back
to his parents,

which, um, I wouldn't do.

WOMAN: Don't recall doing. Yeah.

I would never --
You know, I just --

It's not me.

Really, I just kind of look at
it as just a movie.

Um...

You know, what happened to me
is in the past.

And I really don't dwell on it.

I watched the movie one time.

And to tell you the truth,

I was not that impressed with it

because it depicted
the family different

from what we actually were.

It was a little twisted
and ridiculous.

I know it pissed Delbert off
something fierce.

Del, we've got to try to have
Christmas with the kids.

KAY: Like, we had $40
for Christmas one year.

I don't know if I can do it.

We were never that destitute.
[ Chuckles ]

But they depicted it that way

because it made it
more sensational, I guess.

Del. Del!

I was just like,
"Eh, that's Hollywood."

You know, that's
the way they do things.

Kay, I wish I was dead.

We've got to hold on.

[ Down-tempo music plays ]

NEMEC: I mean, that's --
that's unheard of,

for, you know, that many people,

all to be watching the same
thing at the exact same time.

It's like the Super Bowl,
you know?

Don't look for silver linings
or cotton candy in

"I Know My First Name
Is Steven."

The two-part miniseries
about a lost child,

starting tomorrow night on NBC,
hasn't any sweet tooth.

In real life,
in a series of motel rooms

and shacks all over
Northern California,

he was sexually molested.

It really generated
a lot of attention

to such a -- such a touchy,
you know, subject

that nobody wants to talk about.

I was just very tru--
you know, trustful of him.

Um, I was raised that way.

Adults don't lie.

That's what was making
people start talking

about it with Steven.

All his interviews
and this movie.

That was his therapy that --

that helped him through
everything.

Any chance I get to talk
about it

I think really helps me
deal with the problem.

The more I talk about it,
the better I can deal with it.

He wanted it to make
a difference with people.

That was his goal.

You know, it was not just to
make -- put money in his pocket.

He wanted it to serve a purpose.

And I think he did.

And Hollywood got an early
wake-up call this morning

as the nominations for TV's
top prizes were announced.

It was nominated for four
Emmy awards.

Please welcome Corky Nemec,
folks. Corky.

[ Cheers and applause ]

I-I did a show called "I Know
My First Name Is Steven",

a miniseries.

Thank you.

It's about -- That was about
a kid who was kidnapped?

Yeah, it was --
it was a true story

about the -- the boy
Steven Stayner

who -- who passed away
the night before the Emmys.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

Everybody was really hoping
to win something

'cause we wanted to dedicate
it to him and everything.

He was his by a guy
who ran a stop sign.

He was riding his motorcycle.

WOMAN: Wow.

California police are
searching this morning

for the hit-and-run driver
of a car

that killed former kidnap victim
Steven Stayner on Saturday.

Steven was on his way home
from work.

[ Music continues ]

And the guy pulled out
right in front of him.

And he died there on the scene.

I will never forget
the day that it happened.

Steven was on his way home
from work,

and I was on my way to work,
and I saw him.

I didn't know it was him
at the time.

He was, uh -- They were working
on him when I passed by.

And I found out later it was him
and that he didn't survive.

[ Somber music plays ]

JODY: There was a lot of people
at the funeral.

And there was a lot
of media there.

It always seems like when
something happens in our family,

the media is there.

CORY: My family was pretty
devastated, losing him again.

We were just I think healing
and getting back to normal

when he passed.

It was very, very traumatizing.

Very traumatizing.

The kids were babies.

He died in September, and I was
gonna turn four in December.

We were at church, they, like,
had us come up to the front,

and they did like
a blessing on us.

Then I realized that,
you know, he was gone.

[ Music continues ]

I went outside, and I saw
a balloon up in the air,

and I thought, you know,

that balloon
is going to go to my dad.

I don't think I even really
talked about it after that

because I didn't feel like
anybody really knew how to.

So it was just kind of like this
unspoken thing for a long time.

A really long time.

[ Somber music plays ]

I didn't grow up around people
that talked about my dad to me,

stories, things like that.

A lot of that had to do
with, you know, my mom

not knowing how to talk
about my dad.

She just kind of tried
to move on with her life

the best she can.

And I had a really bad stepdad.

So we were kind of scared to
talk about him.

STEVEN JR.: He did not like my
dad or that side of the family,

and, uh, visits with my Grandma
and Grandpa Stayner

were, uh, pretty much watched
and looked over,

when we did see them,
and that was very rare.

My dad was lost to me.

ASHLEY: I don't think
I really knew everything

until I saw the movie.

I was probably like 8.

I was over at my cousin
Kathy's house, um,

and she told me that
my dad had a movie.

And I was like --
I was really surprised,

and I was like, "What?
My dad has a movie?"

She's like, "Yeah, like on TV,"
you know?

I watched it quite a bit.

Maybe about eight or nine times.

Maybe 10 I've seen it
in my lifetime.

Trying to fill questions
with answers.

When I was a kid,
I-I just --

I figured that he was
always happy, you know?

It was a happy fairy tale
kind of, you know, ending.

And then when I got older,
found out a lot of the things

that were in the miniseries
was not true.

KAY: You're home now, honey.

And it was really hard
for me to realize that.

ASHLEY: I remember seeing
like the little boy.

I was like, "Oh, wow,
so that's my dad."

It was stomach turning.

I just kind of didn't want to
see my dad that way.

[ Sniffles ]

Because, um,
he was just so little, you know,

and to think that something like
that happened to him,

I just -- it's not something you
want to keep watching, you know?

When I got older,
whenever I would see him on TV,

I would associate Corin
as my dad.

WOMAN:
Please welcome Corin Nemec!

[ Cheers and applause ]

ASHLEY: Every time I see Corin,
I just kind of want to like

go give him a hug 'cause
it reminds me of my dad.

Yeah.

That he was a great dad.

[ Slow-tempo music plays ]

But I think she knows that.

I think she knew
he was a great dad.

Yeah.

She misses him something awful.

[ Music continues ]

After Steven dies, terrible
things start all up again.

You gotta get the whole story.
There are many sides to it.

Many, many, many sides.

A mother, daughter,
and family friend vacationing

near Yosemite National Park
in Northern California

have vanished.

REPORTER: They were last seen
February 15th

having dinner at the Cedar Lodge
in El Portal

on Yosemite's western edge.

MAN: Police say they are baffled

by the threesome's
mysterious disappearance.

[ Sinister music plays ]

How much more could happen
in our lives in one lifetime?

In one family?

[ Music continues ]

[ Mid-tempo music plays ]

[ Music continues ]