U.S. Attorney to Seek Death Penalty in July Slaying of Naturalist at Yosemite

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a motel handyman accused of beheading a young woman at Yosemite National Park, one of four women whom officials say he murdered last year.

The U.S. attorney’s office said Friday that at the direction of U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, it would ask that 38-year-old Cary Stayner be put to death in the killing of 26-year-old Joie Armstrong.

In court papers, government prosecutors said Stayner deserved to die because of the “especially cruel, heinous and depraved” nature of the crime.

Armstrong, a Yosemite naturalist, was found decapitated near her residence in the park July 21. The handyman has pleaded not guilty.

Stayner, who worked at a Yosemite-area motel, also faces charges in connection with the February 1999 murders of tourist Carole Sund, 42; her daughter Juli Sund, 15; and Silvina Pelosso, 16, a friend visiting from Argentina.

State officials prosecuting in those killings will delay trial, pending conclusion of the Armstrong murder trial, which could begin as early as October. Stayner allegedly confessed to all four slayings.