Child molester Parnell dies
Kenneth Eugene Parnell, whose abduction and confinement of a California boy in the 1970s became the basis of a TV movie, died of natural causes while serving a life sentence, state prison authorities said Tuesday.
Parnell, 76, died at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville on Monday night.
One of California’s most notorious child molesters, he was convicted of kidnapping Steven Stayner as the 7-year-old walked home from school in the Central Valley town of Merced in 1972. Parnell gave the boy a different name and kept him until Stayner escaped in 1980.
Stayner’s story was told in the television movie “I Know My First Name is Steven.” He died in a motorcycle accident in 1989 at 24.
Stayner’s brother, Cary, is in San Quentin State Prison awaiting execution for killing four women in Yosemite National Park in 1999.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
