"He Couldn't Have Seemed More Normal": ABC10 at the Cedar Lodge After Cary Stayner's Arrest, 1999

Name: "He Couldn't Have Seemed More Normal": ABC10 at the Cedar Lodge After Cary Stayner's Arrest, 1999
Uploaded: 2019-01-24T00:00:00Z
Duration: 1 min 19 s
Description: Two days after Cary Stayner's arrest, a Sacramento TV reporter went to the Cedar Lodge in El Portal, where Stayner worked as a handyman, and talked to young men who had chatted with him by the pool.

Two days after Cary Stayner's arrest, a Sacramento TV reporter went to the Cedar Lodge in El Portal, where Stayner worked as a handyman, and talked to young men who had chatted with him by the pool.

Subject: Cary Stayner
Recorded: July 26, 1999
Runtime: 1:19

Content warning: Concerns a murder, referred to only as "last week's killing"; no graphic detail.

The Interview

This is not an interview with Cary Stayner. It is a 1-minute-19-second report by ABC10 reporter Tim Daly of Sacramento, filmed on July 26, 1999, two days after Stayner's arrest, and reposted by the station in 2019. Daly went to the Cedar Lodge in El Portal, just outside Yosemite National Park, where Stayner worked as a handyman and rented a room. He spoke with two young men from a nearby gas station who had chatted with Stayner at the lodge pool, and with a visitor at the Merced River. Stayner is not heard.

Historical Context

In February 1999 Carole Sund, her daughter Juli Sund and family friend Silvina Pelosso disappeared after staying at the Cedar Lodge; all three were later found dead. On July 22, 1999, Joie Armstrong, a 26-year-old Yosemite Institute naturalist, was found murdered near her cabin. A vehicle seen there was traced to Stayner, and on July 24, 1999, FBI agents arrested him at a nudist resort in Wilton, California. He confessed to Armstrong's murder and to the three February killings.

Circumstances

The report was made as the news of the arrest and confession spread through El Portal. The narration refers only to "last week's killing," that is, the murder of Joie Armstrong. It does not mention the Sund and Pelosso case.

What the Interview Covers

The narration explains that Stayner had rented a room above the Cedar Lodge restaurant for two years and worked next door at the motel as a handyman. One young man describes how they met him while swimming, when a friend called him over, and how they talked with him for a few minutes almost every day after that. The reporter says both men were stunned that the man they had been friendly with had apparently confessed. One says he never saw Stayner violent or heard him raise his voice, and that he "never made us feel uncomfortable." The report closes at the Merced River, where it says Stayner went to sunbathe in the nude, and a visitor calls the news "pretty disappointing" for "my little paradise away from the city."

What Makes the Recording Significant

It is reaction from the week of the arrest, filmed at the lodge where Stayner worked, and it records how ordinary he seemed to people who saw him every day.

Archival Importance

A short contemporary report from the original station's own archive. It joins two other Batch 11 Stayner records: the FBI agent who obtained his confession and the woman who was his intended victim.

Important Caveats

Stayner is not heard. The two young men are named in the narration, but the report does not say which of them speaks in each soundbite, and the spellings of their names come from machine captions. ABC10's title calls them "friends"; in the report they describe friendly conversations at the pool. The reporter's "apparently confessed" reflects what was known on July 26, 1999.

Narrator: For the past two years, Cary Stayner rented a room above the Cedar Lodge restaurant. He worked next door at the motel as a handyman, and it was at Cedar Lodge that local teens got to know him.

Young Man Who Knew Stayner: We were sitting there swimming. He walked in to do his job around the pool, and do some handyman work, and, uh, Aaron hollered at him, told him to come over and meet us. And every day after that, pretty much, that we were over there, we'd see him and talk to him for about five minutes.

Narrator: Parker Bevington and Aaron Ludwig both work at the Chevron just down the road from Cedar Lodge. Both young men are stunned. The man they were friendly with has apparently confessed to last week's killing. They insist he couldn't have seemed more normal.

Young Man Who Knew Stayner: I've never even seen the man violent at all. He's never even really raised his voice, even when we were just sitting there talking. He always made us feel pretty much like we had nothing to worry about. Never made us feel uncomfortable. [00:51 to 00:54: natural sound; no words (second machine pass).]

Narrator: Stayner would visit the nearby Merced River for relaxation, seeking spots to sunbathe in the nude. People enjoying the river today are shocked as well.

River Visitor: Pretty disappointing, 'cause this was my, you know, my little paradise away from the city. [01:09 to 01:19: no speech; low-level sound to about 01:16, then silence.] ---