"I Don't Judge People": FBI Agent Jeff Rinek on How Cary Stayner Confessed

Name: "I Don't Judge People": FBI Agent Jeff Rinek on How Cary Stayner Confessed
Uploaded: 2023-11-01T00:00:00Z
Duration: 3 min 7 s
Description: The retired FBI agent who drove Cary Stayner to the FBI office in 1999 recalls how he won his trust, and how Stayner tried to bargain before confessing to the Yosemite sightseer murders.

The retired FBI agent who drove Cary Stayner to the FBI office in 1999 recalls how he won his trust, and how Stayner tried to bargain before confessing to the Yosemite sightseer murders.

Subject: Cary Stayner
Recorded: November 1, 2023
Runtime: 3:07

Content warning: Concerns the murders of a woman and two teenage girls and the beheading of a fourth victim; mentions Stayner's request for child pornography; no graphic detail.

The Interview

This is a 3-minute-7-second report from CBS News Sacramento (KOVR CBS13), posted on November 1, 2023, for the 25th anniversary of the Yosemite sightseer murders. Its center is an interview with Jeff Rinek, the retired FBI special agent who persuaded Cary Stayner to ride with him to the FBI office in July 1999 and obtained his confession. The reporter is not named. Stayner is not clearly heard: a single archival line, "I'm going to be totally honest and not hold anything back," is not attributed in the report and may or may not be his.

Historical Context

In February 1999 Carole Sund, her 15-year-old daughter Juli and family friend Silvina Pelosso, a 16-year-old exchange student from Argentina, disappeared after staying at the Cedar Lodge in El Portal, outside Yosemite National Park. Carole Sund and Silvina Pelosso were found in the trunk of their burned rental car on March 18, 1999. Juli Sund's body was found after an anonymous map, headed "We had fun with this one," was sent to the FBI. On July 22, 1999, Joie Armstrong, a 26-year-old Yosemite Institute naturalist, was found murdered. On July 24 agents Jeff Rinek and John Boles found Stayner, a Cedar Lodge handyman, at the Laguna del Sol nudist resort in Wilton.

Circumstances

Stayner went with Rinek to Sacramento, where he confessed to Armstrong's murder and then to the Sund and Pelosso killings. His lawyers later cited his request for child pornography in exchange for his confession, the request Rinek describes here.

What the Interview Covers

The report retells the sightseer case and the map, then turns to Rinek. Rinek says that during the drive he and Stayner "got to know each other," and that Stayner spoke about his brother Steven, who was kidnapped at age seven and escaped at 14, and about the short sentence the kidnapper received; Rinek says he agreed with him. "I don't judge people," Rinek says, "so when they talk to me, they feel comfortable." According to Rinek, before confessing to the sightseer murders Stayner tried to bargain for images of young girls, the reward money for his family, and a federal prison near his family; asked to pick one, he chose the pornography. He got none of them. Rinek says Stayner drew the map because it bothered him that Juli's body was "laying out there in the elements and not being found." The report closes by noting that investigators have looked at Stayner in five other killings, including that of his uncle, though he has never been charged in them.

What Makes the Recording Significant

It is a first-hand account from the agent who obtained the confession, including Stayner's attempts to bargain. Rinek has told the story elsewhere, including in his 2019 book "In the Name of the Children"; this is a short on-camera version, posted by the Sacramento station that made the report.

Archival Importance

It joins two other Batch 11 Stayner records: ABC10's 1999 report from the Cedar Lodge and ABC News's 2019 piece with a woman Stayner had planned to kill as a child.

Important Caveats

Stayner is not clearly heard; the line at about 0:50 is unattributed. The report says Stayner is "at San Quentin"; he was held there from 2002 to 2023 and was on death row at Pelican Bay State Prison as of May 2026. The recording date is uncertain (see VIDEO). The account of Stayner's bargaining is Rinek's.

Reporter: Well, February marks 25 years since the murders of the Yosemite sightseers. Now, I sat down with one of the special agents who is revealing how he got the killer, Cary Stayner, to confess. On a sightseeing trip to Yosemite, Carole Sund, her daughter Juli, and their friend Silvina Pelosso vanished in February of 1999. Weeks later, Carole and Silvina's bodies were found in their charred rental car down a cliff.

Official At The 1999 Car Recovery: We have recovered two bodies from the trunk of the vehicle.

Reporter: But where was Juli? The killer sent the FBI this hand-drawn map with a chilling message: "We had fun with this one." It showed a trail from Highway 120, with an X along the shore of Don Pedro Reservoir, where investigators discovered Juli's body. Months later, the killer struck again, beheading naturalist Joie Armstrong in Yosemite.

Unidentified Voice: I'm going to be totally honest and not hold anything back.

Reporter: Then FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Rinek was sent to talk with a potential witness in the cases, Cary Stayner, a handyman at the Cedar Lodge, the motel where the sightseers stayed. Stayner was at the Laguna del Sol nudist colony in Wilton. [unclear: "That drive, Rinek convinced" / "That drive should try to convince"] Stayner to ride with him to the FBI office.

Jeff Rinek: During that time, we got to know each other.

Reporter: Cary opened up about his brother Steven, the subject of the movie "I Know My First Name Is Steven." At age seven, Steven Stayner was kidnapped a few blocks from his Merced home. He escaped his captor at 14. Cary was not happy over the short sentence his brother's kidnapper got.

Jeff Rinek: He went to prison for seven years, and, and yet they held Steven for seven years, and he felt that was really, um, not right. And I agreed with him. I had no problem, "I agree with you."

Reporter: You ultimately gained his trust in a very short period of time.

Jeff Rinek: I don't judge people, so when they talk to me, they feel comfortable.

Reporter: That connection ultimately got Stayner to confess to killing Joie Armstrong. But before admitting to killing the sightseers, Rinek says Stayner tried to negotiate. He wanted images of young girls, his family to get the reward money, and to end up in a federal prison near his family. Rinek recalls asking him to pick one.

Jeff Rinek: What's the one thing? It's the one thing only. And what he chose: the pornography.

Reporter: Stayner did not get any of his requests, but ended up confessing to killing the sightseers, saying he planned the attacks for more than a year, and explained why he drew that map to investigators.

Jeff Rinek: It was bothering him that Juli's body was laying out there in the elements and not being found.

Reporter: Stayner was convicted and sentenced to death.

Jeff Rinek: What's valuable to me is the helping the families, and trying to give [unclear: "closure" / "pleasure"] to the families. [02:47 to 02:49: pause; no words (second machine pass).]

Reporter: Cary Stayner is now 62 years old and at San Quentin. Investigators have looked at him in five other killings across the Valley and the foothills, dating back to the '80s. That includes his own uncle, but he has never been charged in those cases. His brother Steven died in a motorcycle crash in 1989. ---