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This nudist terrified a country ( MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY ) · Crime and Horror

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Speaker 1: Today's story includes several very distressing and at times graphic segments.
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Speaker 1: And also at the end of the story, we show
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Speaker 1: several pictures that on the surface may seem fairly benign,
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Speaker 1: but once you understand their context, they are quite disturbing
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Speaker 1: and haunting. So viewer discretion is advised. But before we
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Speaker 1: get into today's story, if you're a fan of the strange, dark,
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Speaker 1: and mysterious Deliberated Story format, then you've come to the
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Speaker 1: a gift certificate that looks fairly generic and tell them
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Speaker 1: it is to Alfredo's Pizza Cafe.
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Speaker 2: But in reality, it's a gift.
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Speaker 1: Certificate to Pizza by Alfredo, a much lesser pizza establishment. Also,
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Speaker 2: All right, let's get into today's story.
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Speaker 1: On February 12th, 1999, 42 Carol Sund, along with her
1:04
Speaker 1: 15-year-old daughter, Julie, and Julie's longtime friend, Silvina Peloso, who
1:08
Speaker 1: was 16 years old, boarded a plane in Eureka, California.
1:12
Speaker 2: After a quick one-hour-long flight, they landed.
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Speaker 1: In San Francisco and then got their bags from baggage
1:17
Speaker 1: claim and then walked over to the airport's car rental center.
1:20
Speaker 1: After Carol signed some rental agreement paperwork with the person
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Speaker 1: at the front desk, they were given car keys, and
1:25
Speaker 1: then the three women walked out of the airport into
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Speaker 1: the parking lot where they saw their car. It was
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Speaker 1: a 1999 red Pontiac Grand Prix sedan. After the women
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Speaker 1: had put their luggage in the trunk, they all climbed
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Speaker 1: inside and then Carol began driving east towards the University
1:39
Speaker 1: of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Julie was competing in
1:42
Speaker 1: a cheerleading competition the following day at that university and
1:46
Speaker 1: Julie was considering going to the school after she graduated
1:49
Speaker 1: high school And so this cheerleading competition was a great
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Speaker 1: excuse for her and her mom to check out the campus.
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Speaker 1: And since Sylvina was already visiting Julie at her home
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Speaker 1: in Eureka, she just tagged along for the trip. After
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Speaker 1: an hour and a half long drive, the trio arrived
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Speaker 1: in Stockton, California, and they checked into a hotel. And
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Speaker 1: then the next day, which was the 13th, Julie competed
2:09
Speaker 1: in this cheerleading competition. And then afterwards, her, her mom,
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Speaker 1: and Sylvina spent the rest of the day checking out
2:14
Speaker 1: the campus and the surrounding town. Early the next morning,
2:18
Speaker 1: which was the 14th, The women checked out of their
2:20
Speaker 1: hotel and then drove three hours southeast to the sprawling
2:24
Speaker 1: motel complex called Cedar Lodge that was located just outside
2:28
Speaker 1: of Yosemite National Park's western entrance. Their plan was to
2:32
Speaker 1: spend a couple of days sightseeing inside of Yosemite before
2:35
Speaker 1: heading back to the San Francisco airport where they were
2:38
Speaker 1: going to meet Carol's husband and Julie's father, Jens, and
2:41
Speaker 1: then the four of them would continue their journey and
2:44
Speaker 1: fly to Arizona where they would explore the Grand Canyon
2:47
Speaker 1: before finally heading back home to Eureka, California. So midday
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Speaker 1: on the 14th, these three women arrive at the Cedar
2:54
Speaker 1: Lodge and the lot would have been nearly empty because
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Speaker 1: it was the winter time and not that many people
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Speaker 1: were visiting the park at that time. So they pull
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Speaker 1: into the lot, they parked their car, they go into
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Speaker 1: the front desk where they checked in and they got
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Speaker 1: their keys, and then they left the office and walked
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Speaker 1: along the row of first floor rooms all the way
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Speaker 1: to the very corner of the building to room 509,
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Speaker 1: which was their room. Carol used her key, she opened
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Speaker 1: the door, They went inside and dropped their luggage. And
3:17
Speaker 1: then they decided that they were just too tired to
3:19
Speaker 1: actually go in the park and.
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Speaker 2: Go sightseeing that day.
3:22
Speaker 1: So instead they kind of had a low key afternoon
3:24
Speaker 1: and evening, mostly in their hotel room. The next morning,
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Speaker 1: which was the 15th, the women got up early, they
3:30
Speaker 1: hopped in their red rental car, and they drove to
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Speaker 1: the western entrance of Yosemite. They went inside, they parked
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Speaker 1: their car, and they have this wonderful day looking at
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Speaker 1: these astonishing cliff sides and snow-covered mountains and these huge
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Speaker 1: sequoia trees and these beautiful meadows that stretched out in
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Speaker 1: front of them. And then towards the end of the day,
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Speaker 1: Julie and Sylvina actually went ice skating on a frozen pond.
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Speaker 2: So it was just this totally magical day at the park.
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Speaker 1: And then finally, as the sun was starting to go down,
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Speaker 1: the trio finally left the park, got in their rental car,
3:58
Speaker 1: and drove back to the Cedar Lodge. There, they ate
4:00
Speaker 1: dinner at the lodge's 1950s-style diner. They ate hamburgers, and
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Speaker 1: then afterwards, they swung by the front desk and rented
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Speaker 1: some VHS movie tapes that they brought back to their room.
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Speaker 2: Once they were.
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Speaker 1: Inside room 509, the women changed into their pajamas and
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Speaker 1: then sat on the bed and watched one of their movies,
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Speaker 1: and then when it was over, they brushed their teeth,
4:19
Speaker 1: and then they got in bed, turned out the.
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Speaker 2: Light, and tried to go to sleep.
4:22
Speaker 1: But a few minutes after their lights were out, they
4:24
Speaker 1: heard a knock on their door. The following day, which
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Speaker 1: was the 16th, Jens, Carol's husband and Julie's father, was
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Speaker 1: anxiously waiting at the San Francisco airport for his wife and.
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Speaker 2: His daughter and his daughter's friend.
4:36
Speaker 1: And he's looking at his watch and he knows they
4:38
Speaker 1: don't have that much time before their flight is going
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Speaker 1: to take off. And he's just hoping they're going to
4:42
Speaker 1: come running around a corner and they're going to barely.
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Speaker 2: Make this flight, but they don't.
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Speaker 1: And finally, Jens, who does not have a cell phone
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Speaker 1: and neither does Carol, He decides there must have been
4:51
Speaker 1: some sort of miscommunication and that Carol and the girls
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Speaker 1: must have flown on ahead.
4:55
Speaker 2: And so he decides at the last.
4:57
Speaker 1: Minute to just board the flight himself and fly to
5:00
Speaker 1: Arizona and hopes his family will be there. But when
5:02
Speaker 1: he touches down in Arizona, his family is not there.
5:05
Speaker 1: And so he rushed to the hotel hoping that maybe
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Speaker 1: they were there.
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Speaker 2: They weren't.
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Speaker 1: He spoke to the hotel's front desk. and said, hey,
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Speaker 1: you know, has my wife Carol contacted you? And they said, no,
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Speaker 1: she hasn't contacted us, and we have no record of
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Speaker 1: her being here. And so Jens is obviously very upset,
5:18
Speaker 1: he's very worried, and he spends the rest of the
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Speaker 1: day calling around to friends and family and acquaintances and
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Speaker 1: anybody who might know where Carol and the girls are.
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Speaker 1: But nobody has heard from them, and nobody knows where
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Speaker 1: they are. And so that night, as Jens is about
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Speaker 1: to go to bed, he convinces himself that they are
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Speaker 1: probably just fine, this is just some screw-up, Carol is
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Speaker 1: an unbelievably fierce woman, she's incredibly competent, she will take
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Speaker 1: care of those girls and I'm sure I will see
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Speaker 1: them tomorrow morning. But when he woke up the next
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Speaker 1: morning and Carol had not made any contact with the
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Speaker 1: hotel or reached out to him in any way, and
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Speaker 1: there was just no sign of her or the girls,
5:53
Speaker 1: Jens finally contacted police. That day, after the police spoke
5:56
Speaker 1: with Jens, the first call they made was to the
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Speaker 1: Cedar Lodge, which is the last place they knew Carol, Julie,
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Speaker 1: and Sylvina had been. The manager of the lodge would
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Speaker 1: tell police that he had not seen Carol or the
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Speaker 1: girls on the day they were supposed to check out,
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Speaker 1: which was the 16th. But Carol had checked out in advance,
6:14
Speaker 1: so the manager would not have seen her anyways. She
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Speaker 1: would not have had to go by the front desk
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Speaker 1: on the way out.
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Speaker 2: So that was not an anomaly.
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Speaker 1: The manager also told police that on the 16th, after
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Speaker 1: the three women should have been out of their room,
6:26
Speaker 1: the cleaners went by room 509, and when they went inside,
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Speaker 1: it was vacant.
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Speaker 2: And nothing seemed amiss.
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Speaker 1: It was relatively clean, minus some wet towels that had
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Speaker 1: been left on the floor of the bathroom.
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Speaker 2: The keys to the room were left on the desk,
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Speaker 2: as they should be.
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Speaker 1: It just looked like the women had left.
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Speaker 2: And so the police reached out to the car.
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Speaker 1: Rental company at the San Francisco airport to see if
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Speaker 1: Carol had made it to the airport and dropped off
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Speaker 1: her car. But when they spoke to the manager of
6:50
Speaker 1: this rental company, they would say, no, Carol has not
6:53
Speaker 1: dropped off her car, and she hasn't called about extending
6:55
Speaker 1: her lease, which is now overdue. Based on the information
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Speaker 1: the police gathered from the lodge and from the rental
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Speaker 1: car company, they began operating on the theory that the
7:04
Speaker 1: three women left their lodge motel room on the 16th
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Speaker 1: and then either got into a car accident somewhere and
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Speaker 1: had just not been found yet, or they had driven somewhere,
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Speaker 1: gotten out of their car and gotten lost, perhaps inside
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Speaker 1: of Yosemite National Park or some other trail somewhere, or
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Speaker 1: they had fallen victim to some crime. But at this point,
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Speaker 1: the police were not taking seriously the idea that foul
7:25
Speaker 1: play was involved. A massive search was launched in and
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Speaker 1: around the Cedar Lodge complex as well as around the
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Speaker 1: western entrance of Yosemite, but absolutely nothing was found.
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Speaker 2: A number of workers from Cedar Lodge were.
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Speaker 1: Interviewed by police and subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing. Also,
7:41
Speaker 1: a number of friends and family of the three women
7:44
Speaker 1: were also interviewed by police and cleared as well. Then,
7:47
Speaker 1: a few days after the search had started, there was a.
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Speaker 2: Break in the case.
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Speaker 1: Carol's wallet with her ID and credit cards inside of
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Speaker 1: it was found lying on the ground in Modesto, California.
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Speaker 2: Which was a suburb that was located about two hours
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Speaker 2: west of Cedar Lodge.
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Speaker 1: Some high school students saw it on the ground and
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Speaker 1: gave it to a police officer. There was no reason
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Speaker 1: for Carol and the girls to be in Modesto, California,
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Speaker 1: and so this signaled to police that a third party
8:12
Speaker 1: had to have been involved in their disappearance. And so
8:15
Speaker 1: if that was the case, then almost certainly these three
8:17
Speaker 1: women had fallen victim to some sort of crime. Over
8:20
Speaker 1: the next several weeks, police continued to search the roads
8:23
Speaker 1: and trails in and around Cedar Lodge and the Western
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Speaker 1: entrance to Yosemite, and they looked all over Modesto. But
8:30
Speaker 1: besides this wallet being found, there were no further developments
8:33
Speaker 1: with the case. Then on March 18th, which is about
8:36
Speaker 1: a month after the three women originally went missing, a
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Speaker 1: hiker was way off in the middle of this forest
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Speaker 1: about two hours north of Cedar Lodge in about an
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Speaker 1: hour and a half northeast of Modesto, California, when he
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Speaker 1: turned onto this logging road that nobody.
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Speaker 2: Really ever went down.
8:51
Speaker 1: And as he's walking down this road, he sees up
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Speaker 1: ahead the skeleton of a car. It looks like a
8:56
Speaker 1: car had been set on fire. And so he calls
8:59
Speaker 1: it into police, not really knowing what he's looking at.
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Speaker 1: The police come out and they're able to identify this car,
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Speaker 1: the shell of a car, is the red rental car
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Speaker 1: that Carol and the girls had been using. When they
9:09
Speaker 1: searched the car, the inside, the main cabin of the car,
9:12
Speaker 1: there really was nothing left. There looked to be some
9:14
Speaker 1: remnants of some suitcases and maybe some clothing, but mostly
9:18
Speaker 1: it was just the frame of the car and some springs.
9:20
Speaker 1: But when they opened the trunk of the car, they
9:23
Speaker 1: made a grisly discovery. Inside were two very badly burned
9:27
Speaker 1: bodies with their hands still bound behind their backs. Using
9:30
Speaker 1: dental records, they were able to confirm the bodies belonged
9:33
Speaker 1: to Carol and Sylvina. But there was no sign of
9:36
Speaker 1: Carol's daughter, Julie, the 15-year-old. She was not in the car,
9:40
Speaker 1: around the car, or in the surrounding areas. And so
9:42
Speaker 1: there was this glimmer of hope that maybe if law
9:45
Speaker 1: enforcement acts fast enough, they can find Julie and save
9:48
Speaker 1: her before it's too late. But all hope was lost
9:51
Speaker 1: when just a couple of days into the search around
9:53
Speaker 1: the car, when they still hadn't found anything, the police
9:56
Speaker 1: received an anonymous handwritten letter. And on this letter was
9:59
Speaker 1: this crude map that showed this very specific spot overlooking
10:03
Speaker 1: a lake. It was Don Pedro Lake, which was located
10:05
Speaker 1: about an hour to the south of where the car was.
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Speaker 2: And then on this note as well was a phrase.
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Speaker 2: It just said, we had fun with this one.
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Speaker 1: Using this crude map, the police went to Don Pedro Lake.
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Speaker 1: They went up to the overlook as marked on this map.
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Speaker 1: And there they looked down and they saw the crumpled
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Speaker 1: and badly decomposed remains of Julie. At this point, police
10:25
Speaker 1: already had several suspects they'd picked up in Modesto, California
10:29
Speaker 1: that they believed were connected in some way to what
10:32
Speaker 1: happened to these three women. Of these suspects, two were
10:35
Speaker 1: of particular interest to the police. They were half-brothers Eugene
10:39
Speaker 1: Dykes and Michael Lorwick. They had been arrested shortly after
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Speaker 1: Carol's wallet had been found for shooting at a Modesto
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Speaker 1: police officer and for several drug charges and for violating
10:48
Speaker 1: their parole. Once these half brothers were in custody, Eugene
10:52
Speaker 1: made several self-incriminating remarks, basically insinuating that he and Michael
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Speaker 1: had been involved in what happened to these three women.
11:00
Speaker 1: And then after Carol, Sylvina, and Julie's bodies had been found,
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Speaker 1: the synthetic fibers that were found all over Carol matched
11:07
Speaker 1: the synthetic fibers that were pulled off of Michael and
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Speaker 1: Eugene on their clothing and from their vehicle when they
11:12
Speaker 1: were arrested. And so the police were very confident that
11:15
Speaker 1: they had their killers and they had them behind bars already.
11:19
Speaker 1: But they still needed to compile evidence before they could
11:21
Speaker 1: formally charge them and make their names public to the media.
11:25
Speaker 1: And so when the news broke about the women's bodies
11:27
Speaker 1: being found and the public began panicking about a killer
11:30
Speaker 1: or killers on the loose, the police came out and said,
11:33
Speaker 1: everybody calm down. We have the people responsible. We just
11:36
Speaker 1: can't tell you who they are yet. You need to
11:38
Speaker 1: be patient. We're building the case, but everybody's safe. There's
11:41
Speaker 1: nothing to worry about. But four months went by and
11:43
Speaker 1: the police still had not come out and publicly charged
11:46
Speaker 1: anyone with these murders, but they continued to assure the
11:49
Speaker 1: public that they had their killers behind bars and and
11:52
Speaker 1: so nobody has anything to worry about. On the afternoon
11:55
Speaker 1: of July 22nd, roughly four months after the discovery of
11:58
Speaker 1: the three bodies, Dr. Desmond Kidd, who was the medical
12:02
Speaker 1: director for Yosemite, had just finished a long 24-hour shift
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Speaker 1: in the clinic, and he had just gotten back to
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Speaker 1: his cabin, which was inside of Yosemite, when his pager
12:11
Speaker 1: went off. And so he went to a phone, he
12:13
Speaker 1: dialed the number that was on his pager, and the
12:15
Speaker 1: park dispatcher picked up and said, hey, Dr. Kidd, can
12:18
Speaker 1: you be a part of a search for a missing person?
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Speaker 2: And Dr. Kidd said, sure, you know, I'd love to help.
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Speaker 1: And then there was a pause and the park dispatcher said, hey,
12:26
Speaker 1: just so you know, there are law enforcement implications with
12:29
Speaker 1: this one. And then before he could clarify, he hung
12:31
Speaker 1: up the phone.
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Speaker 2: And so Dr. Kidd is really.
12:33
Speaker 1: Confused what he meant about these implications, because in the
12:36
Speaker 1: past three years he had worked at this park, he
12:39
Speaker 1: had unfortunately been involved in many searches for missing people
12:42
Speaker 1: in the park, but they were never tied to any
12:45
Speaker 1: sort of criminal activity. They were always because the person
12:48
Speaker 1: got lost or fell or something, which was fairly.
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Speaker 2: Common inside of the park.
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Speaker 1: And so as soon as this convoy of other Yosemite
12:54
Speaker 1: staff members that are part of the search rolled up
12:57
Speaker 1: in front of his cabin, Dr. Kidd ran outside, he
12:59
Speaker 1: hopped in one of the vehicles, and he asked the driver,
13:01
Speaker 1: you know, what's going on? What are these law enforcement
13:04
Speaker 1: implications with regards to this missing person? And the driver
13:07
Speaker 1: would explain to him that, you know, hey, four months earlier,
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Speaker 1: we had those three Yosemite tourists go missing, Carol, Julie,
13:13
Speaker 1: and Sylvina.
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Speaker 2: And they were found murdered outside of Yosemite.
13:17
Speaker 1: And while the police have said they have their killers
13:19
Speaker 1: behind bars, the police still have not come out and
13:22
Speaker 1: actually named who their killers are or charged anyone in
13:25
Speaker 1: their murders. And so that's made many of us think
13:28
Speaker 1: that maybe they don't have the killer or killers behind bars.
13:31
Speaker 1: Maybe there's a killer or killer still on the loose.
13:35
Speaker 1: And unfortunately tonight, we have another person who's gone missing
13:38
Speaker 1: inside of the park.
13:39
Speaker 2: And she's gone missing under very mysterious circumstances. which has
13:43
Speaker 2: led many of us to think that it's possible, if
13:45
Speaker 2: there really is a killer out there, they've struck again tonight. Dr.
13:49
Speaker 1: Kidd was totally shocked at this news, but he was
13:52
Speaker 1: even more shocked when he discovered who it was that
13:54
Speaker 1: was missing.
13:55
Speaker 2: It was somebody he knew.
13:56
Speaker 1: Her name was Joey Armstrong, and she was a 26-year-old
13:59
Speaker 1: naturalist employed by Yosemite. A naturalist is like an expert
14:03
Speaker 1: tour guide that knows everything about the park.
14:05
Speaker 2: Dr.
14:06
Speaker 1: Kidd and the rest of the convoy of Yosemite staff
14:09
Speaker 1: that were gonna be a part of the search sped
14:11
Speaker 1: around the corner and went down this unmarked road with
14:13
Speaker 1: huge trees on either side.
14:15
Speaker 2: And then eventually they.
14:16
Speaker 1: Came out of this heavily forested road and they entered
14:19
Speaker 1: into this unbelievably beautiful meadow. And on the very far
14:23
Speaker 1: end across this huge meadow is this one green cabin
14:26
Speaker 1: sitting at the base of this mountain with a forest
14:29
Speaker 1: on the other.
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Speaker 2: Side of it.
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Speaker 1: This totally secluded cabin in the middle of Yosemite was
14:33
Speaker 1: where Joey was living.
14:34
Speaker 2: As Dr.
14:35
Speaker 1: Kidd and the convoy went across this meadow and got
14:37
Speaker 1: closer to this cabin, Dr. Kidd could see park rangers
14:41
Speaker 1: walking around the perimeter of the cabin, marking it off
14:44
Speaker 1: with yellow police tape.
14:45
Speaker 2: When Dr.
14:46
Speaker 1: Kidd and his vehicle came to a stop right outside
14:49
Speaker 1: of the marked up area, they got out and they
14:51
Speaker 1: could see parked right next to the cabin was this
14:54
Speaker 1: white pickup truck. It was Joey's pickup truck. And inside
14:57
Speaker 1: of it was a bunch of luggage. And it looked
14:58
Speaker 1: like there was luggage that had spilled out onto the
15:00
Speaker 1: ground and some of the doors were still open.
15:02
Speaker 2: And so it gave Dr.
15:03
Speaker 1: Kidd and the rest of the searchers the impression that
15:06
Speaker 1: Joey must have either been loading things into her truck
15:09
Speaker 1: or unloading things out of her truck at the time
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Speaker 1: she went missing.
15:12
Speaker 2: Dr.
15:12
Speaker 1: Kidd and the rest of the searchers kind of huddled
15:14
Speaker 1: up with the park rangers and the rangers explained that
15:17
Speaker 1: Joey's friends that were living in San Francisco were expecting
15:20
Speaker 1: Joey to arrive at their house the day before, but
15:23
Speaker 1: when she didn't and they couldn't get in touch with her,
15:25
Speaker 1: they had called it in and that's why they were
15:27
Speaker 1: there looking for her. And so after talking about the
15:30
Speaker 1: circumstances of the case, they all decided they would break
15:32
Speaker 1: into five different search groups. And they would begin searching
15:35
Speaker 1: the immediate area.
15:36
Speaker 2: Dr.
15:37
Speaker 1: Kidd and four other searchers began walking behind the cabin
15:40
Speaker 1: towards the tree line. And then once they got into
15:42
Speaker 1: that forest, they started walking towards this creek. And as
15:45
Speaker 1: they walked up along this creek, they suddenly noticed a
15:48
Speaker 1: whole bunch of trampled ferns and saplings. And it looked
15:51
Speaker 1: like someone had come running through there. And perhaps the
15:54
Speaker 1: person who was running was Joey. And so they begin
15:56
Speaker 1: following these tracks that go right alongside this creek. And
15:59
Speaker 1: then at some point, one of the searchers yells out, hey,
16:02
Speaker 1: what's that up there? And about 10 feet ahead of them,
16:04
Speaker 1: where the ground kind of sloped down into a ditch
16:07
Speaker 1: out of view, right before the ditch, hanging on a
16:10
Speaker 1: little tree on the ground was a set of car
16:12
Speaker 1: keys glinting in the sunlight.
16:13
Speaker 2: And so Dr.
16:14
Speaker 1: Kidd, who was at the front of his small search party,
16:17
Speaker 1: he began walking towards these keys. And as he got
16:19
Speaker 1: closer and closer, he began to be able to see
16:22
Speaker 1: down into this ditch right on the other side of
16:24
Speaker 1: these keys. And as soon as he could actually see
16:27
Speaker 1: what was at the bottom, he immediately began to gag
16:29
Speaker 1: and he turned around and quickly walked away. The other
16:32
Speaker 1: four searchers, they walked up and they had a look
16:34
Speaker 1: down and they too had a similar reaction. And before long,
16:38
Speaker 1: the group was running back to the cabin to tell
16:40
Speaker 1: the park rangers what they had just discovered. When the
16:43
Speaker 1: rangers heard about what was in the forest, they immediately
16:46
Speaker 1: contacted the police and the police sent a police officer
16:49
Speaker 1: to Joey Armstrong's mother's house which was just outside of
16:53
Speaker 1: San Francisco. When the mother opened the door, the officer
16:56
Speaker 1: told her that they had just gotten a call from
16:58
Speaker 1: Yosemite and they need her to call them.
17:00
Speaker 2: And then he handed her a piece of paper with
17:02
Speaker 2: a phone number on it.
17:03
Speaker 1: Joey's mother was immediately concerned and confused and tried to
17:06
Speaker 1: get more information from this officer, but the officer just said, look,
17:09
Speaker 1: you're just gonna have to call that phone number.
17:11
Speaker 2: I really don't know anything.
17:12
Speaker 1: And so eventually she thanked him, she shut the door
17:14
Speaker 1: and she went into the kitchen and she dials this number.
17:17
Speaker 1: After someone picked up, she introduced herself as Joey's mother
17:21
Speaker 1: And at that point, the person who picked up quickly
17:23
Speaker 1: handed the phone off to someone who sounded much more senior.
17:26
Speaker 1: And this person asked Joey's mother, are you aware that
17:29
Speaker 1: your daughter is missing? So Joey's mother says, no, I
17:32
Speaker 1: was not aware of that. And then this person very
17:34
Speaker 1: delicately says, ma'am, we believe we found your daughter's body
17:38
Speaker 1: near her cabin. Joey's mother's reaction was instant. She said, well,
17:42
Speaker 1: did you check her hair? She has red hair.
17:44
Speaker 2: Can you confirm it's really her because she's got bright
17:46
Speaker 2: red hair? Can you make sure it's really her?
17:48
Speaker 1: And the person on the other side of the line
17:50
Speaker 1: hesitated for a minute and then just said, ma'am, we're
17:53
Speaker 1: not sure if she has red hair or not.
17:55
Speaker 2: We'll get back to you.
17:56
Speaker 1: And so after this call finally ended, Joey's mother was confused.
17:59
Speaker 1: How could they not know what color her daughter's hair was?
18:02
Speaker 1: That seems like such an easy way to potentially identify
18:05
Speaker 1: whether or not this was really her daughter. Why would
18:07
Speaker 1: they make her wait for something like that? And so
18:09
Speaker 1: she was horribly distraught. She didn't know what else to do.
18:12
Speaker 1: She was told to just kind of wait for more news,
18:14
Speaker 1: but she couldn't do that. And so she began planning
18:16
Speaker 1: a trip out to Yosemite to actually get out there
18:18
Speaker 1: and see what was going on. But the earliest flight
18:21
Speaker 1: she could possibly get was not until very early the
18:23
Speaker 1: next morning. And so she has this very restless night's
18:26
Speaker 1: sleep where she's just praying that this person was not
18:29
Speaker 1: actually her daughter. And then the next morning she gets up,
18:32
Speaker 1: she rushes to the airport and as she's waiting to
18:34
Speaker 1: board her plane, she grabs a newspaper from a nearby
18:38
Speaker 1: kiosk and the headline reads, naturalist beheaded at Yosemite. And
18:43
Speaker 1: that's when she understood why that person could not tell
18:45
Speaker 1: her whether or not this was her daughter based on
18:48
Speaker 1: hair color. It's because this body did not have a head.
18:51
Speaker 1: But from the time she got that phone call to
18:53
Speaker 1: this headline running in the paper, these searchers had found
18:56
Speaker 1: the head. It was located 27 feet away under some brush,
18:59
Speaker 1: and they were able to confirm that it was the
19:01
Speaker 1: body of Joey Armstrong. Joey's death was immediately treated like
19:04
Speaker 1: a homicide, and right away, the public began to openly
19:08
Speaker 1: suggest that maybe Joey's murder is connected to the murders
19:12
Speaker 1: of Carol, Julie, and Silvina from four months earlier. Even
19:16
Speaker 1: though the police were still saying, we have our killers
19:19
Speaker 1: behind bars for those murders, Joey's murder is completely unconnected. Luckily,
19:24
Speaker 1: the public and the police did not have to argue
19:26
Speaker 1: for very long about who was right about this, because
19:29
Speaker 1: there was a break in Joey's case almost immediately. On
19:32
Speaker 1: the night that Joey went missing, another Yosemite staff member
19:35
Speaker 1: had happened to drive by her cabin and they noticed
19:38
Speaker 1: a distinctive SUV parked outside of her cabin that they
19:42
Speaker 1: didn't recognize. It was a blue 1979 International Scout. And
19:46
Speaker 1: as it happened, there were only two of these particular
19:48
Speaker 1: types of vehicles registered in Yosemite Valley. And so within
19:52
Speaker 1: 24 hours, the police had tracked down one of these
19:55
Speaker 1: two vehicles. It was located about 12 miles away from
19:59
Speaker 1: the western entrance of Yosemite and was pulled off the
20:01
Speaker 1: side of this highway. The police pulled up alongside it
20:04
Speaker 1: and parked. They walked up. There was no one inside
20:06
Speaker 1: of this vehicle. But then down this embankment off the
20:09
Speaker 1: highway led down to this forest where there was a
20:11
Speaker 1: river kind of out of sight that people like to
20:14
Speaker 1: swim and fish in. And so these two officers decide
20:16
Speaker 1: to head down and see if maybe the driver is
20:18
Speaker 1: down there. So they make their way down and sure enough,
20:21
Speaker 1: they come in contact with the driver. He was laying
20:23
Speaker 1: on this rock, completely nude, smoking marijuana. And so the
20:27
Speaker 1: two officers, they come up to him and announce themselves.
20:29
Speaker 1: And this very well-built, good-looking guy stands up and he
20:32
Speaker 1: calmly covers himself And he takes the marijuana out of
20:35
Speaker 1: his mouth and he says.
20:36
Speaker 2: Hey, what can I do for you guys?
20:37
Speaker 1: And so over the course of their conversation, the police
20:40
Speaker 1: would learn this guy's name was Kerry Stainer. He was
20:43
Speaker 1: 38 years old and he was the handyman at Cedar
20:46
Speaker 1: Lodge Motel. He would tell police that he was not
20:48
Speaker 1: anywhere near Joey's cabin on the night she went missing.
20:51
Speaker 1: And the police ultimately bought it and said, okay, you know,
20:54
Speaker 1: they confiscated his marijuana.
20:55
Speaker 2: And then they walked back up the hill, leaving him
20:57
Speaker 2: down there. And they took some pictures of his car
21:00
Speaker 2: and the tires on his car. And then they left.
21:02
Speaker 1: A couple of days later, some FBI investigators that had
21:05
Speaker 1: been called in for this case, they analyzed those pictures
21:08
Speaker 1: those officers had taken of the tires of Carrie's car,
21:12
Speaker 1: and they compared them to pictures of the tire tracks
21:14
Speaker 1: at Joey's cabin, and they determined they were a perfect match.
21:18
Speaker 1: So later that day, which was July 24th, police officers
21:22
Speaker 1: went back out and tracked Carrie down again. This time,
21:25
Speaker 1: he was having lunch at one of his favorite spots.
21:27
Speaker 1: It was a nudist resort. about three hours northwest of
21:31
Speaker 1: the Cedar Lodge. There, he was arrested on the suspicion
21:34
Speaker 1: of murdering Joey Armstrong, and he was brought in for questioning.
21:37
Speaker 1: As soon as he was walked into the police station
21:40
Speaker 1: and was booked, Carey dropped a bombshell. He confessed to
21:43
Speaker 1: not only murdering Joey Armstrong, but also he confessed to
21:47
Speaker 1: murdering Carol Sund, along with her daughter, Julie Sund, and
21:51
Speaker 1: Silvina Peloso, the friend of Julie Sund.
21:53
Speaker 2: And he did all of this on his own. He
21:55
Speaker 2: had no other accomplices.
21:56
Speaker 1: Which means the police never had the killer or killers
22:00
Speaker 1: behind bars. It would turn out Eugene Dykes, who was
22:02
Speaker 1: one of their primary suspects, was lying when he made
22:05
Speaker 1: those self-incriminating remarks about he and his half-brother Michael. And
22:09
Speaker 1: as for those synthetic fibers that were found on Eugene
22:12
Speaker 1: and Michael, those fibers belonged to a very commonly sold blanket.
22:16
Speaker 1: And so they did not definitively tie Michael and Eugene
22:19
Speaker 1: to the crime. So for half a year in 1999,
22:22
Speaker 1: There really was a serial killer just roaming free in
22:25
Speaker 1: Yosemite National Park, just like many people who lived in
22:29
Speaker 1: that area and like some people.
22:30
Speaker 2: In the media had speculated.
22:32
Speaker 1: Carey would go on to give a very detailed and
22:35
Speaker 1: graphic six-hour-long confession of how he went about killing all
22:39
Speaker 1: four women.
22:40
Speaker 2: This is his awful story.
22:41
Speaker 1: On February 14th, 1999, so the day that Carol, Julie,
22:45
Speaker 1: and Sylvina arrived at Cedar Lodge, Carey was on his
22:49
Speaker 1: way to his girlfriend's house.
22:50
Speaker 2: His girlfriend, like Carey, worked at the Cedar Lodge. She
22:53
Speaker 2: was a waitress at their 1950s-style diner.
22:56
Speaker 1: That night, as Carey walked up her front walkway towards
22:59
Speaker 1: her front door, He made up his mind that he
23:01
Speaker 1: was going to act on a fantasy he had had
23:03
Speaker 1: since he was seven years old. And that fantasy was
23:06
Speaker 1: to kill a young woman. And so his plan that
23:09
Speaker 1: night was he would go inside and he would not
23:11
Speaker 1: only kill his girlfriend, but he would also kill her
23:14
Speaker 1: two daughters who were 10 and 11 years old at
23:16
Speaker 1: the time. But when he went inside the house and
23:18
Speaker 1: was about to carry out this plan, he noticed out
23:21
Speaker 1: one of their windows, there was a man in their backyard.
23:24
Speaker 1: And he asked his girlfriend, who's that guy out there?
23:26
Speaker 1: And she would say, oh, you know, I hired someone
23:28
Speaker 1: to take care of our property. So he's going to
23:30
Speaker 1: be cutting the grass and, you know, doing some things
23:32
Speaker 1: with our garden. He's going to be here for a
23:33
Speaker 1: little bit, but he'll stay outside. And so this totally
23:35
Speaker 1: screwed up Carrie's plan because he was not expecting there
23:38
Speaker 1: to be anybody there that night. And so for several hours,
23:41
Speaker 1: Carrie anxiously sat there constantly looking out the window, waiting
23:45
Speaker 1: for this guy to leave so he could kill these
23:47
Speaker 1: three people. But the worker was just taking a lot
23:50
Speaker 1: of time and it didn't seem like he was even
23:52
Speaker 1: close to being done. And so finally, Cary left without
23:55
Speaker 1: any explanation. Angry and frustrated, he began driving back to
23:58
Speaker 1: Cedar Lodge, where he had an apartment on the second floor.
24:02
Speaker 2: And when he pulled into the.
24:03
Speaker 1: Parking lot, he noticed there was a car he had
24:05
Speaker 1: not seen earlier in the day. It was a 1999
24:08
Speaker 1: red Pontiac Grand Prix. And suddenly, Cary had this urge
24:12
Speaker 1: to find out who owned that car. And maybe if
24:15
Speaker 1: he was lucky, it was a woman who owned that
24:18
Speaker 1: car and she was potentially alone. And if that was
24:21
Speaker 1: the case, He could fulfill his fantasy on this woman
24:24
Speaker 1: and not worry about the fact that he couldn't kill
24:26
Speaker 1: his girlfriend and her two kids. And so Carrie parked
24:29
Speaker 1: his car a little bit a ways from this red
24:31
Speaker 1: car and he walked over to the room that was
24:34
Speaker 1: right in front of this red car. And it was
24:37
Speaker 1: room 509. And he peeked behind one of the curtains
24:39
Speaker 1: into the room, which was all lit up. And he
24:41
Speaker 1: couldn't believe his luck. There were three women inside of
24:44
Speaker 1: this room. It was Carol, Julie, and Sylvina. And so
24:47
Speaker 1: Carrie stayed back and continued looking through the window just
24:50
Speaker 1: to make sure there wasn't a man inside of this room.
24:53
Speaker 1: And after a while of watching them go in and
24:55
Speaker 1: out of the bathroom and nobody coming into the room
24:58
Speaker 1: but these three women and no men coming into the
25:00
Speaker 1: room from the outside, he was certain they were alone.
25:03
Speaker 1: And so when Carrie finally turned around and left to
25:06
Speaker 1: go back to his room, he made the decision that
25:08
Speaker 1: he was going.
25:08
Speaker 2: To come back the next day and kill them.
25:10
Speaker 1: The next day, which was February 15th, Carey secretly followed
25:14
Speaker 1: the three women when they hopped in their rental and
25:16
Speaker 1: drove to Yosemite. He followed them to the parking lot,
25:19
Speaker 1: and then he waited in the parking lot until the
25:21
Speaker 1: women had finished going through the park and having this
25:23
Speaker 1: wonderful time. He trailed them from the parking lot back
25:26
Speaker 1: to the Cedar Lodge, and then he secretly followed them
25:29
Speaker 1: when they went to that diner and they had.
25:30
Speaker 2: Hamburgers for dinner.
25:32
Speaker 1: And he continued to follow them from a distance and
25:34
Speaker 1: watch them rent movies from the front desk.
25:36
Speaker 2: And he followed them all the way back to their room.
25:39
Speaker 1: And once he knew they were inside their room and
25:41
Speaker 1: he watched them long enough to confirm they were not
25:43
Speaker 1: going to leave again, he went back to his room
25:45
Speaker 1: and he got his toolbox.
25:47
Speaker 2: In his toolbox was rope, duct tape, a knife, and
25:49
Speaker 2: a gun.
25:50
Speaker 1: And then around 11 p.m., he left his apartment and
25:53
Speaker 1: went downstairs and walked all the way back over to
25:55
Speaker 1: that corner room, room 509, where the women were. And
25:58
Speaker 1: he looked in the window and it was totally dark inside,
26:00
Speaker 1: so he assumed they must be sleeping and he.
26:03
Speaker 2: Knocked on the door.
26:04
Speaker 1: A few minutes later, Carol came to the door and
26:06
Speaker 1: very cautiously opened it up just to crack, leaving that
26:09
Speaker 1: chain link lock still attached.
26:12
Speaker 2: And so she looked through at Carrie and said, hi,
26:14
Speaker 2: can I help you?
26:15
Speaker 1: And Carrie, who held up his handyman toolbox and pointed
26:17
Speaker 1: to his name tag that said he was the Cedar
26:20
Speaker 1: Lodge handyman, he said, hi, ma'am, sorry to disturb you
26:22
Speaker 1: so late, but there is a leak in the room
26:24
Speaker 1: right above yours, and I need to make sure the
26:27
Speaker 1: leak is not coming down into your room. So can
26:29
Speaker 1: I come in and just have a quick look and
26:31
Speaker 1: then I'll be out of here. And Carol apparently was
26:33
Speaker 1: just not buying it. And she said, look, I haven't
26:35
Speaker 1: seen any leaks in this room. I don't think there
26:37
Speaker 1: is one, but even if there is, can it please
26:39
Speaker 1: wait until tomorrow because we're all trying to sleep. But
26:42
Speaker 1: Carrie was very persistent and Carrie was known to be
26:44
Speaker 1: very charming and very disarming. And eventually he talked his
26:48
Speaker 1: way into the room. And so he walks inside, he
26:50
Speaker 1: walks past the bed where the other two teen girls
26:52
Speaker 1: are still sleeping. He goes into the bathroom and for
26:55
Speaker 1: a few minutes he kind of pretends to fiddle around
26:57
Speaker 1: inside of the bathroom while Carol is standing right outside
27:00
Speaker 1: looking in at him. And then at some point, Kerry
27:02
Speaker 1: reached into his toolbox, pulled out the gun and he
27:04
Speaker 1: aimed it at Carol and he said, stay calm.
27:07
Speaker 2: I'm not going to hurt you. This is just a robbery.
27:09
Speaker 1: Carol most likely believed their best chance at getting out
27:12
Speaker 1: of this situation was just to comply.
27:15
Speaker 2: And do what he says.
27:16
Speaker 1: He'll rob us and then he'll leave and we'll be okay.
27:19
Speaker 1: And so Carol very dutifully went back into the room
27:21
Speaker 1: and she quietly woke up her daughter and her daughter's friend.
27:24
Speaker 1: And before long, Carrie had tied up all three of them.
27:27
Speaker 1: He put the two teenagers in the bathroom and shut
27:29
Speaker 1: the door. And then he put Carol on the bed.
27:31
Speaker 1: And then he proceeded to assault Carol before strangling her
27:34
Speaker 1: to death with more rope. And then after she was dead,
27:37
Speaker 1: he carried her body outside of the motel room and
27:40
Speaker 1: put her in the trunk of her own rental car.
27:42
Speaker 1: And then after he shut the trunk, he went back
27:44
Speaker 1: inside the motel room.
27:45
Speaker 2: He went to the bathroom. He opened it up.
27:47
Speaker 1: He grabbed Sylvina, who was crying, and pulled her out,
27:50
Speaker 1: and he left Julie alone, cowering inside the bathroom by herself.
27:54
Speaker 1: He shut the door behind her, and then he brought
27:56
Speaker 1: Sylvina over to the bed where he assaulted her before
27:59
Speaker 1: strangling her as well.
28:00
Speaker 2: To death with some additional rope.
28:01
Speaker 1: And then after Sylvina was dead, he carried her body
28:04
Speaker 1: outside of the motel and put her in the trunk
28:06
Speaker 1: of the rental car along with Carol's body. And then
28:09
Speaker 1: after that, he went back inside the motel room, and
28:11
Speaker 1: then once again, he opened up the bathroom door, he
28:14
Speaker 1: grabbed Julie, pulled her out, proceeded to assault her as well,
28:18
Speaker 1: but then afterwards he did not strangle her to death. Instead,
28:21
Speaker 1: he walked her back into the bathroom and shut and
28:23
Speaker 1: locked the door. And while she was in there wondering
28:26
Speaker 1: what's going to happen to her, what happened to her mom,
28:28
Speaker 1: what happened to her friend, he proceeded to clean up
28:30
Speaker 1: the room and tidy it up and he moved all
28:33
Speaker 1: of their luggage out of their room and put it
28:35
Speaker 1: into the rental car. And then after he was satisfied,
28:37
Speaker 1: he went back inside the motel room, he opened up
28:39
Speaker 1: the bathroom door, He pulled Julie out and had her
28:42
Speaker 1: stand right outside the bathroom. And then Carrie proceeded to
28:45
Speaker 1: clean up the bathroom but left a couple of wet
28:47
Speaker 1: towels on the ground to give the impression that the women.
28:50
Speaker 2: Had left in a bit of a hurry.
28:52
Speaker 1: And so after that, he grabbed Julie and he walked
28:54
Speaker 1: her out to the car and he sat her down
28:56
Speaker 1: in the front seat. She only had a blanket on
28:59
Speaker 1: at this point. Everything else had been taken off of her.
29:01
Speaker 1: And then Carrie hopped in the front seat and he
29:03
Speaker 1: began driving off. Julie must have been beyond terrified. She
29:07
Speaker 1: has no idea where her mom is. She has no
29:09
Speaker 1: idea where her friend is. She has no idea they're
29:12
Speaker 1: actually dead locked in the trunk right behind her. And
29:15
Speaker 1: the man that had just assaulted her for hours is
29:17
Speaker 1: now driving her into the darkness. She has no idea
29:20
Speaker 1: where she's going and all she's got is this blanket
29:22
Speaker 1: around her. It's just beyond brutal what's happening to this
29:25
Speaker 1: poor girl. And so for two hours, Kerry drove them
29:28
Speaker 1: west along the highway in the middle of the night.
29:31
Speaker 1: And the whole time he's trying to make small talk
29:33
Speaker 1: with this poor girl. trying to tell her that she's
29:35
Speaker 1: going to be okay and that her mom and her
29:37
Speaker 1: friend they're going to be okay and then finally he
29:40
Speaker 1: pulls off the highway down some switchbacks into this big
29:43
Speaker 1: parking lot of the Don Pedro Lake and then once
29:46
Speaker 1: he parks the car there's no other cars around it's
29:48
Speaker 1: still dark out the sun hasn't come up he gets
29:50
Speaker 1: out and he tells Julie to get out of the
29:52
Speaker 1: car but Julie is so scared she can't move, so
29:55
Speaker 1: she can't even get out of the car. And so
29:57
Speaker 1: Carrie gets out, he walks around to her side, he
29:59
Speaker 1: opens the door, and he scoops her up like you
30:02
Speaker 1: might hold a baby, and he walked with her up
30:04
Speaker 1: the trail all the way to this overlook that was
30:06
Speaker 1: well away from any prying eyes in the parking lot,
30:09
Speaker 1: and once he was out of sight, he took her
30:11
Speaker 1: blanket off and he laid it down, and then he
30:13
Speaker 1: proceeded to assault her again, and then as the sun
30:16
Speaker 1: began to come up over the lake, Carrie realized that
30:20
Speaker 1: he had to end his fantasy, and begin to cover
30:23
Speaker 1: his tracks. And so Kerry stops what he's doing, he
30:25
Speaker 1: stands up, he reaches down and pulls Julie up to
30:27
Speaker 1: her feet and so she's standing with her back to
30:30
Speaker 1: the lake and as he's looking at her he says,
30:32
Speaker 1: I love you and then he pulls out his knife
30:34
Speaker 1: and begins hacking her throat and then he pushes her
30:37
Speaker 1: down the hillside where she tumbles and finally comes to
30:39
Speaker 1: a stop underneath some.
30:40
Speaker 2: Bushes where she does.
30:42
Speaker 1: Kerry grabbed the blanket on the ground and he walked
30:44
Speaker 1: back to the rental car in the lot. There was
30:46
Speaker 1: nobody out there so he hopped inside He drove out
30:49
Speaker 1: of the lot and drove one hour north until he
30:51
Speaker 1: was well into this forest and he pulled down a
30:54
Speaker 1: logging road where he abandoned this car. After he ditched it,
30:57
Speaker 1: he walked back up to the highway and caught a
30:59
Speaker 1: cab back to Cedar Lodge. He would come back to
31:02
Speaker 1: the car and torch it two days later. He would
31:04
Speaker 1: also make a special trip to Modesto, California, where he
31:07
Speaker 1: would drop Carol's wallet in the middle of the road
31:09
Speaker 1: near a high school in order to confuse investigators. A
31:13
Speaker 1: month later, when Carol and Sylvina's body were found in
31:16
Speaker 1: the back of the burned out car, Carey would send
31:19
Speaker 1: that handwritten note to police that had the map of
31:22
Speaker 1: where Julie's body was and that horrible message of, we
31:25
Speaker 1: had fun with this one, referencing Julie. He sent that
31:29
Speaker 1: to police in order to further confuse them. He wanted
31:32
Speaker 1: them to believe that there really was more than one
31:34
Speaker 1: person perpetrating these murders, hence the we.
31:38
Speaker 2: Had fun with this one.
31:39
Speaker 1: Months would go by and the police, despite questioning Kerry
31:43
Speaker 1: along with the other Cedar Lodge staff members, never considered
31:46
Speaker 1: him a suspect. And that was because one, they really
31:49
Speaker 1: thought he was just a nice, normal guy and couldn't
31:52
Speaker 1: be capable of committing violence against these three women. And two,
31:56
Speaker 1: probably most importantly, the police discovered when Kerry was a child,
32:01
Speaker 1: his younger brother was kidnapped by a pedophile and held
32:05
Speaker 1: for seven years. And although his brother was ultimately returned
32:08
Speaker 1: to the family alive, that experience was incredibly traumatic and
32:13
Speaker 1: devastating to Carrie. And so the police figured there's no
32:16
Speaker 1: way this guy would ever abduct or harm other people
32:20
Speaker 1: because he knows how traumatic and awful that is for
32:23
Speaker 1: the victim and the victim's family. If anything, Carrie seemed
32:26
Speaker 1: like the type of guy who would go out of
32:28
Speaker 1: his way to protect and save.
32:30
Speaker 2: These three women from being abducted or from being harmed.
32:34
Speaker 1: In July of that year, so four months after the
32:36
Speaker 1: three women's bodies were discovered, Carey, who believed he had
32:39
Speaker 1: completely gotten away with murder, and to that point he
32:42
Speaker 1: really had, he was just driving around Yosemite kind of
32:45
Speaker 1: reveling in the fact that he had gotten to live
32:47
Speaker 1: out this fantasy and not get punished for it when
32:50
Speaker 1: he noticed there was this woman way off in the
32:52
Speaker 1: distance walking in and out of this cabin that was
32:54
Speaker 1: fairly isolated. And so he drove his 1979 International Scout
32:59
Speaker 1: blue SUV down this forested road and he reaches this
33:02
Speaker 1: meadow and he looks across this meadow And now that
33:04
Speaker 1: this woman is even closer, he can tell she's clearly
33:07
Speaker 1: loading things into her truck.
33:09
Speaker 2: And she's going back and forth, back and forth.
33:11
Speaker 1: And he's watching, wondering if there's anybody else helping her
33:13
Speaker 1: because this cabin is very secluded. And he's thinking, if
33:16
Speaker 1: she's alone, I might be able to kill her too.
33:19
Speaker 1: And so after a while, when he only sees her
33:21
Speaker 1: loading things into her white pickup truck, he decides he's
33:25
Speaker 1: going to go kill her. And so he drives across
33:27
Speaker 1: the meadow and he pulls up right next to her
33:28
Speaker 1: truck and he gets out and he introduces himself. And
33:31
Speaker 1: the woman is so completely caught off guard by this
33:33
Speaker 1: random strange man showing up in the middle of the night,
33:36
Speaker 1: suddenly acting so friendly, that kind of reflexively, in an
33:40
Speaker 1: effort not to be rude, she says, hi, you know,
33:42
Speaker 1: I'm Joey Armstrong.
33:43
Speaker 2: Nice to meet you. What are you doing down here?
33:44
Speaker 2: And Carrie would.
33:45
Speaker 1: Proceed to spark up some small talk. He asked her
33:48
Speaker 1: if she believed in Bigfoot, and they kind of got
33:50
Speaker 1: on this tangent about Bigfoot. And then at some point,
33:52
Speaker 1: Carrie drew a pistol, and he aimed it at her
33:54
Speaker 1: and said, go inside your cabin. And so Joey put
33:56
Speaker 1: her hands up, and she went inside the cabin like
33:58
Speaker 1: she was told, and Carrie followed her inside. And then
34:00
Speaker 1: he bound her wrists and he bound her mouth with
34:03
Speaker 1: duct tape. And then he ordered her to get back
34:05
Speaker 1: inside of his SUV. And then once she was sitting
34:08
Speaker 1: inside the front passenger seat, Carrie got in the driver's
34:11
Speaker 1: seat and he began leaving the cabin headed back out
34:13
Speaker 1: away towards that road he came in on. And as
34:16
Speaker 1: he's bombing across the meadow, Joey leaps headfirst out.
34:20
Speaker 2: Of the window of this moving.
34:22
Speaker 1: Car and smashes onto the ground. and she immediately jumps
34:25
Speaker 1: up and just starts running back towards the cabin. Carrie
34:27
Speaker 1: jams on the brakes, he hops out and he starts
34:29
Speaker 1: chasing after Joey, but Joey manages to get fairly close
34:33
Speaker 1: to that tree line right behind the cabin before Carrie
34:36
Speaker 1: ultimately grabs her and tackles her to the ground. And
34:38
Speaker 1: then Joey is viciously trying to fight Carrie off of
34:41
Speaker 1: her and Carrie kind of in a panic draws his
34:43
Speaker 1: knife and he tries to slash at Joey, but Joey
34:47
Speaker 1: tucks her chin, protecting her neck from being stabbed. And
34:50
Speaker 1: so frustrated, Carrie just stands up and he grabs Joey
34:53
Speaker 1: by the hair And he begins hauling her towards the
34:55
Speaker 1: forest behind her cabin. And the whole time Joey's doing
34:58
Speaker 1: everything in her power to try to escape, but she
35:00
Speaker 1: just can't. And finally they get inside the woods and
35:03
Speaker 1: Kerry drags her into this ditch. And once she's down
35:06
Speaker 1: at the bottom, he puts his foot on the top
35:08
Speaker 1: of her head and forces it back, forcibly exposing her throat.
35:12
Speaker 2: And then at that point he pulls out his knife
35:13
Speaker 2: and he begins to cut.
35:15
Speaker 1: Afterwards, Kerry considered keeping Joey's head, but ultimately he would
35:18
Speaker 1: try to hide it in some bushes nearby. After Kerry
35:21
Speaker 1: attempted to cover up some of the blood in the
35:23
Speaker 1: area with some branches and leaves, he left the forest
35:26
Speaker 1: and went back to his SUV. He didn't even attempt
35:29
Speaker 1: to tidy up the scene. He left her truck as is,
35:31
Speaker 1: he left her cabin as is. He just hopped in
35:33
Speaker 1: his SUV and drove back to Cedar Lodge. Kerry would
35:36
Speaker 1: tell police that as soon as he killed Joey Armstrong,
35:38
Speaker 1: all he wanted to do was go kill his girlfriend
35:42
Speaker 1: and her two young daughters, the 10 and 11 year old,
35:44
Speaker 1: but police caught him before he could carry out the attack.
35:47
Speaker 1: Cary Stainer, who never showed any remorse for his victims,
35:50
Speaker 1: was ultimately sentenced to death and is currently awaiting execution
35:54
Speaker 1: in San Quentin Prison in Northern California. One of the
35:57
Speaker 1: more distressing aspects of this case was Carol's camera that
36:01
Speaker 1: was found intact near the burned out car in the woods.
36:04
Speaker 1: the police would develop the pictures on this camera in
36:07
Speaker 1: hopes there would be some clue as to who murdered them,
36:11
Speaker 1: but it would turn out there wasn't any usable evidence
36:13
Speaker 1: on the camera. It was just pictures of Carol, her daughter,
36:16
Speaker 1: and Silvina having this wonderful time in Yosemite, and that
36:20
Speaker 1: was it. But after Carey confessed to what he did
36:23
Speaker 1: to these poor women, those pictures take on a whole new,
36:27
Speaker 1: much darker meaning. In the final eight images of the
36:30
Speaker 1: camera roll, We know Carrie Stainer was either literally watching
36:34
Speaker 1: these women secretly at the time the picture was taken,
36:38
Speaker 1: or he was patiently.
36:39
Speaker 2: Waiting nearby for them to return.
36:41
Speaker 1: The final image that was taken on this camera was
36:44
Speaker 1: taken by Julie of her mother sitting on the bed
36:46
Speaker 1: and her friend Sylvina sitting on the other bed as
36:49
Speaker 1: they're getting ready to turn out the lights and go
36:51
Speaker 1: to sleep. That picture was taken just moments before Carrie.
36:54
Speaker 2: Knocked on their door. So that's going to do it, guys.
37:15
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38:24
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