When Cary Stayner was questioned by FBI agents, he immediately confessed to the four Yosemite Park murders and provided a detailed accounting of his crimes. He also revealed a disturbing truth: he originally intended to kill his girlfriend and her daughters before he went on to target Carole Sund, Juli Sund, and Silvina Pelosso on February 15, 1999. On the day of those murders, Stayner spent most of his time with his girlfriend and her family, per ABC News.
That girlfriend worked at a restaurant at Cedar Lodge. One of her daughters, Lenna, was interviewed by ABC‘s 20/20 in 2019 and said she and her sister were excited whenever Stayner visited. He taught them how to dive into the water and bought them a new Beanie Baby with every visit. However, she remembers feeling uncomfortable with him when he once stripped completely bare in front of them at the Merced River. He often carried a backpack that she later found out contained his murder weapons.
After his arrest, the FBI later informed her mother of Stayner’s original intentions, which involved killing them all and raping Lenna and her sister. Stayner considered doing it on three different occasions. Before leaving for the nudist colony — and after murdering his last victim — Stayner went looking for Lenna and her family, but luckily they were gone visiting their grandmother. An FBI agent believed they would’ve been Stayner’s next victims had he not been caught, per ABC News.
