[6] When Steven escaped and returned home, he received massive media attention; which resulted in the 1989 release of a television miniseries based on his experience, I Know My First Name Is Steven,[7] based on the true crime book of the same name; Cary once again felt overshadowed by the attention his brother got.

When he was aged 3, Cary was diagnosed with trichotillomania and put on medication, though the condition continued to affect him during his high school years; the consequential bald spots led to him being severely bullied and having to perpetually wear a baseball cap.

[6] After graduating, Cary worked as a window installer at a glass company, where he allegedly developed a fantasy about ramming a truck into the workplace, killing everyone there and setting the business on fire.

In 1997, Stayner was hired as a handyman at the Cedar Lodge motel in El Portal, California, just outside the Highway 140 entrance to Yosemite National Park.

One of those employees was Stayner, but he was not considered a suspect at that point because he had no criminal history and remained calm during the police interview.

[13] Several months later, on July 22, 1999, the decapitated body of Yosemite Institute employee Joie Ruth Armstrong, a 26-year-old naturalist, was found.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing a blue 1972 International Scout parked outside the cabin where she was staying one day prior, on July 21.

[12] FBI agents John Boles and Jeff Rinek found Stayner staying at the Laguna del Sol nudist resort in Wilton, where he was arrested and taken to Sacramento for questioning.

Given that similar offenders started their killing sprees at far younger ages, investigators have stated that they think Stayner may have additional victims.

His lawyers claimed that the Stayner family had a history of sexual abuse and mental illness, manifesting itself not only in the murders, but also his obsessive-compulsive disorder and his request to be provided with child pornography in return for his confession.

[31] Stayner remains on death row,[32][1] although there have been no executions in California since a 2006 court ruling over flaws in the administration of capital punishment in the state.