[3] On the afternoon of December 4, 1972, Stayner was approached on his way home from school by a man named Ervin Edward Murphy, who had become acquainted with convicted child molester Kenneth Parnell as co-workers at a resort in Yosemite National Park.

[6] Acting on instructions from Parnell, Murphy passed out religious tracts to boys walking home from school that day[6][7] and, after spotting Stayner, claimed to be a church representative seeking donations.

Parnell passed himself off as Stayner's father, and the two moved frequently around California, living in locations including Santa Rosa and Comptche.

As he frequently moved from one menial job to another, some of his work required travel and leaving Stayner unguarded.

On February 14, 1980, Parnell and a teenage friend of Stayner's named Randall Sean Poorman kidnapped five-year-old Timothy White in Ukiah.

[17] On March 1, 1980, while Parnell was away at his night security job, Stayner left the house with White and hitchhiked into Ukiah.

[19][20] Parnell was not charged with the numerous sexual assaults on Stayner and other boys because most of them occurred outside the jurisdiction of the Merced County prosecutor or were by then outside the statute of limitations.

The Mendocino County prosecutors, acting almost entirely alone, decided not to prosecute Parnell for the sexual assaults that occurred in their jurisdiction.

[22] Stayner's kidnapping and its aftermath prompted California lawmakers to change state laws "to allow consecutive prison terms in similar abduction cases.

"[23] After returning to his family, Stayner had trouble adjusting to a more structured household as he had been allowed to smoke, drink and do as he pleased when he lived with Parnell.

He began to drink frequently and was eventually kicked out of the family home; his relationship with his father would remain strained.

[25][28] On September 16, 1989, Stayner sustained fatal head injuries on his way home from work when a car turned in front of his motorcycle in a hit and run accident.

[29][18] In early 1989, a two-part television miniseries based on Stayner's experience, I Know My First Name Is Steven (also known as The Missing Years), was produced.

Although pleased with the dramatization, Stayner did complain that it depicted him as a somewhat "obnoxious, rude" person, especially toward his parents, something he refuted while publicizing the miniseries in the spring of 1989.

[34] The production, which received four Emmy Award nominations, including one for Nemec, was based on a manuscript by Mike Echols, who had researched the story and interviewed Stayner and Parnell, among others.

In 1999, against the wishes of the Stayner family, Echols wrote an additional chapter about Steven's older brother Cary at the request of his publisher, which then re-published the book.

[35] The title of the film and book are taken from the first paragraph of Steven's written police statement, given during the early hours of March 2, 1980, in Ukiah.

[38] In April 2022, Hulu released a limited true-crime docuseries Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story following the life of Stayner and his family and how the kidnapping impacted their lives.

The docuseries focused heavily on the miniseries and featured appearances by both Corin Nemec and Todd Eric Andrews.

[41] Parnell died of natural causes on January 21, 2008, at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, while serving a sentence of 25 years to life.

[46] Fundraisers for the statue have stated that it is meant to honor Stayner and give families of missing and kidnapped children hope that they are still alive.