Captive Audience True Story: What Happened To Kenneth Parnell
Warning: This article discusses sexual abuse and sex crimes.
Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story, a Hulu Original true-crime documentary, follows the story of Steven Stayner; here's what became of his captor, Kenneth Parnell. Steven Stayner's story became infamous in the world of true crime, as victims don't often make it home so long after their abduction. Stayner was only seven years old when he was kidnapped by Kenneth Parnell on his way home from school on December 4, 1972, in Merced, California, where he was held for seven years under a new identity. Only 16 days after Parnell kidnapped five-year-old Timothy White on February 14, 1980, Stayner would lead them both out of Parnell's clutches as they hitchhiked to freedom.
Parnell's proclivity for crime began early on in his life. Born during the age of Texas' Dust Bowl, Kenneth Parnell spent most of his young life in and out of mental institutions and juvenile halls. Parnell's first sexual abuse crime came in March 1951, when he impersonated a police officer in order to sexually abuse an 8-year-old boy. Parnell only served three years for his crime. In the span of years between his first criminal charge and the kidnappings of Steven and Timmy, Parnell also served time for an armed robbery case in Utah.
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Despite the extensive crimes against the two boys laid out in the true-crime documentary, Kenneth Parnell got off with little more than a slap on the wrist. Parnell was convicted of kidnapping Steven Stayner and Timothy White in 1981 and sentenced to seven years in prison for the kidnapping of White, and 20 months for the kidnapping of Stayner. As the statute of limitations had
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