Family Wants Trial in Yosemite Slayings
June 12 -- A former hotel handyman who allegedly admitted killing a California woman and two teenage girls near Yosemite National Park should stand trial so the whole truth can come out, relatives of the victims say.
Testimony is scheduled to continue today in Mariposa, Calif., Superior Court in a hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to put Cary Stayner on trial for the grisly triple slaying. The hearing could also help prosecutors determine whether they will seek the death penalty, should the case go to trial.
Carole Carrington, whose 42-year-old daughter Carole Sund and 15-year-old granddaughter Juli were killed along with 16-year-old Silvina Pelosso of Argentina two years ago, told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America she is determined to see the case go to trial.
"We feel that we want to know everything that happened," Carrington said. "We want to know all about it. And we feel that a jury and the public should also know all about it."
Four Grisly Slayings
The bodies of Carole Sund and Pelosso, a family friend who had been visiting the Sunds, were found in the trunk of Sund's rental car, which had been set on fire, on March 19, 1999. They had both been strangled.
Juli Sund's body was found a week later, with her throat slashed.
On July 21, 1999, the headless body of a Yosemite naturalist, Joie Armstrong, was found.
Three days later, Stayner confessed to all four slayings, according to Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Fletcher. He provided the Mariposa Sheriff's Department with a chilling description of how he slashed Armstrong's throat and then beheaded her.
Stayner, 39, pleaded guilty to federal charges in Armstrong's death, and is serving a life sentence.
If convicted of murder in the deaths of the Sunds and Pelosso, he could get the death penalty.
Looking for an Accomplice
Part of the reason Carole Sund's parents want the trial is they believe not only that Stayner is guilty, but that he may have had help.
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