Yosemite Killer Pleads Innocent

Motel handyman Cary Stayner, already sentenced to life without parole in the murder of a Yosemite National Park naturalist, pleaded innocent Wednesday in the 1999 slayings of three tourists.

Carole Sund, her daughter, Juli, and an Argentine friend, Silvina Pelosso, disappeared while visiting the park nearly two years ago.

A conviction in that case could bring the death penalty, though prosecutors have not yet announced whether they plan to seek it.

Husband and father Jens Sund said the hearing was the first time he had seen Stayner since his arrest.

"I was repulsed because of what he did," said Sund, who said that — unlike his wife's parents — he is not pushing for the death penalty.

Stayner, 39, allegedly confessed to the tourist slayings of Feb. 15, 1999, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation was questioning him for the July 1999 beheading of park naturalist Joie Armstrong.

The three women were staying at the Cedar Lodge, a rustic motel just outside the park's western gate where Stayner worked.

Stayner told investigators he entered their motel room, saying he had to fix a leak in the bathroom, law enforcement sources said on condition of anonymity. Once inside, he said he pulled a pistol and told the women to lie face down on their beds, then bound their hands with duct tape and gagged them.

He said he strangled Carole Sund, 42, and Pelosso, 16, in the motel room, and also sexually assaulted the girls, the sources said. Stayner said he then drove Juli, 15, and the two bodies to a remote reservoir, where he slashed Juli's throat.

More than a month later, the remains of Carole Sund and Pelosso were found in the burned-out rental car, abandoned along a logging road. Juli Sund's body was found a week later near the reservoir with the help of a map Stayner admitted sending anonymously to the FBI.

Armstrong, a 26-year-old nature guide, was found beheaded near her cabin in the park. Stayner was caught three days later and allegedly admitted killing all four women.

During his sentencing last Thursday, Stayner sobbed and said he couldn't explain his actions.

"I gave in to the terrible dark dreams that I tried to subdue," he said. "The craziness that lurked in my mind for as long as I can remember became a reality in this terrible crime."

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