The New York Times-20080124-California- Kidnapper Dies In Prison- -Brief-

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California: Kidnapper Dies In Prison; [Brief]

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Kenneth E. Parnell, left, whose abduction of a California boy became the basis of a TV movie, died of natural causes while serving a life sentence, state prison authorities said. Mr. Parnell, 76, died Monday at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. Mr. Parnell was convicted of kidnapping the boy, Steven Stayner, 7, in Merced in 1972. He gave the boy a new name and kept him until Steven escaped in 1980. When Mr. Parnell abducted a second boy in Ukiah that year, Steven fled, taking the other boy. Mr. Parnell was paroled after serving about five years for the kidnappings. In 2004, he was sentenced to 25 years to life after he tried to obtain another child.

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