Timothy James White was an American boy who in 1980 was abducted by pedophileKenneth Parnell, and held for several weeks before he escaped with Steven Stayner.
Kidnapping
Seven years prior to White's kidnapping, Parnell kidnapped seven-year-old Steven Stayner as he walked home from school. As Stayner aged, Parnell lost interest in him and was motivated to kidnap another younger boy. Parnell enlisted Stayner as an accomplice in a few earlier kidnappings which failed due to Stayner failing to follow directions. Thinking Stayner was an incompetent criminal, Parnell cajoled one of Stayner's teenage friends, a local boy named Sean Poorman, into being an accomplice, promising him drugs and money. On February 13, 1980, Poorman noticed 5-year old Timmy White, who was playing outside his parents' house in Ukiah, California and ushered him into Parnell's getaway car. When White refused and attempted to run indoors, Poorman shoved the boy against a chain link fence, forced him to loosen his grip, then dragged him kicking and screaming into the car. Parnell made quick work in brainwashing White, as he had done with Stayner's abduction, repeatedly trying to get White to think his new name was "Tommy". Parnell paid off Poorman with the promised cash and marijuana, then ordered him to leave and never speak of the incident Parnell also dyed Timmy White's blond hair dark brown in order to mask his appearance from the forthcoming missing child posters. Ultimately Parnell would pass White off as his younger son and Stayner's brother. White forged a bond with Stayner during the 16 days he was held captive and spoke favorably of how the older boy took care of him. Stayner, determined to not see another child suffer the systematic sexual abuse that he endured, sought to return White to his parents.
Escape
On March 1, 1980, Stayner and White escaped while Parnell was at work. Parnell lived in remote backcountry; they walked a great distance until a passing truck driver took them to Ukiah. Stayner originally planned to return Timmy to the White residence, but Timmy could not remember his address. Chancing upon a police station, they went in. Parnell was convicted of abducting Stayner and White in separate trials. He was sentenced to seven years for the abduction of White and was paroled after five years. Parnell was not charged with sexual assault because most offenses occurred outside the jurisdiction of the Merced County prosecutor or were outside the statute of limitations. The White family maintained contact with the Stayners, and when Stayner died in a motorcycle accident in 1989, a then 14-year-old White was a pallbearer.
White later became a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Deputy in 2005. Like Stayner, he gave lectures to children about his experience and the dangers of kidnapping. In 2004, Parnell was tried for human trafficking and attempt to kidnap a child, and White was summoned to testify. Also summoned was a full-grown Sean Poorman, who reacted with shock, not having seen White since the 1980 kidnapping. The two spoke briefly and hugged, White having forgiven Poorman. White died April 1, 2010, from a pulmonary embolism. On August 28, 2010, a statue of Stayner and White was dedicated in Applegate Park in Merced. Residents of Ukiah also erected a statue representing Stayner and White escaping hand in hand.
