In early 1980, Parnell offered Randall drugs and money if the teenager would help him "grow his family." Seduced by the payoff, Randall agreed.
Valentine's Day found Parnell and Randall driving into Ukiah, where they stopped at a drug store to buy fruit juice and over-the-counter sleeping pills.
After driving around the city, Parnell spotted 5-year-old Timmy White walking alone from school to his babysitter's house.
Fearing that Timmy might run from an adult, Parnell told Randall to get out of the car, pretend to have car trouble, and ask Timmy for help. Timmy refused and then ran when Randall took a step towards him. Parnell shouted at Randall to hurry and grab the boy, and Randall quickly chased Timmy down, pried the toddler's fingers from a chain link fence and threw him into the backseat of Parnell's car.
As they sped off, Randall gave the hysterical boy the juice mixed with sleeping pills and covered him with a blanket. According to The Oakland Tribune, once back at his house, Parnell paid Randall off and threatened him to keep quiet.
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| Parnell's cabin in Mendocino, where he kept Steven and Timmy |
In the remote cabin in
Mendocino County where he lived with Steven, Parnell repeated to Timmy the same lies he had told Steven seven years earlier about his parents not wanting him and telling the boy that he would be his new father. His first fatherly act was to dye Timmy's blonde hair a deep brown to mask the boy's resemblance to the picture on the "missing child" posters he knew would be coming soon.
