Is Captive Audience on Hulu a true story?
Hulu‘s three-episode series, Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story, tells the story of two brothers. One was considered to be a hero, the other the complete opposite.
We dive into the tale of Steven Stayner who was kidnapped when he was seven years old. Then seven years later when he’s 14, Steven escapes and makes it back home. The cameras and flashing lights are a constant in his life, and the way things play out don’t result in the happy ending you’d expect.
All of the constant media attention is difficult on Steven and the family, but it also causes jealousy to build in the former missing boy’s brother, Cary Stayner. The resentment leads to the older sibling committing multiple crimes. After the family finds its way out of the spotlight, they are thrust right back in for a different reason.
Famous directors Anthony and Joe Russo, aka the Russo Brothers, served as executive producers on the series. With all of this happening, is Captive Audience based on a true story?
Is Captive Audience on Hulu a true story?
Unfortunately and surprisingly, Captive Audience on Hulu is based on a true story. Not only that, but the series is actually a three-part documentary.
In 1972, Steven Stayner was kidnapped by Kenneth Parnell. He was molested and raped by the child abductor. He told Steven he’d been given legal custody of him because his parents couldn’t afford so many children, not wanting him anymore. Of course this was all a lie. Parnell also began calling the young boy Dennis, and pretended to be his father in public.
When Steven was 14, he was able to escape with another of Parnell’s victims, 5-year-old Timothy White. The teen hero decided to attempt an escape because he didn’t want the young boy to go through the abuse he did.
Following his return home, the story of a missing boy back “unharmed” seven years later gained massive media attention. The documentary shows how cameras were always at the family’s home and the effect it had on them. But while one brother didn’t necessarily want all the attention, another did.
In 1985, Steven got married and had two children, Ashley and Steven Jr. Tragically when he was only 24 years old, his motorcycle collided with a car in a hit-and-run accident. His funeral was attended by 500 people, with a 14-year-old Timmy White as pallbearer.
If that wasn’t enough tragedy for the family, in 1999 four women were brutally murdered. Police suspected there was a serial killer and all four deaths were connected. The one behind the murders is Corey Stayner, Steven’s older brother. He is currently still on death row at San Quentin Penitentiary in California.
All three episodes of Captive Audience: A Real American Horror Story are streaming on Hulu.