About Kenneth Parnell
Kenneth Eugene Parnell was an American convicted sex offender, child rapist, and kidnapper infamously known for committing the abductions of 7-year-old Steven Stayner in Merced, California, in 1972 and 5-year-old Timothy White in Ukiah, California, in 1980. He was convicted in 2004 for attempting to purchase a child for sex and died in prison. Prior to publication, the manuscript served as the basis for the 1989 TV miniseries I Know My First Name Is Steven (also known as The Missing Years), with Arliss Howard as Parnell. Parnell denied in that same interview having been sexually abused himself, although Mike Echols' book I Know My First Name Is Steven claims that he was molested at the age of 13 by a boarder in a rooming house that his mother owned in Bakersfield.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.