In 1972, seven-year-old Steven Stayner went to school like any other child and never came home. Seven years later, he returned with another five-year-old kidnap victim, Timothy White, in tow. Stayner had escaped his kidnapper, Kenneth Parnell, and created a national media sensation when he came back to his family. The story was ultimately turned into a much-watched made-for-TV movie that turned the national spotlight on the Stayner family.
Meanwhile, Steven’s jealous older brother, Cary, was growing increasingly dark. In 1999, four women were brutally murdered in nearby Yosemite and ultimately linked to Cary, who is now serving life in prison.
Hulu’s docu-series, Captive Audience, returns to these two parallel stories and examines the media’s outsized role in both of them.
Set to Jim Croce’s iconic “I Got A Name,” the trailer reveals enough of the story to intrigue viewers without giving everything away.
Captive Audience, produced by Anthony and Joe Russo, returns to these two true-crime stories to consider what happened from a different perspective, interviewing some of the friends and family members who were there as well as reporters who covered the stranger-than-fiction story.
Besides the Russo brothers, Mike Larocca, Todd Makurath, Jen Casey, Nick Gilhool, Peter Rieveschl, Andrew Jacobs and Alexandra Meistrell executive producer. Jessica Dimmock directs.
Captive Audience premieres Thursday, April 21 on Hulu.

CREDITS
Client: Hulu
Agency: The Shop
President: Jordan Hayman
Creative Director: Jonathan Hayman
Chief Creative Officer: Nick Shakarian
Editor: Christopher Ninness
Music Composer: Cameron Chambers
Graphics: Mariah Burns
Hulu Team: Craig Dobbs, Creative Marketing Lead
Tags: captive audience hulu