More than 1.35 million people visited through June this year, compared with 1.31 million in 1998 and 1.23 million in 1997. This week, officials at Cedar Lodge and Yosemite View Lodge, the two largest motels on the western edge of the park, say they are still regularly filling their combined 485 rooms. We are getting only a handful of cancellations directly attributable to the crime. The last murder in Yosemite took place in December 1987, when a man pushed his wife off Inspiration Point, park officials said. Stayner also told a television reporter he killed Carole Sund, daughter Juli Sund and family friend Silvina Pelosso, who were last seen alive Feb. 15 at Cedar Lodge.
Public intoxication is a more common offense.
Still, many were relieved to hear about Stayner's arrest and confession. Before Stayner's arrest, one area lodge owner, Letty Barry, said she had received several cancellations from people who were too afraid of the Yosemite area. In the park, motels in Yosemite Valley also experienced about a dozen cancellations in reaction to the Armstrong slaying. But we've been filling up. There was a lot of relief after the arrest was made.