Richard "Rick" Kananen Jr.

There not very people who will argue that the Kananen children did not have a hard life, at least when their father was around. While no one, except those who live it, knows exactly what goes on behind closed doors there always seem to be little things that stick out to others. For the Kananen family it seemed odd to others how they moved from state to state so often and many times in the middle of the night like they were sneaking away or evading someone or something. Some have said that this happened when Richard Kananen Sr. thought that things going on inside the home were leaking out and people were getting curious. The family, that consisted of Richard, his wife Marilyn and their three children, Richard Jr., Cheryl and Stacey, lived in California, Maine, Minnesota, and Arkansas before settling down near Orlando Florida in 1978. I should note, to put things in perspective that Richard Jr. was at least ten years older than his next sibling, Cheryl and thirteen years older than Stacey. Many have said this age difference could have played a role in what would happen throughout their lives.

According to the children Richard Sr was an alcoholic who was physically, sexually and emotionally abusive to everyone in the home throughout their entire lives. And, while I said earlier no one knows exactly what goes on in a home, there seemed to be enough for others to see that when the story came out it was believed. One allegation was that he had locked them in their home and set it on fire. Richard Jr. saved his sisters. Richard Sr. would be described as nothing less than a “monster.” Then on September 10, 1988 the children were told that he left. The children were grown by then and it appears that everyone was simply relieved that he was gone and no one reported him missing. It does appear that some friends and family were a bit suspicious but still no one seemed to follow up on anything. Cheryl would later say that she recalled that two weeks before her wedding Richard Jr. called and said he had a present for her. She says this is when he told her that Richard Sr. was gone and “trust me, he won't be coming back.” Even still it seems that no one cared why he was gone, they were just glad that he was. Marilyn told neighbors that Richard Sr. had moved back to Maine; to others she stated they had divorced. She told her sister that he had gone on a
“drunken, gun-wielding rampage, was arrested and ordered to leave Florida.” Her sister would later say that she attempted to verify this story and could not. At some point her sister learned that Marilyn was still collecting Richard Sr.'s social security checks and Marilyn told her that she was forwarding them to him. It was apparently this that later had Marilyn's sister saying she did not trust Marilyn.

So, for the next fifteen years life just went on. Cheryl did get married and have a child but the marriage faltered and by 2003 she was living with her pre-teen son. Stacey worked at nearby Walt Disney World and in March of that year she and her girlfriend, Susan, bought a home about a mile from Marilyn's home. It does appear that Richard Jr. had some issues however. It would later be said that Marilyn had described Richard Jr. as “bad news” to several people, including co-workers. It appears that he would disappear for several months at a time. By September of 2003 he was back in town and living with Stacey and Susan nearby.

On September 10, 2003, exactly fifteen years to the day since Richard Sr. had disappeared, so did Marilyn. It was said that the girls, Stacey and Cheryl, first feared that their father had come back and taken revenge on Marilyn. Cheryl became suspicious of her siblings when it seemed as if over the next few months they were getting rid of things belonging to their mother when she had not returned. Then in November Cheryl's twelve year old son told her something Richard Jr. had said to him and they immediately went to the authorities. According to Cheryl's son, Richard Jr. told him that he had murdered his father back in 1988 and hated his mother because she had not protected him from the abuse his father administered. Investigators looked into the situation and then they brought both Richard Jr. and Stacey into the station to be questioned. Authorities did not have enough proof that either of them had done anything at that point and were forced to release them. However, they decided to keep an eye on them to see if they could catch them doing anything. Stacey would later say that after they left the police station Richard Jr. had said to her, “They are going to find our father under mom's garage and our mother in your back yard.” She would later claim that he convinced her that they both needed to commit suicide because she would be blamed because it was her yard in which they would find her mother. The two drove to a storage unit that they possessed and Stacey wrote a note to her girlfriend, Susan. The note would be a huge issue of debate later. Authorities would say that the note was a confession to her mother's murder on Stacey's part, while Stacey argued the note was to basically absolve Susan of any involvement, but not an admittance that she was involved. Because they were being watched after a period of time in the storage unit officers went in and found Richard Jr. and Stacey inside their car, in the unit with the car running. They would also find the note Stacey wrote to Susan. The siblings were taken to the hospital where they would both survive.

It appears that Richard Jr. all but completely confessed while he was in the hospital and was immediately charged with the murders of both his parents. Despite whatever the authorities thought the note to Susan meant they still did not have enough to charge Stacey with any involvement. Investigators dug in and recovered the bodies of both Richard Sr. and Marilyn, exactly where Richard Jr. told them they could be found. Initially Richard Jr. would be found mentally incompetent to stand trial but over time that changed. Stacey was planning to testify against him. Authorities had learned that a few days prior to her murder Marilyn had complained to co-workers that Richard Jr. had made a copy of her car keys against her wishes. She also said she felt that both Richard Jr. and Stacey were watching her and how recently the lights to her security system at her home had stopped working. Authorities also pointed out that Marilyn's father had died in 2002 and she had recently inherited $250,000 from his estate. After she disappeared Richard Jr. had gone to the BMV and took the “Jr.” off his identification. Authorities say that this was so that he could access Marilyn's bank account that still showed Richard Sr.'s name. Overtime he drained nearly $100,000 from the account.

By early 2007 Richard Jr. had decided to plead “no contest” to his charges. He would receive a sentence of thirty years for the second degree murder of his mother and fifteen years in the homicide/manslaughter death of his father. According to the Florida Department of Corrections website his release date is listed as June of 2030, when he will be well into his seventies. All seemed to be settled and then Richard Jr. dropped a bombshell. Just days prior to his sentencing, which seemingly had been determined with his plea Richard Jr. announced to authorities that Stacey was the real killer of their parents. On May 9, 2007 Stacey Kananen was arrested and charged in the murders. Richard was now claiming that Stacey had shot Richard in his bed and that he and Marilyn help put his body in the garage and bury him into the floor. He then claimed that both he and Stacey had wanted the money that Marilyn had recently inherited but that Marilyn, who knew all about Richard Sr.'s death, threatened to rat them both out. Richard Jr. claims that he had taken his mother out to dinner and then a movie on the night of September 10, 2003. Upon their return home he had use a taser gun on her and then Stacey had smothered her with a pillow.

By the time Stacey went to trial in March of 2010 the charges in Richard Sr.'s murder had been dropped. It seemed there really was no evidence beyond Richard Jr.'s word. The same could have been said about Marilyn's case except prosecutors claimed the letter Stacey wrote to Susan in 2003 was a confession letter. Richard Jr. and Cheryl both would testify against Stacey at her trial. Richard Jr.'s testimony revolved around his new story about the deaths of his parents while Cheryl's was based on what she saw, or at least thought she saw after her mother had disappeared. Stacey would admit that she knew Richard Jr. was accessing her mother's bank account but that she thought he had done so to pay her mother's bills. Yes, her mother had been found in her backyard, but at the time Richard Jr. also lived there. After a two week trial the jury took just three and a half hours to find Stacey not guilty.

Authorities did come to believe that Marilyn likely knew that Richard Sr. was dead, and what had happened. The fact of the matter was that in fifteen years she had never removed his name from her bank account and had continued to cash nearly $100,000 in social security disability checks. First, if Richard Sr. was still alive he would have been collecting his own checks and secondly, it seems unlikely with everything Richard Sr. had done that once he was gone she would have continued to use an account with his name on it in case he returned. It was never truly alleged that she was involved in his murder but she was aware. Both girls have maintained knowing nothing about Richard Sr.'s murder or knowing that he was dead at all. It is not clear whether Richard Jr. has ever recanted his story about Stacey being involved in the murders but over the years he has claimed his motives in killing his mother involved money, fear and revenge. One theory is that on the day of her murder, which was fifteen years to the day of Richard Sr's, is that she may have expressed that she missed him or indicated there had been some “good times,” something it seems that none of the children could agree with. Those who believe this theory believe she may have said something along those lines to Richard Jr. and it angered him that she had the ability to “miss” him after all he had done to them as children. It is unlikely that anyone will ever truly know the full story of either murder.