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| This booking photo provided by the Harris County Sheriff's Office shows Ronald Lee Haskell. Haskell, 33, is charged with multiple counts of capital murder in the killings of two adults and four children Wednesday evening, Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Ron Hickman said early Thursday. He also is accused of critically wounding a 15-year-old girl in the shooting rampage. |
SPRING, Texas
(AP) -- A man charged with killing four children and their parents
forced his way into the family's suburban Houston home, tied them up and
shot them in the back of the head when they refused to tell him where
his ex-wife was, authorities said Thursday.
The
lone survivor of the attack, the slain couple's 15-year-old daughter,
suffered a fractured skull when a bullet grazed her head. She played
dead and called 911 after Ronald Lee Haskell left the house, prosecutors
revealed at a court hearing.
A day after the slayings, investigators slowly built a picture of Haskell, who was the couple's estranged brother-in-law.
The
33-year-old man is accused of killing his ex-wife's sister, Katie Stay,
and her husband and the children, ranging in age from 4 to 14, after
binding them and putting the family face-down on the floor of their
home.
Haskell had a handful of previous
run-ins with law enforcement in Utah, where he had lived with his wife.
Neighbors said Haskell's marriage was so rocky that Stay went to Utah
last fall to help her sister escape the relationship and start a new
life in Texas.
Stay "was very instrumental in
helping her sister get here so she could have a fresh start. Katie's a
spitfire. She has energy to stand up for what she believes is right and
true," said Verena Beckstrand, a neighbor who choked back tears as she
talked about the family.
Haskell had
previously been jailed in 2008 in Logan, about 80 miles north of Salt
Lake City, on charges of assault and domestic violence. His wife told
police he dragged her by her hair and struck her in the head in front of
their children.
Those charges were later dismissed as part of a plea deal, according to information released Thursday by Logan authorities.
Haskell
was also served last year with a protective order from his ex-wife. It
was dismissed in October after the couple filed for divorce, online
court records show.
By Thursday morning, a
small memorial with three candles and a plant had been set up at the
front door of the family's two-story white-brick and brown wood-trimmed
home. A couple with a child left a framed photo of the family with the
inscription "Faith, Hope, Love."
"I don't
think any of us will ever be able to see that house the same again,"
said Viri Palacios, who lives across the street. "I just want the word
to get out they were a really, really good family."
The
father, Stephen Stay, was a real estate broker. The mother was a
helpful presence around the neighborhood, planning Halloween and
Christmas parties for children, Palacios said.
A
few blocks from the home at Lemm Elementary School, Principal Kathy
Brown tied multi-colored ribbons around trees in front of the building
and encouraged parents to do the same.
"It's
to have positive bright thoughts about the family," Brown said, noting
that two of the slain children had attended school there and a third had
graduated from Lemm.
Documents from
Thursday's preliminary court hearing show that the daughter who survived
attempted to close the door after telling Haskell her parents were not
home. But he kicked it in. The teen remained in critical condition in a
Houston hospital.
In a statement, issued
Thursday through the Harris County Sheriff's Office, Katie Stay's
father, Roger Lyon, said his 15-year-old granddaughter "is expected to
make a full recovery."
When the badly wounded
daughter contacted authorities, she told them the gunman was planning to
shoot other relatives, Hickman said. Police located Haskell's car, and
took him into custody after a three-hour standoff.
"We
are grateful for this miracle," Lyon said in his statement. "We are in
awe of her bravery and courage in calling 911, an act that is likely to
have saved all of our lives. She is our hero."
Haskell
was wearing a FedEx shirt at the time of the attack, but authorities
seemed uncertain whether it was a deliberate attempt to deceive.
Harris County Constable Ron Hickman initially said Haskell showed up at the Stay home "in the guise of a FedEx driver."
But
he and other officials later declined to say whether Haskell used the
uniform to gain access to the home. Hickman said investigators were not
sure whether the suspect would have needed a disguise to get in the
house, or if the children knew him.
Haskell had once done work for FedEx but not since January, the company said in a statement.
Online
jail records did not list an attorney for Haskell, who was initially
misidentified by authorities as the slain children's father. Police did
not explain the mistake.
A divorce decree
issued in February shows Haskell and Melanie Kaye Haskell were married
in 2002 in Orange County, California. They separated in June 2013.
A
judge granted joint custody of the couple's four children, ranging in
age from 3 to 11, with Haskell's wife getting primary custody.
At
the time of the divorce, Haskell was making $2,300 a month, although
the records do not say what kind of work he did. He was ordered to pay
$773 per month in child support. His wife was given the house, valued at
$190,000, in the small town of Smithfield, Utah, just outside Logan.
