Murder With My Husband - 34. Cassidy Stay - The Brave Daughter

Episode Date: October 26, 2020

In this episode of Murder With My Husband, Payton tells Garrett the story of Cassidy Stay. LIVE ONLINE SHOW TICKETS HERE! https://www.moment.co/murderwithmyhusband Case Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Harris_County_shooting  https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-massacre-survivors-courage-saved-grandparents-lives/story?id=24518195 https://kutv.com/news/nation-world/teen-told-uncle-please-dont-hurt-us-before-her-lds-family-was-murdered https://www.newser.com/story/280964/cassidy-stay-cries-as-uncle-is-convicted-of-killing-her-family.html https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9816103/family-massacre-killer-uncle-houston-texas-court/ https://www.khou.com/article/news/crime/i-didnt-think-someone-would-hurt-kids-lone-survivor-of-spring-mass-shooting-testifies/285-47b9ffd4-9142-4430-89ef-6e10ec2148ab https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-who-killed-6-members-ex-wife-s-family-gets-n1065366 https://www.tweeddailynews.com.au/news/family-executed-by-vengeful-uncle/3815676/ Socials: https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Kroger, fresh, for everyone! Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. We just want to remind everyone that we will be at the Pinners Conference in Sandy, Utah on November 6th and 7th. And we would really, really, really love to meet just even one of you. It would make it so worth it for us. I know it's not technically a meet and greet, and that's not the reason we're going. But I would seriously just cry if I even got to meet one of you. So we're really, really excited for that.

So if you are local to Utah and you want to come see us, please, please do. Yeah, we think it'll, we think it'll be really fun, actually. Yeah. I'm nervous, but I'm excited. So we had a couple DM requests asking that if Garrett could take a little bit of time at the beginning and say anything that comes to his mind or talk about his week or something, I guess I didn't realize how big of a deal he was to you guys. So Garrett, it's your time to shine. You got anything safe? I wasn't prepared for this. My name's Garrett.

I have 26. I like cheesets and I like sports. That's basically it. There you have it, folks. I'll keep doing this every week so you can get to know Garrett a little bit more. So our case was suggested in by J-E-R.Robinson on Instagram, so thank you so much for sending it in.

I'm really, really excited to get to tell Garrett this case. Our case sources are wikipedia, abcnews.go, kutv.com, newser.com, the sun.co.uk, k-h-o-u.com, NBCnews.com, and TweetDailyNews.com. So let's jump into it. On July 9, 2014, Ronald Lee Haskell headed to his ex-wife's sister's house in Harris County, Texas. He had been raised in San Marcos, California and lived in Alaska until 2004. He was voted as class clown in high school as well as both prom and homecoming

King. Were you ever voted as anything in high school? Nope. Were you? Yes, I was voted as drama queen. Wait, really? Well, it was with Wes. So my my best friend Wes, he's a boy and we were super dramatic in high school We just had such a fun time together and yeah, we were both voted drama queen and king together. That's pretty funny. So, Haskell married Melanie Leion on March 15th, 2002 in Orange County, but they moved to Logan, Utah in 2006 and lived there until 2013. So in 2014, when he arrived at his ex-sister in Los House in Texas, he was dressed as a FedEx delivery man. Haskell had previously worked as a delivery man, but this was just a costume at this time. He rang the doorbell, and when his 15-year-old niece, Cassidy

Stay, answered the door, she didn't recognize her ex-uncle. She hadn't spent a lot of time with him, as his marriage with her aunt was violent and toxic. Ronald Haskell and Melanie Lyon had divorced on February 14th that year. Melanie had moved to Houston after. Before the divorce, Haskell had faced domestic violence charges after dragging his wife out of bed by her hair

and beating her up in front of their four children. Oh my God. Needless to say, Ronald Haskell was not a very good man. On July 8, 2003, just about a year before he showed up on the Stay Families doorstep, Melanie had actually taken a protective order out against her husband and gained full custody of the kids after the divorce. Afterwards, Haskell moved back to San Marcos to live with his parents, where just a week before heading to Texas,

he duct taped his own mom to a chair in her garage and threatened to kill her. So just a re-wrap of our timeline. Haskell and Melanie get married. They have a very violent marriage. They decide to get a divorce, and in the violent marriage, she was beating her up, it was horrible. They get a divorce violent marriage. They decide to get a divorce. And in the violent marriage, she was beating her up.

It was horrible. They get a divorce on February 14th. Did he never go to jail for any of the domestic violence? The charges were dropped. And just like, because he pled guilty, they were lowered to like just a misdemeanor or something like where you wouldn't serve time for. OK.

So they get divorced. And she gets custody of the kids. And he moves back to California to live with his parents. At which which time he ties up his mom, threatened to kill her and then leaves California to evade the cops because he just tied up his mom. And when he leaves California, he runs off to Texas and is now at his wife's sister's house where his wife's sister's daughter has answered the door. Okay, got it. house where his wife's sister's daughter has answered the door.

Okay, got it. Cassidy, the daughter, told whom she thought was a random FedEx delivery man that her parents weren't home to sign for the package she was delivering. A little note here, my mom used to tell me in my siblings that if she or my dad weren't home and an adult came to the door to not answer, but if we did answer the doorback, accident to never tell them that they weren't home, just tell them to come, they couldn't come to the door right now,, but if we did answer the door back, Senate to never tell them that they weren't home. Just tell them to come, they couldn't come to the door right now, but they can come back later.

Obviously, this is nothing against the family in our story. This is just a helpful tip for those listening. Don't ever let your kids tell another adult that there's no adults in the house. Yeah. Haskell turned around after hearing that 33-year-old Katie and 39-year-old Steven stay weren't home. That's interesting that he 39 year old Steven stay weren't home. That's interesting that he would turn around knowing they weren't home. Granted, we haven't gotten to this story yet, but I assume his intention is to go in there

and do something. Yeah, so I actually wrote this because I too was unsure why he turned around, but I'm guessing it's because the parents not being home wasn't according to his plan. Like, he was hoping that they would be home or that one of them would answer the door. And so he just panicked and left. Okay. Because not even a few minutes later, Ronald Haskell walked back up to the Stay Families front door, rang the doorbell again. And when the teenage daughter, Cassidy answered once again, he told her who he was. He was like, I'm your uncle. This made Cassidy really nervous,

because why had he lied the first time? Why was he wearing a FedEx outfit when he was in a FedEx delivery man? She also knew that the divorce between him and her mom's sister was ugly, and so she just had an uneasy feeling. She's like, why is he here? Yeah.

Listening to her gut, Cassidy tries to close the door on her ex uncle, but Ronald Haskell came there with a purpose and forced his way into the house anyways. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads, unsure of which direction to take in life? We all face those moments of uncertainty where the right path seems elusive. But guess what, there's a solution that can help you find clarity and confidence. And that's therapy. As you guys know, I talk about therapy all the time, I go to therapy weekly, I definitely

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Cassidy, the 15-year-old, turns on Netflix in order to ease the panic of her siblings who are obviously scared. What year are we in again? 2004? 14. Oh, 2014. Okay, you said Netflix. I wanted to make sure I got the year right. 2004, I was just watching Netflix. Yeah, I was like, whoa, what?

No, 2014. Her siblings are 13 year old Brian, nine year old Emily, seven year old Rebecca, and four year old Zachary. And they're all gathered in the living room watching Netflix. The Cassidy turned on in order to, you know, ease them because there's this random guy in there that's forcing them into the living room. That's so scary. They sit and wait, waiting for their parents to come home and meet the same fate they had. Eventually, both Katie and Steven stay, arrive home only to be met by Ronald Haskell in his loaded gun.

So he had a gun this whole time. He ushers the parents into the living room with their five children and ties all of them up. Haskell then forces all of them onto their stomachs in a line. Do you know if they had a gun or a chance? Not, not like with them right there. I don't know if they had a gun in the house,

but none of them had it on them. Okay. What did Haskell want? He told them that he wanted them to tell him where his ex-wife was, but it didn't matter what they said. His true intentions became clear. He was on a rampage after the divorce from his wife

and planned to kill all of her family that he could. The stay family just happened to be the first ones. When Katie, the mom, realized what was going on and that no matter what her family told Haskell, he already knew what he was going to do with them. She knew she had to do something. She stood up and tried to fight him off. But remember that she's tied up. So she didn't get very far before Haskell raised his gun and shot her in the head. No way. Holy crap,

I wasn't expecting that. Yeah. Her kids are horrified. Cassidy throws her hands over her ears, shuts her eyes and screams. Cause like, what are you supposed to do? Yeah, I can't even, my mind can't even comprehend that. Ronald Haskell then does what he came there to do. He moves down the line of the stay family. He shoots every single family member in the back of the head execution style, because they're laying there on their stomachs, remember? As soon as he's confirmed that all family members are dead,

he goes back outside, car jacks, the family's car, and fleas. Someone's gonna hear this, right? There's probably what seven gunshots? So, 13. Oh. Because he shot a couple of multiple times. It comes out later in trial that the delivery,

the box he was using to pose was actually a silencer for his gun, so he had a silencer on. Haskell is heading to his wife's parents house next. They were next on his hit list. The state children's grandparents house. When all of the sudden, he's surrounded by police. No way. How had they found him?

Now, if this part doesn't tell you how immature Ronald Haskell is, I don't know what does. Surrounded by law enforcement, after just murdering an entire family, including children for absolutely no reason, Haskell decides to try and evade the police. He takes off in a chase and soos, about two dozen cop cars are chasing Ronald Haskell through town, where they end up being able to disable him with a spike strip. They end up in a cold assack around 7 p.m. that's only actually three miles away from where the stay family lay dead. They blocked him in with two armored cars, but that still wasn't enough for Haskell. To further approve his narcissistic behavior, he proceeds to use a cell phone to

communicate with the police while holding his pistol to his own head. This standoff lasted for three freaking hours. So kind of an interesting or his random question. Why can't the police do anything when he's holding his own gun to his head after he just killed people? Yeah, I mean, kind of a weird question, but you're trying to give it a thought. It of a weird question, but even if he's a danger to him, so I mean, the same thing happened with OJ. Yeah, OJ led the police on a chase solely because he they said he was holding a gun to his head because even they don't even want to lose one more life without a fair trial. Does that make sense? Yes, that makes sense. So they can't

let him hurt himself or others in the process of arresting him. I guess it's frustrating because he just killed people and his people for the whole family for no reason. Oh yeah. And now just like it's immature. Literally, this is what I said. I'm like, this makes me so mad because I'm upset that he can sit there and act like a child for three hours while the stay family is all gone just three miles away.

Yeah, that's horrible. That's so ridiculous But that's just the way it is Ronald Haskell is taken in and informed just how the cops had found him so fast a 9-1-1 call Had come in earlier that day from a 15-year-old girl who claimed that her ex uncle had shown up at her house Killed her whole family and was headed at her house, killed her whole family, and was headed to her grandparents' house next. That's right, Cassidy Stay, who answered the door so innocently earlier that day, had lived through the attack, and had gone on to call 911 after playing dead until her uncle

left her house that day. She had thrown her hands up when he shot her in the back of the head while she was laying on her stomach and the bullet had actually hit her finger because it got in the way and so it only graced her head. She immediately faked death and sat there with all of her actually dead family until the murderer left at which point she then escaped to a neighbor's house to call police and tell them that he was headed to her grandparents' house. Well, I have so many questions. How did she not scream and pain after the bullet had hit her finger? I know. So it goes on later to say that she said that there were angels telling her what to do

in that moment. And so she was screaming, like as he was going down the line, obviously all the kids were screaming. She was screaming and then she said a voice just told her to be quiet and so she did. And she had her hands up over. And so this part kind of confuses me because it says she's tied, but I'm wondering if her hands are tied in front

so she can still use her hands to cover her ears. And that when he shot her, she felt it because her finger got in the way. It didn he shot her, she felt it because it, like her finger got in the way. It didn't hit her head because it hit her finger. And she said it, like at which point her body just went limp. And she said at that point, she automatically knew that she just had to pretend that she had died.

Yeah. I mean, I assume she was in shock too and everything. Yeah, but so, because how do you not scream? Yeah. Like when you know you just got hit by a bullet But you lived like how do you not freak out? Especially when you know and then for her to have to sit there I mean she goes in a detail about what sitting there was like but it was kind of gruesome So I'm not gonna go quite in the detail

But she just had to sit there with all of her other family who was actually dead and Pretend to be dead as well and her uncle left, which is just horrible. Yeah. That is horrible. No one should ever, ever have to go through that. That's so crazy. She was taken to the hospital immediately and released only two days later because only her finger had taken the serious injury.

Ronald Haskell was charged with six counts of capital murder on July 10, 2014. It wasn't that hard when Cassidy was a witness and identified her uncle. So July 10, keep in mind that's only two days after this all happened. What's the difference between capital murder and just first degree murder? So first degree murder is any type of murder that's premeditated, we know that first degree. Capital murder is when you can be charged with the death penalty because you live in a state The first degree murderer is any type of murder that's premeditated. We know that first degree. Capital murder is when you can be charged with the death penalty because you live in a state that does capital punishment, which in Texas you can use the death penalty so they're

calling it capital murder. Got it. When in the courtroom, getting his charges announced against him, Haskell collapsed and had to be willed out in a wheelchair. I guess he wasn't such a macho murderer at this time in the courtroom because when they were announcing, oh, you killed this and this and this

and this, he just collapses. No, it makes me so mad. To even begin, the trial was a lengthy process because the defense was pleading the insanity defense. So they were saying he did it because he was insane at the time. When you do so, you have to go through the long process of investigating someone's mental health, which can be dragged out, so this took a long time before they could actually start

the real trial. Cassidy's grandparents, whose lives had essentially been saved by her heroic act to call an informed police that Ronald was heading to their house next, have since applauded their granddaughter. According to Dan Good, Ryan Owens and Megan Cannelli with ABC News, they said, 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, because keep in mind, he was going on to kill the rest of the family.

So if she hadn't lived and called cops and said he's going to this house next, he might have gotten to the three or four more houses. Yeah. Once the trial eventually started in September of 2019. So five years later. Yeah. Cassidy bravely testified for two hours on stand about what happened to her and her family that day at the hands of her ex uncle. She said that when she recognized him after he told her who he was,

she immediately told him not to hurt them. She just knew that he was there for a bad reason. According to Juan with KUTV, Cassidy also told jurors while her siblings were watching Netflix and they were waiting for their parents to get there, she told Haskell all of her siblings names and ages and hopes to appeal to his humanity. She thought if he knew their names and ages, he wouldn't hurt the kids. This is heartbreaking. It's so sad. It really is. Because she's sitting there going, she knew he was going to hurt them. Yeah. So she's like, maybe if I tell him about the kids, he won't hurt the kids. Which is just, no 15-year-old should have to think that.

Oh, this is so heartbreaking. Cassidy claims that Haskell told her mother he was coming to get his kids back. She says she was screaming as Haskell went down the line shooting, but a small voice told her to be quiet. We talked about that. When she slowly got up after hoping the Haskell was for sure gone, she noticed that her father's body was guarding her littlest brother's Zach as if he was trying to shield him from the inevitable bullets coming their way. And so this part's kind of sad

because at first you think that the dad maybe hopped on top of the little boy to try to, when he realized what was happening, but what actually happened was the dad was shot first and the little boy ran over to him and crawled under him because he was scared, but he still shot him anyways. Which just goes to like, wasn't like it was just some body sitting there. He had to shoot like they were, they were reacting.

They were moving. They were screaming. It was chaos. Yeah, I think I'm just still thinking about the whole insanity plea and that's just such a cop out. It is. I don't want to be like as rude to those that might actually be quote unquote insane, but this just feels like such a cop out to me.

Oh, yeah. Well, we see a lot of people take this plea as soon as they realize they're in trouble. Yeah. Cassidy actually ended her testimony by claiming that Haskell was not disoriented or frantic during your deal. She feels like he knew what he was doing. It was definitely all him and that he wasn't insane at the moment. Ronald Haskell's attorney declined to cross-examine her, which is actually a really good thing because a lot of victims, when cross-examined, have to relive a whole bunch, I mean, it's already hard enough to testify, but then to be cross-examine and have everything you

say questioned is super hard, and his attorney declined to do so, which is actually super beneficial for her. Why do you think that is? Do you think he just knew that? I mean, anything she was going to say was most likely going to hurt his client. Yeah. Because how do you, I mean, her whole family was killed. Totally. It came out at trial that Ronald Haskell actually stopped at Sonic before heading to the grandparents house, which is how the cops stopped him before he got there, to the grandparents house, which is how the cops stopped him before he got there, which is just disgusting. Like he's on this this hit list and in the middle of the two, he's like, oh, I'm going to go get a corn dog. Yeah, so gross. Ronald Haskell claimed at trial

that he had three different voices in his head telling him to kill them and that at night, a half bison, half man would stand over him. So he liked dived in head first to this insanity plea. Jurors deliberated for eight hours which spanned over two days and came back in rejection of Ronald Haskell's insanity defense. Cassidy was present when the verdict was read had her hands clasped in a prayer stance beforehand. She immediately wiped away tears as it was read that he was guilty and hugged the prosecutors. In October of 2019, Ronald Haskell was sentenced to death after Cassidy gave a strong victim impact statement.

She talked about moving on and forgetting Ronald Haskell. So he's currently on death row, supposed to be put to death by lethal injection. Yeah, because it was just in September, correct that he was. Yeah, in 2019, 2019. The elementary school that the younger two attended held a memorial for the family, as well as a GoFundMe for Cassidy that had more than 16,000 donations totaling around $406,000. Wow, that's awesome. At the memorial, Cassidy told people that she knew angels were protecting her during the

incident and telling her what to do. According to Matt Cantor with newser.com, she also informed everyone that in her favorite book, the prisoner of Askaban, Dumbledore claims that happiness can be found even in the darkest times. This led Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling, to reach out to Cassidy with a letter and a package. Elizabeth Armstrongmore with News or Says, the letter is handwritten in purple ink in the style of Dumbledore, according to the telegraph, while the package includes a signed copy of the book, a wand, an acceptance letter to Hogwarts, and a list of supplies needed for the famous school. Think what a strong woman, honestly, that's just so crazy.

Cassidy is now engaged in attending school here in Utah. And that's the story of Cassidy stay the stay family. That's a crazy one. I didn't expect it to be, I mean, it was obviously a murder story, but it was also a survivor story, you know, what I'm trying to say. Yeah, no, totally. I think this case did kind of catch a lot of headlines solely because she survived the attack. I mean, it might have caught headlines because it was a full family annihilation basically, but no, I mean, I just think you can't even put yourself into her situation, having this

to lay there while all of that is going on. And she goes into more detail about what that situation was like. And I'm not reading it here because it, like I can't. It's unfathomable, it's heartbreaking. And I can't handle that. But just for her to, number one, have been shot. Like the bullet graced her head. It was in her finger.

So she shot, she's only 15. And to get up, like not even knowing for sure that the murderer is gone, run to the neighbor's house and immediately tell the cops, he's going here next, not, I'm dying, I'm dying. Like she had enough conscious thought to be like, he's going to hurt my grandparents next, so you need to get there.

Dang, that sucks that he almost left, but then turn around and went back. I know. That's just that so weird. Because what, what the outcome have been different if the parents had been there when he tried to come in? Yeah, I know.

And it wouldn't have just been kids. I have no idea, yeah. I don't know. I mean, also though, thank goodness he stopped at Sonic because that also probably saved the grandparents life because he might have beat the cops there.

Oh, yeah, for sure. So I mean. Yeah, it's so crazy that, it's sometimes so hard to explain these words. I just keep using crazy over and over. I'm sure listeners are like, that's the only thing. That needs to be like you're on your merch

when Garrett comes out with his mind. That's so crazy. That's so crazy. That's crazy. But it is. I mean, I don't know how else you explain it. Like it's just mind boggling. Yeah, it really is.

So reminder that we will be at the Pinners Conference November 6th and 7th. We would just love to see anyone there. Also, we will be posting images on our social media for this week's story Go ahead and follow us murder with my husband on all of our social media accounts and yeah, we'll see you guys next week. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye This summer, PXU Energy is back with ultimate summer pass, starting 50% off energy charges all summer. Everybody's on for automatic energy savings. Plus free energy on the hottest day.

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