Massacre: Ronald Haskell Murders Six Members of Texas Mormon Family

Posted on | July 12, 2014 | 32 Comments

Ronald Lee Haskell was going through a divorce from his wife, Melannie Lyon. The couple had four young children, and Haskell had become increasingly violent. Lyon’s sister, Katie Stay, urged Lyon to leave Haskell in Utah and move to Texas, where Stay and her husband lived with their five children. Wednesday, Haskell went to the Stay family’s home in the suburbs of Houston:

Haskell, 33, was disguised as a FedEx delivery worker when he went to the suburban Houston home of his ex-wife’s sister, Katie Stay, on Wednesday afternoon, police said. Oldest child Cassidy was home alone and answered the door. She told Haskell her parents weren’t home. He later returned, forcing his way in and tying Cassidy up, police said.
Minutes later, her parents and her four siblings, ages 4 to 13, returned. Haskell allegedly tied them up as well, and demanded to know the whereabouts of his ex-wife, Melannie Lyon. They said they didn’t know, and they were each shot in the back of the head. The bullet for Cassidy only grazed her, and she played dead until the gunman fled, she told police.
The critically wounded teenager was able to identify him to police as her ex-uncle, and said he was planning to drive to her grandparents’ home and kill them. Police, however, tracked him down and he was arrested after a 20-minute police chase and a three-hour standoff.

The Stay family were among some 60,000 Mormons in the Houston area. Haskell was also Mormon and grew up in Alaska, where he was voted “class clown” his senior year in high school. Since the breakup of his marriage, Haskell had been living with his parents in California. He had a record of serious domestic violence:

One of his earliest arrests was in 2008 on suspicion of domestic violence, simple assault and committing an act of violence in front of children. Melannie Lyon told police her husband dragged her out of their bedroom by her hair and hit her in the side of the head.
Haskell said he had only pushed his wife, and that he was stressed from his job. Two of the couple’s children were ages 3 and 5 at the time. Haskell pleaded guilty to an assault charge in the case. . . .
Last October, a protective order filed by Lyon was dismissed when the couple agreed to a mutual restraining order and custody arrangements for their children. The judge said Ron Lee Haskell’s visits would have to be supervised by a psychologist.
Haskell had been living with his parents in San Marcos, California, before he traveled to Texas this week. He and his parents have a history of domestic disturbances, police records show.
As recently as July 2, Haskell allegedly choked his mother and threatened to kill her. Court documents say Haskell was upset that she was talking to his ex-wife. Karla Haskell reported to police her son “told me he was going to kill me, my family and any officer who stops him.” She filed a domestic violence protective order, and San Diego County Sheriff’s Department detectives looked for Haskell for several days but never found him, the department said this week. . . .

A sadly familiar story of escalating violence and the failure of law enforcement to recognize the danger signs. You might think when a man chokes his mother and threatens to kill her, when he has a prior record for assault and is already under a restraining order from his ex-wife, he would be locked up immediately. But no — it’s California: Turn him loose, so he can go kill six people in Texas.

Category: Crime

Comments

32 Responses to “Massacre: Ronald Haskell Murders Six Members of Texas Mormon Family”

Jeanette Victoria
July 12th, 2014 @ 10:11 am

As I have repeatedly said we now live in a culture that does NOT recognize mental illness. The dangerously deranged are free to walk among the sane until they harm or kill someone and then the liberals will blame the inanimate object not the fact that we refuse to lockup up and medicate the insane.
richard mcenroe
July 12th, 2014 @ 10:18 am

But…but… Stacy, we CAN’T have crowded jails! That would be CRUEL! A Federal judge said so.

And we can’t have asylums for the violently insane! The ACLU said so.

In fact, we can’t have much of anything but a constantly increasing tax bill to pay for the rent seekers, bureaucrats and mandarins telling us why we can’t have it…
The Daley Gator | Some people are just evil
July 12th, 2014 @ 10:46 am

[…] Ronald Lee Haskell is one such person, as Stacy McCain explains […]
goddessoftheclassroom
July 12th, 2014 @ 11:50 am

Prayers for the family.
Mitchell Migraine: ‘Barack, Do Something!’ | Regular Right Guy
July 12th, 2014 @ 11:50 am

[…] Massacre: Ronald Haskell Murders Six Members of Texas Mormon Family […]
joethefatman
July 12th, 2014 @ 12:42 pm

Local news to me. And just like I, and countless others, have said; a piece of paper isn’t going to keep you from killed.
Gun, knife, bat, car, hammer, high heel spikes all seem to kill without noticing any restraining paperwork.
Quartermaster
July 12th, 2014 @ 1:08 pm

How do you recognize dangerous insanity when the cultural leaders are themselves insane and have established a culture of sanity? The left is insane and this will only get worse.
maniakmedic
July 12th, 2014 @ 1:10 pm

As both a Mormon and a female, I’m waiting for the inevitable blaming of LDS misogyny. Because women can’t be ordained to the priesthood and some LDS guys – like guys of any other religion or organization on earth – turn out to be abusive, murderous douchebags. It’s coming. Just wait.
maniakmedic
July 12th, 2014 @ 1:12 pm

This is why they are trying so hard to establish deviancy as perfectly normal and shame on you for noticing! Denounced!
Jeanette Victoria
July 12th, 2014 @ 1:24 pm

It will get worse, sane folks are being told they are insane and marginalized every time they point the obvious insanity of the left.
The Spirit of Heinlein
July 12th, 2014 @ 1:35 pm

And the Left’s answer to this: take away guns from law abiding citizens (so there is no chance of self defense).
Evi L. Bloggerlady
July 12th, 2014 @ 1:47 pm

Texas knows how to deal with murderers.
Julie Pascal
July 12th, 2014 @ 2:09 pm

Well, it’s Texas. He won’t kill anyone else ever again.
Quartermaster
July 12th, 2014 @ 2:36 pm

I guess we’re going to have to expand Dana’s “Re-education Camp For Proper Denunciations.” That was pretty weak tea.
Quartermaster
July 12th, 2014 @ 2:37 pm

I know. Satan thrives on the moral morass and chaos we see growing. It is going to get far, far worse before Christ returns.
Quartermaster
July 12th, 2014 @ 2:38 pm

The others do to, they just shirk their duty.
Quartermaster
July 12th, 2014 @ 2:40 pm

Well, of course. Didn’t read about those Poles that started WW2 in Europe because they dared fight the Germans just because Hitler was asserting their well known rights?
aliswell
July 12th, 2014 @ 4:02 pm

Tragically, that won’t help the already murdered victims. 🙁
Mike G.
July 12th, 2014 @ 4:16 pm

Yes, in Texas, they have an express lane to the death chamber.
maniakmedic
July 12th, 2014 @ 6:52 pm

(In Eddie Murphy’s voice) Denouncements on you, denouncements on your family, denouncements on your dog!…

Better?
maniakmedic
July 12th, 2014 @ 6:55 pm

The sad thing is that the lesson Poland took away from that if you look at their current self defense laws is that you should just roll over and take whatever the criminal is going to do to you; if you fight back YOU are the one looking at jail time, not the criminal asshelmets who attacked you in the first place.
bobbymike34
July 12th, 2014 @ 7:13 pm

Anal rape for 1000 hours followed by being burned to death with white phosphorous.
cmdr358
July 12th, 2014 @ 9:39 pm

Better but keep working on it.
🙂
Quartermaster
July 12th, 2014 @ 9:47 pm

That’s a slight improvement.
Quartermaster
July 12th, 2014 @ 9:50 pm

I, of course, was being sarcastic. There are states in the US that the homeowner is required to retreat, rather than the homeowner being able to stand his ground. Requiring retreat is the equivalent of accusing Poland of staring the war
M. Thompson
July 12th, 2014 @ 10:25 pm

Nope, he was just nutters, and lost it violently.
maniakmedic
July 12th, 2014 @ 11:29 pm

Oh, I know. But I’m certain somebody is going to make the connection.
maniakmedic
July 12th, 2014 @ 11:32 pm

I did get the sarcasm. 🙂
K-Bob
July 13th, 2014 @ 12:34 am
K-Bob
July 13th, 2014 @ 12:37 am

True. Justice is for after a crime, and rarely before.

However, the number of murders committed by executed criminals is well below 0.0001% of the population. So that’s a pretty decent track record for capital punishment.
K-Bob
July 13th, 2014 @ 12:38 am

(ignore the stupid “Property of WHV” thing.It’s a short youtube clip)
Nature abhors a vacuum: If you remove God from the equation, what do you replace him with? | Batshit Crazy News
July 13th, 2014 @ 8:41 am

[…] but…The Other McCain has had a few posts on murder, from the coldly banal and meaningless to the emotionally out of control, both with horrific […]