This episode may contain content of a graphic nature, including descriptions of physical and
sexual violence against adults, children, and animals. Listener discretion is advised.
Hi everyone, I'm Talia and I'm Tanya, and together we are Crimes and
Consequences, a true crime podcast. Welcome back, everyone to another episode of
Crimes and Consequences. I'm Tanya and I'm Teleia, and we are a couple
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Have you heard about the Stay Family? No? I was thinking you were
talking about the Mixed Day. No, isn't that Okay, isn't it?
I think so? But nope, that's not the right one. Okay,
Nope. And then I don't know, all right, No, I don't
know what to tell me I will share with me. July ninth, twenty
fourteen started off as just another beautiful summer day in suburban Houston, Texas,
Okay. The Stay family consisted of seven people. There was mom and dad,
Katie and Stephen. Katie was thirty three and Steven was thirty nine,
and their five children. Wow, five five they got more than me,
I know. Wow. Fifteen year old Cassidy, thirteen year old Brian,
nine year old Emily, seven year old Rebecca, and the baby of the
family, four year old Zarachree. On this particular Wednesday, Katie and Stephen
were out running errands and had left the children at home with the eldest,
Cassidy. At the helm Cassidy and her brother's sisters. They were just hanging
out around the house and they lived in Spring, Texas. When the doorbell
rang, Spring Texas. That sounds nice, it does, Cassidy answered it,
and when she opened the door, there was a man dressed in a
FedEx uniform. It's got a package, right. The man asked Cassidy to
see her parents, and she said that they weren't home, and she closed
the door. The man laughed, but returned a few minutes later. He
again rang the doorbell, and again Cassidy answered, telling him her parents weren't
home. Hey, what part of my parents aren't? Oh, I'm not
kidding. I mean, it's kind of creepy. She has to say it
twice. When she opened the door, the man told her I used to
be your uncle. What I was married to your mom's sister. Cassidy was
weirded out just by this whole encounter, and for good reason, because when
she tried to shut the door, the man forced his way into the home,
and after he tied her up, tied her up. Yeah, where
were the other kids? They're there? He tied Cassidy up, he made
her lay face down. He tied all of the children up. Oh my,
it made them lay face down on the floor. And he said they
were gonna wait for Katie and Steven to get home. Oh, those poor
kids, they must have been terrified. Well, yeah, I would have
just shit. Katie and Stephen got home and surprised, yep, surprise.
And the man had a gun. So that's why they're complying. In case
you're wondering, you know, it's not like he's like super overpowering them.
He's got a gun, so he's just scaring the shit out of them.
And Katie and Stephen get home, and he also ties them up and makes
them lay face down on the floor. Was he an uncle, Yeah,
he was an ex uncle. His name was Ronald Lee Haskell, and so
yes, it was true what he told Cassidy that he'd been married to Katie's
sister, Melanie. The reason Cassidy didn't initially recognize him, in case you're
wondering, like when he knocked on the door, it's because Melanie and Ronald
had lived in Utah for most of their marriage, far away. Yeah,
and you know, they didn't visit much prior to the divorce. But when
Katie and Stephen came home, they recognized. Oh, absolutely, they knew
exactly who he was. He shit. Yeah. At the time of the
home invasion, Ronald was living in California with his parents, and he moved
there soon after he and Melanie divorced. And Ronald really held a grudge against
Melanie for divorcing him. And when he was at the stayhouse in July twenty
fourteen, it was because he had come up with a perfect plan to get
back at her. Oh no, he hurt the ones they love. He
was going to murder her entire family. My he I know. And when
he got to the stay house because Melanie is not there, obviously she doesn't
live there, he had one thing on his mind. He wanted to find
her because he decided he was going to go visit her after we wasn't she
in Utah? Nope, she had moved back to Texas after the divorce.
Okay, So while this family of seven is laying on the living room floor,
he demanded to know where Melanie was. He asked each family member,
where's Melanie? And they said they didn't know, even though they's true,
No, that wasn't true, but they didn't want right of course, right,
I'm not going to give it up. And so when they answered that
he didn't know, he started shooting each of them execution style. You got
five kids? You're telling me there's five kids? Yes. He shoots everyone
in the head, even four year old Zachary Zaki was initially shot in the
shoulder, which was a wound he could have survived. And when he was
initially shot, he ran over to Stephen's body and Steven was already dead.
But he's a little boy who's four, and he ran over there to try
to like bury his head in his father's shoulder. I mean, he was
looking for some comfort. I'm sure the poor thing was just terrified. And
and that's when Ronald delivered another bullet to the back of little Zachary's hide.
I hate Ronald. Yes. After shooting everyone, Ronald left and this is
when he was headed to Katie and Melanie's parents' home. He was determined,
he's gonna annihilate the hole. He's gonna annihilate the whole family. Absolutely,
yep, this is what's on his mind. He was determined just to continue
this massacre. While he's questioning everyone before he shot them all, he's telling
them that this is what he's going to do. He's saying, you know,
after I'm here, I'm going to your parents' house and I'm going to
try to trackt Dow Melanie and I'm gonna kill everybody. So he's telling them
what his plan is and that they're gonna die, right, and that they're
gonna die. Before he left, little did he know there was still two
members of the Stave family who were still alive. Oh, and there was
the hud Yes shot yes, fifteen year old Cassidy while she had been shot
in the head, like you said, she had put her hand up to
like that reflex, right, yeah, to try to protect Yes, but
it usually doesn't work because it'll just go right through. I know, like
you don't think about it. And it's like when people put their hands up
when somebody's like coming at them with a knife and everything. But when the
bullet made contact with her body, the placement of her hand prevented it from
going like straight into her head. It kind of severed her finger and kind
of ricocheted a little bit, so it really just grazed her head. Wow,
And she played dead. And I know we've talked about this. I
don't know how you played dead when your heart is going a million miles an
hour and you I mean, I would have panic attack. I know,
I'll be freaking out right to fake it, like I'm not sure my breathing
would be out of whack, right, like you're just I don't know how
anyone does it, but I know. But bless her heart, she did
it. She did such a good job at it playing dad that Ronald thought
he killed her along with the rest of the family. But she only suffered
a skull fracture and thankfully she was still alive, so knowing that uncle Ronnie
was headed to her grandparents' home after he When he left the home, Cassidy
ran to make the nine one one call. She was able to alert the
police of what she had just witnessed in her own home and that Ronald was
headed to her grandparents home. She gave the nine one one operator her grandparents
address, and the police headed that way, hoping that they could catch Ronald
before he hurt anyone else. Yeah, get there in time, yeah,
absolutely, thankfully. Using this information that Cassidy provided, the police were able
to confront Ronald at her grandparents house and before he had the chance to exit
his vehicle. He ended up, though, taking the police on a twenty
minute chase that involved about a dozen police cars. How do you think you're
going to get out of that? I don't know. How do you think
you'd think that eventually they're gonna be like, oh wait, my gas is
low and just stop chasing you. Right. No, That's what I always
think when people do that, Like, I always think I can't get away
with that. Nobody gets away with that now with all those cars. But
he does, and the chase ended in a cul de Sac in front of
a house that was about three miles from the stay home. During the chase,
the police used a spike strip to stop the car that Ronald was driving.
So they do the spike strip, and so that's when they're able to
then block his car using two armored vehicles similar to like the big ones you
see on TV. You know, So he's screwed. Oh yeah, he's
caught. Yeah. One of the armored cars literally blocked his little sedan by
driving basically on top of it. So he wasn't going anywhere. So that's
the end of the story. Yea, and thank you for watching. Not
quite. While Ronald was trapped, he still had that pistol. It was
a semi automatic pistol that he had, and he held it to his own
head. So now they're having a standoff. So during the standoff, which
lasted about four hours, of course, the police evacuate all of the homes
nearby, and they spoke to Ronald on a cell phone. And after about
four hours, like I said, he surrendered without anyone else getting her.
Okay, where's he gonna go? I mean, he's, like I said,
he's fucked. And Cassie likely saved the lives of her grandparents that day.
Who else survived though, I'm gonna tell you, okay, Like I
said, she wasn't the only survivor. Initially, seven year old Rebecca survived
the shooting. What to say, initially bec she succumbed to her injuries and
passed away at the hospital. Because you know, they did send an ambulance
right away when Cassidy was on the nine one one call, and they took
both her and her sister to the hospital, but unfortunately, Rebecca's injuries were
so severe that she passed away. Cassidy remained in critical condition at Children's Memorial
Herman Hospital for a few days, but she was finally released on July eleventh,
once they thought she was well enough to go. And her whole family
has been slaughtered, right, her whole family, and she's only fifteen,
except for her grandparents. Except for her grandparents. Oh my lord, I
can't imagine living imagine living with that either, like a survivor's guilt. Oh
she must. I hope she's getting help because this is just so sad.
They were killed in front of her. It's one thing, you know,
lose him in a car accident, but she's got the memory of that horrible
day. Well, you may be wondering what could have possibly triggered this whole
horrendous event. Life seemed to be going great for Ronald and Melanie when they
married on March fifteenth, two thousand and two, in Orange County, California.
When after they were married, the couple moved to Logan, Utah.
They had four children together. So he's the dad of four children. Yes,
he's the dad of four children. However, at some point Melanie filed
for divorce, which was finalized on Valentine's Day in twenty fourteen, and that's
when she had it to Houston to move back to be close to her family,
and her sister Katie Stay helped her. The reasoning behind the divorce was
because Ronald he had some anger issues. Ronald's an asshole. Yeah, I
can already know that. In case you haven't realize he's got anger issues.
No, I didn't catch any of the Yeah during the mass shooting. Yeah,
he would take his anger out in Melanie and his children. He would
physically abused them. Yeah. Of course, Melanie bravely reported the domestic abuse
and had a protective order put in place. He was charged with suspicion of
domestic violence, assault and committing an act of violence in front of children in
June two thousand and eight. Suspicion of domestic life. And maybe that's something
in like Utah that we don't normally have suspicion. You either did it or
attempted to do it. I think the laws might be a little different.
Okay. On one occasion, Ronald pulled Melanie out of bad by her hair
and struck her on the side of her head in front of their children.
When he was charged, he initially told the police I only pushed her.
That's the only thing that happened. And he had no clue. He acted
like he had no clue where these allegations were coming from. Say, why
would she say my husband that just pushed her. Yeah, he just pushed
her. I mean. He ended up pleading guilty to the simple assault charges,
but he pleaded not guilty to the charges of domestic violence, and once
the play was obtained, the rest of the charges were dismissed and no jail
time. He got no jail time for the assault. Did they still have
the no contact order? Not yet? Peel not ye'all. Nope, it
didn't come until little later on July eighth, twenty thirteen, the following day
after the charges were dismissed. That's when Melanie filed for the protective order against
her then husband and didn't take her long to file for divorce a month later.
So after he did that to her and she filed those charges and he
went through the whole plea and stuff, did he live with her? No?
No, she was like, I'm done, Yeah, I'm not her.
In October of that same year, in twenty thirteen, Ronald and Melanie
came to an agreement in their divorce. They agreed that the custody arrangements that
they had for the four children, they agreed on those. Melanie was going
to have primary custody and Ronald was given visitation rights the weekend, one night
during the week. No, because she was moving to Texas, and he
got that's a big deal to be able to move. Yeah, And he
ended up standing to California. Oh, he moved in with his parents in
San Marcos. For those who really knew Ronald and Melanie said, the two
of them did seem to have a bit of a rocky marriage, but they
just were really confused as to how this whole thing snowballed into like a family
massacre. When they got the divorce, Melanie was just desperate to get away
from him, and she would tell her sister Katie everything, and Katie was
determined to get Melanie and her four children back to Texas so that she could
be near family. And because the parents are there too, right, is
it your maternal grandparents. Yep, it's Melanie and Katie's parents. So she
did what any good sister would do. I mean, you would help your
sisters. Absolutely, she helped Melanie get away from this horrible man. And
I'm sure there's more incidences of domestic violence and shit, and I'd be surprised
if you didn't mention some stalking. Yeah, he was just a piece of
shit. And you know, Melanie's divorce lawyer was even fearful really for Melanie's
safety. Her attorney's name was A Daniel Barker. He was just sickened when
he learned what happened to you stay family, and he felt guilty because he
felt like he should have at least seen an inkling of what Ronald to do.
I know, if there's already an order in place, like for no
contact or a PPO. There's nothing he can do, right, he said.
He tried to like rack his brain trying to remember was there anything,
like any kind of clue maybe that I missed? And he said, you
know, Ronald seemed like a decent person, even though he did have a
feeling that there was some bad lurking underneath at all, you know, like
he was like a ticking time bomb, but nothing like a psychotic no,
no, And he didn't think Ronald was capable of doing something people you think
are You don't really think, oh he's capable of wiping out a whole family,
right right, Well, sometimes I have in some of our cases.
Yeah you're like, ooh, I don't know about this one. Yeah,
like, oh, we better follow up with them, and I got to
check them out and see where they're at in six months. So he was
relieved when he found out that Melanie was going to Houston and that Ronald was
moving to California, because he's like, okay, far apart. Yeah,
there's states away from each other, hundreds maybe thousands of miles away from one
another. So he's like, show, like everything should be fine. So
what's he allowed to take the kids to California with him. I don't know.
They're probably just liberal parenting time when he's in Texas. I'm just being
a lawyer being a lawyer. Yes, I'm sorry to Lee. I don't
know the details of their divorce judgment judgment. I'm sorry to not look it
off. Well, that's fine, I'll forgive you this time. That's one
thing I did not research. That's what I'm guessing. Yes, that's what
I'm guessing too, because we are family lawyers and we have done long distance
parenting time agreements and things, and usually it's the parents that moves outside of
Michigan gets maybe longer time in the summer and they get maybe or if they
come in the state, they can see the children. Yeah, exactly.
So, well, he wasn't happy with whatever it ended up being. He
was just bitter at Melanie. The main reason he was mad was because Melanie
went public with the truth. Yeah, the truth of the abuse abusive asshole.
Yeah exactly, that's what he was most upset about. And everybody knew
that he was a dick. So I mean, it's just call it like
it is. Right. One week prior to almost completely annihilating the Stay family,
Ronald's own mother, Carla Jean Heskell, she spoke to the police about
her son. Carla told the police that she needed file a restraining order against
Ronald because they had had a ferocious argument. Is how she described it.
His own mom, his own mom. He lived with his parents. During
the argument, Ronald had forced his mom into the garage of the home.
After she was in the garage, he tied her wrists together with duct tape.
What a tap more than an Oh? I got into an argument with
my mom. No, this is bad. He then taped her to a
computer chair. What he tapes her arms? He tapes you know, I
can just imagine him, like going round and round the chair. Holy shit.
He left her there for four hours. He threatened to kill her,
like you're grounded. I know you're grounded, so grounded, I know you
are grounded. Threatened to kill his own mom. Taped her to a chair.
Yeah, duck tapered to a chair, and he threatened to kill her
along with everyone else in the family. Wow, I mean he screamed at
her. He choked her until she passed out. What the And you want
to know what the reason for the argument was. What she didn't make dinner
bread. No, it was because Carla had told him she'd been in contact
with his ex wife, Melanie. Okay, Melanie was a good person.
It's not surprising that her in laws would want to keep INTI with her,
considering she's got four of their grandchies exactly, it makes sense. But this
information is way over the top. Ron I mean, Ronald, come on,
this information just set him over the edge. Who does that to their
mom? You know, not your mama, And I mean, don't you
want your mom to see your kids and talk to them maybe because I'm sure,
like you know, if they're talking on the phone, has lost it.
He's losing it. He's losing it. Absolutely. After the San Marcos
police got done speaking with Carla in regards to her son, so he ended
up what letting her go. I'm sorry, ma, I guess I don't
know what the aftermath was because I would be terrified, right, I'd be
terrified, because, like you said, you were going to kill everybody.
And he choked her mm hmm yeah until she passed out. So the police
didn't go searching for him, and they can't find him because they want to
bring him in for questioning. They check all the places where he normally hung
out. Wouldn't that be attempted murder? I don't know. Maybe we're choking
somebody till they pass out, that's true, I'll get back to it.
Definitely kidnapping, yeah, something assault, assault with the tendt to commit bodily
harm. Sorry, I'm just thinking. Quits showing off for everyone to leo.
I'm just trying to I'm just trying to sound smart, Okay. I
don't know. So. From the outside, everyone that knew the Haskell family
thought they were just this perfect Mormon family trying to live their lives in Utah.
Melanie was a great mom, Ronald was a great dad who loved his
family. However, their secret life was exposed and everything just came crashing down
when Melanie filed for divorce. Before I tell you more, we're going to
take a break. She decided she wanted to move to Houston to have a
better life for her and her kids. You know, they would be happy,
they'd be near family, and they would no longer have to see their
mother and themself because he's beating his children too. He physically abused right.
Another thing that probably set him off was he was unemployed. At the time
of the divorce, but he was court ordered to give Melanie child support,
son of a bitch, and for four children. Who was to pay.
I don't have a job exactly. You gotta get one, Yeah, how
it works. Guess how much he was made to pay for four children twenty
a week almost It was seven hundred and seventy three dollars a month, which
was less than two hundred dollars a week. But you know, he had
no idea how he's gonna pay it. Maybe get a job, like you
said, No, that's an option. And you know he moved in with
his parents. That just tells me is like no overnights when he's got to
pay that much too? Yeah, yeah, I just thought it was very
little for four for four children. When he got to California, his parents
weren't that happy to see him. I bet they were like, oh,
great with us, that's great. Yeah, And he was suffering from depression.
The anger and the depression completely took over his life after the divorce,
according to some They said he would go on for days without eating or leaving
his bedroom at his parents' house, and the anger became too much. That
day when his mother had defiled that restraining order to put what does Dad douz
just be like, I know, where was Dad when this all happened.
I don't know. His mom wrote in her application for that restraining order that
if Ronald was to stay in the house, he was going to absolutely harm
her. Again, she was convinced, but the application for the order was
later dismissed. What when she failed to go through with it? But you
know what, even the prosecutor could have went on the change. I know.
That's the thing like here here, when somebody off a domestic violence charge
comes up, you don't have to like if I was the one being abused,
I don't have to continue to pursue it. Like the prosecutor will pick
it up. But then again they're going to lose their star witness. That's
true, that's true, But it was dismissed. Well, it's hard mom
with her son, I know, but I mean, he was over the
top. I'm sure she was scared shitless to live with him any further I
would be you never know, he's gonna come get you, and he's threatened
to kill you already. Anyway, Ronald was arrested for the murders of the
stay family on the morning of July tenth, twenty fourteen, and he was
charged with six counts of capital murder by the Harris County Sheriff's Office. He
was held without bond, and the following day he made his first court appearance.
And oh boy, what a court appearance. This is gonna be one
of those. Yeah. While the charges were being read against him, he
began shakin. Yes, he's being arraigned. Yes, he began shaking uncontrollably.
He ended up collapsing ah in the courtroom, and nobody's quite sure why.
The deputies dramatic yes, right, like I don't know if he really
passed out or not. Like it sounds like exactly, sounds like he's putting
on some thee her. The deputies were able to lift him up to his
feet after he collapsed, and then he collapsed again. Yeah, that's my
interpretation of his collapsing. And so once he couldn't remain upright, he had
to be escorted out of the courtroom via a wheelchair. They gave him a
wheelchair to sit in. This is an arraignment, I know, Like,
this is what you did. These they're just charges, Yeah, they're just
charges. Till up. You did it. Yeah, you did it.
He didn't collapse after you shot them all. I know it's here. The
funeral for the murdered members of the State family was held on July sixteenth.
Cassidy attended the service with her grandfather, Robert Lyon, by her side.
She showed up with a smile on her face, but you know, inside
her heart was broken, but she tried to remember like the good things about
her family. Four hundred people showed up, so you know, there's hundreds
of people there, and she's saying I love you to all of them,
and like signing. I know it was language. She said, I love
you and sign language. So she's there and these six caskets I'm rolling in.
She absolutely broke down. Yeah, as she witnessed this, aw man,
I mean, her family, it's I want to cry thinking about it.
I mean sad now, I know. And she did speak at their
funeral, and she remembered them like she told little anecdotes about her family members
and things like that her brothers and sisters loved to do. She tried to
really give everybody like a little glimpse of what they were like in life.
And at the funeral, she was comforted by her remaining family. It's only
fifteen, no, I know, it's just so sad. So she did
tell everyone, you know, I am doing a little better after my injuries,
and she was working her way to having a full recovery. And she
did tell everybody quote, I know that my mom, Dad, Brian,
Emily, Beck and Zach are in a much better place and then I'll be
able to see them again one day. He is a better stronger person than
me. I know. I can't the strength she had to be able to
do this. I don't even know me at my age, I don't even
know if I could know. And this is just hair. I need a
lot of Xanax or something. Many families spoke at the service, and they
did a lot like what Kssidy did. They spoke about Like for Katie,
she just loved being a mom and she just had like this great sunny personality.
And Steven always put his family first and it was lovely for the circumstances
it was. It was nice memories that they all had. Cassidy just wanted
her family to be remembered not for how they died, but for how they
lived. Well. Okay, after years of delays. Ronald's trial finally began
August twenty six, two thy nineteen five years. Were they seeking the death
penalty? Oh yeah, that's why hmm. The prosecution did everything they could
to try to conveny and it's the jury that Ronald's murderous spree was based on
vengeance. Yes. The first piece of evidence that the prosecution introduced to the
jury was Cassidy's nine to one one call. On the tape, Cassidy told
the operator that her entire family had been shot and that she needed immediate help.
The nine one one operator then asked who the shooter was and she said,
uncle Ronnie. They make her testify, Yes, I knew it in
the courtroom or by zoom. No, it was in the courtroom. There's
pictures online of her testifying in the little witness box. Another person who testified
was Sergeant Back, who was one of the police deputies from Harris County.
He was the first to arrive at the scene. He testified just how surreal
it was. Yeah, And after he helped Cassidy, he checked the other
victims to see if anyone was still alive, and that's when he discovered Rebecca
and he had a body cam, and that video was shown to the court.
Imagine being on the jury. Oh man, the odds top. I
know they were family. I mean the jury was just stunned. I wouldn't
want to see it. They got to see Cassidy. I mean, she's
terrified. They see the bleeding. Yes, sure she's bleeding, because head
wounds bleed a lot. And even if she was just grazed, I'm sure
there was tons of blood. It was just right. Anyway, it was
bad when Melanie was called to testify, Poor Melanie. Oh, she must
have felt terrible, right Gil oh man, I can't even imagine it.
And during her testimony, she told the court that Ronald had warned her that
her family would be murdered if she ever told anyone about the violence and abuse
that she was suffering at his hands. She told the court that as soon
as she heard about the murder, she instantly knew it was Ronald. She
said, quote he carried through on his promise to make me watch my family
die. Mmmm, that's how you get people. Don't hurt them, hurt
the ones they love. Yeah, that's just my weakness. My family worst
fears for something to happen to someone. I love right, he's an asshole.
I know. While she testified, she rarely looked in his direction and
she never mentioned him by name. She called him the defendant. She told
the court that during her marriage, he forced her to be isolated from her
family. I mean, it's typical abuse from family vis French troller, and
she was afraid of him. She was terrified and it almost scribbled her.
During the trial, the prosecution presented physical evidence from the scene, such as
bullet casings, and they showed the jury very graphic photos taken of the victims
and the murder weapon. I mean, I can't believe he went to trial.
Hello, there's this high speed chase with the police. I know,
a nine one one call it dentifying him. I know, like you're being
blocked in. You get a four hour stand off, and you think with
the death penalty on the table, you think it was just taken a please
complea for life in prison, no parole. No. His his lawyers,
his defense was that he was insane, insane at the time of though.
Wasn't just say heat a passion, Yeah, insane, he was insane.
Yes. One of the pictures that was shown was a bullet made its way
into Steven's wallet, like it, he had it on him. So I
don't think Ronald was just shooting everyone once. I think there was multiple shots
because, like I said, like Zachary got in the shoulder, So I
think he shot everyone a couple of times. I don't know. But even
though I didn't find any like articles or anything that said that, but that's
what I think happened. It's my opinion. I mean, you're not a
trained professional. I'm not a trained professional. I'm not a forensic analyst.
But anyway, so we're yeardless of all this physical evidence, the phone call,
the bullet casings, whatever tip mom. Yeah, like I mentioned,
the defense strategy was to show that he was insane at the time of the
attack. The defense told the jury that Ronald has since been sedated and treated
for mental illness. What mental illness, depression, anxiety. I think there
was no like, oh he's paranoid, something serious, you know, or
like bipolar disorder or something they went untreated for years or something. No,
it was none of that. It was he's just didn't he drive from California
all the way to Texas? Yeah, it had a long time to turn
around. Yeah, it took him over twenty four hours to drive to Texas.
He had a lot of time to think about this. His attorney,
Douglas Durham, stated that the State of Texas had this insanity statue and he
was so certain the evidence was going to show that Ronald was under extreme mental
incapacity. How can anybody do this for revenge? Let me tell you,
he's gonna lose because State of Texas reach, Texas don't play. Texas don't
play. Texas don't play. Texas don't play, and they have a very
high standard to meet the for lack of a better term, insanity defense.
Yeah, yeah, you're not. You're not gonna win it. During the
trial, it came to light that after Ronald drove from his parents home to
Spring, Texas, and like I said, it was more than a day,
he stocked Remember you mentioned stocking stocking in there. Yeah, he stocked
the State family for two whole days before finally murdering them. Walleyside planned to
present witnesses to plead their case. The most emotional testimony obviously came from Cassidy.
She was on the stand on day two of the trial, and the
prosecution really did kind of a masterful job because initially, instead of just boom
boomoom asking her questions about what happened, they had her tell about her family,
oh and pull on the heart strings of the heart strings, and then
they did ask her about the attack. She said she remembered answering the door
and there was a FedEx guy there and he was holding a white pillow that
was covered in duct tape, and she said she was initially confused, like
what is this? But he used it as a silencer. Was he dressed
as a FedEx guy? He was us as a FedEx guy. And he
actually worked for a company, like one of his prior jobs. He worked
for a company that was contracted to FedEx, so he did have a FedEx
uniform. He was not a direct employee. He was contracted. But I'm
trying to defend FedEx a little bit, but yeah, he was a contract
employee. Ah, so angry right now, I know. And Cassidy described
that before he started shooting everyone, she was just praying, praying and praying
as they were being held at gunpoint. While she and her siblings are being
held and they waited for her parents to come home. And while they're waiting,
she's trying to talk to Ronald and try to relate to him, like
on a human level. Yeah, she started talking to him about her siblings.
She told him how old they were. She said she was trying to
appeal to his humanity. And yeah, she said, I didn't think someone
would hurt kids if he knew their names and how old they were. A
four year old dad, and he's a dad right with his own kids.
And there have been studies done that this technique works. Yeah, sometimes it
works sometimes, probably not with Ted Bondy, probably not, you know,
with some people. With some people, I think when you try to put
the humanity and you know, we've done stories where like if you're captured by
a serial killer or something, sometimes when you try to get to know them
and relate, they start to loosen up. And I do as a human,
not a nonjec. Yeah, exactly. But unfortunately it didn't work.
It didn't work in this instance. Describing the aftermath of the shootings, Cassidy
told the courtroom she remembered how the room smelled, that it just wreaked,
the smell of blood, and the air was just sour and hot. The
atmosphere was heavy and as she's describing this. Ronald just sat at the defense
table with just a stoic look on his face, and he had no reaction.
But according to the defense, he was sedated at the time. Well,
it would be a lot of xanax for me to have no reaction.
Yeah, after the jury her that Ronald stocked the family for two days prior
to the shooting. They knew for sure this is spree was premeditated. It
wasn't something. And of course and too he drove, he had like three
or four days. I'm a passion passion. No, I'm so angry right
now. Right, No, he knew exactly boiling up inside him. He's
just probably getting angrier by the minute. He knew exactly what he was doing
when he arrived at the stay home and executed them. Once the trial ended,
the jury goes on to deliberate, and after only four hours it's going
to say I didn't That wouldn't take very long. No, he was convicted
of first degree murder on all counts. That was time for them to decide
on the sentence, and the sentence that they had available was the death penalty
or life in prison. This is Texas. Yeah, So on October eleventh,
twenty nineteen, the jury sentenced him to die by lethal injection. Again,
it's Texas exactly, that's what Texas don't play. Texas don't play.
I mean, I've never been there. I've heard it's lovely Texas. Don't
commit a murder in Texas, right, I mean, of all places,
is that the advice? I yes, I don't know. For the week,
don't commit a murder and murder, I guess do it in California because
if you go on death row, you never yeah, you're never gonna You're
never gonna be don't even have death row. Oh yeah, they don't have
death row anymore. So I don't know anyway, I'm being sarcastic. Sarcastic,
In case anyone didn't recognize my sarcasm, I did thank you. During
her victim impact statement, Cassidy told the jurors that her family always told her
that Ronald only ever felt sorry for himself. It's probably true. She looked
at him and told him, you know, she originally refused to believe that
that he only had felt sorry for himself, because she thought, for sure
he had to feel some sort of regret or sorrow for killing her entire family,
but when she heard he had zero remorse, she said, something changed
in sight of her. I'm sure she had to like look at it where
she had to stop feeling like, he's got to feel bad, right,
Some people have no soul their class psychopaths. They walk around as if they're
human beings. Yeah, but they're missing their soul. And she said,
I just needed to have some closure in my life because I couldn't keep carrying
this around. So she told Ronald to quote, my closure was the hope
that you would feel bad. I no longer have the desire for closure because
this is it. She know in her heart that the only person who would
be able to help her heal would be God, and the only one that
would really truly punish him would be in the afterlife. So she turned to
God with her anger and resentment. I'm sure there was some punishment in prison.
Oh yeah, she just she said she was going to continue her life
through and Texas doesn't sound like death rout anywhere. It doesn't sound good to
know, but she told him, you know, I'm going to continue on
with my life. And at this point she's twenty and she's the mother of
her own Oh, so she has a baby, and she said, I'm
going to continue to live my life with happiness, and said, I'm going
to forget about you, and I'm going to forget about this and I'm going
to be happy. Wow. So Ronald Lee Heskell is currently living out his
miserable life on death row at the L and B. Polunski unit located near
Livingston, Texas. And he was probably only in his mid thirties, I
think when this happens. So he's got a long time to stay there.
His poor kids too. Oh I know who's your dad? Oh he's in
prison for annihilating my family. That's a shame. That's It's a terrible story.
Lose, lose. So well, thank you everyone, Thank you everyone,
Thank you Tanya, Thank you everyone for listening to today's horrible, horrible
story. Family annihilation stories are fascinating. Yeah we did that one. Remember
where the mocking what was it? Remember mocking for mocking something? Mocking Hill
Road? Oh? Yes, yeah, these are these stories are just they
just I always wonder what it takes for someone to just snap like that.
So I see I could see like someone snapping and killing like melody. I'm
not saying you mean Melanie. Yes, Melanie, I'm not saying, but
you can kind of sort of understand that, right, right, But a
little four year old like ChIL children, what what? What's That's just an
evil what's going on here? That's just evil? Thought like I'm gonna hurt
her so bad, I'm gonna make her live and think about what I did
to her family for the rest of her life. I mean, that's just
evil. That's evil, that is that is evil. If you haven't already,
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