436: The Teen Who Secretly Survived a Family Annihilator | Stay Family Murders

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Welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly. Hello, hello, hello and welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly. Serialistly with me, your host. And your true crime bestie, Annie Elise. I hope you had a fantastic weekend and you're having a good start to your week so far. Whether you're driving into the office, maybe you're at home cleaning, maybe you're working out. Maybe you're at the office already and you're listening or watching this with your true crime bestie co-worker. Because, look, I know a lot of you guys do that. You've told me out on tour. You've told me when I've seen you in the wild how in the office you guys will listen together or you'll watch together. Which, you know what? I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to tell your boss. It's not my job to narc on people. I mean, unless you're like, well, I don't want to say breaking the law. Because I guess that could technically be considered like payroll fraud. Look, I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole. What I'm just saying is I'm here for it. I used to do the same thing when I had an office job. I would watch Sons of Anarchy in my office in secret. If you're one of my old co-workers, don't tell and don't judge. But my point is wherever you are right now, whatever you're doing, thank you for spending your time. Your morning or your afternoon or your night with me. Now, instead of giving you a little bit of context around what this case is that we're going to be talking about today together, instead, I'm going to play for you a 911 call. So let me just go ahead and play that for you now. Now, that 911 call that you just heard, it came into dispatchers in Harris County, Texas around 5 p.m. The caller was 15-year-old Cassidy Stay, and she told them something that no dispatcher ever wants to hear. Her entire family had been shot. Now, when first responders arrived at 711 Leaflet Lane, they rushed into the home expecting the absolute worst. But even then, honestly, I don't know that they could have prepared themselves for what they were about to walk into. Because the first thing that they realized was that Cassidy herself had been shot as well. She was just there, lying on the floor, bleeding out from the head, barely even conscious. Yet somehow, through all of that, she had still managed to call 911, which that alone is just unbelievable to me. And despite everything that Cassidy had just endured, she still. She still was able to tell first responders that the rest of her family was over in the kitchen. So the officers made their way over there. And sure enough, what they found was devastating. Lying face down on the kitchen floor, surrounded by blood, were the rest of the Stay family. 39-year-old Stephen Stay, 33-year-old Katie Stay, and their children, 13-year-old Brian, 9-year-old Emily, 7-year-old Rebecca, and 4-year-old Zachary. They had all been tied up. And none of them were moving. Now honestly, this is one of those cases where the reality of it is so much worse than anything that you could imagine or cook up in some sort of like fiction horror thriller. Entire families don't just get executed in their own home in the middle of the afternoon, in the middle of the day. Especially not families like the Stays. So as they're taking all of this in, trying to reconcile what they are witnessing, the first responders notice something else. One other person in that kitchen was still breathing. Barely, but breathing. So let's go back to the beginning. And let's talk about what happened inside this home. July 9th, 2014 had actually started out like any other regular boring-ass normal day in the Stay family home. The five Stay children came downstairs that morning while their mom, Katie, made them breakfast. Then, after they ate, they split off into their usual. Emily, who was nine, and Rebecca, who was just seven, they paired off together. They started planning out their day of games, playing around the house, just typical girl stuff. Meanwhile, some of the older kids, Cassidy, who's 15, and Brian, 13, they stepped into more, not caretaker type of roles, but a little bit more older kid type roles, where there's chores, there's things to do. They were also taking turns helping keeping the four-year-old Zachary entertained. And they were all kind of just like breaking off into their little silos. And each of their kids, they had their own very distinct personality. Cassidy, at 15 years old, was incredibly smart and mature for her age. People said she was a lot like her mom, Katie, always looking out for other people and always trying to help. Brian, the 13-year-old, he had cerebral palsy, but by all accounts, he never let it slow him down. Emily, who was nine, was described as very fierce and protective, especially when it came to her older brother. Even though he was older than her, she looked out for him constantly. And then there were the two youngest, seven-year-old Rebecca and four-year-old Zachary. These two were basically like the energetic little siblings of the house, just running around, having fun, super, you know, just like walking sunshine. Loud, playful, full of energy. Exactly what you would expect in a home with five kids just running around during summer break. And I should mention, it also wasn't unusual for Stephen and Katie to leave the older kids in charge. For short periods of time during the summer. They were on summer break. Cassidy and Brian were very responsible. They were mature. They were trusted. The stay kids were all good students. So if the parents had to step out for a quick minute or go run an errand or even like work a few hours, it wasn't unheard of that they would help out and watch the younger siblings. All of them were very active in church youth groups and, by all accounts, just genuinely very kind kids. The parents, Stephen and Katie, trusted these kids to follow the rules. To work through any sibling disagreements and to really just take care of one another whenever they were out. And the neighborhood that they lived in itself, it really did add to that sense of security. The family lived in Spring, Texas, in the Enchanted Oaks subdivision, which is about 25 miles north of downtown Houston. By all accounts, it was considered a very safe, family-oriented neighborhood. Where kids were playing outside and neighbors knew each other, people generally looked out for one another. So Stephen and Katie had absolutely no idea what was going on. They had absolutely no reason to think that leaving the kids home for a couple of hours this afternoon would ever be dangerous. Now let's talk about the parents for a moment. Stephen worked as a real estate broker. And outside of work, he was heavily involved with his kids, especially coaching baseball. His wife, Katie, and their mother, she was really the heartbeat of the family and the center of everything at home. She was the kind of person who people describe as just like having the ability to tell that someone else needed help before they ever even asked. She organized neighborhood events, holidays, church activities, all of it. And from everything that I was able to find in my research, Stephen and Katie really seemed aligned in how they approached family life. Family first, that's what matters. That is like the core of everything. Faith was also extremely important to them. They went to church. They spent intentional time with each of their children. I mean, their marriage and their family seemed solid. Now, of course, no family is perfect. We all know that. But by all appearances, they had built a really happy life together. The Stay family was, I like to refer to them as an anchor family. They're that family in the neighborhood where all the kids go to their house to play. Our family has experienced a great loss at this because there's not a day that will go by where we won't somehow miss them, some experience where we'll miss them. Stephen was very, you know, patient and quiet. And he was very, you know, very considerate and happy, smiling all the time and just really mellow, kind of a peacemaker kind of guy and Katie was a lot more talkative. She was also happy, you know, also very caring and loving, a little bit sarcastic, which I think a lot of people appreciated because, you know, it kind of lightens the mood. You know, she was, she, she was a great motivator. She was a great. a cheerleader. she loved to serve as did Steven. I mean, he just, they were always doing something for somebody else. We were devastated when we found out we were in shock. It took a while to realize that this had really happened. Um, you know, we've, we've been, had the chance to mourn with our friends and, you know, it's one day at a time getting through and, um, but focusing on the good lives that they led and remember, you know, thinking about what we can learn from them. And that is to live a good life, to be good people, to have faith and to serve others. Now, this is exactly why what happened next felt so impossible to everyone who knew them. Before Steven and Katie left the house that day, they reminded the kids of the usual rules, you know, don't use the stove, don't leave the house, don't leave the backyard, check in with each other, be kind. And of course, above everything else, don't open the door for strangers. Cassidy and Brian gave the typical, like, teenage eye roll responses, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we know, but like, we're doing our thing. Like, they went back to, you know, whatever they were doing in the house that day. The house was loud, chaotic, normal for this family. Kids were running around, toys were everywhere, snacks were being left out. And during all of this, Cassidy was really taking on her role of big sister and caretaker. She was cleaning up around the house, picking things up, trying to, you know, make things not as messy, when suddenly there was a knock at the door. She told the younger kids, like, hey, quiet down, quiet down, somebody's at the door, I'm going to go check it out. But there wasn't a car parked outside of the house. There also wasn't one in the driveway. So she looked through the peephole, the little hole on the front door to see if she could see who was out there. And it was a FedEx delivery driver dropping off a package. So not a stranger, not a random, just somebody delivering mail. Once she got the door open, she saw this man standing in front of her, full FedEx uniform, pretty heavy beard as well. But what stood out immediately was that he didn't actually have a package with him. Instead, he was asking for her parents. Stephen and Katie. So Cassidy told him, oh, you know, they're not home right now, but they'll be back later. So he left. And at the time, she really didn't think much more of it. But then, a short time later, there was another knock. So Cassidy went back to the door, looked through the peephole, and it was this same man again. She opened the door once again, only this time, everything changed. Instead of asking questions and asking where her parents were, this man forced his way inside. Cassie immediately tried to slam the door shut. But think about it. She was a 15-year-old girl trying to stop this grown man who was now barreling in through her front door into her home. He overpowered her almost immediately and shoved his way inside. And then once he got in, he pulled out a gun and a knife. He immediately started restraining all of the other children. And he was threatening them and keeping them quiet by holding them at gunpoint and knife point, all while he was waiting for Stephen and Katie to come back home. Now, this detail, it really gets me because you may have heard in previous true crime coverage or just statistics and things like that, that if you're ever abducted or ever in a compromising situation, that you're supposed to start rattling off facts to this person. The fact that you're a mother or you're a sister or that you have family or things about yourself, things about your family members, trying to make them humanize you in a way. Now, Cassidy was only 15 years old, but she knew this. And in fact, she knew that she was a human being. And she knew that she was a human being. And instinctively, she started trying to reason with him. She started telling him the names of all of her siblings, their ages, trying to humanize them to him somehow. Almost like she had hoped that if he saw them as real kids instead of these obstacles or targets, maybe he would stop whatever he was doing. Maybe he would snap out of whatever this was. But unfortunately, that wasn't the case at all. And honestly, it is heartbreaking because you can hear just how innocent, her thinking was in that moment, just hoping that by talking about her siblings' ages, their names, what they like to do, that he would somehow change his mind in all of this. Yet the truth was, she couldn't even begin to understand the level of evil that she was facing against right now. Eventually, her parents, Stephen and Katie, came home. However, they were overpowered as well. The man restrained them right alongside the children while the entire family just kept pleading with him, begging him to stop. And so, Cassidy was able to do what she wanted to do. And she was able to do what she wanted to do. They told him, like, look, hey, we will cooperate. We will do whatever you want us to do. Please just let everyone go. And for a moment, it did seem like he almost was going to listen. Because eventually, he did make a request. The request that he wanted was information. Specifically, he wanted information about Katie's sister, the kid's aunt. He wanted to know where she was, how he could find her. And this is where this entire case, really starts to shift. Because suddenly, this doesn't seem so random anymore. This isn't some FedEx driver lunatic like in Athena Strand's situation. This is something more targeted, something intentional. These questions were deeply personal, specific, and again, just very direct. But Stephen and Katie, they were protective of their family. They weren't going to throw her sister under the bus. And so, they refused to tell him what he wanted to know. But that refusal made him absolutely furious. And so, they were able to tell him what he wanted to know. And so, they absolutely furious. So furious, in fact, that he began just going down the line of restrained family members and executing them one by one. Just point blank in the back of the head. Adults, children, boys, girls, the entire family. Just single file, one by one. And then he left. But somehow, through all of that, Cassidy survived. The bullet that was meant for the back of Cassidy somehow struck her hand first because at the very last minute, instinctively, she had raised her hand up almost trying to block it. So, the bullet hit one of her fingers before grazing her head instead. And what Cassidy did next is honestly the reason that she's alive. Instead of screaming or instead of moving and panicking, she stayed completely still and she pretended to be dead. And I know that a lot of people will say fight or flight, but sometimes survival really is about staying quiet. And I know that a lot of people will say fight or flight, but sometimes survival and waiting for the danger to pass. And the fact that this 15-year-old girl was able to think that clearly in the middle of something this horrific is incredible to me. Not only did she initially try to reason with him and humanize her siblings to him, but now she had the wherewithal to play dead, to try to think like, oh, he's going to leave. I just need to hang on a few moments longer. I need to just stay still, not move. Because the truth was, she's a 15-year-old girl. She was lying there, surrounded by her family, knowing that they had all just been shot. Yet somehow, she stayed still through all of it. She stayed quiet. And that decision, it saved her life. Because if the killer had realized that she was still alive, I have no doubt in my mind that he would have shot her again. And the reason I know that is because sadly, that's exactly what happened to four-year-old Zachary. Zach had been shot in the shoulder instead of the head. But because he was only four years old, he was still alive. And that's exactly what happened to four-year-old Zachary. He didn't understand what Cassie understood. He didn't understand that he shouldn't move and that he needed to stay quiet. Instead, little four-year-old Zachary started moving toward his dad, Steven, who was already deceased at this point. And honestly, this is just so incredibly devastating to think about. I have a four-year-old myself, and I just can't even begin to wrap my mind around this. But he didn't understand what was happening. He was just scared, and he was looking for comfort in his dad. His safety net, crawling toward him, hoping that his dad would protect him. But that movement, it gave him away. So this monster shot him again. And this time, he made sure not to miss. By the time the authorities arrived, after Cassidy's 911 call, only one other person in that kitchen was still alive. And that was her sister, seven-year-old Rebecca. She had also been shot in the head, but somehow she survived it. Everyone else in that room had already died. I mean, it was a complete massacre. So Rebecca and Cassidy were rushed to the hospital immediately. Cassidy was listed in critical condition with a skull fracture and severe damage to the tip of one of her fingers. But still, despite everything that she had gone through, she was alive and she was able to speak with the investigators. And through all of the pain, through all of the trauma, all of the confusion, she started explaining more about what happened that afternoon, what happened inside that house. Now, one of the main reasons that she was able to speak with the investigators was because she knew exactly who did it. And the reason why is thanks to Cassidy. Because when Cassidy first called 911, she hadn't just said that her entire family had been shot. She also told them. She knew exactly who did it. So I think she knew exactly who did it. And she knew exactly who did it. Certain flavors immediately take you back. 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It also apparently had been a while since she had seen him in person, so it's possible he looked different altogether. And it could also be, I mean, she was 15 years old. Maybe she just wasn't expecting that somebody she knew would show up and be disguised as a delivery driver. But by the second time that he came back to the house and started knocking on the door, according to Cassidy, he actually identified himself that time, right after she opened the door. That's why she immediately tried to shut the door on him, because she knew that his relationship with the family was very complicated, to say the least. He wasn't the fun uncle that everybody loved having to talk to. That would be fun at family gatherings. He was the family member that people worried about, the one that people talked about quietly. And him showing up at their house, this wasn't some random grudge or a snap decision. Ronald had gone there looking for his ex-wife Melanie, and there had been some major warning signs leading up to the murders, which let me just tell you a little bit about that relationship. Ronald and Melanie got married in 2002. They eventually had four children together. But according to Melanie, the marriage became abusive not long after the marriage began. And like so many abusive relationships, it escalated over time. First, Ronald didn't want Melanie working, which meant that he could, of course, not only control her whereabouts, but control all of the finances. Then he started isolating her from friends and family. And once her world became smaller and smaller, physical abuse started entering the fold. Melanie said that there were basically no limits to the abuse. Her kids were hitting, kicking, choking, and if you can think of it, he did it. And according to her, this wasn't something that was hidden behind closed doors. Their children witnessed it. Melanie also said that Ronald abused the children as well, though there was never an official report of that, no actual police report that I can cite for that. But she says that it's because she was too afraid to report it. Eventually, though, Melanie realized that she and the kids were not safe. She knew that they were living in a toxic and dangerous environment, and that they were and over the years, she brought up leaving him multiple times. But Ronald, he made sure that she was way too terrified to ever do it. He told her that if she ever tried to expose the abuse or tried to leave him, that he would make her watch her entire family die. And considering everything that she had already experienced with him up until this point, Melanie believed him. So she stayed. She stayed for 11 years. She stayed even after Ronald was arrested in 2008 for domestic disputes and assault. This was after he hit her in the head and was dragging her by the hair. She even stayed after he eventually accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to the assault, in exchange for the domestic charges being dismissed. And the reason that she stayed is because she was trying to protect herself and her children. Which you know, statistically, it takes so many times to successfully leave, and statistically, leaving is the most dangerous moment in an abusive relationship. But she was trying to protect herself, her children, and probably everyone else around her. She wanted to keep things quiet as long as she could. But eventually, she couldn't do it anymore. And that's when she finally started confiding in her sister Katie. The two of them, as sisters, had always been extremely close. And interestingly enough, Stephen and Ronald had actually known each other growing up. So when Stephen married Katie and Ronald married Melanie, the families became even more connected. So much so that Ronald and Melanie's wedding reception was a lot more literally held in Stephen's parents' backyard. This just gives you an idea of how intertwined these families were. But once Katie learned what was happening to her sister and her nieces and nephews behind closed doors, she and Stephen did everything that they could possibly do to support Melanie and to help keep her and her children safe. In July of 2013, Melanie finally filed for divorce and also obtained a protective order against Ronald. And even though that should have been a hopeful turning point, Melanie was still terrified. Because Ronald had been threatening her for years, threatening her that if she ever left him, he would kill her entire family. Now, at the time, Melanie and Ronald were living in Utah. But after the separation, Ronald moved back to San Marcos, California. That's where he had grown up. And he moved back and moved in with his mother. Which honestly, I can't even imagine the level of anxiety that Melanie must have been living with during that time. Because yeah, while he was, okay, states away at that point, and yes, there was a lot of pressure, there was a protective order in place, he still knew where everyone lived. He still knew her family. He still had access to a point. A few months later, in October of 2013, that original protective order was then converted into a mutual restraining order. This was part of the divorce and custody proceedings. Which this detail becomes very important later. Because under both federal and state law, this now meant that with this change, Ronald could legally possess firearms again. Which at the time, was a very important thing. And it was a very important thing. And I think that at the time, I'm sure that that alone was frightening enough for Melanie. But looking back now, knowing what would eventually happen, it's honestly infuriating. And if you're wondering whether the divorce or the move back to California somehow changed Ronald or calmed him down, it absolutely did not. Not long after moving in with his mother in late 2013, Ronald got into another violent altercation. This time, with members of his own family. His sister Chandra had gone over to their mother Carla's house, where she heard Ronald screaming at their mom, calling her a bitch and just like unleashing on her. So Chandra stepped in, told him, yo, you need to stop talking to mom like that. You need to calm down. But Ronald immediately exploded. He wasn't going to be told what to do. He grabbed his sister by the throat and he threw her to the ground. Meanwhile, his mom Carla tried to intervene, but Ronald threw her down as well, right there alongside Chandra. And according to reports, Chandra kept trying to get back up, defend herself and defend her mother as well. But Ronald just kept forcing her back down, each time becoming more violent. At one point, he even elbowed her in the throat. Another time, he punched her in the arm and punched her so hard that it left a bruise. She later had that bruise photographed at the police station. Even Ronald's own father tried to intervene. And although the documents apparently noted that he was disabled, Ronald still threw him to the ground as well, causing him to hit his head on the corner of a wall. Which I honestly don't know how that entire incident finally ended, if he was just like throwing people around and knocking people down. But thankfully, everybody survived it. And once his sister got away from him, she went straight to the police and she filed a restraining order against him. In the filing, she wrote, Ronald has never physically abused me before, but he is currently in the middle of a messy divorce and his wife is accusing him of domestic violence. I'm scared that if Ronald remains in the home, he will harm me again, which is why I seek this protection from the court. Now luckily, she was granted a temporary restraining order. However, in an infuriating turn of events, but also unfortunately not a surprise to many of us, just one month later, it was dismissed. Now every case that we cover is difficult. There is absolutely no question about that. But there is something especially upsetting about cases like this one. Cases where there are so many warning signs beforehand, so many reports, so many people trying to get help, and yet somehow, in the end, no one is protected. sure what finally made Melanie decide to leave Utah altogether. I don't know if it was the fact that Ronald could legally have guns again, or maybe it was hearing about the violence involving his own family members. Maybe it was a combination of everything. I don't know. But in February of 2014, Melanie and the kids moved from Utah to Texas, and they made that move with the help of her sister Katie and Katie's husband Stephen. And from everything that I found, Katie and Stephen really were there for Melanie through all of this. The divorce, the fear, the instability, they really helped her start over. Which this, unfortunately, seemed to fuel Ronald, make him even more angry. Because by this point, Ronald knew that he no longer had any control over Melanie. He didn't even know where she was living anymore. And in his mind, Katie and Stephen, they were the reason behind that. After the murders, investigators uncovered a paper trail that showed that Ronald had been escalating for quite a while. And they were able to find out that Katie and Stephen had been in touch for quite some time. This was not some impulsive act that was committed in the heat of the moment. There were warning signs. There was a pattern. There was escalation. About a week before the murders, Ronald learned that his mom Carla was still communicating with Melanie. Which honestly makes complete sense, considering that Melanie had custody of Carla's grandchildren, and Carla was also a victim of her, you know, of her own son. However, Ronald viewed this as betrayal. So once again, he exploded. On July 2nd, 2014, Ronald forced his mom Carla into her garage. And once they were inside, alone in that garage, he duct taped her wrists together, tied her to a computer chair, and threatened to kill her if she continued speaking with Melanie. At one point, he even wrapped his hands around his mother's throat and choked her until she lost consciousness. Then, he just left her there, tied up. According to his mother, Carla had lost consciousness, and he left her there, tied her up, tied her up, tied her up, tied her up, tied her up. And what's really disturbing, like I just said, he left her there, is how long she remained there afterward. The altercation reportedly began around 11 in the morning that day, but the police weren't called until 5.15 p.m. What's even harder to understand is that even after that 911 call came in at 5.15, and even after an officer was dispatched at 5.19, nobody arrived at her house for nearly three hours. They didn't arrive until after 8 p.m. And honestly, I can't help but wonder whether Ronald thought that he had actually killed his mother that day. Because he left her there, unconscious, tied to a chair, after he had threatened to murder her and murder anyone else who got in the way of him finding Melanie. So you would think, okay, he's had a restraining order in the past with a few people, they've survived it, they have filed reports, surely this will actually get the traction it needs now. This guy will either be locked up or there will be protections put in place. But here's what the legal repercussions ended up being after all of that. The court ordered that Ronald stay five yards away from Carla. Five yards. Five yards. A yardstick. Five yards away from his mother. I'm sorry, bullets travel further than five yards. I'm sorry, knives, even if you throw them, can travel more than five yards. Like, what are you even talking about here? And this is why this case becomes so frustrating to look back on. Because Ronald's violence, it had been escalating for years, and people around him were actively trying to sound the alarm. Carla even later said that Ronald had told her that he was not only going to kill her, but kill her family and any officer who tried to stop him. Yet somehow, after choking his mother unconscious and threatening mass violence, he was still out free. And honestly, I really can't help but thinking about how different things might have been if he had actually been arrested and if he had been held after attacking his mom. Maybe this mass murder would have never happened. Or maybe he still would have eventually carried out his plan after getting out. Who knows? But the timeline is eerie. Because that attack on his mom, it happened on July 2nd. And the very next day, the very next day, he already started trying to actively locate Melanie. I feel like the obligations obviously don't ever. On packed filming days, on school drop-offs, school activities, I mean juggling all of it. It's just tough. And Factor really makes it so much easier to eat real food without adding another task to my list. I've told you before how I love their banana chocolate smoothies in the morning. They are so good. But their chef-crafted, dietitian-designed meals are also ready in two minutes with no time to waste. No prep and no cleanup. And every week, there are more than 100 nutrient-dense menu items that you can choose from. So it never feels repetitive. I use Factor. You definitely should too. I use it in between recordings, sometimes when I'm at home and need a quick meal. 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Includes up to 20 gig hotspot. Capable device required. Availability, speed, and coverage varies. See mintmobile.com. Now by this point, Ronald fully blamed Katie and Steven for Melanie leaving him. Now sure, did Katie and Steven support Melanie through the divorce? Yes, absolutely. But they were not the reason that she left. Ronald's abuse was the reason that she left. But as we know, abusers almost never take accountability for their own actions. It's always somebody else's fault. Somebody else ruined their lives. Somebody else, you know, caused the consequences. And Ronald's motive? It was becoming painfully obvious. He wanted to find Melanie. And it anyone who stood in his way of finding her, including Katie and Steven, and including their small children. And those kids were so young that they didn't even fully understand what was happening around them. They knew that Ronald and Melanie weren't together anymore. They knew that their aunt had divorced him, and they knew that they weren't supposed to let Ronald into the house. And that's exactly why Cassidy tried to slam the door shut when she recognized him. But they were young. They didn't know the full extent of the danger. They didn't know just how violent Ronald had become, or how terrified Melanie had been for years. And they shouldn't have known. Children are supposed to be protected and shielded from all of that. I can't imagine a world in which their aunt would want them to be terrified and scared like that. Now, at some point during the murders, Ronald must have either outright said where he planned to go next, or at least heavily implied it. Because when Cassidy was speaking with the authorities, she was terrified that his next stop was her grandparents' house. And she was scared that he was going to do the exact same thing to them. She was also able to tell the investigators that Ronald had taken one of her parents' vehicles. So now, suddenly, authorities had a very detailed picture of what they were dealing with. They knew the suspect's name, they knew what he was wearing, they knew the vehicle he was driving, and where he was likely headed toward next. So now, they knew it was a race against time. They just had to get there before he did. And sure enough, Cassidy was right. Ronald's next destination was her grandparents' house. But surprisingly, Ronald didn't seem to be in any hurry to get there. Which, honestly, it says a lot about how confident he was at that point, right? He apparently believed that he still had plenty of time before anyone would realize what had happened to the family at the house. He thought Cassidy was dead. He probably thought, hey, I have time, I can just cruise, I can make stops if I need to, whatever I have to do, like, you know, I have time. He especially probably thought he had more time and that nobody knew what had happened because he had duct taped a pillow to meter gun that he used. He did this so that it was a makeshift silencer. So with that, he didn't seem worried about neighbors hearing gunshots or reporting anything. So before actually going to the grandparents' house, Kelly and Roger, Ronald decided he needed to quench his thirst. So he stopped at a Sonic to get a drink. But that little pivot, that little sidestep, that allowed law enforcement to get a head start. So while Ronald was at Sonic deciding what to order, the officers toward the grandparents' home, preparing for what they believed could become an armed standoff. They knew that Ronald was armed, that he was dangerous, and that he was actively hunting down family members. And the best part? They beat him there. By the time Ronald finally arrived near the house, he immediately was able to see that there was a very heavy police presence. So he tried to flip a bitch, turn a U-turn, get the hell out of there, and leave the area. But while attempting to drive away, he made a wrong turn, and he ended up trapped inside a cul-de-sac, which, love to see karma work that way. So just like that, the standoff began. Ronald stayed inside this stolen vehicle, staying calm enough that you almost wouldn't think that he had just murdered six people. But the officers knew that he was still armed, and they were determined not to let the situation end with him taking his own life. They wanted answers, and they wanted justice for the Stay family. So negotiators began talking with him, trying every single tactic possible to convince him to stay. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they did. And they surrendered peacefully. During those conversations, Ronald started making some very concerning statements. Statements like, I'm not going to jail, which we all know what that usually means in situations like this, right? Someone desperate, someone unwilling to face the consequences of their own actions. This is a bad scenario, but I can assure your safety if they'll just come out, okay? You know I'm not coming out. Why not? Because I'm not going to jail. If you let those guys make good decisions, I'll make mine. Well, I understand that, but I don't want you to do any action that forces them into something, okay? But you tell your sniper on the roof he's not got a very good shot on you there. Well, I'm not judging him. Well, his scope may clear the light bar, but that bullet ain't going to clear it. Okay. Well, you know what? I'm not worried about the sniper and the shot that he's got. He's just there as a backup. He's not there to do it, to pull that trigger unless there's a problem, okay? Eventually, law enforcement escalated their positioning. And they boxed Ronald in completely using armed vehicles. One pressed against the front of his car, another pressed against the back. Meanwhile, Ronald just stayed inside with the gun pressed to his head. And this standoff, it went on for three and a half hours. And I will say for most of it, Ronald had almost this like smug attitude. You could even hear it in the recordings a bit where he would criticize the negotiators. He'd mock the sniper's aim. He would tell officers not to speak to him like he was stupid as if he was the smartest guy in the room. He also claimed that he wasn't afraid of consequences in the afterlife. In fact, he specifically said that he no longer believed in God or forgiveness, despite previously having a pretty strong Mormon faith. But as that standoff dragged on, some of that confidence started slipping. At one point, Ronald began telling negotiators that he was afraid of being hurt if he got out of the car. He even started framing himself as the hostage in the situation. Saying he was worried that SWAT officers would rush him. Now, that didn't mean that he was ready to cooperate, not by any means. He still had the gun to his head, and there was of course always the possibility that he could decide to pull the trigger at any moment. But it was the first sign that maybe he was starting to waver a little bit. Toward the end of the standoff, Ronald then asked if he could speak with his brother, who he described as the only person who had ever done anything for him. And after considering it for a minute or two, authorities decided to allow that conversation to happen. Which honestly was risky, because it could have either become Ronald's goodbye call and his final sign-off, or it could in fact convince him to surrender. Which thankfully, it ended up being the latter. I'm not sure exactly what Ronald's brother said to him, but whatever it was, it worked. Because not long after their conversation, Ronald finally surrendered to authorities. Ronald was officially taken into custody, and he was charged. Now through all of this, because of Cassidy, her grandparents were safe. Because of Cassidy, Ronald never made it inside their house that night, something that her grandparents would later publicly thank her for. Without her courage and quick thinking, we might be mourning the deaths of 20, yes, I said 20, people today, including myself and nearly all of our children and grandchildren. But even with Ronald now behind bars, the nightmare still wasn't over. Cassidy's condition was thankfully improving, which honestly felt miraculous considering that she had even survived. Rebecca, however, had suffered much more severe injuries. And despite being rushed to the hospital and receiving immediate medical treatment, 7-year-old Rebecca eventually died from her injuries, leaving Cassidy as the sole survivor of what happened to her. A family of seven. In arrest had been made, authorities had stopped Ronald before he could reach her grandparents, and Cassidy was still alive. But none of that changed what happened inside that house. Six people were gone. An entire family completely massacred and wiped out. And yet somehow, just four days after the murders, Cassidy found the strength and the bravery to stand in comprehend having that kind of strength at 15 years old. I know that my mom, dad, Brian, Emily, Becca, and Zach are in a much better place and that I'll be able to see them again one day. Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if only one if one only remembers to turn on the light. I'm really thankful for all of the people that have been praying for me and keeping me and my family and their thoughts the past couple days and I would like to thank all the first responders, nurses, and doctors that have taken care of me. I'm feeling a lot better and I'm on a very straightforward path to a full recovery. From that point on investigators were determined to make sure that Ronald was held accountable and the legal process it actually started moving fairly quickly at first but then as we know it happens so often delays began because even though the process was so long it was still a lot of work. I'm so thankful that I was able to pre-trial hearings happened soon after the murders. Ronald didn't actually go to trial until five years later in 2019 and during those five years Cassidy and the rest of the extended family they were all left trying to grieve while also constantly waiting for closure or peace that never seemed to come. On July 16th funeral services were held for the stay family and so many people came out to support Cassidy and the extended family and honestly the footage of this funeral is so heartbreaking to watch seeing all six caskets all different sizes depending on which family member was inside just being mourned and you know so finite and final you have little Zachary's at just four years old all the way to the father Stephen's. For the next five years everyone who loved the stay family tried to continue living their lives while also carrying this enormous grief with them waiting for the day that they could finally see justice carried out but for Cassidy I especially it must have felt like living in limbo because Ronald's trial it ended up being postponed 20 different times and I truly cannot imagine what that emotional roller coaster must have been like finally getting a court date mentally preparing yourself to relive everything building up the courage from the anxiety and the anticipation only for it to get delayed again and again and again and I'm sure that there were moments where it felt like the trial may never ever actually even happen but eventually on August 26th 2019 his trial finally began and pretty quickly it became clear what both sides were going to argue. Prosecutors of course painted Ronald as an abusive husband abusive father and just a violent person overall. They argued that Melanie leaving him and Katie and Stephen helping her do it just completely enraged him and that's what set him off. According to the prosecution he stalked the stay family for days in fact before actually murdering all six of them and that's what set him off. This murder was all done as revenge for helping Melanie escape him but even before the trial officially started on the flip side of things his defense team had already started laying the groundwork for a different argument. They claimed that Ronald had suffered some sort of mental health crisis and that the murders were not carefully planned or calculated not at all. His attorney pointed to Ronald's psychiatric hospitalizations in Utah and also argued that he had a history of not taking his medication properly. He also argued that he had a history of not taking his medication consistently. They were going to say he was unbalanced, unwell, that's what caused all of this. However the prosecutors they had one witness who would completely change the weight of the entire trial. Cassidy. Now at 20 years old Cassidy was going to take the stand as the sole survivor of her family's massacre and honestly just thinking about what that must have taken out of her emotionally it's so difficult to process because five years earlier she had been a 15 year old girl spending her summer break with her siblings at home in her safe neighborhood just having fun and laughing and being joyful. Now though fast forward five years and she's sitting in a courtroom preparing to walk everyone through the absolute worst day in her life in graphic detail. And boy, was it graphic. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. If I could wake up tomorrow and instantly be better at one thing, I would say it would be trying to be better at putting my phone down and actually being present. Between filming, emails, messages, breaking news, my never-ending to-do list, my brain it just stays in work mode even when the work day is technically over. And for me, I just really want to work on like putting the phone down, being present, and like being able to turn it off. I want to get better at creating that separation and handling stress in a healthier way. And that is what is so great about BetterHelp. BetterHelp is designed to help you get the tools you need to improve in certain areas and talk to people. And I think that's really important. And I think that's really through certain things and struggles that you're facing. Better is a feeling defined by you. And for BetterHelp, it's a BetterHelp therapist who really gets you. It's a focus on global emotional well-being with thousands of therapists and millions of members in over 100 countries. It's progress. Sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com. That's BetterHelp.com. Investigators were able to piece together Ronald's movements leading up to the murders. They determined that on July 3rd, Ronald traveled from California to Utah. And from everything that the investigators later learned, it appears that he didn't even realize that Melanie and the children had already moved away. And honestly, thank God they had. Because this case could have looked very different if Ronald had shown up at their Utah home and then found them there. Then, the following day, on July 4th, a woman that Ronald had previously dated called 911 and reported that her home had been burglarized. And among the items missing, one of the main things that immediately stood out to her was her 9mm handgun. Investigators later discovered receipts inside Ronald's car from that very same day showing purchases of 9mm ammunition, earplugs, an extra magazine, and also a laser sight for a firearm. After that, Ronald went to Walmart, where investigators say he bought the pillow and the duct tape. Those both were later obtained. Of course, used to create the makeshift silencer on the gun. Then, investigators traced his route even further. On July 5th, Ronald stayed overnight at a La Quinta Inn & Suites in Albuquerque, New Mexico. On July 6th, he traveled through Amarillo, Texas. And by July 7th, he had arrived in the Houston area near the Stay family home. So all of this, you can see, it's a whole progression, it's a pattern, him slowly making his way all the way to Texas. Every stop, every purchase, every movement investigators were tracking really helped paint the same picture. This was planned. It also reinforced exactly what Ronald had threatened just days earlier when he spoke with his mom Carla. He intended to go after anyone that he believed stood in between him and Melanie. But despite all of this evidence, in which it appears very damning, right? Hearing Cassidy describe what happened from her perspective, that was absolutely earth-shattering. Cassidy testified about Ronald arriving at the house in the FedEx outfit. She described trying to comfort her younger siblings while Ronald held them hostage, and just trying to wait it out for her parents to return. And again, this really stood out to me because Cassidy was still just a kid herself. She was terrified too, but she knew enough to know that Ronald was dangerous, and she was just trying to stay calm for her brothers and sisters. She also described the moment that her parents walked into the house. According to Cassidy, Katie immediately began yelling at Ronald, demanding to know why he was there and telling him to leave. And when Ronald pulled out the gun, Katie physically did try to stop him. She was brave. She attempted to wrestle the weapon away from him, despite him being so much larger than her. Cassidy, during the trial, even stood up in court and reenacted the moment for the jury. She demonstrated how her mother grabbed Ronald's hands and tried to stop him. And honestly, as a parent, hearing that part is incredibly hard, because Katie knew that her children were in danger, and she fought for them every possible way that she could, even against the impossible odds. And you don't know how you will always react in those types of situations. Whether you'll freeze, whether you'll just do what they say, but Katie was strong. She was brave and courageous, and she tried to fight this monster to protect her family. Unfortunately though, Ronald overpowered her, and Katie became his first victim. Cassidy then described the executions themselves. Her exact words were, quote, And without question, Cassidy's testimony, it became one of the most important parts of the prosecutor's case. But it's also a good thing that the investigators had built such a huge trail of evidence beforehand, because what was going to happen is the defense argued exactly what many people expected that they would. They didn't deny that Ronald had been killed, but they didn't deny that he had committed the murders, but instead, they argued that he was mentally ill at the time, that he was unable to understand that what he was doing was wrong. And honestly, look, from a legal strategy standpoint, there probably wasn't much else that they could argue. There was overwhelming evidence tying Ronald to these murders. So the defense, what they were trying to do, was really focus on reducing his level of responsibility by centering everything around mental illness. The defense even called Ronald's mother, Carla, to testify. And as surprising as that may sound, considering that Ronald had nearly strangled her to death days before the murders, her testimony was meant to support the idea that Ronald had mentally deteriorated after Melanie left him. She testified that Ronald became a completely different person after the separation. She also talked about his psychiatric hospitalizations and his self-harm attempts following the divorce. However, in my opinion, a lot of Carla's testimony actually ended up hurting the defense more than helping it. Because she also had to recount everything that Ronald had done to her. Tying her up, choking her unconscious, threatening violence. She also testified that Ronald had openly talked about hating Katie, hating her and blaming her for Melanie leaving him. And she also admitted something that tied everything together that the investigators had already been arguing. She said that they were all scared of him. That they didn't know what he would do next. Ronald's brother, Robert, also testified for the defense. And much like Carla's testimony, parts of it may, have supported the mental illness argument. But other parts of it reinforced just how dangerous Ronald had become. For example, he testified about Ronald's psychiatric hospitalizations, saying that there had been at least five separate stays that he knew about. He also described Ronald during that period as being suicidal with a very dark look in his eyes. He also testified that after Ronald moved out of Utah, but before he moved in with their mother, Carla, he briefly stayed with his brother. But eventually, his brother asked him to leave. And the reason why? It says a lot. Robert said that he became concerned for the safety of his teenage son while his brother Ronald was living in the home. Which I have to say, that's pretty significant considering this was his own brother saying all of this. And just like Carla's testimony, Robert also confirmed that Ronald's anger toward Katie, it had been building for months leading up to the murders. So now you have multiple family members of Ronald's supporting the prosecution's argument that this wasn't random, that it had been building and festering and brewing. Then the defense called forensic psychologist Dr. Stephen Raffel. According to him, Ronald did not understand that what he was doing was wrong at the time of the murders. And I do want to spend a minute on this because it became one of the biggest points in the entire trial. Dr. Raffel testified that Ronald suffered from bipolar disorder as well as schizoaffective disorder. And one of the major symptoms associated with schizoaffective disorder can include hallucinations and delusions. According to the doctor, Ronald described hearing multiple voices inside his head, and these voices essentially had taken control over him. The voices reportedly also had names, Joseph, Jonathan, and Samantha. Joseph was supposedly the primary voice, and according to Ronald, that voice told him that he needed to kill Melanie's family in order to get her back. But prosecutors pushed back hard on those findings. They pointed out that other mental health professionals who evaluated Ronald, didn't reach the same conclusions. And they suggested that Ronald may have manipulated the doctor into believing the story about the voices, just as a way to justify or minimize what he had done. And honestly, conversations around the insanity defense, they are always complicated. I think a lot of people immediately get frustrated hearing it brought up, myself included sometimes. But at the same time, there absolutely are cases where someone is so severely mentally ill that they genuinely cannot understand what they're doing or why it's wrong. Whether that was true in Ronald's case or not, that's a different story. So after deliberating for two days, the jury finally reached a verdict. This was on September 27th, 2019. Inside the courtroom, cameras zoomed in on Cassidy while she sat there, head down, praying. Have you reached a verdict in this case? Yes, we have, Your Honor. And is it a unanimous verdict? Yes, sir. Okay, thank you very much. If you would please present it to the bailiff. In cause number 1434395, state of Texas versus, Ronald Lee Haskell. We, the jury, find the defendant, Ronald Lee Haskell, of capital murder as charged in the indictment. Honestly, I can't even imagine what that moment must have felt like for her after waiting five years for this trial to finally happen. Hearing the word guilty, knowing the man who murdered her family had officially been convicted. The sentencing phase started just three days later. Prosecutors argue that Ronald deserved the death penalty because he remained in ongoing danger and because the brutality and planning involved in the murders, that because of that, it warranted the highest possible punishment. Meanwhile, the defense argued that Ronald should instead receive life in prison along with treatment for his mental illnesses. But in the end, he was sentenced to death by lethal injection. And after the sentence was read, the courtroom heard multiple victim impact statements, including one from Cassidy herself. Past five years, I've always wanted to know how you felt about me and what kind of remorse you felt. And my family always said that you only felt sorry for yourself. And I didn't want to believe that because I thought, surely he has to feel bad for killing my family. And when I heard that you felt no remorse, something changed inside of me. And I didn't know what to do with that change. And it was causing me a lot of hurt and anger because that was my closure. My closure was the hope that you would feel bad. I no longer have the desire for any closure because this is it. There's nothing left on this earth that will soothe my wounds and worries. Only God can help me now. And that's what I've decided to do with my resentment and my anger towards you. I'm letting go of my emotions and I'm giving it to God because he'll take care of me and he'll help me through this. The jury decided that you were going to die by lethal injection, and I respect their decision. Do I think the punishment fits the crime? No. I hope that when you die, you will get the punishment you deserve from God. Only God can help you now. Are you going to feel remorse one day? I don't know. And I want to tell you that I don't care anymore. I'm going to continue to live my life with happiness, and I'm going to move forward, and I'm going to forget about this, and I'm going to forget about you. You've been in control long enough, and now your game is up. You're not in control anymore. You've lost, and this is it for you. God will be there for you when you need him, and that time is going to come quickly for you. Whether you like it or not. Thank you very much. You may step down. Hearing Cassidy speak through this entire case, whether during the trial, after the sentencing, or in the interviews, it is so remarkable. Because despite everything that was taken from her, she still carried herself with so much empathy, gratitude, and maturity. We also heard from Cassidy publicly after the sentencing, and I do really quickly want to include some of those clips because I do think it helps illustrate who she is as a person. At only 20 years old, she had already endured so much more trauma and loss than most people could ever even imagine. She was forced to grow up incredibly fast. And yet Ronald, he still didn't take away her ability to care about people or appreciate the life that she still had. Cassidy, are you relieved today? If you talk to us about a little bit of your moods, this has been every day. I feel a lot of relief. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my chest, and I feel like justice is finally going to be served. And I'm glad that I don't have to worry about it anymore, or drive down a lot to meet with these suffering ladies. Nothing personal. And what has it been like for you to be surrounded by so many family, and prosecutors, and everybody stressing and purple, and as you guys, because it's a long trial. I mean, you're talking about two months, and five years later, so tell us about that. I'm grateful that I have a family that supports me, and I'm grateful that I have prosecutors who have become like family to me. We joke around when we're not, obviously, when we're not talking about court stuff, and it's, I'm glad to have a strong support system like them, and I'm glad that we're all getting along. Kassidy, after you delivered your victim's impact statement, you walked past George, you had a smile on your face, and you mouthed, "Thank you." Can you describe to us your emotions at that point after you made your victim's impact statement, and you walked past those George, and you felt compelled to thank them? I just don't understand how someone can sit through something like that, and see all those pictures, and hear all those things, and hear all these awful atrocities that, atrocities that this guy did, and so I wanted to thank them for their strength, and for their bravery to make the right decision. Kassidy, when did you decide you wanted to do a victim's impact statement, and why did you decide you wanted to do that? So, I'd been thinking about what I would say for the past five years, because I knew that I always wanted to say something, and finally, last night, I was washing my hair, and I thought, you know, this is what I'm going to say, and I said it. I wrote it down, and took just a couple minutes to write it all down, so that I could have the peace of mind up there, and not get flustered, because he looked at me the whole time. It was a little weird, but I, just last night, figured it all out. And when you were up there on the stand, and he was looking at you, what was that like? What was going through your head? What were you feeling? I was determined to look back at him, because he finally paid attention to someone, and I hope he listened. Kassidy, I think they speak for all of us, and I see we're just in awe of your strength. Where have you gained that strength from to do this, to take our questions, to go on the stand? I've, I give it to God. My family grew, they raised me in the church, and so to just learn constantly about how God can help us, and how Christ can ease our burdens, that's what I attribute to my strength, and my mom, and my dad, they were tough cookies. If anyone had the pleasure of meeting them, they didn't take crap from anyone, so that's where I get it from. In the years following Ronald's conviction and sentencing, his legal team continued filing appeals in attempt to overturn the death penalty, but in 2021, one of those appeals was denied. Kassidy later said, in interviews, that she wanted to move forward with her life and not stay trapped in what happened that day forever. And from everything publicly available, it seems like she's really tried to do that. I mean, of course, I'm sure that there's never a single day where she doesn't think about her parents, her siblings, and the life that they all should have had together, but she's continued living her life as fully as she can, while carrying their memory with her. And honestly, after everything that she has survived, I think that that is probably the most powerful thing that she could have. This is just another one of those cases where the violence is so senseless and so unimaginable and equally frustrating that nothing was done to protect this family when he clearly showed a history of violence. And now what? Even though she's thriving and surviving and having a life, I mean, I would imagine there's still night terrors that happen. There's regret. Maybe there's a level of guilt even from time to time. I mean, for someone to witness that, it gives me the chills and it just breaks my heart. But I think that this case is also a very good reminder that we need to protect ourselves. And if somebody is acting erratically and threatening violence, tell the police, file the reports, do all the things, because you never know how far it will stretch and what it will escalate to. Thank you for hearing Cassidy's story today and the rest of her family members. My prayers are with her, and I am so glad that this monster is never going to have the opportunity to hurt somebody else again. All right, guys. Thank you. So much for tuning in. As a reminder, subscribe if you haven't. Follow the podcast. It's a free way to support the podcast and the YouTube channel. And I will be back with you again very soon with another case. Until then, be nice. Don't kill people. Don't answer the door ever for strangers, even if it's a package delivery. And just watch your back. Bye. Andy and Anna here from your new favourite podcast, No Such Thing As A Fish. Yes, we are two of the four hosts of the podcast that stuffs fascinating, amazing, weird, mad facts into your ears on a weekly basis. You got any good facts, Andy? Yes. How about this one? Anteaters have evolved on 12 separate occasions. Wow. Mysterious. Wonderful. The world really wants them to exist. What about this one? When Ronald Reagan left office, he left a note on the White House lawn for the squirrels, warning them to beware of George Bush's dogs. So there you go. If you like fascinating facts and much more besides, we are No Such Thing As A Fish.