SPRING, Texas — A man charged with killing four children and their parents forced his way into the family’s suburban Houston home, tied them up and shot them in the back of the head when they refused to tell him where his ex-wife was, authorities said Thursday.
The lone survivor of the attack, the slain couple’s 15-year-old daughter, suffered a fractured skull when a bullet grazed her head. She played dead and called 911 after Ronald Lee Haskell left the house, prosecutors revealed at a court hearing.
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A day after the slayings, investigators slowly built a picture of Haskell, who was the couple’s estranged brother-in-law.
The 33-year-old man is accused of killing his ex-wife’s sister, Katie Stay, and her husband and the children ranging in age from 4 to 14, after binding them and putting the family face-down on the floor of their home.
Haskell had a handful of previous run-ins with law enforcement in Utah, where he had lived with his wife.
Neighbors said Haskell’s marriage was so rocky that Stay went to Utah last fall to help her sister escape the relationship and start a new life in Texas.
Stay “was very instrumental in helping her sister get here so she could have a fresh start. Katie’s a spitfire. She has energy to stand up for what she believes is right and true,” said Verena Beckstrand, a tearful neighbor.
Haskell had previously been jailed in 2008 in Logan, a community about 80 miles north of Salt Lake City, on charges of assault and domestic violence.
His wife told police that he had dragged her by her hair and struck her in the head in front of their children.
Those charges were later dismissed as part of a plea deal, according to information released Thursday by Logan authorities.
Haskell was also served last year with a protective order from his ex-wife.
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