HOUSTON – ‘The Evidence Room’ is back with a new season. The KPRC 2 Investigates hit docuseries examines the Houston area’s most notorious crimes and convictions through new, unprecedented access to evidence stored at the Harris County criminal archives.
The second season of ‘The Evidence Room’ premieres with the case of Ronald Haskell.
The story begins with a horrific call from Cassidy Stay asking for help. At the time, she was a 15-year-old teenager. She called 911 to report her “Uncle Ronnie” shot and killed her family.
Haskell went to the Stay family’s home to find his ex-wife. He’s originally from Logan, Utah. His wife had divorced him and gained custody of their children. Court records show he was looking for his wife and kids when the deadly encounter happened.
Cassidy was shot, but survived by playing dead until her uncle left the house with the family car.
Haskell first stopped in California, where law enforcement found his mother bound and beaten. He then made his way to the Stay house in Spring, Texas.
In ‘The Evidence Room,’ you’ll see the FedEx uniform Haskell used to get into the home. At first, it was just the four children inside. When the parents came home, Haskell decided to take the family’s lives and then head to their grandmother’s home.
On the way to what was presumably Haskell’s next killing grounds, law enforcement caught up with him in a cul-de-sac. The standoff lasted roughly three hours with deputies and officers armed to the teeth.
Haskell didn’t know where he was and called 9-1-1. “I need police,” he told the dispatcher. “There’s about 20 police officers pointing guns at me. Does that help?”
Three negotiators worked on getting Haskell out of the stolen Stay family car. He told them he wouldn’t do it unless he talked to his brother, who was a chief of police in Alaska.
Haskell was very aware of what was happening around him, telling the first negotiator - “Why don’t you tell your sniper on the roof he’s not got a very good shot on me there.”
The negotiator chuckled and responded, “Yeah, I’m not in charge of him.”
“Yeah, his scope may clear the light bar, but that bullet ain’t gonna clear it,” Haskell replied.
The negotiator told him, “Okay. Well, you know what? I’m not worried about the sniper and the shot that he’s got. So, he’s just there as a backup. He’s not there to pull the trigger unless there’s a problem. Okay? And you and I can keep it to where there is not a problem, okay.”
After Haskell was arrested, KPRC 2 reporter Brandon Walker covered his case from gavel to gavel.
In this episode of ‘The Evidence Room,’ you’ll hear the phone call between Haskell and his mother talking about “hearing voices.” During the trial, Haskell’s mental health state was one of the arguments brought up, but prosecutors would argue the murders were well planned.
KPRC 2 Investigates Robert Arnold and Walker also discuss the evidence and testimony used to convict and sentence Haskell to his death row execution.
‘The Evidence Room’ Season 2 premieres Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 6:30 p.m. New episodes will stream each week at that time exclusively on KPRC2+.
Ways to watch the KPRC 2+ livestream:
- Search for the KPRC 2+ app on your smart TV or streaming device - including Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Google TV.
- Catch the show at Click2Houston.com/watchlive or in the livestream player above.
- Watch on the Click2Houston app – which is free to download in your Apple or Android app store.
