Uncle poses as delivery man to 'kill six members of ex-wife's family'
The murder trial of a man accused of shooting dead six members of his ex-wife’s family while posing as a FedEx delivery driver has begun in the US.
Ronald Lee Haskell travelled from Utah to suburban Houston in 2014 and stalked his ex-wife's family for two days before killing six of her relatives as part of a plan to harm anyone who had helped his former spouse, a Texas prosecutor said on Monday.
He lived with his family in Utah at the time, but had a history of domestic violence which had eventually led to divorce.
His ex-wife and their children moved to Texas to live near her family, Harris County prosecutor Samantha Knecht said during opening statements in Haskell's capital murder trial.
Haskell forced his way into the home of his ex-wife’s sister, Katie Stay, taking her five children hostage in July 2014, Knecht said.
According to the Houston Chronicle, he was posing as a FedEx delivery man.
It is alleged he waited for Ms Stay and her husband Stephen Stay to return home before fatally shooting them and four of their children.
He also allegedly shot the couple's oldest daughter, who was 15 at the time. She suffered a head wound and played dead before notifying police.
Haskell, who turned 39 on Monday, took the Stays' vehicle and was near the home of his ex-wife's parents when police cornered him. Officers took him into custody after an hours-long standoff, Knecht said.
She said Haskell had intended to kill his ex-wife's brother, who also lived in the area.
"This was a plan created in anger and fuelled by vengeance," she told the jury.
Haskell faces the death penalty if convicted of capital murder.
Defence attorney Douglas Durham told jurors that Haskell admits to killing the six but said he was severely mentally ill at the time and didn't know his actions were wrong.
Haskell was a "very troubled and sick individual" who heard voices telling him that his family would return to him if he killed the Stays, Durham said.
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