For the first time in five years, Karla Haskell on Tuesday saw her son from the witness stand as she testified at his murder trial.

The last time was in July 2014, before he left her home in California, drove to Texas and executed six members of the Stay family in Spring.

The mother scarcely looked at Ronald Haskell, 39, for long. Referring to him as Ronnie — like she always has — she described his altogether pleasant childhood and assured the jurors that she would always love him.

But a darker thread emerged in her story as defense attorneys attempted to get to the root of Haskell's mental illness. Karla Haskell told jurors that Ronald's life crumbled after his wife and four children left him in 2013, culminating in an assault on his mother and the slaying of the Stays one week later.

"I just knew he was falling apart," she said. "His world was falling apart."

Karla Haskell was the first person to testify for the defense after the prosecution rested earlier in the morning. State attorneys brought more than 20 witnesses to outline the horror of the July 9, 2014, massacre that only left a 15-year-old survivor. They allege that Ronald Haskell planned the murders in an effort to enact vengeance on anyone who had helped his ex-wife, and are seeking the death penalty despite defense attorneys' claims that the man was insane.

The defendant's mother was the first of what is expected to be several witnesses to assert that Ronald Haskell was experiencing a mental health crisis when he killed the Stays. The slain matriarch, Katie Stay, was the sister of Haskell's former wife, Melannie Lyon.

As his mother testified, Ronald Haskell stared in a downward direction and didn't appear to react. He has been on medication during the course of the trial, attorney Douglas Durham has said.

'A different Ron'

Karla Haskell said she saw a violent side of her son seven days before the slayings, on July 2, 2014.

She had just gotten off the phone with Lyon, who asked whether she knew about a check for proceeds of a house they were building before their divorce. Ronald Haskell got angry and told Karla, "My name's on it."

Ronald's father and brothers were on a fishing trip. He got duct tape from the garage and tied his mother's arms and legs to a chair. He grabbed her neck multiple times, and she lost consciousness, Karla Haskell said.

"He was a different Ron," she said. "I thought he was going to kill me."

Ronald Haskell left, and she learned on July 9, 2019, that he was accused of the deaths of the Stephen and Katie Stay, as well as four of their five children. Stephen Stay's father was their bishop at church, and a longtime friend of their family.

Karla Haskell said she believes her son had a severe mental illness.

Ronald Haskell's life

Ronald Haskell was born in California to a large, loving family. He struggled with dyslexia, but thrived in other areas. He was an Eagle Scout, a football player and an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his mother said.

He met his future wife in second grade, but they lost touch as teens when his family moved to Alaska. They reconnected after high school and got married before moving back to Alaska and then, Logan, Utah.

Ronald Haskell held a number of jobs, most of which involved physical labor, and Lyon was a stay-at-home mother. After more than a decade of marriage, the two separated in June 2013. Lyon stayed at a shelter with the children in Logan, and Karla Haskell said she and Lyon had kept in touch.

Prosecutor Lauren Bard probed Karla Haskell about past accusations of physical and emotional abuse by her son. She struggled to answer some of the questions, saying she either wasn't aware of the allegations or had heard of them second hand. through someone else.

Prosecutors asked the mother whether Ronald Haskell pushed his father down the stairs in 2005, after getting in an argument about a fishing trip. Karla Haskell said she didn't see a push, but said she saw her husband trip two or three steps down the stairs. After the incident, her other son body slammed Ronald to the ground.

Karla Haskell said she was aware of a 2008 domestic violence incident against Lyon, which resulted in a conviction. She wasn't aware that Ronald allegedly threatened a co-worker who rejected his sexual advances, or hit his oldest son and daughter.

The mother said she believed that Lyon didn't like her family, and she knew that her son especially didn't like his wife's sister, Katie Stay.

History of hospitalization

At some point, Ronald Haskell was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility in Utah. He quit his job at FedEx and moved to California, where he lived with his parents.

Lyon eventually left Utah to join her family in Texas.

Haskell's problems continued on the west coast, where he was hospitalized at least three more times, his mother said. He tried to kill himself twice, and was on at least 11 medications over that time period. Some of those were antipsychotics, Karla Haskell said.

"It seems like the medications never gelled together to make him better," she testified.

Ronald Haskell and Melannie Lyon's divorce finalized early in 2014.

Defense testimony will continue Wednesday morning. If Haskell is found guilty, he could face life in prison or the death penalty.

samantha.ketterer@chron.com