May 15, 2025

Delivering Death: The Leaflet Lane Murders

Delivering Death: The Leaflet Lane Murders

Delivering Death: The Leaflet Lane Murders A man dressed like a FedEx driver knocked on the door of a quiet Texas home. But he wasn’t delivering a package. He was there to deliver payback. Ronald Lee Haskell had a long and ugly history of violence,...

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Delivering Death: The Leaflet Lane Murders

A man dressed like a FedEx driver knocked on the door of a quiet Texas home. But he wasn’t delivering a package. He was there to deliver payback. Ronald Lee Haskell had a long and ugly history of violence, and on this day, it all came to a head. What followed was a targeted, calculated attack on an entire family, with one survivor who changed everything. This episode walks through the red flags that got ignored, the system that gave him just enough rope, and how a 15-year-old girl managed to outsmart a man who thought no one could stop him. This is about survival, rage, and the strength it takes to stay standing when the worst happens.

#CassidyStay #StayFamilyMurders #RonaldHaskell #TrueCrimePodcast #TexasMassacre #TrueCrimeCommunity #SurvivorStory #10MinuteMurder

Welcome back to10 Minute Murder!Your go-to podcast for quick, bingeable true crime stories. Seriously, you tuning in means more to me than my morning caffeine, and if you know me, that’s saying alot.

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WEBVTT

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A guy shows up to a house in Texas dressed

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as a FedEx driver. Harmless enough, right, we all get packages,

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Except he's not delivering a package. He's delivering a grudge.

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Behind that uniform is a man with a long fuse

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that finally burned out, a restraining order in the rear view,

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and a target in mind. But what he didn't count

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on was a fifteen year old girl who refused to

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die quietly. This is a story about control, survival and

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what happens when someone who thinks he's the main character

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runs headfirst into someone who's not playing along before we

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dive in. If you like your true crime brief and bingeable,

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you're in the right place. Hit follow right now for

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at least two new episodes every week. This is ten

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minute murder. Let's get into it. On July ninth, twenty fourteen,

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a man in a FedEx uniform knocked on the front

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door of seven eleven Leaflet Lane and Harris County, Texas. Inside,

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fifteen year old Cassidy's Stay was holding down the fort.

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She was a student at Kleine Collins High School, oldest

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of five kids, and just trying to survive the Texas

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summer without losing her mind or her patience. Bigots real

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hot in Texas. The man at the door smiled and

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asked her if her parents were home. Cassidy said no,

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they were out, and so were her four younger siblings.

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He nodded, said he'd come back later, and walked off

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like it was just another delivery stop on just another day.

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Except it wasn't, and he wasn't. That man was Ronald

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Lee Haskell Junior, and he wasn't a stranger at all.

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He was family adjacent, deeply so, and Cassidy had no

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idea that she'd just opened the door to a nightmare.

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Wearing a Courier uniform. Ronald Lee Haskell Junior was born

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in nineteen eighty and bounced around a bit. Started off

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in San Marcos, California, then landed an Eagle River, Alaska,

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where he finished high school. And if you asked his

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classmates who the funny, likable guy was, that would have

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been Ronald. Voted class clown and prom king twice. Apparently

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you could be both hilarious and homecoming royalty, and Ronald

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pulled it off. He had the kind of personality people

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remembered charming, talkative, just the right amount of confidence to

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make it work in a room full of strangers. That

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followed him back to California, too, where he took a

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job as a private postal contractor for a company working

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with FedEx, so technically not real FedEx, but close enough

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that people didn't question the uniform. One day, while out working,

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Ronald crosspaths with Melanie Lyon, and from there things moved fast.

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The two of them clicked, both devouts, shared the same values,

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and didn't waste time second guessing what felt like fate.

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Within a few years, they had packed up and started

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a new chapter in Logan, Utah, one child already, another

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on the way, and a picture perfect life, at least

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from the outside. But whatever version of Ronald was winning

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prom crowns in Alaska didn't fully make the trip to Utah.

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The charm still there, but when the doors were closed,

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that cheerful version of Ronald gave way to something much darker.

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Two years into their new life in Utah, everything fell apart.

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An argument between Ronald and Melanie spiraled into a screaming

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match right in front of their two young kids, who

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were five and three at the time, and then Ronald

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crossed a line that there's no walking back from. Melanie

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was sitting on the bed when Ronald came at her.

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He grabbed her by the hair, yanked her from the bed,

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dragged her across the room, and hit her. Not behind

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closed doors, not when no one was looking, right there

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in front of their children. That wasn't just a man

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with the temp This was violent, and it was enough.

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Melanie called the police filed for a restraining order. Ronald,

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in classic abuse or fashion, downplayed it, said he'd only

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pushed her. But when it went to court, he pled

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guilty to assault and managed to secure a plea deal,

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which meant he walked free to go, free to stew,

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free to hold a grudge. The only thing standing between

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Melanie and a man she now feared was a single

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piece of paper, a restraining order. And she knew it.

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That paper didn't erase a marriage, It didn't stop him

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from being angry, It didn't make her feel safe. As

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long as they were still legally married, she knew Ronald

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wouldn't really be gone. By twenty thirteen, Melanie had enough.

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She filed for divorce and asked the court to renew

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her expired restraining order. But even with a restraining order

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in place. Things weren't simple. Ronald was still the father

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of their four kids, and legally that meant he could

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still request visitation, something that didn't sit well with anyone

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who had seen how bad things had gotten. The judge

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agreed after reviewing Ronald's behavior. The court laid it out

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in black and white. His parenting time would be supervised

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and only after a therapist determined that he was no

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longer a threat to the children. The word threats wasn't

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tossed around lightly. This wasn't just about Melanie anymore. Ronald's

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instability was affecting the kids too, and with that ruling,

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Melanie finally had the space to move forward. She and

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Ronald signed a mutual restraining order, meaning that neither one

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could come near or contact the other, and Melanie took

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the chance to start over. With the help of her sister,

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Katie Stay, Melanie and her kids relocated to Houston, Texas

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new place, new chapter, the kind of reset you hope

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actually sticks. Meanwhile, Ronald didn't reset. He redirected back in Utah.

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With no wife and no children to fixate on. Ronald

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moved in with the only people who were still willing

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to give him a roof over his head, his parents,

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and when a storm inside him needed a new target,

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that's exactly where it landed. Just over a week before

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he showed up at cassidy Stays door. Ronald Haskell snapped again.

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This time and his mother, Carla Haskell. There were no

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kids watching this time, no bed to drag someone from,

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but the violence hadn't gone anywhere. Ronald shoved Carla into

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the garage, forced her into a computer chair, and duct

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taped her wrists for nearly four hours. He held her there,

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why because she'd been in contact with Melanie. When he

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finally let her go, Carla did what Melanie had done

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before her, called the police and filed a restraining order.

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But this time Ronald disappeared before it could be served,

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and when he resurfaced, it was at the home of

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the Stay family. Cassidy answered the door alone. It was

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Ronald in the FedEx's uniform again, asking if her parents

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were home. Cassidy told him no, they weren't, and he left.

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That honest answer bought her time, but not much. When

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Ronald came back later, Cassidy wasn't alone. Her younger siblings

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were there with her. This time, he told her exactly

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who he was. Cassidy knew his name, and she knew

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he meant danger. She tried to close the door, but

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Ronald forced his way inside. He tied Cassidy up, laid

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her face down on the floor, and did the same

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to her four younger siblings. When her parents arrived home,

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he restrained them too. With everyone held at gunpoint, Ronald

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demanded to know where Melanie was. He knew Katie Stay

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had helped her sister start over in Houston. Now he

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wanted directions. The Stays didn't give him what he wanted,

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not even when he began executing them one by one.

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Ronald left the house thinking his job was done, but

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one person survived. Cassidy, just fifteen years old, had lifted

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her hand in the split second before Ronald pulled the trigger.

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The bullet tore through her finger and grazed her head,

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but it didn't kill her. She played dead until Ronald

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was gone. Then she got up, called nine one one

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and told the dispatcher everything who he was, what he

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had done, and where he was going next, straight to

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her grandparents' house to do it again. That call saved lives.

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Police located Ronald's vehicle just four houses down. He fled

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a brief car chase ended with a spike strip, armored vehicles,

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and a stand off that lasted nearly three hours. Ronald

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held a gun to his own head, but eventually he

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gave up. Ronald Haskell was charged with six counts of

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first degree murder for the execution style killings of Stephen

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and Katie Stay and four of their children. The trial

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was long, and Ronald milked it for all it was worth, fainting,

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claiming confusion, rolling into court in a wheelchair like he

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was the one who needed sympathy. In the end, he

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was found guilty and sentenced to death by lethal injection.

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He's still right now on death row. Cassidy Stay made

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a full physical recovery, and in the wake of everything

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she endured and everything she did to protect the rest

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of her family, people stepped up a GoFundMe and her

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name raised over four hundred thousand dollars. Because bravery like

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that deserves more than headlines, It deserves support. Thanks for

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listening to ten minute Murder, Grief and Bingeable True Crime.

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I'm Joe the host, and if you're a new listener

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to the podcast. Be sure to subscribe, follow on social media,

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and if you have anything that you'd like to know

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about the podcast get more information more about this stories.

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There's a blog you can go to ten minute murder

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dot com. Before I go, I want to say something

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that I think matters, especially if you've made it this far.

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What you're listening to isn't entertainment for the sake of it.

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These aren't characters. These are real people, real families that

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suffered real loss. I do my best to make sure

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the victim isn't just the name you hear once and forget,

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because someone out there loved them. Someone's still grieving, and

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when we talk about true crime, I think it's important

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to hold on to that humanity. These are real people.

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Otherwise we're just telling ghost stories without honoring the lives

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that were lived and keeping that in mind. I want

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to read you an email that I got recently. This

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is from Angie. She writes, I stumbled upon your story

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about the Rivera murders. I just wanted to say thank

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you for mentioning my sister Melissa. There are lots of

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articles and shows and whatnot, and I feel like her

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life and death was the least of the discussion in

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all of them know if it was because her part

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of the story wasn't as extreme, or because we were

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poor and she was a teen, but she was my

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only sister and best friend. Losing her changed the entire

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course of my life. I think she deserves for people

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to know who she was and that she was not

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just a body found off an interstate. She had a story,

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and had Rivera not been arrested, we would have never

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found her. Because her case was closed and she was

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marked as a runaway, no one cared. I say all

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of that to show the magnitude of how grateful I

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was that she was remembered, even if it's in a

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story of tragedy.