Donald Lee Hassler faces a capital murder charge in the disappearance and suspected murder of Sheryl Siddall. (Crime scene search screenshot from YouTube/KHOU; Siddall’s photo from GoFundMe; mug shot from Liberty County (Tex.) Jail)
A Texas parolee who allegedly answered the door of the home of a missing grandmother last month and told deputies checking on her welfare that she had gone to her sister’s house in Oklahoma and he was buying her house has been charged with murder.
Donald Lee Hassler faces a capital murder charge in the disappearance and suspected murder of Sheryl Siddall, 57.
Siddall has been missing from her Horseshoe Lake Estates home in north Liberty County, northeast of Houston, since Sept. 18, authorities said. Her niece first reported her missing.
When deputies went to her home to check on her welfare, they found blood on the kitchen floor and cabinets. Authorities found her belongings — including her wallet, purse, ID and vehicle — at her home but did not find her, despite exhaustive searches around her community and in the lake behind the house.
Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported that Hassler told investigators that Siddall told him she was leaving to visit her sister in Oklahoma.
Her phone, which last pinged a cellphone tower near her home on Sept. 11 before going silent, hasn’t been found, officials said.
Hassler, who authorities described as an acquaintance of Siddall’s, was at the home when the deputies arrived to check on her and has remained “the prime suspect in her disappearance,” authorities said.
Investigators found eight firearms in a box trailer belonging to Hassler and in his pickup truck. He was initially booked into the Liberty County Jail on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, a parole violation, authorities said.
After his arrest, deputies said Hassler was not forthcoming about Siddall’s disappearance and pleaded the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination. He was held without bond while the search for Siddall continued. A date when officials would resume a search was not available.
“We still want to find Siddall, and we will not give up until we do!” said Liberty County Sheriff’s Capt. David Meyers. “We want to help bring some sort of closure to her family. They are already in talks of having a memorial service for her soon.”
Over the ensuing month, developments have only become more suspicious, as Siddall’s family told Houston ABC affiliate KTRK that she has no sister in Oklahoma. Also last month, Siddall’s family filed a petition in court against Hassler, seeking to cancel a deed on which they allege he forged Siddall’s signature on June 30 and gave himself general power of attorney.
Meanwhile, a fundraising page was set up to pay for the lawyer in the civil case and Siddall’s funeral.
“We want to lift some of the burden from her family as they fight to win back what’s rightfully hers, assist in any monetary needs that may come up in regards to the case, and replace some wages for her children that have taken off work to search for their mom and continue to mourn and grieve a parent gone too soon,” the fundraiser said.
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