Lawyers for woman charged in '92 killing impugn her ex-husband's motives

To hear prosecutors tell it, Melissa Haskell spent nearly two decades hiding a dark secret.

While baby-sitting in Upper Merion in 1992, they allege, she put her hand over the mouth of an infant in her care and smothered him. The coroner found no signs of foul play, and for 19 years no one was the wiser.

Then, this year, she allegedly confessed.

But what supposedly prompted Haskell, now 38, to do so, and how it resulted in the murder charge she now faces, could hold the keys to clearing her name, her attorney said.

According to court filings in a separate civil case reviewed this week, Haskell's ex-husband - Michael Leflar of Bridgeport - is the sole witness tying her to the 1992 killing of 5-month-old Ryan Baurley.

Claiming to have known about her role in the child's death for more than 10 years, he came to Montgomery County prosecutors with the story in April, the same day he lost a custody dispute against Haskell over their child.

And, as he would later tell a Family Court judge, the only reason he reported her alleged involvement was to gain leverage in that fight, the documents state.

Haskell has denied confessing to Leflar or playing any role in Ryan's death. Leflar did not return calls seeking comment and was unavailable at his Bridgeport home.

"The bottom line is that the District Attorney's Office is looking for a do-over," Haskell's attorney, Martin Mullaney, said. "They have the same autopsy from 19 years ago. They have the same investigation. The only thing new they have is the self-serving allegations of an ex-husband who just lost a custody battle to his ex-wife."

Prosecutors insist they have a case.

"We're confident that we can prove that the defendant did suffocate this child," Assistant District Attorney Chris Maloney said.

The criminal case against Haskell has been unusual from the start. Until her arrest last month, Upper Merion police had not considered the death a crime.

When Ryan was found unresponsive in his crib in August 1992 at his family's home, officials at first ruled the death a result of sudden infant death syndrome, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Most considered the matter settled until Leflar went to prosecutors in April.

Haskell, he said, told him she had killed the child because she was going through heroin withdrawal and the child's cries annoyed her, according to the criminal complaint against her.

Investigators reopened the case and found inconsistencies in the autopsy, including bruising to Ryan's head and throat and unusual alcohol levels in his blood.

On Aug. 20, they reclassified the death as a homicide and charged Haskell with murder.

Nowhere in the court documents used to put Haskell behind bars is Leflar identified as the tipster.

Mullaney argues that prosecutors left him out to avoid awkward questions about his reasons for coming forward and what that might mean for their case - a suggestion they have not denied.

"We were trying to minimize the incendiary nature of the allegations and where they came from," Maloney said.

Since 2008, Haskell and Leflar have been locked in a custody dispute that started while she was incarcerated at a state prison in Muncy on drug-related charges.

Her parents filed a petition for partial custody after Leflar refused to let them see their 6-year-old grandchild, Michael Leflar Jr.

Upon Haskell's release from prison the next year, the case was reopened, and in April a judge ruled that she and Leflar should share custody of the child.

Before the end of the day, Leflar had reported Haskell to police. He was awarded sole custody days after Haskell's arrest.

In an interview Thursday, Maloney, the prosecutor, conceded that Leflar may have had ulterior motives for coming forward, but stood by the decision to charge Haskell.

"Mr. Leflar's statements prompted us to look into this case again," he said. "But ultimately, the decision to proceed was based on new and independent information in the case."

That evidence, according to the complaint, includes a taped confession in which Haskell purportedly swore to Leflar that she would "never ever, ever put my hand over [Michael Jr.'s] mouth so he cannot breathe, like I did to that baby."

Mullaney interprets his client's statements differently.

The conversation occurred, he said, the day Haskell arrived to pick up her son as part of the new custody arrangement. Leflar purportedly refused to give up the child, insisting she say those words before agreeing to let Michael Jr. go.

Days earlier, he had told the Family Court judge that he saw no reason Haskell might be unfit to share custody of their child.

Eventually, Haskell relented, Mullaney wrote in court filings, quoting transcripts of the tapes. Neither Mullaney nor prosecutors made those transcripts available for review.

"If he was such a concerned citizen, why did he wait all this time before this became an issue?" Mullaney said. "He's trying to bolster his case at Melissa's expense."

Haskell is in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility without bail. Mullaney has since filed a petition seeking her release based on Leflar's role in the case. A bail hearing is scheduled for Sept. 12.