Accused serial killer's brother questioned

August 29, 2006

Phoenix police have questioned the brother of accused serial shooter Dale S. Hausner as part of their investigation into a string of random attacks that left seven people dead and wounded 17 others.

Police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said Jeff Hausner, 39, spoke to police voluntarily last week. Hill said Jeff Hausner is not a suspect in the case. Jeff Hausner told The Associated Press in an e-mail Monday that police handcuffed him when they brought him in for questioning.

Serial killer suspect wants case moved out of Phoenix area

August 10, 2006

A man accused of shooting 16 people in a string of late night attacks wants his murder trial moved outside of Maricopa County because of the ‘‘carnival atmosphere'' surrounding the investigation.

Defense lawyer Garrett Simpson said in a motion filed Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court that Dale S. Hausner, 33, won't get a fair trial in Phoenix, where news coverage has been ‘‘beyond extensive.'' ‘‘The change of venue is appropriate because of the uncommon and overheated publicity in the matter,'' Simpson told The Associated Press. ‘‘I'm afraid it's only going to get more overheated.''

Simpson also asked Superior Court Judge James Keppel for a gag order preventing authorities from giving out information about the investigation. In the nine-page motion, Simpson said thousands of news stories already have circulated on the Internet about Hausner and his alleged accomplice Samuel John Dieteman.

One in The Arizona Republic included a banner headline where Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon called them ‘‘monsters.'' ‘‘Respected local medical doctors - who have never seen the defendant - have gone on-camera to give televised opinions about Mr. Hausner's mental state,'' Simpson wrote in the motion. ‘‘One declared him to be a sociopath and a liar.'' An Aug. 18 hearing is scheduled for Simpson's motion.

Barnett Lotstein, special assistant county attorney, said prosecutors would fight the gag order request and the motion to change venue. Lotstein said Superior Court in Arizona's most populous county hasn't had problems selecting impartial juries in other high profile cases such as the AzScam political-corruption trial in the early 1990s and Bishop Thomas O'Brien's fatal hit-and-run case in 2003. ‘‘We're confident in the fourth largest county in the United States that there will be an impartial jury,'' Lotstein said. Hausner and Dieteman are in jail on two counts of first degree murder, 14 counts of attempted first degree murder and 16 counts of drive-by shooting. Neither has entered a formal plea to the charges.

Their arrests are part of the so-called ‘‘Serial Shooter'' investigation that includes seven fatal shootings since May 2005. Authorities continue to investigate those other shootings as well as a rash of attacks by another serial predator known as the ‘‘Baseline Rapist.'' Dieteman's lawyer, Maria Schaffer, wouldn't comment Thursday about Hausner's request to move the case.

Hausner, a janitor who moonlighted as a radio talk-show host and boxing ring announcer, already has spoken with reporters on two occasions about his arrest. During his second news conference, Simpson rushed in and told him to stop talking. ‘‘I found out I was appointed to that case minutes before I walked into that room,'' Simpson wrote.

In his motion, Simpson said he expected the County Attorney Andrew Thomas to pursue the death penalty against Hausner. Given the stakes, Simpson said the judge had to move the case. ‘‘There is no reason to think the avid interest in the case will abate locally, even as the case might fade in the public mind the further away from Phoenix one goes,'' Simpson said.

Accused killer was struggling before arrest, friend says

August 7, 2006

Before he was accused of being a serial killer, Samuel John Dieteman was already grappling with a difficult life. Dieteman, a drifter who was wanted in Minnesota on several criminal charges, had been surviving in Arizona for the past few years with the help of friends, said Kelly Hottowe, a bartender who has known him since 2002. Then, last summer, the bottom fell out. Dieteman's mother kicked him out of her house in Glendale, and he lost his job as an electrician, Hottowe said. "He started drinking a lot," she said. "He'd be at the bar as soon as it opened." It was during this year, police said, that Dieteman started preying on pedestrians and bicyclists with another friend, Dale Hausner.

According to court documents, Dieteman said the two would drive around at night and randomly shoot people on the street. The two were arrested last week on two counts each of first-degree murder and 13 counts each of attempted first-degree murder. Phoenix police said the two men are the serial shooters who have terrorized residents in a string of attacks for more than a year.

They are being investigated in about three dozen incidents in all, including seven killings and the wounding of 17 people. "Hopefully these arrests in the serial shooter cases will bring some closure for the families," Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said. A sheriff's spokesman said Monday that Dieteman was declining interview requests.

Authorities had been searching for Dieteman for more than a month as part of an investigation into arsons at two Glendale Wal-Marts. They found him early last week, according to a federal affidavit. The affidavit said a witness told federal agents that Dieteman was drinking that night at the Stardust bar, a pool hall at the corner of a strip mall in Glendale. Hottowe said she was working in the bar that day. She said Dieteman was playing a game of 3-ball pool when police closed in. "There was an undercover detective sitting right at the bar," she said. Police followed Dieteman as he left in a light colored four-door sedan. They kept him under tight surveillance for four days before capturing the two men at their gated apartment complex in Mesa last Thursday.

At the Stardust on Monday, Hottowe shook her head in disbelief at what has played out on the news. "He was my brother - at least that's what I used to call him," Hottowe said. "We were really good friends for four years. He'd do anything for me." "He was very playful. He loves my kids. He took my 15-year-old to some concerts. He went to his Pop Warner games." Hottowe said the two remained friends until last summer, when Dieteman seemed to snap. "When all that (stuff) happened, I just backed off and left him alone."

Dale Hausner told reporters Monday he was innocent and had no idea that Dieteman could be involved in the serial shootings. It's possible, Hausner said, that his new roommate might have been sneaking out of the apartment and shooting people on his own. Hausner said he knows Dieteman through his brother, Jeff, who may have hired the electrician to do handiwork at his home. They started to hang out when Jeff wouldn't go out, Hausner said.

Hausner said that he let Dieteman into his apartment five weeks ago. Dieteman seemed down on his luck, Hausner said, and he let his new friends stay without paying rent. Dieteman had a low self-esteem, Hausner said. If Dieteman did shoot people, it probably was for attention. "If he did this stuff, it would be for recognition," Hausner said. "Or if he didn't and he is confessing that he did, it would be for the recognition."

Friends of accused serial killer are shocked

August 6, 2006

He was always polite to friends, never rude. A lover of boxing who decorated his room with drawings of his favorite athletes. A father to a 2-year-old girl, and two young sons who died in a car accident. To people who know him, Dale S. Hausner simply is too sweet, too timid, to have terrorized city residents in a rash of late-night shootings as police alleged on Friday. "He doesn't even look like he would know which end of the [gun] barrel the bullet would come out of," said Mary Ann Owen, a Las Vegas photographer who has known Hausner since 1999. Hausner and his alleged accomplice, Samuel John Dieteman, have each been booked on two counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted first-degree murder for a series of attacks since May 2005.

Police arrested Hausner, 33, and Dieteman, 30, on Thursday after keeping both under tight surveillance for four days. Outlining the evidence they said helped them track the suspects, authorities said the two are clearly the men sought in the city's so-called Serial Shooter case. "We are confident these are the individuals involved," Assistant Police Chief Kevin Robinson said. The men are being investigated in 36 shootings, including some involving animals. They're also suspected of committing two arsons. A preliminary hearing is scheduled Aug. 14.

An unidentified person tipped off police that Dieteman would drive through cities selecting random targets that he called "RV" -- Random Recreational Violence. Investigators later searched the Mesa apartment that the men shared, finding shotgun cartridges, shotguns, and long rifles. The two men also apparently kept close tabs on what people were saying about the shootings, which included the killing of six people.

Police searching through their trash found a map with red and blue dots representing the locations of the attacks. The bag also contained an America's Most Wanted video and news clippings of the shootings and other attacks linked to another serial assailant dubbed the Baseline Killer. Hausner's daughter was in the apartment when he and Dieteman were arrested outside, police said. She was returned to her mother, police said. Friends remembered Hausner having sad moments, recalling the loss of his sons. "He told me he lost a whole family to a car accident," Owen said.

According to a 1994 report in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Hausner's sons, ages 2 and 3, drowned in a creek after a car crash. The story said Hausner's then-wife, Karen, was driving the car and fell asleep. At the gated complex where Hausner and Dieteman shared an apartment, the news of Hausner's arrest came as a shock to Jill O'Donnell. "It makes me wonder what kind of background checks they do," she said. O'Donnell, 20, said she spent a lot of time chatting with Hausner, and he was always "really nice." Still, O'Donnell said, during the past month Hausner "gave off a vibe of someone you didn't want to be too social with." "He wouldn't say `Hi.' " she said. "He wouldn't wave when I passed him. Little things like that."

Another friend, Clement Vierra, agreed that something had changed with Hausner. Vierra, owner of the Hard Knocks Gym in Phoenix, said he met Hausner about two years ago and would talk to him at boxing events, where Hausner would take pictures. But about a year ago, Hausner stopped showing up at the fights. "It was pretty strange because he was really involved with the boxing," Vierra said. "He just stopped. Nobody knew where he was. He wouldn't return any calls that we left for him," Vierra said.

Arizona serial killer suspect from area

August 5, 2006

A man police say is responsible for a string of apparently random late-night killings that have terrorized residents of Phoenix was from the St. Peter and Mankato area. Samuel John Dieteman, 30, reportedly attended St. Peter High School, had dozens of run-ins with local police and left the area in 1999.

He was arrested along with Dale S. Hausner on Thursday in an apartment complex in Mesa, Ariz. Phoenix police say they are confident the two are the serial shooters who’ve terrorized the city since 2005, killing six and wounding dozens more in 36 shootings. Dieteman has a half-sister in the Mankato area as well as his father and other relatives.

Records show that from 1992 to 1999, Mankato police had nearly 40 contacts with Dieteman, including DWIs, thefts, and assaults. Nicollet County court records show he had failed to pay child support to his ex-wife. Their last recorded contact with him was in early 1999 when he failed to appear in court for possession of stolen property and theft. It was about that time that Dieteman moved to Arizona according to a reporter covering the case for the East Valley Tribune in Arizona. Mankato Police Comdr.

Dan Schisel said his department had not yet been contacted by Arizona police, but he expected they would be soon. “We’ve had some public involvements with him, but I don’t personally remember him,” Schisel said. Dieteman had lived at some five different addresses in St. Peter and one in Mankato. Neighbors at several of those homes said they did not recall Dieteman. Most of the addresses were rental homes.

Arizona police arrest two in serial shooter case

August 4, 2006

Arizona police have arrested two suspected serial killers blamed for a string of fatal shootings that terrified Phoenix-area residents, officials said on Friday. Officers arrested Dale Hausner and Samuel Dieteman at an apartment complex in Mesa, Arizona, 15 miles east of Phoenix, late on Thursday following a tip, Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris told a news conference.

Investigators say the men shot and killed six people in a crime spree that began in May 2005. Eighteen others were wounded in the apparently random attacks carried out at night and in the early morning, which targeted walkers and cyclists. "These are the two monsters that we have been hunting," Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said. Harris said police had weapons and incriminating statements linking the two men to the shootings. He did not speculate on motives for the attacks.

The gunmen last struck on Sunday, when a woman was shot and killed as she walked near her home in the city. Harris said Hausner, 33, and Dieteman, 30, also shot several dogs and horses in the area. The Arizona Republic and local television stations reported that Hausner worked as a custodian at the city's Sky Harbor International Airport, and took photographs for a boxing Web site.

Dieteman had a history of petty crimes and only recently returned to the Phoenix area after living in Minnesota, the media reports added. Residents across the sprawling metropolitan area of 3.7 million people, who had lived in fear since the attacks, expressed relief on Friday. "It's been a worry for months," said coffee shop worker Francis Charfauros as he served customers at a busy cafe. "Let's just hope that they got the right guys so it doesn't continue."

Police said they had kept a round-the-clock watch on the two suspects since they identified them four days ago. The investigation also linked Hausner and Dieteman to arson attacks on two Wal-Mart stores in early June, which were carried out within 45 minutes of each other.

SECOND SERIAL KILLER SOUGHT

Police are also searching for a man wanted in connection with a series of murders, armed robberies and sexual assaults in the Baseline Road area of the city. The "Baseline Killer" is believed to have shot eight people and sexually assaulted 11 women since August 2005. Investigators believe the man responsible for the crimes is black or Hispanic, aged 25 to 40. Some witnesses have described the attacker as a bald man, while others say he wears dreadlocks. Police have set up a tip hot line and are offering a reward of up to $100,000 in both the Serial Shooter and Baseline Killer cases. It was not immediately clear if anyone would receive a reward following the arrests in the Serial Shooter case.

Serial killer linked to Mesa death

August 4, 2006

Police have linked the fatal shooting of a Mesa woman Sunday to one of two serial predators who have been operating in the Phoenix area for more than a year. The shooting brings to six the number of killings the "Serial Shooter" is believed to have committed. In a second serial murder case in Phoenix, prosecutors on Thursday dropped murder charges against a man jailed since January after confessing to killing a woman in September.

James Mullins, 33, recanted his statement last month after forensics linked the killing of 19-year-old Georgia Thompson to a serial criminal called the "Baseline Killer," who is believed responsible for killing seven women and one man and sexually assaulting 11 women and girls in the past year.

Ariz. Death Linked to Serial Killer Case

August 3, 2006

The death of a woman who was gunned down while walking has been linked to a serial killer believed responsible for dozens of random shootings across metropolitan Phoenix, police said Thursday.

The shooting was linked to earlier cases because of similarities and forensic evidence, said Mesa police Sgt. Chuck Trapani.

Authorities say the so-called "Serial Shooter" is responsible for three dozen shootings of people, and dogs and horses. The shootings have generally happened late at night, with no witnesses. Six people were killed and 17 _ mostly pedestrians and bicyclists _ have been wounded since May 2005.

Robin Blasnek, 22, was walking to her boyfriend's home in Mesa, a suburb east of Phoenix, at about 11:15 p.m. Sunday when she was gunned down. Neighbors heard a shot and ran to help the young woman, but she soon lost consciousness and died at a hospital.

Her father told the East Valley Tribune that Blasnek grew up as a special needs child and lived part time with her parents in Mesa and a group home in Tempe.

"She was just a great kid. Very, very naive, and pure as far as not understanding the dangers of the world," Steve Blasnek said. "I guess my only regret is that I didn't give her a big hug."

Trapani said Mesa police plan to beef up patrols and have assigned a detective to the Phoenix police serial criminal task force.

That unit already has about 200 officers working to try to solve the serial shooter case, plus another case involving a serial criminal dubbed the Baseline Killer.

The Baseline Killer is believed responsible for killing seven women and one man and sexually assaulting 11 women and girls during the past year. Police think his most recent killing was the shooting death of 37-year-old woman at a Phoenix car wash June 29.

A $100,000 reward is being offered for any information leading to the capture of either killer.