A surveillance camera caught sight of a silver Toyota Camry cruising the small pocket of central Phoenix where two men were killed another injured the night of Dec. 29, 2005. Phoenix police detective Cliff Jewell testified this afternoon that the camera spotted the same car four times within an eight minute period the night of the shootings, marking the first time the Serial Shooters may have been caught on camera.
The sightings took place within moments of the shooting deaths of Jose Ortiz and Marco Carillo, as well as the wounding of Timmy Tordai. The camera, Jewell said, was at 10th Ave and Adams in Phoenix, not far from the state Capitol. The three men were shot within blocks of the camera.
The shootings all took place at about 11:40 p.m., and the camera first spotted the car at 11:41 p.m., Jewell said. The car then passed through the intersection three more times, each time heading a different direction.
Jewell did not say what the significance of sightings was. However, when authorities arrested suspects Dale Hausner and Samuel Dieteman in August 2006, they also seized a silver Toyota Camry parked outside the men’s apartment. The description of both cars is identical.
Map by Gabriel Utasi, Tribune. File photo by Tim Hacker, Tribune. Investigators gather around a vehicle believed to be linked to the Serial Shooter case in August 2006 at the Windscape Apartments in Mesa.
