As many as 24 people were being eyed in the summer of 2006 as potential suspects in the Serial Shooter killing spree until a secret informant led police to zero in on two men in Mesa.
That informant, since identified as Ron Horton, called police tip lines three times in July 2006 telling investigators that they should be looking at a man named “Sammy” for the killings.
In the first two calls, Horton kept his own name out of the messages. He also failed to provide a last name for Sammy.
But in the third call on July 25, Horton spilled everything he knew. The suspect’s name was Sam Dieteman, and he left his own name so he could be contacted.
It was a major break in the series of dozens of random shootings that had put the Valley on edge that year.
During testimony Wednesday in Maricopa County Superior Court in the trial against Dale Hausner, Phoenix police detective Clark Schwartzkopf told how he and the other investigators came across Dieteman and Hausner as the main suspects in the Serial Shooter case.
Before Horton first called the Silent Witness tip line on July 16, investigators were having little luck figuring out who was behind the series of killings and other attacks that already left seven people dead.
Tribune file photo. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon speaks during an August 2006 news conference announcing the capture of Serial Shooter suspects Samuel Dieteman and Dale Hausner. Programming note: The trial is off for the weekend. It will resume on Monday.
Dryer’s testimony was brief, but it wasn’t supposed to be that way. Before she took the stand, Dale Hausner’s defense attorney, Ken Everett, got most of her testimony suppressed. Prosecutors were trying to have her testify about a conversation that she had with Dieteman (pictured) one night at the bar.