Archive for the 'Samuel Dieteman' Tag
December 3rd, 2008, 11:19 am by Nick R. Martin
A woman named Debbie Dryer testified briefly this morning about her relationship with Sam Dieteman, the confessed co-conspirator in the Serial Shooter killings. She met Dieteman in a west Phoenix bar called Pollock Joe’s where she often went with her lover, Ron Horton, who later became one of the key witnesses in the investigation. Her relationship with Dieteman was as an acquaintance. She and Horton would give him rides home from the bar sometimes, but they never quite knew exactly where he lived, only a general area where they would drop him off.
 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.
Prosecutor Vince Imbordino put it this way: “When she’s closing up a bar, Mr. Dieteman said, ‘There’s been a lot of shootings going on around here. A lot of them have not been on the news yet.’ Then he told her, ‘Keep watching the news.’”
However, the defense objected to this type of testimony, saying it was heresay. Judge Roland Steinle agreed. Dryer’s testimony could have been key to the case, yet it’s very likely the jury will never hear it.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Defense • Judge Steinle • Prosecution • Samuel Dieteman • Dale Hausner • phoenix • pollock joe's • ron horton • Samuel Dieteman • Serial Shooter | Post a Comment »
December 2nd, 2008, 3:13 pm by Nick R. Martin
A woman named Joetta Gonzales, known to her friends as “Jody,” was the first person to come forward to tell investigators she thought she recognized one of the suspects in the June 2006 Wal-Mart arsons, which have since been tied to the Serial Shooters.
Glendale Fire Department investigators had distributed photos of their then-unnamed suspects to local media and asked for the public’s help to figure out who they were. The two had been spotted on surveillance cameras in both of the burned Wal-Marts, but local and federal investigators had no clue about who they were.
Gonzales apparently saw the photographs in a newspaper and recognized one of the men. It was Sam Dieteman, said special agent Kevin Schuster of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Dieteman has since pleaded guilty to two of the murders attributed to the Serial Shooters and agreed to testify against his old friend, Dale Hausner, who is on trial, charged with eight murders.
Update (3:47 p.m.): In fact, according to Schuster, Gonzales agreed to try to help authorities find Dieteman and bring him in for questioning. She called him with a tape recorder running on June 21 of that year, but couldn’t reach him. Then she called him again the next day, and though she reached Dieteman that day, he denied taking part in the arsons, Schuster said. Unfortunately, however, the tape recording of that conversation were flawed and didn’t pick up Dieteman’s side of the conversation.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Prosecution • Samuel Dieteman • ATF • Dale Hausner • Samuel Dieteman • Serial Shooter | Post a Comment »
November 20th, 2008, 11:27 am by Nick R. Martin
For a month and a half, the testimony in the trial of Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner has been a litany of victims, family members and first responders — the police and paramedics called out to the incidents as they happened. Prosecutors call it the “scenes” segment of the trial. It was their chance to document every shooting, stabbing and arson they’ve linked to the Mesa man in the defendant’s chair.
That segment of the trial is expected to end today. Prosecutors are bringing out their final witnesses laying out the 87 crimes attributed to Hausner. More than 100 witnesses have taken the stand so far. Only three of them have linked Hausner to any of the crimes or crime scenes:
- John Kane, a Gilbert man, testified that Hausner confessed to shooting up an empty car outside of a Tempe bartending school on Dec. 29, 2005. That shooting is believed to have kicked off the bloodiest night of the killing spree.
- Timothy Davenport testified that Hausner distracted him on May 17, 2006 so that another man could stab him from behind. He identified Hausner “100 percent” as one of the men who participated in the nearly fatal attack.
- Marianne Thone said that Hausner and his suspected co-conspirator Samuel Dieteman appraoched her outside the scene of her brother’s shooting on May 30, 2006 and told her they were looking for a lost cat.
Some of the final testimony will be in the shooting death of Robin Blasnek, who was killed while walking alone in Mesa on July 30, 2006. Blasnek is believed to be the final victim of the Serial Shooter.
After the Thanksgiving break next week, prosecutors will return with riveting testimony about how investigators began to track a serial killer and eventually came upon Dieteman, who has already confessed to two murders, and Hausner as the suspects. The evidence will include hours of secret recordings that police obtained of the two men reportedly discussing the crimes. The jury may get to hear the recordings by the first week of December.
Photo by pool photographer. Prosecutor Laura Reckart questions a witness while defendant Dale Hausner looks on in the background.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Prosecution • Samuel Dieteman • Dale Hausner • gilbert • Mesa • phoenix • police • Samuel Dieteman • Serial Shooter • shooting • tempe • victims • witnesses | Post a Comment »
November 12th, 2008, 2:44 pm by Nick R. Martin
Prosecutor Vince Imbordino showed security videos this afternoon of defendant Dale Hausner and his confessed co-conspirator Samuel Dieteman wandering two West Valley Wal-Mart stores moments before arson fires broke out there in June of 2006. The pair would grab a shopping cart, fill it with fabrics and other items and then, just out of view of the cameras, a fire would begin. The two Wal-Mart arsons of June 8 did millions of dollars in damage.
The arsons are considered to be part of the “Random Recreational Violence” the two engaged in for months, according to authorities. The fires were also some of the least violent crimes attributed to the pair. Hausner is on trial in Maricopa County Superior Court on suspicion of eight murders and dozens of other crimes including assaults and animal cruelty.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Prosecution • Samuel Dieteman • Dale Hausner • glendale • Samuel Dieteman • Serial Shooter • vince imbordino • wal-mart | Post a Comment »
November 12th, 2008, 1:42 pm by Nick R. Martin
Dale Hausner is not in court today, but the trial continues to churn without him. He decided to stay in his cell today to mark the anniversary of the 1994 deaths of his sons in a car crash, according to a report from earlier this week.
Meanwhile, a Glendale firefighter is testifying about the investigation into arsons at two Wal-Mart stores in that city. The fires were reportedly set on June 8, 2006 by both Hausner and his suspected co-conspirator, Samuel Dieteman. Prosecutors are also showing video of Dieteman inside one of the Wal-Marts just moments before the fire.
Photo by Paul O’Neill, Tribune. Dale Hausner whispers to his attorney while a witness testifies last week during his trial on suspicion of eight murders and numerous other crimes.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Prosecution • Samuel Dieteman • Dale Hausner • glendale • Samuel Dieteman • Serial Shooter • shopping • wal-mart | Post a Comment »
November 5th, 2008, 8:51 pm by Nick R. Martin
Two witnesses. Both with different stories. Both with the same conclusion: It was Dale Hausner.
A month into a marathon eight-count murder trial, two people on Wednesday placed Hausner, the Serial Shooter suspect, at the scenes of separate attacks in May 2006.
It was the clearest link yet between the 35-year-old Mesa man and the 14-month string of murders and assaults that stretched across the Valley two years ago.
Hausner looked fidgety and nervous in court as the witnesses told their stories, but that didn’t keep his defense attorneys from aggressively trying to pick apart the testimony.
The first person to identify Hausner in court was Timothy Davenport, who was stabbed nearly to death by two strangers on May 17, 2006, as he was walking to a friend’s house in west Phoenix.
Davenport, 36, said he was crossing through a church parking lot just after midnight near 73rd Avenue and Camelback Road when a car pulled into the lot and the driver stopped to ask him a question.
“Are you OK?” the driver asked, according to Davenport.
Before he could answer, another man came from behind and stabbed him in the back, side and face. Davenport pointed to the scars he has from the attack.
Asked whether either of his attackers was in court on Wednesday, Davenport pointed to Hausner and identified him as the driver.
“He was the one that distracted me while the other guy stabbed me,” Davenport said. “One hundred percent.”
Read full story…
Programming note: The trial is taking a long weekend, and so is this blog. Live courtroom updates will resume Monday.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Prosecution • Samuel Dieteman • attorneys • Dale Hausner • jeff hausner • knife • Mesa • phoenix • Prosecution • Samuel Dieteman • Serial Shooter • Witness | Post a Comment »
November 5th, 2008, 4:27 pm by Nick R. Martin
 Late this afternoon, a witness placed Dale Hausner at the scene of another attack with which he has been charged. Marianne Thone said Hausner and a dark-haired man approached her the night of May 30, 2006 just outside the scene of where her brother, James Hodge, was randomly shot in the back.
Hausner told the woman that he and his friend were out looking for a runaway cat when they saw her brother get shot, Thone testified. The two men told her they helped take care of her brother until emergency crews arrived. In reality, prosecutors allege, the two men were the shooters and got involved after the shooting as a ruse. The dark-haired man, the authorities believe, was Samuel Dieteman, Hausner’s confessed co-conspirator (pictured).
Thone’s brother, a schizophrenic Vietnam veteran who was off his medication at the time, survived the attack.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Prosecution • Samuel Dieteman • attorneys • Dale Hausner • phoenix • police • prosecutors • Samuel Dieteman • Serial Shooter | Post a Comment »
November 5th, 2008, 2:32 pm by Nick R. Martin
A stabbing victim has identified Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner as one of two men who attacked him in a West Valley parking lot in 2006. Timothy Davenport, 36, testified this afternoon that Hausner helped distract him while another man came from behind and stabbed him repeatedly.
 Davenport still has scars on his face, side and back because of the May 17, 2006 attack. “He was the one that distracted me while the other guy stabbed me,” Davenport said in court this afternoon, identified Hausner “100 percent” as the driver.
Hausner is a Mesa man on trial in Maricopa County Superior Court on suspicion of eight murders and a number of assaults, including the stabbing. Authorities believe Hausner carried out the stabbing with his brother, Jeff Hausner (pictured at right), who has also been charged in the crime but is being tried separately.
The attack was not originally thought to be part of the Hausner case, but it came to police attention after his suspected co-conspirator, Samuel Dieteman, confessed to his role in the crimes.
Top photo from Tribune file. Dale Hausner answers media questions during a press conference in August 2006 at the 4th Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Prosecution • Dale Hausner • jeff hausner • phoenix • police • Samuel Dieteman • Serial Shooter • stabbing | 2 Comments »
October 20th, 2008, 10:49 am by Nick R. Martin
 Phoenix police detective Robert Wenrick opens the day with testimony about the Nov. 11, 2005 shooting death of Nathaniel Schoffner. Schoffner was the 45-year-old homeless man shot and killed trying to save a dog from the so-called Serial Shooters. Wenrick said Schoffner had just stolen three cans of beer and a bag of chips from a nearby Circle K convenience store minutes before the shooting.
Though it came fourth in the series of murders, the Schoffner killing was the final one linked to the Serial Shooters. It only became tied to the case after the other suspect in the killings, Samuel Dieteman. Dieteman told prosecutors about the Schoffner killing earlier this year after pleading guilty to two murder charges and agreeing to testify against his former friend, Dale Hausner.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Prosecution • Samuel Dieteman • attorneys • Dale Hausner • police • Samuel Dieteman • Serial Shooter | Post a Comment »
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