PHOENIX – The gunmen took turns as they drove around the city.
Some nights it was Samuel John Dieteman, a burly electrician with a ragged mop of jet black hair. According to court documents, he’d blast at lone pedestrians from the window of a silver Toyota Camry in what he called “random recreational violence.”
Other nights the trigger was pulled by his roommate, Dale S. Hausner, a baby-faced janitor and freelance photographer, the court documents allege.
After each shooting, the pair allegedly would drive slowly away, leaving little evidence other than the victim’s body on a sidewalk.
Court documents and interviews with police provide a glimpse into the way investigators believe the pair operated and how they were finally found.
“We are so confident that these are the people,” Chief Jack Harris said, adding that the men had admitted some of the crimes since they were arrested on Thursday.
Dieteman, 30, and Hausner, 33, face two counts each of first-degree murder and 14 counts each of attempted first-degree murder. A preliminary hearing is scheduled Aug. 14.
Overall, they are being investigated in 36 shootings, including 17 that targeted people and others that involved animals.
An expert on serial killers, Katherine Ramsland, said it’s common in team killings that one person is “egging the other on” to join in.
“If one was the quiet, timid type, he may have been the follower who got himself in a situation and just kept going because the reality was created by the dominant partner,” she said. “That happens in team killings quite often.”
Until last week, investigators had no idea who was responsible for the late-night attacks. They didn’t know if the attacks were committed by one person or more, and grouped the attacks under one name: the “Serial Shooter.”
The arrests are expected to free up about 50 officers to help track down another shooter, dubbed the Baseline Killer, who is believed responsible for eight killings, some in the area of Baseline Road.
While the Serial Shooter investigation isn’t complete, police believe the attacks started just past midnight on May 24, 2005, with the killing of 56-year-old Reginald Remillard, who was shot in the neck while he slept at a bus stop.
The last shooting the men are accused of occurred on July 30. Robin Blasnek was shot in the back as she walked to her boyfriend’s house in Mesa. She was alive when a neighbor found her, but died later at a hospital.
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