Two men arrested in a 14-month-long series of shootings in the Phoenix area admitted to using a shotgun to kill two young women, one in Mesa last week and another in Scottsdale in May, court records released late Friday say.
Samuel John Dieteman, 30, and Dale S. Hausner, 33, made brief court appearances Friday evening, chained at the ankles and wearing black-and-white striped jail garb. They have each been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and 14 counts of attempted murder in what authorities called the "Serial Shooter" case.
Assistant Phoenix Police Chief Kevin Robinson said the crimes appear unrelated to the still-unsolved "Baseline Killer" cases: eight slayings and 11 rapes since August 2005.
A three-page "probable cause" statement filed by Phoenix police laying out the case said the men used a .410-gauge shotgun in the shooting spree, including the killings of 22-year-old Robin Blasnek on Sunday night in Mesa and Claudia Gutierrez-Cruz, 20, shot as she was walking in Scottsdale on May 2.
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The same gauge shotgun pellets were recovered from some shooting victims, and a .410-gauge shotgun was seized when police searched the men's Mesa apartment early Friday, the statement said.
Blasnek was killed as she walked about 11:15 p.m. "Dieteman admitted that he was in the passenger-side window and Hausner, who was operating the light-colored Camry, pointed a shotgun out the passenger window and shot the victim," prosecutors wrote in the statement.
In the Scottsdale shooting, Gutierrez-Cruz had just gotten off a bus and was walking. "Hausner pulled alongside in the curb lane and Dieteman fired one shot from a shotgun at the victim," the statement said.
Police allege that Hausner, an airport janitor and professional photographer with a violent past, and Dieteman, a convict and deadbeat dad, targeted transients in Phoenix, at least at first. Authorities have linked the men to 36 shootings of humans and animals in the Valley since May 2005, including six murders. Prosecutors said Friday that more charges are anticipated.
Hausner and Dieteman recounted details of a number of shootings to police and acknowledged they took turns driving and shooting, according to the probable-cause statement.
Police were tipped to the men when an acquaintance of Dieteman's told a detective that he knew one of the primary suspects in the Serial Shooter case.
The man told the detective Dieteman "would drive through the cities selecting random targets which he referred to as 'RV' Random Recreational Violence," the statement said.
The statement does not say when police learned the suspects' identities. On Friday, police also refused to say when they were first tipped off.
Authorities were uncertain late Friday why the two took to the streets with weapons, or why they targeted certain victims.
"We have found no obvious evidence that they are related to any group or have any specific type of motive in mind," said Phoenix assistant police chief Bill Louis.
"That's what anybody would think — what would drive somebody to do this? Are they a hate group or do they belong to something that would drive them to do it? Nothing obvious right now," Louis said.
According to the probable cause statement, the two men slowed in areas of "vagrant activity." Dieteman would shoot from an angle then drive slowly away, the statement said.
Police put the pair under surveillance after getting a tip and watched them drive a silver Toyota Camry through an area where previous attacks had occurred. At one point, the officers saw the men take what appeared to be a weapon wrapped in a towel out of the car.
Dieteman threw a black plastic trash bag in a garbage bin and when an undercover officer removed it, he found a map with red and blue dots representing attack locations. The trash also contained an expended .410 shotgun shell.
Police arrested the men late Thursday outside their apartment in Mesa. Evidence seized in the search of their apartment included a .410-gauge single shotgun altered at the stock, .410 shotgun shells, other guns and long rifles, two maps, an "America's Most Wanted" videotape, news articles and clippings, and maps identifying routes and possible locations of shootings, the probable-cause statement said.
At the initial appearance hearing, both men were held without bail. Each said he can't afford an attorney.
The bearded Hausner slouched as he appeared before Commissioner Kathleen Mead, and frequently stared at the floor. He answered brief questions but showed no real emotion.
Dieteman, with a brown goatee and a skull tattooed on his right forearm, stood straight before the judge and answered her questions quietly. Arraignment was set for Aug. 14 for each.
Hausner had been living in the Windscape Apartments in the 500 block of East McKellips Road since last year, but neighbors said Dieteman had moved in with him only recently.
Hausner and Dieteman also have been implicated in two arsons June 8 at Wal-Mart stores in Glendale, and fire investigators later realized the men might be connected to the Serial Shooter case.
The arrests carried the element of surprise. The tactical units of the Mesa and Phoenix police had the apartment staked out, and when Dieteman went out to empty the garbage about 11:45 p.m., "we had a surprise for him," Louis said. Hausner came out later and was also taken into custody.
Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris said police didn't try to make a forced entry, knowing that Hausner's 2-year-old daughter was inside.
''The child was not involved, was not harmed and was returned to the mother,'' Harris said.
