PHOENIX — Phoenix police said Thursday that they have arrested the brother of Serial Shooter suspect Dale S. Hausner as part of the same investigation into late-night attacks that killed seven people, wounded 18 and put the city on edge for months.
Police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said Jeff Hausner, 40, was arrested for investigation of one count of attempted murder in the April 14 stabbing of a transient in west Phoenix. Hill said the stabbing previously wasn't part of the so-called Serial Shooter investigation, but police have since added it to the list.
"Once he (the victim) got out of the hospital we could not locate him," Hill said. "We were able to eventually find this victim and develop probable cause to believe that Jeff Hausner stabbed him."
Hill said witnesses did not see Dale Hausner, 33, at the scene. But Dale Hausner's roommate, Samuel John Dieteman, 31, who was previously charged in the Serial Shooter case, was identified as being with Jeff Hausner that day.
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According to police, the victim asked Jeff Hausner for money as he and Dieteman walked out of an Albertsons supermarket. Hausner said "Yeah, just a minute," then turned his back and spoke with Dieteman for a moment before reaching into his pocket.
Instead of turning around with cash, Jeff Hausner stabbed the man in the stomach, police said. Hausner and Dieteman hurried into a light blue car and drove off.
"There was possibly a third person there at the time driving a getaway car, but we do not know who that was at this time," Hill said.
Jeff Hausner told reporters he had nothing to do with the stabbing or the serial shootings as police escorted him into the Fourth Avenue Jail.
"Neither did Dale," Jeff Hausner said. "We're both innocent."
Hill said authorities do not plan on charging Dieteman in the stabbing, and Jeff Hausner is not considered a suspect in any of the other crimes linked to the investigation.
David Hans Schmidt, a Phoenix publicist representing Dale Hausner, said the family had no idea the arrest was coming.
"This came to us as a shock," Schmidt said.
The so-called Serial Shooter attacks are thought to have started May 17, 2005, with the fatal shooting of Tony Mendez, who was riding his bicycle at night along a downtown street.
A task force of more than 100 investigators searched for the killers for months without much news. As they fielded tips and combed through cold cases, residents grew increasingly cautious.
Community organizations sponsored self-defense courses, and neighbors went door to door with emergency whistles and safety advice.
In early August, police announced a break in the case. In a hastily assembled news conference, police and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said they'd arrested Dale Hausner and Die-teman.
Both men were charged this summer with two counts of murder and 14 counts of attempted murder in 16 of the 37 attacks. County Attorney Andrew Thomas later said he will seek the death penalty.
Dale Hausner and Dieteman both have pleaded not guilty.
Investigators said at the time they were certain they had found the men responsible for the attacks. But for months, police also were interested in talking with Jeff Hausner, who may have lived with Dieteman while some of the attacks were going on.
Jeff Hausner told The Associated Press via e-mail in August that he was questioned twice by police, and that he submitted to a DNA test and allowed police to search his home. He maintained that he was innocent.
"Although I was willing, at advice of counsel, I was advised to not take a polygraph or talk to police any further without an attorney," Jeff Hausner said in the e-mail. "So, that is what I am doing."
Jeff Hausner does not have a prior criminal record, according to the state Department of Corrections and Maricopa County Superior Court.
In October, the stabbing victim identified Jeff Hausner and Dieteman in a photo lineup, which led to Hausner's arrest, police said.
Dale Hausner told reporters in a news conference from jail that he'd met Dieteman while visiting his brother.
"Sam would be over there and was staying with Jeff for a while. … Sometimes I'd go over there to pick up Sam and Jeff, and Jeff would be too tired to go out, and Sam and I would go out to eat or something like that," Dale Hausner said at the time.
The Serial Shooter case is one of two serial-predator cases under investigation by Phoenix police. In September, police arrested a former construction worker named Mark Goudeau on suspicion of two sexual assaults linked to a string of attacks connected to the so-called Baseline Killer.
