Suspected Phoenix serial killers took turns at the trigger, police say

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 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 in an interview, adding that the men had admitted some of the crimes since they were arrested 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 for 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.

Police believe the Serial Shooter attacks started just past midnight 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.

In between, a probable-cause statement alleges, Dieteman and Hausner had taken turns driving while they selected victims at random.

On May 2, the statement said, Hausner pulled along the curb next to Claudia Gutierrez-Cruz, 20, after she stepped off a bus on her way home from work at a Scottsdale restaurant.

Dieteman allegedly fired one blast from a shotgun, hitting Gutierrez-Cruz in the left side. She died later at a hospital.

A few minutes later, police say, the two shot a 17-year-old in the back while he was walking along a street.

After targeting people and animals across Phoenix and its suburbs on the west side, the attackers moved east.

Early on the morning of July 22, they found a man in his 30s riding his bicycle in Mesa. Dieteman told police that Hausner pulled close in the Camry, pulled the shotgun over the steering wheel and fired out the driver's side window, according to the probable-cause statement. The man survived but was seriously injured.

Investigators had started looking for Dieteman in July as a suspect in arsons in June at two Wal-Marts in suburban Glendale but didn't spot him until one day after Blasnek was shot. They found out where he lived and kept him and his roommate under surveillance for most of the week.

Thursday night, police decided they had enough to make the arrests in connection with the Serial Shooter attacks. Authorities said their evidence against the men included weapons and a map marking the locations of dozens of shootings.