Jeff Hausner
Live from the courtroom: Samuel Dieteman said this morning he was part of conversations between Dale Hausner and his brother, Jeff Hausner, in which they both bragged about shooting numerous people on a single night in 2005. He said they also joked about shooting a homeless man, who died trying to save a dog from a shotgun blast.
The testimony is significant. If true, it means that Dale Hausner did not act alone on what is believed to be the bloodiest night of the Serial Shooter killing spree.
I wrote about the Christmastime shootings back in October, during the first weeks of the trial. At the time, the evidence looked like authorities only suspected Dale Hausner in the shootings, which took place on the night of Dec. 29, 2005 and the early hours of the next day. Along the way, two men and three animals were killed, and another man, a prostitute and a pair of dogs were wounded.
On the witness stand today, Dieteman talked about a conversation he had with Dale and Jeff Hausner several months after the shootings. “They brought up and were talking about some shootings around Christmastime,” Dieteman said. “They were real proud that they had shot and killed four people in one night.” Only two people were killed, of course, but with two survivors, it adds up to four total victims.
‘He turned the gun on the man who had confronted him’
Dale Hausner
Dieteman also testified that the Hausners joked about the Nov. 11, 2005 shooting of Nathaniel Schoffner, a homeless man who was killed near downtown Phoenix. According to Dieteman, Jeff Hausner told him the brothers were trying to shoot a stray dog when they were confronted by Schoffner, who stumbled out to save the dog and shouted shouting, “Hey, what are you doing, you Bill Clinton-looking mother (expletive)?”
Jeff Hausner then told him that Dale tried to turn the .22 caliber rifle on the man, but the gun jammed. “He told Jeff to hand him the .410 shotgun,” Dieteman testified. “Jeff said he had argued with his brother about the effectiveness about a .410, saying you can’t kill anybody with a .410.”
During the conversation, Dale Hausner turned to Dieteman and said, “I knew a .410 would work, and I just dropped his (expletive) right there in the street,” Dieteman testified. “He shot the man who had confronted him.”
Jeff Hausner, Dale’s brother, has been one of the mysteries of the case. He is already serving time in prison for a stabbing linked to the case and is awaiting trial on suspicion of another stabbing that authorities believe both brothers, as well as Dieteman, took part in. Still, neither police nor prosecutors have said much about the 42-year-old brother.
Jeff Hausner’s name has come up multiple times throughout the trial, mostly because he was was a bar buddy of Dieteman’s and because the two lived together for a few months in 2006 when Dieteman fell on hard times. There have also been hints prior to the trial’s start that Jeff Hausner was more involved in the early part of the Serial Shooter killing spree than the public has generally known.
If Dieteman’s testimony proves true, it would mean three serial killers were part of the Serial Shooter case. Still, there are many questions that still remain about Jeff Hausner’s involvement, if any, in the shootings. Authorities have not charged him with any murders or shootings. Both men he was accused of stabbing survived.
Dale Hausner has denied involvement in any of the shootings and has pleaded not guilty during his eight-count murder trial in Maricopa County Superior Court.