Jeff Hausner
He has been implicated — by another man’s testimony — as the third person involved in the Serial Shooter killing spree. Yet Jeff Hausner, the brother of convicted serial killer Dale Hausner, has never been charged with a single homicide.
Today, a Maricopa County jury convicted Jeff Hausner of attempted murder and aggravated assault in a case that may end up being the last chance authorities have to keep him in prison for many years.
Earlier this year, an acquaintance of the Hausners testified that he heard Jeff Hausner bragging about being involved in at least three homicides linked to the Serial Shooter crime spree. The testimony of acquaintance Samuel Dieteman came as part of the marathon murder trial against Jeff’s brother, Dale, who was subsequently convicted of six murders, including those three, and numerous other convictions.
Dieteman himself has pleaded guilty to two of the murders in the crime spree, saying he accompanied Dale Hausner on numerous shootings during the summer of 2006.
Police and prosecutors have never been able to gather enough evidence against Jeff Hausner to link him to the crimes of his brother, nor charge him in the homicides. If Dieteman’s testimony is true, it would mean three serial killers were part of the year-long parade of violence.
This week, however, authorities were able to try Jeff Hausner in a Phoenix court on another charge: the near-fatal stabbing in 2006 of a man named Timothy Davenport. Maricopa County prosecutor Laura Reckart presented a case showing the two Hausner brothers lured Davenport to a church parking lot near 73rd Avenue and Camelback Road in Phoenix, with Jeff Hausner then stabbing him in the back several times.
Despite Jeff Hausner’s plea of not guilty, a jury found him guilty of attempted murder and aggravated assault in the stabbing. He now faces more than 20 years in prison on top of another eight years he was already serving for another 2006 attack. His sentencing is scheduled for June 15.
In a written statement, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, whose office tried both cases, said: “We appreciate the jury’s verdict and the hard work of our prosecutor and the Phoenix police.”
Dale Hausner, the convicted serial killer, was already tried for the stabbing in his earlier trial and was not part of this week’s proceedings. The jury found him guilty in that crime, too.
Dale Hausner was sentenced in April to death row for the six murders, and more than 400 years in prison for the other crimes. He is currently serving his sentence in a state prison in Florence.