Jeff Hausner
The brother of serial killer Dale Hausner was sentenced to 18 years in prison today for nearly stabbing a man to death in 2006 in a Phoenix parking lot.
Jeff Hausner, 42, was convicted last month of attempted murder and aggravated assault for luring a man named Timothy Davenport to a church parking lot near 73rd Avenue and Camelback Road and stabbing him multiple times in the back.
The 18-year sentence was added atop an eight-year prison stint Hausner was already serving for stabbing another man around the same time.
In both cases, authorities believe he was accompanied by his younger brother, Dale, and a friend named Samuel Dieteman, both of whom were part of a broader, yearlong killing spree that later became known as the Serial Shooter case. That belief is based largely on testimony and statements by Dieteman, who admitted to being present for the stabbings, as well as taking part in two murders and numerous other shootings in the summer of 2006.
In fact, Dieteman also testified in the younger Hausner’s murder trial earlier this year that Jeff Hausner bragged about being involved in at least three of the earlier murders of the Serial Shooter spree. However, Maricopa County prosecutors have never charged Jeff Hausner with any killings, largely because that testimony remains some of the only evidence connecting him to the broader crime spree.
Given the circumstances, today’s sentencing may have marked the last chance authorities had to put Jeff Hausner away for a long time.
“This sentence guarantees that Jeff Haunser will spend the next two decades behind bars,” Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, whose office prosecuted the case, said in a statement after the sentencing.
Hausner’s younger brother, convicted earlier this year of six murders and dozens of other crimes, has been sentenced to death on top of more than 400 years in prison.
Dieteman has pleaded guilty to his role in the killings and a jury is currently being selected to decide whether he deserves the death penalty. Opening arguments are expected to begin in his trial by the end of the month.