We are never safe these days, are we? Isn’t it weird that on a planet where nature thrives and living beings are supposed to coexist peacefully, we often encounter violence? Today, we have a story about two serial killers from Phoenix- Dale Hausner and Samuel Dietman.
They were responsible for some life-taking drive-by mass shootings. Their actions were purely for the thrill of it and the police did not find anything about them being connected with gang violence.
These Phoenix serial shooters were responsible for several deaths and injuries of commoners and came to be known as “Serial Shooters”. Their random shootouts were often aimed even at stray animals. Here is all about what it was like during their time on the streets.
Dale Hausner and Samuel Dietman: Year of Terror
Phoenix residents were indeed scared while out on the streets and even more concerned when any car passed by. This terror was due to the two serial shooters Dale and Samuel during the years 2005 and 2006. The summer of 2005 in Arizona completely took a dark turn to become a summer that people feared.
At first, there were dead bodies of stray animals and other animals shot dead found in the yards. Several cats, dogs, horses, and other animals were found dead, and this alerted the police.
And then, people started turning up dead in the West Valley. Some of the victims were immigrants while others were transient residents. The dead bodies were found in Tolleson, and they were shot a 22-caliber slugs.
At first, the police did not think that both incidents were related as they happened under different jurisdictions. However, after a while, they got the idea to investigate it as a single case and that was it.
Meanwhile, the people there were struggling with two such dangers. One being these “serial shooters” and the other being the “Baseline Killer”, aka, Mark Goudeau.
On the night of 9 September 2005, a shocking case came aboard for the police. An exotic dancer of Phoenix, Georgia Thompson was found dead in the parking lot of the Tempe Apartment Complex. The 19-year-old found dead was utterly different as unlike other baseline victims, she was not assaulted sexually.
The First Shooting Spree
Around 7:30 p.m. on 29th December 2005, the killing spree of Dale Hausner and Samuel Dietman. They started shooting the civilians and the first shooting session was directed toward the Tempe Bartending school.
Then they continued it across the city. This spree resulted in four deaths. Two men named Marco Carillo and Jose Ortis were shot dead along with a dog. The dog owner was spared or probably missed the bullet.
After a bit, a man named Timmy Tordai was found near the bus stop. He probably just finished his shift at the post office and got off the bus. And shortly after that, a bullet hit his collarbone. Later he gave a statement and said, “At first, I thought I was having a heart attack…and then I saw the blood.”
There were several dogs shot dead before midnight. Then around 1 a.m. on 30th December, another woman was shot. She was a sex worker who just got off from her work with her client. She was found on Van Buren Street. She was probably waiting to get another client there who would be interested in her and her services.
The light blue car that approached her was the reason for her death. As she didn’t get a job, but was met with gunshots from the driver’s window. However, it was not her time to die as a passerby stopped to take her to the hospital.
Police Getting Deep Into the Case
After these incidents, the Police were sure that they were dealing with a serial shooter who drove a light blue Sedan car. They were oblivious that they were actually dealing with two shooters who worked together.
Dale and his partner Samuel took a break for over half a year which made it even harder for the police to look for them. All they knew was someone shooting strangers with 22-caliber bullets in a light blue Sedan.
However, they knew that this time, Phoenix was threatened by two serial killers, one, the blue Sedan shooter, and the other one- the Baseline killer. In an interview with local news, 12 News, former Detective Clark Schwartzkopf from the Pheonix police elaborated more.
He said that having two killers, with opposite motives, at the same time, in the same city is quite an unheard-of case. He further added that this is so bizarre that even if someone wrote a crime story, they would never think of having two serial killers in the same city and at the same time. Moreover, pulling the story off? But here, Phoenix was living in that story.
The “Serial Shooters” started their spree again in mid-2006. But this time, it looked more like a competition between them and the Baseline killer. As the number of victims of Baseline killers piqued the more frequent the shootings started happening.
Wiretapping the Killers- Dale Hausner and Samuel Dietman
We are in August almost slipping away, that’s when the police neared the serial killers. Detective Schwartzkopf parked near a lounge and was surveilling one of the suspects of these shootings. In no time, a light blue Sedan pulled over and the man under the watch climbed in.
That was it, Schwarzkopf’s experience told him that these were the men they were looking for. On the backend, the investigators confirmed that the man in the lounge was Samuel Dietman while the one who drove in was Dale Hausner.
The police had them both in surveillance and surrounded them. That night they were not out for shooting people, but they were casually talking about all the other shootings they had done.
And skimmed through the news channels in the car to know if there were talks about them. And, as soon as they heard a news mentioning them, they were thrilled and marveling at the fact.
The police were wiretapping them as they had evidence against them and their casual talks gave them away very soon. One of the most chilling conversations was Dale telling Samuel how much he liked shooting people’s backs.
After a couple of days, the police arrested Dale Hausner and Samuel Dietman from their shared apartment and ended their spree. Phoenix was half-safe now.
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