Ringside Photog A Serial Killer?

Psycho Killer/Qu’est-ce que c’est

From the He went to church every Sunday department comes word via Phoenix, Arizona, that ringside photographer Dale Hausner, 33, whose work has appeared on Fightnews and other sites, according to BoxingTalk’s Scott Schaffer, was arrested Friday along with his roommate Samuel John Dieteman, 30, as “The Serial Shooter” that has terrorized Phoenix’s 3.7 million residents during the past year.

“We do have two suspects in custody,” Sgt. Andy Hill told reporters Friday morning. “They’re at Phoenix police headquarters in the serial shooter case. A search warrant was served in Mesa last night.”

Hausner and Dieteman will be formally charged in shooting 18 people, including six murders. The first murder was committed on May 2005 when a 56-year-old man was killed while sleeping at a bus stop. The most recent murder was last Sunday in Mesa when a 22-year-old woman was fatally shot as she was walking to her boyfriend’s house.

The men also, according to Reuters, firebombed two Wal-Mart stores and shot horses and dogs during their 15-monthlong spree.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon told the AP, “These are the two monsters we have been hunting, and I promise you and our colleagues promise you, we are not finished.

That cryptic remark by Phoenix’s mayor speaks of possibly more arrests to come. Hopefully the dragnet and long arm of the law probes no deeper into boxing.

Describing himself on his now-defunct website, Hausner wrote, “I am a photographer in the Phoenix Arizona area, and have been for many years. I am experienced in weddings, birthday parties, dances, family photo shoots as well as one on one photography. Prices start at $60 for shoots for family portraits and $200 for weddings and parties.”

No telling how he describes himself on MySpace.

Karl Freitag, Editor-in-Chief of FightNews, to clear the air and his and his site’s good name, wrote in a Commentary that Hausner is well known to many in the Southwest boxing community among photographers, journalists, fighters, trainers, managers, promoters and officials. Reaction within boxing circles is shock and horror. I’ve personally never spoken to him (although our Managing Editor Flattop has on several occasions), but I have received email from him.

We at TSS never heard from Hausner we’d have booted his serial shooting butt back to the southwest where it belonged if we had but maybe that’s just dumb luck, or the luck of the Irish, or the luck of the draw.

It’s a chilling feeling, continued Freitag, to think that I’ve received email from a suspected serial killer. It’s also sad that several websites have tried to twist this tragedy with claims that Hausner was a Fightnews.com staffer. One report called Hausner a Fightnews.com camera ace’ and incorrectly claimed that he worked primarily for Fightnews.com.’ Another, written by a disgruntled former Fightnews.com correspondent, incorrectly called Hausner a Fightnews correspondent’ and mentions Fightnews.com in his story almost as many times as Hausner.

If there are hatchet men out there with an ax to grind, slowly remove your fingers from the keyboard, and put your hands behind your head.

The truth of the matter, Freitag concluded, is Hausner was never listed as a Fightnews.com correspondent or a Fightnews.com photographer and his work has appeared on many boxing websites. On a handful of occasions, as a freelancer, he has submitted photos. In February 2005, when our regular reporter was unable to cover the fights at the Fort McDowell Casino in Fountain Hills, Arizona, as a freelancer, Hausner submitted a fight writeup. In May, as a freelancer, he submitted to us an unsolicited BJ Flores Q&A. I want to set the record straight on the misinformation some are claiming as fact.

As the evidence regarding Hausner the ringside photographer/accused serial killer comes to light, there’ll be more accusations and counter accusations, more distancing and second-guessing, more settling of scores.

I don’t think we’ve heard the last of L’affaire Hausner.