The Dark Marksmen: TV Show Tonight

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Show: Twisted
Episode title: The Dark Marksmen
When: 10:00 pm Eastern, 7:00 pm Arizona
Date: October 21
Network: Investigation Discovery or ID (check your local listings to find which channel this is in your area)

This will air in more than 50 countries. Please check listings in your country. This show airs in Great Britain as "Born to Kill?"


Tonight U.S. television debuts the episode of Twisted that we shot in April. Tune in to the cable channel Investigation Discovery at 10:00 pm Eastern, 7:00 pm Arizona time.

The episode is called "The Dark Marksmen."

Serial Shooter survivor Paul Patrick with British TV producer and moi

 The photo above was taken in the spring when the British crew was filming Paul Patrick, whose story is told in my book, A SUDDEN SHOT.  A few months later, in the summer,  the villain mastermind of the crime spree, Dale Hausner, died in prison.

Hausner died at his own hand, friendless. His family, which had loyally attended his trial for more than 6 long months, had finally concluded that youngest son Dale really was a serial killer, one who gloated at death agonies and taught his toddler the lingo of murder. As the news of his death spread, the Hausner family released this statement: "We as a family stand with the victims of the crimes and their families. Today, a murderer died and is now going on to face the Ultimate Judge. Again, our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent people that were victims of his senseless crimes."

It had taken years for the family to get to that point. They had vigorously defended Dale and believed in his innocence. How well I remember the day, however, that secret recordings of Dale were played in court, recordings that were taken from the apartment next door using special equipment. The Hausner family members, seated not far from me in the courtroom, seemed shaken to the core as they heard his cruel laughter mixed with the innocent voice of his tiny daughter. She could barely talk at all and he was teaching her to ape his private jokes about his secret hobby: murder.   The family put their heads down and wept as her little voice rang out. I could never say for sure, but it seems this child, and the surveillance tape of her, may have been key to the family's finally seeing Dale for the guilty man he was.

This child is grade school age now. Her mother told me some time ago that she is doing well. She has grown up as the adopted child of her mother's husband, unaware of her own association with the infamous crimes of Dale Hausner.

Others who were associated with Dale Hausner were not sorry to see him go. While their professional work on his behalf was scrupulous and vigorous, as every defendant has a right to expect, they are not happy to have their names linked with his for all time. Some will talk to me privately, not for attribution. The day Dale Hausner died, one of them told me "Good riddance." This person went on to say that Dale's suicide was not a suprise.

Indeed, it wasn't. He had tried it before he ever went to trial, in the Maricopa County Jail.  But guards found him and he was revived. Hausner had jovially waved off the incident ever since. After his conviction, though, Hausner pursued his own execution.

In one letter to my colleague and friend Michael Kiefer he wrote, "I mean, really, what's a guy got to do to get to get snuffed out?"

Dale Hausner did not leave a suicide note and we will never know what his true private last thoughts were. But his prison suicide took planning, the long-term hoarding of drugs available to him. When he petitioned Arizona courts to have his appeals stopped and his execution expedited, the state wanted to make sure he was in his right mind to make such a decision.

I was even in court one day when Dale Hausner had planned to appear telephonically but his court appointed appeals attorney, a zealous anti-death penalty advocate, had the court hang up on him so he could not interfere with her legal defense of his life.

As part of this process of determining whether Dale Hausner was competent to rush to meet his execution, the state ordered psychological evaluations of him.

This is one thing we know that Dale Hausner detested, the public disclosure of any psychological report. He waived mitigation, or the portion of an Arizona trial where defense attorneys put on evidence to support a plea for mercy before sentencing, in order to avoid his childhood being publicly explored or psychological reviews being entered.

This time, in trying to expedite his execution, Dale Hausner had no choice in that matter. He could not waive the psychologists away. It's a good bet the approaching catastrophe, as he considered it, of loss of psychological privacy had something to do with Dale Hausner's decision to execute himself at the time that he did.

Certainly the smirking killer had other reasons to take such a drastic step, since we know he had been trying and planning for years. Listening to the tape of Dale Hausner, private, not knowing a cadre of law enforcement were wiring microphones into the drywall of his apartment, re-living his crimes and glorying in the sufferings of those he left to die on sidewalks all over the Phoenix metro area, it can not be doubted that the thing that made him happiest was killing.  In prison, the power to kill was lost to him forever. Without feeling the ultimate joy of his power of death, his status as "a god among mortals" (read the book if you want to learn more about that quote), Dale Hausner must have felt life was no longer sweet.

* * * * * * *

As this show goes to air, I would like to thank once again the incomparable Mary Morrison of the House of Broadcast Museum in Scottsdale. Here she is with me the day we shot this episode. We are standing behind the crew's camera. Thank you so much, Mary! 

Jodi Arias and Mitigation

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Jodi Arias hears the verdict: Murder 1   Pool photo

Now that the "guilt" phase of Jodi Arias's trial is over and she is a convicted 1st degree murderer, we are trying to move into the "aggravation" phase.

I say "trying" because it was supposed to begin on Thursday, but was mysteriously cancelled while we were waiting in the hall outside locked courtroom doors. The reason for the cancellation may have something to do with the exclusive interview Arias gave to Fox10's Troy Hayden, less than half an hour after she heard jurors convict of her of pre-meditated murder. Or it may not. All is speculation right now.

But in that interview Arias herself spoke directly about the mitigation process. She told Troy Hayden that she has "no mitigating factors." I'll come back to that. First I'd like to explain more about the process.

For 4 months, people have observed a woman who sits behind the defense team and often interacts with Arias during the breaks and also with her family. She is the mitigation specialist. While Nurmi and Wilmott, Arias's defense attorneys, are there to give their client the best legal advocacy they can, Arizona law affords her one more chance on top of that. 

Mitigation is not about guilt or innocence. It is about mercy. So the mitigation specialist is rarely, if ever, a lawyer.  The person who fills this job is more likely to be a trained social worker or counselor. This person puts together an extensive report on the defendant's background and/or accomplishments.

Jodi Arias told Troy Hayden with bitter irony that her mother "didn't beat her hard enough" therefore she has no pathetic childhood stories with which to touch the jurors' heartstrings. 

But Arias is missing the biggest point of the entire mitigation proceeding. The most effective thing a convict can do to mitigate their sentence is to show humility and remorse. 

This is what worked for Sam Dieteman, one of Arizona's notorious serial killers. Did you hear that?  A serial killer.

I am not here to be defending or admiring Sam Dieteman in anyway. He did some horrific things and caused incalculable human sorrow (< < click thru) and laughed while doing so. But once he was caught, he had at least enough remorse to confess. He pled guilty without any deals and spared the community a long trial. Dieteman cooperated with the state by testifying against his former "buddy," Dale Hausner, all the while knowing the state still intended to try to get a different jury to give him the death penalty when they were done with Hausner. 

Dieteman's testimony in the Hausner trial was compelling. He told the jurors that he had become a "piece of shit" prior to his incarceration. He did not blame Hausner for his own degeneration. He appeared in stripes and chains before the Hausner jury, not cocky and never sparring with the attorneys. He told jurors that he believed in the death penalty and that he deserved it.  

A few weeks later, the same attorneys who had called him as a friendly witness asked for his execution in front of a different jury. Dieteman knew they would. His demeanor before his own jury did not change from the Sam we had seen helping to convict Dale. But this second jury was moved to mercy.  It was not Dieteman's less than stellar childhood that did it. It was Dieteman's lack of defiance and refusal to defend his own despicable acts that stayed their hands.  Sam Dieteman did not get the death penalty though he killed more times than did Jodi Arias.

So far Jodi Arias has displayed less remorse than a serial killer. 

When her lies had caved in on her and she sat with Troy Hayden in a basement cell well below the fifth floor courtroom Wednesday afternoon, Arias could have embraced the truth at last. She could have used Troy's cameras to tell the world how sorry she was that she had taken a life. She could have expressed a sense of shame and sorrow. 

But as people all over the world have seen by now, the only sorrow on display was a brief moment when Troy asked her about her mother. Knowing she would remain behind bars instead of walking free, Jodi Arias had a sudden repentance for how she had treated her mother "not very well."  She averted her face, hiding behind her sheet of hair, and went through the motions of someone overcome by emotion.

"I can't talk right now," she whispered to Troy, through her drapes of locks. 

Mama Arias had become a much more important figure, Jodi had seemed to realize, now knowing she would not be following in Casey Anthony's footsteps, free to crash-bang her way through life on her own terms. In county jail, just about anyone is free to visit an inmate. Jodi had been receiving fans from the public so much that even her mother was denied access when Jodi ran out of allotted visits for the week. The sheriff who runs the jail is even more in love with TV cameras than Jodi is, allowing what seems to be access unprecedented in other jails across the country.  By the way, that is how the Troy Hayden interview was allowed -- it had nothing to do with Judge Sherry Stephens. The inmate is in the custody of the county sheriff and this particular sheriff has never asked a judge for permission to do anything in his life. 

County jail, though, is for un-sentenced inmates and short-termers. The famous tents are filled with DUIs and probation violators, not with capital defendants. As soon as Jodi Arias is sentenced, you can expect to see her custody transferred from the county sheriff to the state prison system, possibly on camera.

Arizona's Department of Corrections has a dramatically different policy toward the media than does the county jail.  A TV crew can get a state prisoner on the phone for a recorded interview, but they are never allowed to bring in the cameras for a personal interview with an inmate about his or her crime. AZDOC may allow a camera in from time to time to do a story about a new rehabilitation program, for instance. But officials there have told me they simply refuse to put inmates up for individual stories "about my life and times in crime," as they sarcastically put it. I've made the requests myself and so have many TV crews I've worked with. So far, no results. 

AZDOC is also much stricter about who can come in for a regular visit. No longer a first-come, first-serve system where you can show up unexpected and have the inmate brought out to you, in Arizona prisons an inmate must designate visitors on a list. Each person named by the inmate as a welcome visitor must undergo their own background check by the prison. Plenty of people could be refused access to prison invitation, starting with people who have their own felony convictions. 

The visitor list is restricted to 20 people, last time I checked. So to receive any visitors at all, an orange jump-suited guest of the State of Arizona must hope for people who are both willing to submit to the background check and who will pass it.

The jail system Jodi Arias has been in the last five years has facilities that are close to downtown Phoenix or are actually in downtown Phoenix. From the airport, you could be filling out your visitor pass within 20 minutes and be seated at a restorative fine dinner 20 minutes after your visit to the grimy, smelly jail.

The prisons where Jodi Arias will live out the rest of her life, one way or another, are out in the wild boondocks, though. After your arrival at Phoenix Sky Harbor you'd have to drive another hour or so to the east, well into the desert.* The small town available to you out there is not a thriving major metropolitan city full of hiking trails and golf courses; it's a prison industry village with forgotten diners and spare accommodations. 

Jodi Arias, knowing that she will soon leave Maricopa County's convenient and accessible jails, knows she now needs her mother. Her display of repentance about her behavior to her mother could easily be seen as a last minute grasp for the one person who might be willing and qualified to go through everything it takes to stand by Jodi in the state prison complex east of Phoenix. Inside the courtroom during the trial, I have seen Jodi look toward her mother from time to time. But I never saw the message in her eyes that expressed love, connection, shame, or fear. It was more of a cold roll-call. In those days, Jodi still expected the testimony of Alyce LaViolette, Richard Samuels and her own self had washed over the jurors like a tidal wave of righteous truth. She could afford to be haughty and demanding with her mother. Frankly, I have seen more emotionally connected wordless exchanges between serial killer Dale Hausner (< < click thru) and his family in the court gallery than I did in this trial. 

The shock of her conviction left one thing clear to Jodi. Having lived on the inside for 5 years, she must know from the stories of other inmates how different it is in state prison. With her tentacles to the outside world severely clipped as the last of 12 jurors firmly called out "yes" to affirm their vote, Jodi knew she had to reel Mama Arias back in as close as she could get her.  The dip of the head, the falling sheet of hair, the "my mom is a saint" comment to Troy Hayden, seemed to me to be designed to that end.

Jodi never used the interview with Fox10 to exhibit any other remorse. Quite the opposite, she slammed the dead man yet again, over and over, with various questions that Troy lobbed to her. Don't blame Troy, he got her to reveal herself and reveal she did. 

Lead defense counsel Kirk Nurmi is the one who told her she had no mitigating factors, Jodi reported to Troy. Her communications with Nurmi are privileged so there's no way to prove it, but I personally believe that is an outright lie. Nurmi must have told her that bad childhoods aren't the be-all and end-all of mitigation.

But Jodi wouldn't have listened to Nurmi's advice on that. Just like she didn't want to listen to the advice of one of her earlier attorneys; she petitioned the court to have Maria Schaffer removed from her case years ago. It's clear Jodi didn't like Ms. Schaffer. But the attorney who successfully guided admitted serial killer Sam Dieteman clear of a death penalty was, in fact, Maria Schaffer.

There are things far more powerful than past hardship during a mitigation hearing.

Humility.

Remorse.

Restitution.

Jodi could have been funneling her art sale proceeds to the Alexander family or even to Deanna Reid at least to defray Napoleon's expenses. She could have been using her much cherished verbal intelligence to help with literacy courses for other inmates. She could have been honest on her numerous psychological exams and begun an earnest course of self-improvement. 

In her five years in jail, Jodi Arias did none of that. In her 45 minutes with Troy Hayden's cameras trained nowhere but on her, she did none of that. 

What she did reveal is what Travis Alexander himself told us from the grave as his text messages to her were displayed for all the world to see while Jodi Ann Arias was on trial. What Travis said to her is, "You only have tears for yourself."

*Much thanks to @Sandaholics for reminding me that Jodi Arias is more likely to go to Perryville, than to Florence. Perryville is west of Phoenix and is not as far. 

Jodi's statements to Troy Hayden about mitigation  < < click here 

**Link to this or any post is always welcome, but posting the whole text to another site makes me go all frowny!**

British TV Spotlight on Serial Killer Story

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Villains skulking in the night, a deadly firearm snuggled down for ready access, leave mayhem and death across a 600 square mile metro area. Some 47 targets later (human, animal, property), the story ends in handcuffs and shackles and the revealed faces of serial killers. 

How did these faces, the dejected, brooding face of Sam Dieteman and the impertinent, scheming one of Dale Hausner, 47 times contorted in the glee of secret destruction, how did these faces develop out of what was once the innocence of childhood? 

The British TV show, Born to Kill? came to the desert this week to delve into the eternal question of Nature vs. Nurture in the formation of serial killers.  The show airs as Twisted in the U.S. The British producers based this episode on my book, A SUDDEN SHOT: THE PHOENIX SERIAL SHOOTER. 

TwoFour producer Greg shows off my book while Paul shows off  his lipstick mark!

It was certainly a pleasure to me to see Greg from England clutching his own dog-eared copy of my book. When the show first contacted me, the lovely English accents coming down the phone line spoke reverentially of the character they had gotten to know through my pages, serial killer survivor Paul Patrick. Would it be possible to meet him, they asked? Knowing how much Paul gets out of each opportunity to tell his story and radiate the spirit of triumph, I was glad to pass along the invitation.

TwoFour Studios producers Tom and Greg set up a nice lighting effect for Paul's interview .

Tom, seen behind Paul's bed in this photo, and Greg were awed by meeting Paul. They shook his hand and told him how grateful they were to hear him speak. 

Regular visitors to this blog or to the A SUDDEN SHOT FB page know that this has been a very difficult year for Paul. He has never regained his former stamina after yet another major surgery and brush with death in January of 2012. Paul screwed up all his concentration, fighting through his many medical debilities, to give Greg and Tom the best account he could of his ordeal. The Brits found it amazing that Paul could be so open but by the end of the interview understood that, finding purpose in catastrophe, Paul considers it his mission to tell the story.  

And then they got a great giggle when Paul's face lit up as he spotted me drawing out my tube of red lipstick after their camera finally stopped running.  In our tradition of several years, I gave myself a fresh coat and then performed the Ritual of Planting the Forehead Lipstick Kiss.  This is most often performed with just Paul and me in attendance. It was fun to see the reaction of this international audience of 2 as they witnessed Paul's vividly happy anticipation.

I had my own time in front of the camera a bit earlier than Paul did.  

This is why I missed attending the Jodi Arias trial a couple days last week

The House of Broadcasting, Inc. on 5th Avenue in Old Town Scottsdale was invaluable. So much thanks to Mary Morrison for her help. It was a pleasure to have her on set. She was even kind enough to remember that I was one of the first to give the museum publicity back when she first created it and I was a columnist for the Arizona Republic.  Hey, I see a KOY sticker on the wall behind Tom. I used to work there, too!

This is the first time one of these TV shows that I have done has focused on the question of Nature vs. Nurture. It was interesting to contemplate. Is there something essential simply broken inside the soul or brain of a serial killer that no intervention could affect? Or do situations in early childhood or at other points in life "create" an irredeemable villain? In Dale Hausner's case, there's a particular incident in his early adulthood that the producers wanted to talk about. 

I'll let you know as soon as I know myself when and where the show will air. It will be in both the UK and US, so chances are many of you will get a chance to see it. 

In the meantime, which side of the question do you come down on?  Nature? or Nurture? I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments below. 

The Decision and the Horse - Court Upholds Hausner Conviction

Today the Arizona Supreme Court upheld all 6 death penalties that Dale Hausner, who once terrorized the Phoenix area as the Serial Shooter, was given at his trial.  You may have heard me on the radio in your home town today talking about it.  If that made you want to know more, here it is.

This appeal was a mandatory appeal that Hausner had no choice in. In fact, he made an effort to stop it but defendants on Death Row get at least one appeal whether they like it or not.

Dale Hausner makes a point to his atty, Ken Everett, during a break in his trial
Photo Copyright Camille Kimball

His attorneys argued that the wiretaps installed in a neighbor's wall was illegal.  It was installed with the express permission of the County Attorney, but not of a judge.  The County Attorney had testified that "the sun was going down, more people were going to die, we had to it."  This is important legally because usually a judge must authorize police eavesdropping on private citizens at large.  In this case, Arizona had a statute in place that gave the County Attorney very limited ability to authorize a tap but only if a public "emergency" was at hand.  At sundown on August 2, 2006, police knew that as the light faded, the Serial Shooter would be gearing up to go out and hunt--hunt all of us.

With the neighbor's permission (imagine that knock on your door, finding a slew of cops asking to use your place as an electronic home base!), the listening device was implanted in the wall shared with  Dale Hausner's unit. A platoon of authorities listened in horror all night as Dale Hausner and Sam Dieteman gloried in reliving their acts of murder and gleefully mocked the suffering of their victims.

By morning, the County Attorney had 1) certainty that he had the right guys 2) the signed authorization of a judge for the wiretaps that had already been installed.

Arizona's Emergency Wiretap law does require that a judge sign off on the tapping within 48 hours. If the judge refuses, the tape cannot be used. The authorities complied with this provision 100%.  What Hausner's attorneys argued to the court was that there simply was no emergency because Hausner was already under surveillance therefore the tape should be thrown out anyway.

The Supreme Court justices didn't buy that argument.  Cop after cop, in some of the most harrowing testimony of the trial, explained how they could not have prevented another killing once the sun went down. True, Hausner was under surveillance at all times once they fingered him, but surveillance, by its very nature, is a game of stealth.  The cops were at least 2 or 3 car lengths back from Hausner's lethal Camry and often were as far back as a mile. Sometimes surveillance was taken over from the air. How was an officer, without a time machine, to jump in front of the Camry and wrestle the shotgun away before he saw it raised through the car window to kill someone?

One permanently under cover officer--I cannot reveal his name--testified he took to rolling down his own window to shout at pedestrians "Go home! Get out of here!" without explanation.  To the pedestrians at whom these frantic yells were directed, it must have seemed the underworld-looking figure was a hopped-up maniac. They will never know he saved their lives.  But it illustrates perfectly how being under surveillance does not equate with preventing murder.

The justices were right to uphold the use of the wiretap* tapes and not fall for the empty argument that we were all safe from gory death because cops were trailing Dale Hausner a mile behind.

Apache suffered terribly from his wounds

There was one victory for Dale Hausner in the court's decision: one charge of animal cruelty was dismissed. The justices ruled that there wasn't enough evidence.  The horse in question is pictured above. His name is Apache. He's a beautiful paint and, on the night he was mercilessly shot, he was the pet of a five year old girl.

Apache suffered terribly and his owner struggled with tough decisions that night. Ultimately, the veterinarian was able to save Apache's life. But, though he tried, he was unable to recover the three bullets. That's right, Apache is still walking around with the evidence inside him.  I believe Apache's family made the right decision that awful night to spare him further pain or risk pushing the bullets into fatal positions with the vet's probe.  Now Apache is a living piece of evidence.  It's still possible that one day the forensics he carries inside him may yet find its way into a lab and be tied directly to Dale Hausner's twenty-two calibre rifle.

Apache carries Dale's secrets within him

Throwing out the conviction on this animal cruelty charge will not make a whit of difference to Dale Hausner's fate. He will still serve hundreds of years in prison...or rather, as many as he can chalk up before they come for him with the needles.

This has been Hausner's mandatory appeal. Whether he now makes good on his stated goal of not appealing the death sentences of remains to be seen.  At trial, he did tell the jury he himself believes in the death penalty. And in jail he did make one attempt on his own life with a cunningly hoarded cache of over-the-counter medicines.

Today the news is that the overwhelming pile of evidence against Dale Hausner is still visible, still viable, and still forming a wall of imprisonment around him.  The critical wiretaps have been endorsed by the highest court in the state.  Anyone who has listened to those sickening tapes will be relieved.

The case of the Phoenix Serial Shooter was the first time any one had ever used the Emergency Wiretap Law. If ever there was an emergency that threatened imminent  death to untold numbers of innocents, it was the Summer of the Serial Shooter.

# # #

You may also be interested in this post about a recent visit with one of Dale Hausner's victims. I Feel Angry @#*!!

*The listening device in question is more properly known as a "bug" because it was not installed on Dale Hausner's phone. But at trial it was referred to as the "wiretaps" and the justices specifically repeated that nomenclature in their decision.

For more stories on the damage done by the Phoenix Serial Shooter and the people who hunted him down, please check out A SUDDEN SHOT: THE PHOENIX SERIAL SHOOTER.  Also visit the book's FB page, where family members still gather. Well wishers are welcome to post messages to them. 

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I Feel Angry %#!$!!

The very 1st lipstick mark forehead kiss for Paul. He gave me roses, I responded spontaneously.

 On June 8, 2006 Paul Patrick was a hard-working family man. That is, he provided for his ailing mother while his sister did the caretaking.  Before that night was through, he was sprawled on a blistering sidewalk, shot full of lead, the RANDOM victim of evil disgusting serial killers. He would never work again. His whole family has been drained, exhausted, and shattered.

Today is June 8, 2012. This is an important anniversary for Paul. Whenever he autographs a book for a fan, he always writes "6-8-06" under his name.  There is no chance he can ever forget the date his once robust and productive life took a screeching halt and became a daily battle for every breath.  Ever since I've known Paul, we have had a special visit on this anniversary. He gives me more details of what he remembers from that night. He tells me witty and often rhyming slogans that embody his philosophy of fighting on, of triumphing.

But late last year, Paul lost his mother, who on June 8, 2006 had gone from the family heart patient to the family engine, staying at Paul's side constantly, advocating for him in endless hospitals and nursing homes.  Pushing his buttons as only a mother can, Mary Patrick nurtured the twinkle in Paul's eye and helped him focus on goals.  She also saved him from several medical crises in which her instincts proved superior to customary but off-the-mark-in-this-case institutional regimens.  Without her quiet captaining of Paul's journey, his path has veered.  2012 has been very, very hard on him. And on those of us who now do the hand-wringing and have no idea how to make things any better. Early in the year he endured yet another major surgery. Instead of making his life better, soon he was in the ICU and we were bracing ourselves for the worst, which seemed inevitable.  He pulled off another of his Hollywood comebacks, and the threat of imminent death passed. But he has never bounced back from this surgery and near-death experience. His level of health and quality of life are dramatically worse than they were last year.

I went to see Paul today -- June 8, 2012. I wanted to start our visit by showing him recent messages of support he'd received on FaceBook. I had gotten a screen all ready because there is no wi-fi where he currently is.

I couldn't wake him up.  I am under instructions from the family to do so if I find him in slumber, because he hates so much to miss my visits. Today he fluttered up to brief moments of recognition but quickly slid back into the Sand Man's grasp. I asked for professional help from the staff, but they told me this has become "normal" for him.  Guess I'm lucky that in all my other visits, I found him so much more "present." Nevertheless, they tried to wake him, too. Finally I leaned down and gave him the forehead kiss that leaves the famous lipstick mark he loves so much.  No response.

The discomforts and indignities of his life are all too easily recognized as he slept. Just for the record, getting shot in the belly leads to very unhappy things.  He is pale. So, so pale.

I am furious.  I want to scream every four letter word ever heard at the docks when the fleet's in.  I want to smash dinner plates with a baseball bat.  I want to cry. I do cry. I am so angry at what has happened to this vital soul, this sparkling personality, this Irish raconteur, this son of a kind and faithful mother. 

I write about Paul Patrick a lot. Yes, out of a cast of hundreds in the A SUDDEN SHOT: THE PHOENIX SERIAL SHOOTER story, Paul is the one who gets most of the attention. While Paul is very special, so are the rest of the characters. It simply isn't possible for me, without benefit of a very large cloning lab, to keep up with all of them in a meaningful way over a period of years.

There are dozens of victims in the Serial Shooter case (a complete list is available in the back of the book). I know that each  one still suffers agonies large and small because of their run-in with the dimmed headlights and swiftly slung rifle barrels of Dale Hausner and Sam Dieteman.  Some families suffer worse than Paul's, because they go to bed each night knowing their beloved died while some creeps laughed.

So I hope that the people who read my updates on Paul remember that every time I write about him, I am really writing about all of them. He made himself their representative at trial. And I must ask him to keep filling that job now. What Paul has lost, they have all shared in.

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is how do I do this kind of work, it entails so much sadness, so much gore?  My answer usually emphasizes that my work also exposes me to so much heroism and love, so much good, that I "live in that space."

Today I'm finding it hard to live in that space. Today I freakin' hate killers. HATE THEM.

(click on a title below to buy)

Camille Kimball's books:

**What She Always Wanted** as seen on TV!

                 **A Sudden Shot** as seen on TV!

        The Mammoth Book of Tough Guys

Coming soon: Masters of True Crime-Chilling Stories of Murder and the Macabre

Thoughts on this or any article at this site? To the next person whose comment I use for a post I will send a free signed book!  (If you post as "anonymous" for convenience, try to include an identifying website or name in your remark so no one else can claim your prize!)  For an example, please click here.

Wicked Attraction--Dale Hausner

Did you just watch Dale Hausner and Sam Dieteman on TV? On Wicked Attraction?

This is the book that gives the story behind the story...

The book is available at any bookseller including for all e-readers. Download now and be reading in seconds what really happened the night police listened in while Dale and Sam were gloating, how Dale mistook who the police were, how Sam walked right past undercover cops.

The Shoot to Thrill episode of Wicked Attraction is based on the book, A SUDDEN SHOT. There are so many more stories inside the book--read about the "rubber shoe guy," Buddy the burro, what happened to Paul after the trial and so many more. You did so much over the holidays--give yourself a little treat right now! You deserve it!

(click on a title below to buy)

Camille Kimball's books:

What She Always Wanted

                 **A Sudden Shot** as seen on TV!

        The Mammoth Book of Tough Guys

Coming soon: Masters of True Crime-Chilling Stories of Murder and the Macabre

Thoughts on this or any article at this site? To the next person whose comment I use for a post I will send a free signed book!  (If you post as "anonymous" for convenience, try to include an identifying website or name in your remark so no one else can claim your prize!)  For an example, please click here. 

This is the Book About Dale Hausner

Detective Smith being interviewed by Wicked Attraction

Wicked Attraction's "Shoot to Thrill" episode is based on my book, A SUDDEN SHOT.

Here are a couple of snapshots from when the TV crew was in Phoenix filming it.


For more photos, click the FaceBook badge to the right or navigate this site using the Dale Hausner tag.

Serial killer survivor Paul Patrick, Author Camille Kimball, Wicked Attraction crew Darin and Rusty

From the book:

     The blood dripping down was his own, to his astonishment, and now that he saw it, he felt the searing pain. Now he knew the shot had landed on his own body. He had no idea where the shot had come from but he could now see and feel in the dark where it had landed, a confusingly wide swath of his own body--his arm, his back, his torso. He ran through the signage and the shrubs and the cactus, leaving blood the entire way, and staggered in the lobby of the Hotel Radisson...

Get the rest of the story now.

(click on a title below to buy)

Camille Kimball's books:

What She Always Wanted

**A Sudden Shot** as seen on TV!

The Mammoth Book of Tough Guys

Coming soon: Masters of True Crime-Chilling Stories of Murder and the Macabre

Thoughts on this or any article at this site? To the next person whose comment I use for a post I will send a free signed book!  (If you post as "anonymous" for convenience, try to include an identifying website or name in your remark so no one else can claim your prize!)  For an example, please click here. 

How to Survive a Serial Killer...

...well, this helps.

If you have read A SUDDEN SHOT, you know all about serial killer survivor Paul Patrick and his little dog, Misty. She is still going strong and lighting up his life.

Misty arches her back for her toy.
Copyright Camille Kimball
She is always on his bed and is very particular about who she lets approach him. After all, she has lost him for long stretches at a time. Paul tells me she is well aware of his injuries. She no longer jumps on him the way she did before serial killers Dale Hausner and Sam Dieteman changed him from a robust working man into a survivor covered in scars and wounds, struggling every day to make it to the next sunrise.

Misty gives the toy to Paul
Copyright Camille Kimball

Instead, she cuddles at his feet or carefully lays on his upper chest, avoiding the area where the 12 gauge shotgun ripped apart his lower torso. My visit with Paul this week was wonderful because, after all this time, Misty has finally decided I'm a friend. She showed off her playful side for me. And that was a moment of real joy.


Misty chews the toy...and inspires the man.
Copyright Camille Kimball
She let me throw her toy for her this week. As you can see in these photos, she might chase it out the room upon my toss, but when she came racing back into the room there was only one spot for her to deliver it. That hospital bed of Paul's, by the way, is quite a significant upwards leap for such a small pup. There's nowhere else she wants to be. I'm touched she finally decided I was welcome there, too.

Paul's full story is in this book--

 

Related posts and updates:

http://camillekimball.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-to-say-when-they-sneer-at-you.html

http://camillekimball.blogspot.com/2011/10/baseline-killer-completes-sudden-shot.html

http://camillekimball.blogspot.com/2012/06/i-feel-angry.html


 

Please visit the Bookstore tab above to browse

Pssst! Going to jail, buying documents, and everything else it takes to get this kind of info for the blog takes time and money! Every time you make a purchase here, it helps me be able to do more for you!

A Sudden Shot: the Phoenix Serial Shooter

Buy the book? Just click on this photo (Amazon)

Is on FaceBook. Go to A Sudden Shot: the Phoenix Serial Shooter FaceBook fanpage for more information and interviews. http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Sudden-Shot-the-Phoenix-Serial-Shooter/123172101231?ref=ts

Camille Kimball's books are:

What She Always Wanted

A Sudden Shot

The Mammoth Book of Tough Guys