Sniper on the Loose (page 3 of 8)

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One mans confession led to another mans realization.

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Two people got shot Saturday night, and another guy on Monday night

Waiting for the Punch Line

Dieteman told Horton it was his chance for a fresh start when he moved to Phoenix in 1999 to live with his mother and stepfather. Trained as an electrician, the 24-year-old landed a high-paying job at Honeywell and also took part-time work at a neighborhood pub in downtown Phoenix—the hangout where he met Horton.

But it didn't take long for life to turn sour again. He lost his job at Honeywell in 2005, and the pub closed. He told Horton that, later that year, tensions with his parents boiled over and his stepfather kicked him out of the house. Now 30, Dieteman was both jobless and homeless. "He didn't want a handout, but he needed help," Horton says. "I told him he could stay with me and put in my ceiling fans as a trade. He liked that idea, and I trusted Sammy. He got along with my kids, and that means a lot to me."

Before long, though, Dieteman "was spending all his time at bars, the first one there and the last one to leave," says a mutual friend, Gary Gang. "He'd hit rock bottom." He was also pushing his friends away and had decided to move out of Horton's home, telling him, "I don't deserve to live in a house. I don't deserve to live."

"He didn't think a lot of himself," Gang says. "I never knew why he felt that way. But you wanted to help him. You wanted him to succeed."

By December 2005, Dieteman had disappeared. For months, no one saw him or heard from him. And then in May, Horton received a phone call out of the blue. Dieteman asked if he could meet Horton at a restaurant called the Rib Shop.

If Horton was surprised by the call, he was completely unprepared for Dieteman's new swagger and confidence. "He told me he'd met a guy who offered him a job and also had a room for him. I thought, That's great—Sammy had landed on his feet," Horton says. Life, Dieteman said, was good.

Over drinks, the two caught up and shared some laughs. At one point, Dieteman leaned in close and said to Horton, "Do you know what it's like to kill a man?"

"How would I know?" Horton responded.

"I didn't know either until a couple of months ago," Dieteman said and then launched into a story about a brutal murder he claimed he'd committed. Horton listened, assuming it must be a bizarre attempt at humor. He played along and waited for the punch line.

"Why'd you do it?" Horton asked.

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