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The Student News Site of Agua Fria High School

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The Student News Site of Agua Fria High School

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Blood in the Desert: Arizona’s Serial Killer Mysteries

Elena Casillas, News reporter
November 20, 2024
Dust Storm in Black Rocks Brocken Inaglory, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Brocken Inaglory
Dust Storm in Black Rocks Brocken Inaglory, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Serial killers have people frightened but intrigued wondering why, but no one knows. But here in Arizona is a beautiful state known for its natural wonders! But has a darker outlook on violence, here are four convicted serial killers in Arizona.

Mark Goudeau

Mark Goudeau committed his crimes in the Phoenix area from August 2005 to June 2006.  targets were females as he was convicted of mass amounts of sexual abuse. Following with the charges of felony crimes, and nine murders.

Mark was sentenced to 1,634 years in Arizona state prison for each one of his crimes.

Cory Morris

Cory was known as the crackhead killer. For Murdering five women in his trailer in Arizona. These murders were in a span of eight months from the years 2002 to 2003. Cory was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Dale Hausner & Samuel Dieteman

They were known for being a serial killer duo, committing many drive-by shootings, acts of arson, and setting multiple items on fire in Phoenix, Arizona from May 2005 to August 2006. Their main targets were pedestrians and animals. 

They were found guilty of murder, arson, animal cruelty, and drive-by shootings. Dale Hausner was sentenced to the death penalty but killed himself in prison. Samuel Dieteman was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

With the topic of Serial many questions arise. Many people are invested in this topic, of those people is Zoe Perez. She finds how the human mind can shift one’s perception to take another life knowing the consequences. 

One question, where does the shift start? Can it come naturally as you continue to grow and see the dark perfections of the world? Or as Zoe sees an answer: Child trauma from growing up seeing how one perceives their home life to be normal when it is not. Another answer is it is a spur of the movement of the described feeling of having no choice but to give. 

Another question of why they? The truth is no one can truly know other than themselves. is one of the many reasons people find serial killers so interesting. As they leave the world wondering why?

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About the Contributor
Elena Casillas
Elena Casillas, News reporter
Elena Casillas is a 16-year-old junior news reporter at Agua Fria. Elena enjoys informing people in all different ways such as journalism and ‘broadcasting’. Elena enjoys hanging out with friends, writing, and reading. She loves her two cats, Maurice and Nugget. She despises the Arizona summer heat. This is just a short introduction to Elena Casillas.  Not many people know what they’re going to do after High School but Elena has a plan she hopes to succeed in. Elena dreams of going into any variation of filming, or broadcasting. To achieve this dream she hopes to attend ASU Cronkite. She plans to leave her comfort zone and maybe become a news broadcaster for CNN, Fox News, and any similar news channel.  Getting to know Elena, I decided to ask how her high school experience has been for her so far. She explains high school for her has been ‘like a wave’ or in other words like a roller coaster. She says she’s been ‘going with the wave’ of things throughout high school. Between Freshman and Junior year, she says how there has been a big change in her mindset; way of thinking, and maturity. She has learned how to procrastinate less and become more social. Talk to people more and become more comfortable talking to them. In becoming more social she decided to join film which she said made her feel like she truly wanted to make some change. Throughout high school, her feelings have changed in seeing how different people can consider their feelings rather than yours.  On a more serious note, though 16 years may seem like a short amount of time it can still change your perspectives on many things. I asked Elena, ‘How has your perspective changed in life/ what has changed your perspective?”.  Elena said growing up she realized how fast something can change in life. We aren’t promised the same every day. She said her having family issues showed her this, how things can change so fast without you even seeing it. Her perspective also changed in paying more attention to how you view things and how certain things can affect you and your personal or school life. In school, she's seen and got a deeper understanding of how ignorant and selfish people can be when it comes to your feelings, if it doesn’t have much to do with them they may not care as much.  Finally, I decided to ask her a fun question. “What is one thing people would be shocked to know about you?”. Elena said she is a big Marvel person. Every time she tells people they’re just a little bit shocked. Her favorite Marvel hero would have to be in between Iron Man and black widow. Elena has such a beautiful personality. If you want to get to know her, it is so worth it.
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