David Edward Maust

David Edward Maust (April 5, 1954 – January 20, 2006) was an American serial killer and pederast of male teenagers age 13 to 19. His murders occurred in Germany and the U.S. In 1994 he was sentenced to 35 years in prison, he was released under probation in June 1999. Once released and off of probation he continued murdering, leading to his final arrest and sentencing to three life terms without the possibility of parole.

David Edward Maust
Mugshot
Born
David Edward Maust

(1954-04-05)April 5, 1954
Connellsville, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedJanuary 20, 2006(2006-01-20) (aged 51)
Cause of deathSuicide[1]
Other namesCrazy Dave
Conviction(s)Murder
Criminal penaltyLife imprisonment
Details
Victims5
Span of crimes
1974–September 10, 2003
CountryGermany and United States
State(s)Hesse, Texas, Illinois, Indiana
Date apprehended
December 10, 2003

In January 2006, about a month after his last sentencing, Maust committed suicide by hanging himself in his jail cell. Jail workers found a suicide note in his cell in which he confessed to five killings, and apologized to the victims' families. Maust was 51 years old.[2]

Early life

David Edward Maust was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania in 1954. His parents were George and Eva Maust. The surname Maust is of Amish origins. His father divorced and left his mother when Maust was 7.[3] Maust's father was orphaned at the age of 12, and was raised in foster homes. According to records his mother was mentally ill and diagnosed as psychotic.[4]

Maust was confined in a mental institution at the age of nine at the request of his mother.[3][4] His mother claimed he set fire to his younger brother's bed, and later tried to drown him.[3] However, his mother was described by a social worker as "disturbed," "psychotic," "functioning marginally," "needy," and "narcissistic." She had spent a month in a mental hospital in Pennsylvania. A later report on Maust said that the institution where he was confined was filled with children who were there more often than not because family members were mentally ill and couldn't, or wouldn't, take care of them. At the institution it was felt that Maust's mother simply "dumped" him there.[4]

Regarding his mother's stated reasons for bringing him there, "staff there did not observe the lying, stealing and out-of-control behavior." His mother was asked to be specific about trouble Maust caused during home visits, but she failed to do so. She ended up saying "she just doesn't want him at home."[4]

In fact, Maust did have an early history of violence, having choked (but not killed) two friends for no reason. His brother remembered Maust beat a squirrel to death with a baseball bat "for fun".[3]

The brother recalled that Maust had been molested at an early age. At the hospital Maust was well-behaved, but despondent over his mother's failure to visit him with any regularity. After Maust left the hospital, he came to live at a children's home where, at age 13, he was subjected to unwanted sexual advances by another boy.[3]

As a young adult, he worked in construction for his uncle in Wrightsville, Georgia, and was a skilled worker, but was eventually fired after crashing a company truck.

Maust tried to return home to his mother, but she did not want him to return and in fact threatened him with a knife. His mother took him to an Army recruiter and in 1971, at age eighteen, he enlisted in the Army.[3] He completed Basic Training at Fort Lewis and AIT at Fort Ord, and in 1972 was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. He served as a cook, and was by all accounts an able serviceman. He was also a keen bowler, averaging scores as high as 297, and won numerous awards and money prizes in his Army bowling league.

Crimes

In 1974, while stationed in Germany he killed a 13-year-old boy, James McClister,[3] the child of American expatriates, and was court-martialed and convicted of manslaughter and larceny (he claimed that the boy's death was the result of an accident on a moped which he had stolen.) He was sentenced to four years of prison at Fort Leavenworth. Maust requested not to be paroled, but was released in 1977 despite his wishes.

In 1979, in his apartment in Chicago, Maust stabbed a friend while he was sleeping.[3] He was tried for attempted murder.

In 1981, Maust decided to find and kill the 13-year-old who had molested him at the children's home. He was unable to find the boy, but encountered 15-year-old Donald Jones and decided to kill him instead. Jones was eventually drowned in an Elgin quarry.[3] In Texas, this same year Maust stabbed a 14-year-old boy, was arrested, and sentenced to 5 years for "causing bodily injury to a child."[5][6]

When I got locked up in the Army, and then especially when I got locked up in 1981, I knew I should never be let out again. I [didn't] know how to act around other people and I was never taught how to make friends and keep them. When an inmate says he [doesn’t] want out, I hope that somebody listens.

— David Maust, diary notes October 30, 2005[7]



In 1982, while in jail in Texas, Maust was extradited to Illinois for the Jones murder. A Cook County sheriff's police officer wrote on a cover sheet of the extradition papers sent to Texas: "Bad Guy. Gacey Type."[8] Originally found unfit to stand trial, he was held in mental health facilities. Ultimately, after those hospitalizations and roughly ten years in jail awaiting trial, Maust pleaded guilty in 1994 and was sentenced to 35 years. However, he received credit for the 12 years he was held and time off for good behavior; thus he served 17 years altogether and was released in 1999.[6]

A fact sheet sent to the Illinois Department of Corrections by the Cook County state's attorney's office after this conviction said, "This inmate is most likely the most dangerous inmate you will house."[8] The prosecutor urged that Maust be kept incarcerated, but under the law, Maust was eligible for this early release.[9] Maust wrote a five-page letter to the Illinois Department of Corrections requesting to not be released from prison. "He did not meet the criteria to be placed in any other kind of facility," said Dee Dee Short, a Department of Corrections spokeswoman.[10]

In 2001, Maust hit an acquaintance six times in the back of the head with a metal pipe in another attempted murder, but he was not prosecuted because the acquaintance, although he reported the incident to police, did not want to pursue prosecution.[11]

On 12 December 2003, Maust was arrested for the strangling death of James Raganyi, 16.[6] Raganyi's body was found encased in concrete in Maust's basement in Hammond, Indiana. He was later charged with the deaths of Michael Dennis, 13, and Nick James, 19, similarly wrapped in plastic and encased in concrete.[12][13] In November 2005, he pleaded guilty for the three murders and was sentenced to three life terms.[9]

Aftermath

In January 2006, about a month after his last sentencing, Maust committed suicide by hanging himself in his jail cell. Jail workers found a suicide note in his cell in which he confessed to five killings, and apologized to the victim's families. Maust was 51 years old.[2]

The Maust case helped lead Indiana public officials to pursue a state amendment requiring for a violent offender registry for convicted murderers. If available, the registry might have reduced the chance of Maust’s continuance of murder upon release .[14][15][16]

"Indiana Code Section 11-8-8-7 provides that sex or violent offenders must register with local law enforcement authority. Indiana Code Section 11-8-8-5(18) defines a "sex or violent offender" to include a person convicted of murder."[17][18]

The Indiana Code Section 11-8-8 was enacted in July 2006, as of this date there are four types of offenders:

  • Sexually Violent Predators (defined in IC 35-38-1-7.5)
  • Offenders Against Children (defined in IC 35-42-4-11)
  • Sex Offenders (defined in IC 11-8-8-4.5)
  • Violent Offenders (defined in IC 11-8-8-5 persons convicted of Murder or Voluntary Manslaughter)

There are two registry terms of enrollment; 10 years and life.[19][20]

See also

References
  1. Ramsland Ph.D., Katherine (15 November 2013). "Psychology Today | Serial Killer Suicide Notes". Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, LLC. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  2. Colander, Pat (1 October 2015). "TRUE CRIME: David Edward Maust was institutionalized for most of his life". The Times of Northwest Indiana. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  3. Yates, Jon; Sadovi, Carlos (15 December 2003). "Diary uncovers rage, guilt". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  4. Robinson, Ruthann (1 November 2005). "Maust's troubled childhood led to murders, experts say". nwi.com.
  5. Robinson, Ruthann (1 November 2005). "David Maust pleads guilty to murdering three Hammond teens". nwitimes.com. NWI Times. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  6. Bebow, John; Sedovi, Carols (12 December 2003). "Hammond man held in strangling". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  7. "Blood Stained: When No One Comes Looking". dorymaust.com. 30 October 2005. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  8. "Why was Maust free?". The Chicago Tribune. 20 December 2003. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  9. Sadovi, Carlos (1 November 2005). "Guilty plea in 3 slayings in Hammond". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  10. "Kills Once, Kills Twice, Asks to Stay in Prison, IL Dept of Corrections Releases Him, Kills Three More..." concealcarry.org. 15 November 2005. Archived from the original on 15 February 2006. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  11. McNeil, Brett; Sadovi, Carlos (7 December 2005). "Possible Oak Park burial is discounted". The Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  12. "State of Indiana vs. David Edward Maust" (PDF). Crown Point, IN: State of Indiana. 11 December 2003. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  13. "Convicted Killer Pleads Not Guilty in Teen Death". Fox News. HAMMOND, Ind.: FOX News Network, LLC. 13 December 2003. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
  14. "Predators Among Us – Vol. 61 No. 8". PEOPLE.com. 1 March 2004. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  15. "Grand Rapids entry for Wade H. McCree Award" (PDF). State Bar of Michigan. Retrieved 29 March 2017. Unlike a handful of states, including neighboring Indiana and Illinois, Michigan does not maintain a public violent offender registry
  16. "Indiana Code Title 11. Corrections IN CODE § 11-8-8-5 | FindLaw". Findlaw. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  17. "Gardner vs. State of Indiana, No.47A01-0908-CR-399, 29 December 2009" (PDF). The State of Indiana: Judiciary. 29 December 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  18. Assembly, Indiana General (2016). "Indiana Code 2016 - Indiana General Assembly, 2017 Session". iga.in.gov. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  19. "Overview of Zachary's Law | Allen County Sheriff's Department". www.allencountysheriff.org. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
  20. "Register as a Sex Offender | Randolph County". randolphcounty.us. Randolph County, Indiana. Retrieved 29 March 2017.

Further reading
  • Maust, Dory (2008). Blood Stained: When No One Comes Looking (Paperback ed.). Outskirts Press. ISBN 978-1432738242.
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