Brother says Maust deserves death
This story ran on nwitimes.com on Sunday, January 25, 2004 12:07 AM CST
Accused serial killer David Edward Maust deserves the death penalty, his own brother said."I think anyone who does such crimes should pay with their life," Jeffrey Maust said Friday. "If somebody did that to my little boy, I would be tempted to be on a roof with a rifle and a scope. I don't know how those families can tolerate (it)."
David Maust, 49, of Hammond, is accused of killing three Hammond teens and encasing them in cement in the basement of the Hammond home he rented at 4933 Ash Ave. Prosecutors have not yet indicated if they will seek the death penalty for Maust, who is awaiting trial without bond.Maust's mother, Eva Reyes, also has said her son should lose his life if he is found guilty of the crimes.Jeffrey Maust, 45, a machinist who lives in a suburb of Kansas City, Kan., blamed a lenient justice system for continually releasing his brother, even after convicting him of killing two teens and attacking another."He's my brother, and I feel the system has been failing ever since my brother began these killings who knows how long ago," Maust said.In 1974, as an enlisted man serving in Germany, David Maust was convicted in the fatal beating of a teenage boy.Jeffrey Maust believes Army officials "dropped the ball" by convicting his brother of the lesser charge of manslaughter, rather than murder.David Maust, who was released after three years in federal prison, told Army investigators the boy's injuries were caused by a mo-ped accident, Jeffrey Maust said."I think you could tell the difference between a mo-ped accident and a beating that took the life of that boy," Maust said. "A good forensics doctor, I feel, could have found the evidence to secure the death penalty and save others from the same fate."His brother should never have gotten out of prison after he was convicted of murdering a Chicago teen in 1981, Maust said.David Maust reached a plea agreement with prosecutors that allowed him to be released after serving 16 years for the murder of Donald Jones, 15, of Chicago."I would like to say how sorry I am to the victims' families, and also the Donald Jones family," Jeffrey Maust said."You know, we were never told about Donald Jones. We found out the same time mostly everyone else did, this December when they caught him."Maust said he told Hammond police his brother may have killed at least three other people."I remember hearing a discussion when I was a boy about David killing three others and burying them somewhere between Chicago and Georgia," he said.Both Maust and Reyes said David Maust tried to kill his younger brother twice. The first time, he set fire to Jeffrey's sheets while Jeffrey lay in his crib, and the second time he tried to drown him in the lagoon at Chicago's Humboldt Park, they said."We made a raft with a picnic table," said Jeffrey Maust, who was 4 or 5 years old at the time. "He threw me off and wouldn't let me back on. He kept stepping on my fingers."Maust said he believes his brother was molested by a family member as a child."I feel (the family member) is almost as responsible as my brother," he said. "He wouldn't have turned into such a maniac if (the family member) had not molested him."Maust believes his brother was able to lure his victims by winning their trust."If you looked at my brother, you would never be able to tell he was a weirdo," he said. "He looks and talks as normal as anyone. Now he looks like a monster, but before, he was a good-looking guy, very athletic. You never know; you can have a serial killer right next door to you."Phil Rockrohr can be reached at prockrohr@nwitimes.com or (219) 933-3248.
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