John Kalhauser

Passions

Vocation

Family

American homicide attempt; shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend's new lover on 5/20/1979, Chelmsford, MA. He then fled to Arizona. At the time, he was on parole after having served a prison term for manslaughter. He had killed a 53-year-old man when he was 17. In 1971, Kalhauser, a white male, had shot and killed a man in Tyngsboro, his hometown. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years in prison, of which he served one year. In 1979, after the break-up with his girl friend, Kalhauser followed the couple as the new boyfriend, Michael Renk, drove the woman to work and dropped her off. Then he stayed on Renk's trail until they reached an isolated spot on the road, when he pulled his car abreast and fired six shots. He hit Renk in the throat, shoulder and back. By the time the police gathered all their evidence to arrest Kalhauser, it was July 1979. Kalhauser was serving four months in jail for beating up a nurse in Barnstable. In September 1979, he failed to appear for his trial. He moved to Arizona under an assumed name and ID, becoming a supervisor in an electronics company. He married and fathered two kids in 1989 and 1991. In July 1994, his wife, Diane Van Reeth, filed for divorce. She vanished on 8/10/1995 and police named Kalhauser as the prime suspect. While investigating him, they found that he was wanted in Massachusetts. In trial for that case he was sentenced for attempted murder, assault and battery with a deadly weapon, illegally carrying a gun and failing to appear in court.