Hammond ex-convict David Maust, already charged with strangling a neighborhood teen he befriended, was charged Thursday with the murders of the two other teens found buried in the basement of his rented house.
Maust was formally charged in Lake County, Ind., with the murders of Nicholas James, 19, and Michael Dennis, 13. Last week, he was charged with the murder of James Raganyi, 16. The three teens were found buried in freshly poured concrete, police said.
“Thank God,” said Dennis’ grandfather, John Gilkison. “I was worried about some technicality getting him off on the other two charges. Every little piece gives the family a little closure.”
Maust, 49, is scheduled to appear Friday morning before Lake Superior Court Judge Clarence Murray. His attorney, Thomas Vanes, declined to comment.
Lake County prosecutor Bernard Carter said no decision has been made on whether he will seek the death penalty.
Police and prosecutors refused to discuss details in the new cases. An amended criminal affidavit filed Thursday said only that investigators believed Maust killed James on May 2 and Dennis on Sept. 11.
In court filings last week, Hammond police said Maust told them he killed Raganyi at about 11:45 p.m. Sept. 10, the same day Raganyi and his friend Dennis left notes with their families saying they were running away.
Releasing further information now could only hurt the case in the long run, said Hammond police spokesman Mike Jorden.
“Anything that is overstated now in the media only hurts us at sentencing,” Jorden said. “We feel very, very good about the three charges we’ve brought.”
Jorden said Hammond detectives continue to work with other agencies to investigate Maust’s activities since his release from an Illinois prison in 1999.
He served 17 years for the 1981 slaying of a boy at a quarry near Elgin. He also was in prison in Texas for stabbing a young man and was convicted of manslaughter for killing a boy in Germany in 1974 while Maust was in the Army.
Gilkison, Dennis’ grandfather, said family members would continue to lobby for a registry of convicted murderers released from prison.
“The way things are now, you don’t know who’s living next door,” Gilkison said.
