Prosecutors in Lake County, Ind., will seek the death penalty for David Maust if they can convict the man charged with killing three teenage boys and entombing them in concrete beneath his house in Hammond, a source close to the investigation said Friday.
A review team appointed by Lake County prosecutor Bernard Carter recommended capital punishment if Maust is convicted of murder, the source said.
The team is expected to file court documents next week, the source said.
In December, an Indiana judge imposed a gag order in Maust’s case. Pleas of not guilty were automatically entered on behalf of Maust, 49, who is charged with the strangulation of James Raganyi, 16, and Michael Dennis, 13, and the bludgeoning of Nick James, 19.
The first of the bodies of the Hammond teens was found Dec. 9 in the basement of the house Maust rented in Hammond.
Police allege Maust, a convicted killer, lured the three teens to the second floor of the house with drugs and alcohol and killed them.
Family members of the victims previously said they would support the death penalty if Maust is convicted.
Before his arrest, Maust had lived at the apartment for 15 months and worked for the last three years at a Dolton trophy shop. He served 17 years in an Illinois prison before being released three years ago for the 1981 murder of 15-year-old Donald Jones.
Maust also served time in prison for injuring a child in Texas. He was convicted of manslaughter, while he served in the U.S. Army, for killing a teen in Germany.
