SWAT Team Scrambles To Accused Doc Killer's Home After Report

HOUSTON, TX – A frantic call to police that the accused killer of Dr. Mark Hausknecht had returned home Thursday night sent SWAT officers scrambling to the Westbury neighborhood. A neighbor of accused killer Joseph Pappas reported seeing a light on inside the home and a back gate opened.

Executive Assistant Chief Matt Slinkard said patrol officers and neighbors couldn't remember the gate being open or a light being left on inside the home. Slinkard said officers came out and searched the area to ensure Pappas, who is considered dangerous and suicidal, hadn't returned home.

Houston Police SWAT officers blocked off streets as they searched the home and the surrounding area for four hours, but found no sign of Pappas.

Pappas, a 30-year law enforcement veteran, is accused of killing Hausknecht out of revenge for his mother's death during a surgical procedure performed by Hausknecht 20 years earlier.

The day before the killing, Pappas deeded his boyhood home to Jeanette Spencer, who lives in Painesville, Ohio. Spencer, who has known Pappas for 25 years, said she called him on July 24, and was informed by Pappas that he was dying of a terminal illness, the News-Herald, an Ohio newspaper reported.

Several days later, Spencer said one of her daughters was visiting Houston on July 30 and planned to meet with Pappas, but that he'd sent a text saying he planned to kill himself. Investigators don't know if Pappas followed through with killing himself, but they are confident he is still in the Houston area.

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