Husband Doubts Suspect Is Tied to Wife’s Disappearance

VENTURA —  The husband of a Ventura woman who disappeared from a store parking lot two weeks ago and is now presumed to have been slain said Tuesday that he did not believe the police’s prime suspect committed the crime.

Diana Haun, a 35-year-old Port Hueneme resident and co-worker of Michael Dally, was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and killing his wife, Sherri Dally. On Tuesday, her arraignment was postponed two days as Ventura police continued their investigation. Police say they have not found a body but expect to make more arrests.

Standing in the driveway of his family’s one-story midtown home, Dally said he could not believe that Haun, whom he described as a close friend, had any reason to hurt his wife.

“I don’t know if she had anything to do with my wife’s disappearance,” Dally said. “I would find it hard to believe.”

Dally also complained that police, who interviewed him and searched his house Saturday, have not shared much information.

“I have had enough,” Dally said. “If the police know where she is or what’s going on they should tell me.”

But in an unusual move, court records reveal that Dally has filed for legal separation from his wife, claiming irreconcilable differences and seeking sole custody of their two young sons--just one week after Sherri’s disappearance.

Dally said he filed the document--without the help of a lawyer--to protect his sons Devon, 8, and Max, 6.

“When you lose your wife, they can come in and take your kids,” Dally said. “I filed it so no one could take the boys. . . . It’s a legal restraining order.”

Dally also said he was worried about his wife’s mental well-being “as far as making any judgments or decisions when she does return with regards to the children.”

In the filing, he indicates that he was unable to serve his wife with the papers. A judge granted him temporary custody pending another hearing.

Dally did not comment on relations between him and Haun, except to say that the two “were quite close. We were good friends.”

Neighbors and friends say they saw the two co-workers together frequently.

“I’d seen [Dally] over quite a bit,” said William Chaney, who has lived next door to the Haun family for more than 20 years. “I knew it was her boyfriend. You’d see them kiss each other goodbye in the driveway and stuff like that.”

For a time, Dally and Haun shared a night shift at the Vons supermarket on Rose Avenue in Oxnard, Dally said. Haun stocked shelves and Dally was the night manager. Haun was later moved to a day shift at the deli counter in what Dally said was a routine move.

In response to questions about his marriage and his wife’s disappearance, Dally responded: “My wife has been missing two weeks now, that’s all I know. All I can do is keep going, paying the bills, and taking care of our sons. . . . I’m going back to work today.”

Dally described his wife, who ran a day-care center in their home, as “just your average homemaker.”

As he spoke, the couple’s two sons sat nearby, hammering nails into a piece of wood.

“She’s just your average mom,” Dally continued. “I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt her. This is all absolutely bizarre. The whole thing is bizarre.”

Witnesses last reported seeing Sherri Dally in the Target parking lot, where a blue-green car pulled up behind her van and blocked her exit. Dally got out of her car and into the blue-green car, which was driven by a woman with short blond hair, according to police.

Dally’s body has still not been recovered, but police believed they had enough evidence to arrest Haun. Still, she has not been formally charged and police used a legal maneuver to postpone filing charges for another two days.

“Either they don’t have the report done or the district attorney isn’t ready to file because he feels there is not enough evidence yet,” said veteran defense attorney James M. Farley, who is not connected to the case.

Haun’s neighbors described her as quiet, kind and respectful.

“She’s always been a very good kid . . . never rowdy or noisy,” Chaney said. “I can’t hardly believe she did anything wrong.”

Until her arrest, Haun, who graduated from Hueneme High School in 1979, lived with her mother in a small ranch-style home. Neighbors say that Haun’s father, a veteran who survived Pearl Harbor, died several years ago of cancer.

The house was deserted for most of the day Tuesday, with a set of ceramic teddy bear chimes the only sign of movement. In the driveway, sat Haun’s Jeep Wrangler with the vanity plate: JUSS2IT. A grocery store pricing gun sat on the front seat, and sunglasses hung from the rearview mirror.

Chaney said a swarm of officers spent the entire day and part of the night Saturday searching the Jeep and the Hauns’ home, eventually leaving with several large paper bags.