Arizona resumed executions in May 2022 when it carried out the lethal injection of Clarence Dixon. Dixon was the first person put to death by Arizona since the botched execution of Joseph Wood in 2014.
Following the Wood execution, Arizona changed its lethal injection protocol to a single drug: pentobarbital. The state announced in 2021 that it had found a supply of that drug and a pharmacist who could compound it into an injectable form. But questions over the expiration date of the drugs pushed back the state’s pursuit of the death penalty to 2022.
The next man put to death by Arizona after Dixon was Frank Atwood in June 2022.
Arizona’s attorney general recently announced he now intends to seek execution of death row prisoner Murray Hooper.
There are 111 prisoners on Arizona’s death row. Of those, 22 have exhausted their appeals. Use this tool to learn more about them, who they are, and the crimes they are convicted of.
Abel D. Hidalgo was convicted in 2015 of the January 2001 murder of 35-year-old Michael Cordova and 38-year-old Jose Rojas at a Phoenix auto body shop. According to court documents, Hidalgo was paid $1,000 to murder Cordova.
Alan Champagne was convicted in 2017 of the 2011 murder of Philmon Tapaha and Brandi Hoffner. Champagne buried their bodies in the backyard of his mother’s home, where they were found clothed, mummified and covered in lime.
Alfredo L. Garcia was convicted in 2007 for his role in the 2002 murder of a Phoenix bar owner, Steve Johnson, as he refilled an ATM machine.
In 2014, Allyn Smith, a former juvenile probation officer, fatally shot Khalli Lawrence, the 19-year-old mother of their child. Lawrence filed for child support after her child was born, court records show. But after making it clear he wanted nothing to do with the child, Smith threatened to kill Lawrence if she sought child support, police said.
Alvie C. Kiles was convicted in 2000 of the February 1989 murder of his girlfriend, Valerie Gunnell and her children. He bludgeoned Gunnell to death then killed her children, 9-month-old Lecresha and 5-year-old Shemaeah, because they were “screaming and hollering” while he killed their mother.
Andre Leteve was convicted in 2012 of the March 2010 shooting and murder of his sons, Alec, 5, and Asher, 1. Leteve then shot himself in the face in a botched suicide. The prosecution said Leteve committed the ultimate act of revenge against the wife who was divorcing him.
Anthony Spears was convicted of murdering a girlfriend in 1992. He stole her truck, guns and money and headed to California, where he began living with another girlfriend.
Barry L. Jones was convicted in 1995 of the May 1994 sexually assault and beating death of 4-year-old Rachel Gray. By the time Gray was taken to a hospital, she died from a ruptured intestine.
Benjamin Cota was convicted in 2009 of the December 2003 murder of Peoria couple, Victor Martinez, 73, and Guadalupe Zavala, 40 who hired him to remodel their home. Cota waited for the coup;e to return home, beat Martinez to death with a hammer, and then stabbed and slashed Zavala. He wrapped their bodies in plastic and hid them in a bedroom closet and lived in the house for a week. A jury had determined that he deserved a life sentence for killing Martinez.
Brad Lee Nelson was convicted in 2009 of the 2006 murder and molestation of his neice Amber Leann Graff, 14. While caring for Graff and her brother at a Kingman motel, Nelson bought a rubber mallet and bludgeoned Graff as her brother slept.
Brian Womble, along with Paul Speer, conspired to kill Aden Soto. Womble reportedly shot and killed Soto, 42, and seriously injured Enriqueta Soto, 30, both of Phoenix. Police say Womble and Speer broke into the Sotos’ apartment. The suspects previously had been arrested for burglarizing the Sotos’ apartment, and they returned to kill the residents believing they could avoid jail time for burglary. They shot the couple as they slept in their bed with a young child between them.
Chad Alan Lee was convicted in 1994 of the 1992 robbery, sexually assault and murder of Linda Reynolds, a pizza delivery woman. He was also convicted of the robbery and murder of David Lacey, a taxi driver, nine days after he killed Reynolds. Police were able to track him down by finding his unusual order for a large Hawaiian pizza.
Charles David Ellison was convicted in 2002 of the 1999 burglary and murders of Kingman couple Joseph and Lillian Boucher. Ellison’s accomplice, Richard Finch, was sentenced to life in prison.
Charles Rienhardt was convicted in 1996 of the 1995 murder of Michael Ellis. Ellis was left as “collateral” in a Tucson drug deal that went awry. The trial of Rienhardt’s accomplice and friend, Charles Nadeau, was severed. His girlfriend and accomplice, Christina George, was charged on unrelated felonies.
Christopher A. Hargrave was convicted in 2006 of the May 2002 murders of Beatriz Alvarado, 31, Kenneth Brown, 27, and Fausto Jimenez, 30. Hargrave and Steve Boggs robbed a Mesa Jack in the Box Hargrave was fired from a month earlier. They forced three employees into a cooler and shot them several times in the back before fleeing with money taken from the victims and registers. Boggs was also sentenced to death.
Christopher Montoya was convicted in 2022 for the October 2017 murder of Abbigail Rinaldi.
Christopher Payne was convicted in 2009 of the 2007 murder and starvation deaths of his two children, 3-year-old Ariana Payne and 4-year-old Tyler Payne. The girl’s decomposing body was found in a storage locker in February 2007. The boy’s body was never found.
Christopher John Spreitz was convicted in 1994 of the 1989 rape and murder of Ruby Reid in Tucson. Spreitz admitted raping Reid and crushing her skull with a rock because she would not stop screaming, then left her body in the desert outside the city.
Cory Morris was convicted in 2005 of killing five women: Barbara Codman, Shanteria Davis, Jade Velasquez, Sharon Noah, Julie Castillo. Morris strangled each woman during sex in his camper van and prosecutors alleged he defiled the bodies after death.
Danny L. Jones was convicted in 1993 of the March 1992 murder of Robert Weaver and his 7-year-old daughter, Tisha Weaver. Jones stole the man’s gun collection and a car.
Darrel Pandeli was convicted in 1997 of the 1993 murder of Holly Iler. He slit Iler’s throat and mutilated her body. Pandeli later confessed to killing Holly Humphreys more than a year before Iler. He was convicted of second-degree murder for the murder of Humphreys. He was sentenced to death for Iler’s murder, but the sentence was reversed. He was sentenced to death again in a new sentencing proceeding in 2006. That ruling was vacated because of allegations Pandeli’s lawyer midhandled the case, but the death penalty was reinstated in 2017 by the Arizona Supreme Court.
Darrell E. Lee was convicted in 1993 of the 1991 robbert and murder of a Phoenix man, John Anderson, with an accomplice, Karen Thompson. The pair drove Anderson to La Paz County, where Lee tried to kill him with automobile exhaust, then strangled him while Thompson hit him in the head. Thompson was given a life sentence
Dauntorian Lydel Sanders was convicted in 2014 for the August 2009 murder of his live-in girlfriend’s 3-year-old daughter, Schala Vera. Vera was found lying between a toilet and a bathroom sink, covered in bruises and belt marks.
David Scott Detrich was convicted in 1995 of the 1989 murder of Elizabeth Souter. Detrich became enraged when a drug deal went bad and took Souter into the desert, where he raped and murdered her.
David Ramirez was convicted in 1990 of the 1989 murder of Mary Gortarez and her 15-year-old daughter, Candie Gortarez, in their Phoenix apartment. Ramirez was on parole at the time.
Derek Chappell was convicted in 2007 of the March 2004 murder of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son at an apartment complex. Chappell walked the toddler to their apartment complex pool and held Devon Hinman Shackleford under water. Chappell then walked away, leaving the boy’s body behind.
Donald Delahanty was convicted in 2009 of the May 2005 murder of Phoenix police Officer David Uribe during a traffic stop.
Dwandarrius Robinson was comvicted in 2018 of the 2012 murder of his pregnant girlfriend, Shaniqua Hall. He bound Hall with duct tape and handcuffs, covered her in lighter fluid, and set her on fire.
Edward McCauley was convicted in 2019 for the 2014 murder of his estranged wife. McCauley stalked Dawn McCauley and shot her, leaving her body in the cab of her truck. A journal later found by detectives inside Edward McCauley’s residence indicated he planned to kill her.
Edward James Rose was convicted in 2010 of the 2007 murder of Phoenix police Officer George Cortez, Jr. Cortez tried to arrest Rose on suspicion of passing a bad check at a west Phoenix check-cashing store and Rose shot Cortez twice.
Efren Medina was convicted in 1995 of the 1993 murder of former Arizona Republic reporter Carle Hodge, 71. Medina and Ernest Aro dragged Hodge from his car into the street and ran over him in 1993. Ernest Aro was sentenced to life in prison.
Eric Boyston was convicted in 2009 of the February 2004 murders of his grandmother, Mary Boyston, and his uncle, Alexander Boyston, who he stabbed and the stabbing death of family friend Timothy Wright. He also shot and wounded an ex-girlfriend and his great-aunt during the rampage.
Ernest V. Gonzales was convicted in 1991 of the February 1990 murder of Darrel Wagner. Wagner, his wife and 7-year-old son arrived at their Phoenix townhome to find Gonzales burglarizing it. Gonzales stabbed Wagner to death.
Eugene Doerr was convicted in 1996 of the 1994 rape and murder of Karen Bohl. He had called police to report a dead woman in his bedroom and said he did not know what had happened. Bohl was found lying on the floor with lacerations to her head and Doerr was covered in blood.
Eugene R. Tucker was convicted in 2000 of the July 1999 murder of AnnMarie Merchant, Roscoe Merchant and Cindy Richards. Tucket has dated AnnMarie prior, and beat and sexually assaulted her in her apartment before shooting her in the head. He killed AnneMarie’s brother, Roscoe and Richards, who were dating, with a single gunshot each.
Fabio Evelio Gomez was convicted in 2001 of the 1999 murder and sexual assault of a neighbor, Joan Morane. Gomez hit Morane in the head more than 18 times with a metal dumbbell and left her body in an apartment complex trash dumpster.
Frank Anderson was convicted in 1998 of a 1996 triple murder in Mohave County. He, along with Robert Poyson, were charged with the death of 39-year-old Leta Kagen, her son, 15-year-old Robert Delahunt, and 50-year-old Roland Wear. Poyson was also sentenced to death.
Frank McCray was convicted in 2005 of the 1987 murder of Chestene “Tina” Cummins, who was beaten, raped and strangled in her Phoenix apartment. The crime wasn’t solved until 2000.
Gilbert Martinez was convicted in 2010 of the 2006 murder of Vern Jark. Martinez and Robert Arbolida were burglarizing the Sun City home of Betty and Laurel Liedtke, where their daughters and spouses, including Jark were visiting. Martinez was also found guilty in a string of other robberies. Arbolida was sentenced to life in prison.
Homer Roseberry was convicted in 2003 of the October 2000 murder of a fellow marijuana trafficker, Fred Fottler. Fottler’s body was found in the brush along State Route 93 after Roseberry shot him.
Isiah Patterson was convicted in 2009 of the 2006 murder of his girlfriend, Consquelo Parker, 32. The couple, who lived with their son, had a fight and Parker ran outside where Patterson stabbed her to death.
Israel Joseph Naranjo was convicted in 2011 of the 2007 murder of Delia Rivera, his girlfriend, and their unborn fetus. Naranjo stabbed Rivera 12 times.
Jahmari Manuel, who also goes by the name Warren Carl Manuel, was convicted in 2009 of the 22004 murder of Phoenix pawn-shop owner Darrell Willeford in Willeford’s store.
James C. Johnson was convicted in 2016 of the December 2010 killing of Xiaohung Fuan, owner of a massage business in Mesa.
Jason Bush was convicted in 2011 of the 2009 murders of Raul Junior Flores, 29, and his 9-year-old daughter, Brisenia Flores. Prosecutors said Shawna Forde, a border activist, and accomplices Jason Bush and Albert Gaxiol, targeted Flores for drugs and money to finance anti-immigration activities. Forde and Bush were sentenced to death and Gaxiola to natural life in prison.
John Allen was convicted in November 2017 of the 2011 murder of 10-year-old Ame Deal in Phoenix. Allen was one of four family members charged with disciplining the girl by forcing her to do exercise in sweltering July heat and then locking her in a 31-inch-long footlocker overnight. Allen’s wife at the time, Sammantha, was also sentenced to death.
John Cruz was convicted in 2005 of the 2003 shooting death of a police officer. Cruz, who was attempting to evade arrest, shot the officer five times at close range.
John Fitzgerald was convicted in 2010 of the 2005 murder of his mother, Margaret Larkin. He went to her Sun City West home, stabbed and slashed her with a sword and shot her to death with a pistol as her elderly fiance looked on.
John Edward Sansing was convicted in 1998 of the February 1998 murder of church worker, Trudy Calabrese, who came to his home to deliver a food box. Sansing raped, beat and fatally stabbed the woman, while his four children were in the home and with the help of his wife, Kara Sansing. Kara Sansing was sentenced to life in prison. In 2014, DNA evidence led to John Sansing being charged in the 1991 murder of Lucille Johnson in Utah.
Johnathan Ian Burns was convicted in 2010 of the 2007 rape and murder of Jacquelan “Jackie” Hartman. He left her body in the desert.
Jose Acuna-Valenzuela was convicted in 2014 of the 2011 murder of Edgar Sigala, 24, as he and a woman were leaving an ice cream shop near 75th Avenue and Indian School Road in Phoenix.
Juan Velazquez was convicted in 2004 of the 2001 murder of death 20-month-old Liana Sandoval, the daughter of his live-in girlfriend, Virginia Venegas. Her body was found in a canal weighted down by a cement block. Venegas was also charged and sentenced to 35 years to life.
Julius Moore was convicted in 2002 of the 1999 murders of Delia Ramos, Sergio Mata and Ramos’ brother, Guadalupe Ramos. Another woman was critically injured in the shooting.
Leroy Cropper was convicted in 1999 of the May 1999 stabbing of Perryville Corrections Officer Brent Lumley, who knocked over a picture of Cropper’s mother two years prior. Cropper was incarcerated and had one year left to serve on a drug conviction.
Leroy Dean McGill was convicted in 2004 of the 2002 murder of former roommate Charles Perez and his girlfriend, Nova Banta. McGill doused the couple with gasoline and lit them on fire. Perez subsequently died from his burns. Banta was so severely burned that treating physicians had to put her in a medically-induced coma in order to save her life.
Manuel Ovante Jr. was convicted in 2010 of the June 2008 murders of Damien Vickers and Jordan Trujillo. Ovante, George Rojas, Nathan Duran, and Richard Fore went to Trujillo’s home looking for drugs but found none. A third person, Gabriel Valenzuela, was also shot, but survived.
Over the course of two trials in 2007 and 2011, Mark Goudeau, known as the Baseline Killer, was convicted of 84 felonies involving 33 victims. At least eight women were killed by Goudeau and several others were sexually assaulted or robbed.
Michael Jonathon Carlson was convicted in 2012 of the 2009 murders of Rebecca Lou Lofton, 52, and her boyfriend, Kenneth Alliman, 49.
Michael Steven Gallegos was convicted in 1994 of the March 1990 sexual assault and murder of Kendall Wishon, the half-sister of Gallegos’ brother, George Anthony Smallwood. Smallwood and Gallegos were staying at Smallwood’s mother’s house when they decided to sexually assault Wishon. Gallegos and Smallwood then dumped Wishon’s body under a tree down the street from the Smallwood residence. Charges against Smallwood were dismissed.
Mike Peter Gallardo was convicted in 2009 of the 2005 murder of Rudy Padilla, a 20-year-old college student. According to police, Gallardo tied Padilla’s hands and feet, placed a pillowcase over his head and then shot him in the head during a burglary.
Patrick Bearup helped beat, shoot and throw Mark Mathes off a cliff in the remote Crown King area north of Phoenix, along with Sean Gaines, Jeremy Johnson and Jessica Nelson in 2002. Mathes and Nelson were living together at the time of the killing, and Nelson suspected Mathes of stealing money from her. She asked Gaines, Bearup and Johnson for help, and the four plotted to “take care of this matter.”
Paul Speer, along with Brian Womble, conspired to kill Aden Soto. Womble reportedly shot and killed Soto, 42, and seriously injured Enriqueta Soto, 30, both of Phoenix. Police say Womble and Speer broke into the Sotos’ apartment. The suspects previously had been arrested for burglarizing the Sotos’ apartment, and they returned to kill the residents, believing they could avoid jail time for burglary. They shot the couple as they slept in their bed with a young child between them. Womble was also sentenced to death.
Pete Van Winkle was convicted in 2009 of the May 2008 murder of fellow inmate Robert Cotton at the Fourth Avenue Jail in Phoenix. Van WInkle beat and strangled Cotton, then attempted to throw him over a second-floor railing. At the time of the murder, Van Winkle was in jail accused of trying to kill a man in February 2008.
Preston Strong was convicted in 2017 of the 2005 murder of his best friend, Luis Rios; Rios’ girlfriend, Adrienne Heredia; and Heredia’s four children, 13-year-old Andreas Crawford, 12-year-old Enrique Bedoya, 9-year-old Inez Newman and 6-year-old Danny Heredia III. He spent hours asphyxiating four of the victims and shot his best friend and the youngest boy.
Robert Louis Cromwell was convicted in 2003 od the 2001 murder and sexual assault of his girlfriend’s 11-year-old daughter at a Phoenix home. The girl was found in the master bedroom, unclothed and severely injured with 13 stab wounds to her back.
Robert Hernandez was convicted in 2010 of the April 2008 murders of Jeni Sanchez-Rivera, Omar Guzman Diaz and Pablo Guzman Diaz in Peoria.
Rodney E. Hardy was convicted in 2009 of the 2005 shooting deaths of Tiffany Lien and her lover, Don Stanciel, at a Tempe apartment complex. Hardy and Lien were in a relationship and lived together for more than two years until she left him days before the murders.
Ronald Schackart was convicted in 1985 of the March 1984 murder of Charla Regan, a friend. Schackart told Regan he needed a place to stay and they went to a Tucson Holiday Inn where Schackart raped Regan at gunpoint, hit her in the face with the gun, strangled her, and stuffed a large sock into her mouth. He later confessed to a local pastor.
Ronnie Lovelle Joseph was convicted in 2010 of the 2004 shooting death of his girlfriend’s 14-year-old nephew, Tommar Brown. Joseph argued with his girlfriend at her apartment before shooting her, her roommate and Brown. Both the woman and her roommate survived.
Ruben Garza was convicted in 2004 of the December 1999 murder of his uncle’s estranged wife, Ellen Franco, and one of her roommates, Lance Rush.
Ruben M. Johnson was convicted in 2001 of the November 2000 fatal shooting of Stephanie Smith, who was supposed to testify in an earlier armed-robbery case in which Johnson was an accomplice.
Sammantha Uriarte (formerly Allen) was sentenced to death in August 2017 for the brutal 2011 murder of her 10-year-old cousin, Ame Deal. Allen was one of four family members charged with disciplining the girl by forcing her to do exercises in sweltering July heat and then locking her in a 31-inch-long footlocker overnight. Uriarte’s husband at the time, John Allen, was also sentenced to death.
Scott Drake Clabourne was convicted in 1982 of the 1980 rape and murder of a University of Arizona student he met at a Tucson bar. He strangled the woman, then stabbed her in the heart three times, dumping her body in an arroyo. Clabourne’s accomplice, Larry Langston, pleaded guilty to murder and received a life sentence.
Scott Lehr was convicted in 1997 of multiple sexual assaults and murders of women. Known as the Baby Seat Rapist, Lehr drove a late-model Chevrolet with a baby seat in the back and offered rides to women. Lehr drove them to remote areas of the desert, where he sexually assaulted them. Three died, their heads crushed. Seven others, from 10 to 47 years old, were left for dead or let go, bruised and bloody. Lehr went to death row for the deaths of Margaret Christorf, 40, in October 1991; Belinda Cronin, 21, in January 1992; and Michelle Morales, 19, in February 1992.
Scott Nordstrom was convicted in 1998 of the 1996 murder six people during two Tucson robberies: Thomas Hardman, 28, Carol Lynn Noel, 50, Clarence “Chip” Odell III, 47, Arthur “Taco” Bell, 54; his wife, Judy Bell, 46; and Maribeth Munn, 53. Nordstrom’s accomplice, Robert Jones, Jr., was also sentenced to death and was executed in 2013.
Shad Armstrong was convicted in 2000 of his sister and her fiance, after she intended to turn herself in for a home the siblings burglarized in 1996.
Shawna Forde was convicted in 2011 for her role in the May 2009 home-invasion deaths of Raul Junior Flores and his 9-year-old daughter, Brisenia Flores, in southern Arizona. Prosecutors said Forde, a border activist, and accomplices Jason Bush and Albert Gaxiol, targeted Flores for drugs and money to finance anti-immigration activities. Forde and Bush were sentenced to death and Gaxiola to natural life in prison.
Stephen Reeves was convicted in 2011 of the June 2007 murder of Norma Gabriella Contreras, 18. He beat Contreras with a brick, choked her with a stick and slit her throat before stealing her car, cell phone and wallet.
Steve Boggs was convicted in 2005 of the May 2002 murders of Beatriz Alvarado, 31, Kenneth Brown, 27, and Fausto Jimenez, 30. Christopher A. Hargrave and Boggs robbed a Mesa Jack in the Box Hargrave was fired from a month earlier. They forced three employees into a cooler and shot them several times in the back before fleeing with money taken from the victims and registers. Hargrave was also sentenced to death.
Steven Newell was convicted in 2004 of the 2001 murder and attempted rape of 8-year-old Elizabeth Byrd. He strangled her before dumping her body in a ditch.
Steven John Parker was convicted in in 2010 for the 2005 murder of his next door neighbors,Wayne Smith and his wife, Faye. The couple was found stabbed, beaten and robbed in their Phoenix home.
Theodore Washington, along with Fred Robinson and Jimmy Mathers, was convicted in 1988 of the 1987 murder of Sterleen Hill. The three forced their way into the Yuma home of Sterleen and Ralph Hill, parents of Robinson’s girlfriend, and shot them both in the head; Ralph Hill survived. All three were sentenced to death, but on appeal Mathers’ conviction and later Robinson’s conviction, were overturned.
Thomas Riley was convicted in 2015 of the 2008 killing of fellow inmate Sean Kelly. Riley stabbed Kelly 114 times in an bid for full membership into the Aryan Brotherhood.
Todd Smith was convicted in the 1995 murders of an elderly couple at a campsite in Coconino County. The victims let Smith in their trailer because he had wrapped a shirt around his hand to make it look like he had cut himself.
Tracy Allen Hampton was convicted in 2002 of the 2001 murder of a Phoenix couple, Charles Findley and Tanya Ramsdell. Ramsdell was five months pregnant at the time of her death.
Trent Benson was convicted in 2011 of the murders of two sex workers in Mesa, one in 2004 and another in 2007. He beat both to death and dumped them by the roadside.
Vincent J. Guarino was convicted in 2013 of the March 2010 kidnapping and murder of Chad Rowe in an attempt to join a white supremacist gang.
Wayne Prince, Jr. was convicted in 1999 of the 1998 murder of his 13-year-old stepdaughter, Cassie Parker, during an argument with his wife at the time, Christy Parker. Parker was injured but survived.
Wendi E. Andriano was convicted in 2004 of the 2000 murder of her husband, Joe Adriano, by bludgeoning the cancer-stricken man with a bar stool and then stabbing him.
William Craig Miller was convicted in 2011 of the February 2006 murders of five people: Steven Duffy, and Tammy Lovell, former employees of Miller; Duffy’s brother, Shane Duffy, 18; and Lovell’s children, Jacob, 10, and Cassandra, 15. Steven Duffy and Tammy Lovell were about to testifying against Miller in a Scottsdale arson case.
Aaron B. Gunches was sentenced to death for the 2002 murder of Ted Price, who was an ex-husband of Gunches’ girlfriend at the time. Gunches kidnapped and shot Price multiple times in a desert off the Beeline Highway.
Charles M. Hedlund was convicted in 1992 for the 1991 murder of 40-year-old Christine Mertens and 65-year-old James McClain during two separate burglaries in Chandler. Hedlund’s half-brother and accomplice, James McKinney, was also convicted and sentenced to death.
David Gulbrandson was convicted in 1992 of the 1991 torture and murder of 45-year-old Irene Katura after she ended their relationship.
Eldon Michael Schurz was convicted in 1990 of the 1989 murder of Jonathan Bahe. Schurz, Patrick Allison and others got into a fight with Bahe outside a Phoenix hotel, then doused the man with gasoline and set him on fire. Bahe was burned on more than 90% of his body and lived four-and-a-half hours to tell police what happened. Allison pled guilty and testified against Schurz, receiving probation.
Eric Mann was convicted in 1995 of the 1989 murders of Richard Alberts and Ramon Bazurto during a 1989 drug “rip-off” in Pima County and dumping their bodies in Graham County. The bodies were found the next day, Nov. 24, 1989, but the murders remained unsolved until Mann’s girlfriend confessed to state of Washington authorities that she witnessed the murders.
Ernesto Martinez was convicted in 1998 of the 1995 murder of the Arizona Department of Public Safety Trooper who stopped him in a traffic stop, Robert Martin, After the shooting Martinez fled to California, running out of gasoline just across the state line in Blythe, where he robbed a minimart and shot Randip Singh, an Indian immigrant who worked as a cashier. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2018 for the murder of Singh.
George Russell Kayer was convicted in 1997 of the 1994 murder of Delbert Haas near Kingman after he had borrowed money from Haas and gambled it away in Laughlin, Nevada. in 2020, his death sentence was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court, reversing an earlier appeals court decision.
James McKinney was convicted in 1993 for the 1991 murder of 40-year-old Christine Mertens and 65-year-old James McClain during two separate burglaries in Chandler. Hedlund’s half-brother and accomplice, Charles M. Hedlund, was also convicted and sentenced to death.
James L. Styers convicted in 1990 alongside Debra Jean Milke and Roger Mark Scott of the 1989 murder of Milke’s 4-year-old son, Christopher. Scott and Styers, who was Milke’s roommate, drove to the desert, where Styers shot and killed the boy. All three were sentenced to death, but Milke’s conviction was overturned in 2013, and she was released after being incarcerated for more than two decades.
Joseph Clarence Smith Jr. was convicted in the 1975 murders of two teenage girls he had picked up while they were hitchhiking in Maricopa County. Both teens died of asphyxiation after Smith forced dirt into their mouths and nostrils and taped their mouths shut. He also stabbed each girl several times.
Michael Apelt and his brother, Rudi, both from Germany, were convicted in the 1990 murder of Michael’s wife, Cynthia Monkman, in the desert near Apache Junction one day after Michael took out a $400,000 policy on her life. In May 2009, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge removed Rudi Apelt from Arizona’s death row, ruling that he is mentally disabled.
Murray Hooper was convicted in 1982 for his role in the 1980 murders of Patrick Redmond and his mother-in-law, Helen Phelps, as they prepared for a New Year’s Eve party in Phoenix. Hooper’s accomplices, William Bracy and fomer Phoenix police Officer Edward McCall, were also convicted and sentenced to death but have since died.
Pete Rogovich was convicted in 1994 of the March 1992 murder of Tekleberhan Manna, 24; Phyllis Mancuso, 62; Rebecca Carreon, 48 and Marie Pendergast, 83. Rogovich shot Manna at a Super Stop Food Mart, then he went to the Palo Verde Trailer Park where he shot and killed Mancuso, then Pendergast, and finally Carreon. He stole a van and robbed a Circle K. He was apprehended after a pursuit.
Richard Djerf was convicted in the 1993 murder of a family of four in Phoenix. He believed a member of the family had burglarized his house.
Richard H. Greenway was convicted in 1989 of the March 1988 murder of Lili Champagne, and her 17-year-old daughter, Mindy, because they’d seen his face during a home burglary in Tucson. Greenway and a juvenile accomplice, Christopher Lincoln, went on to steal property, including Champagne’s Porsche.
Richard D. Hurles was convicted in 1994 of the 1992 rape and murder of Kay Blanton, a librarian at the Buckeye Public Library.
Robert Poyson was convicted in 1998 of a 1996 triple murder in Mohave County. He, along with Frank Anderson, were charged with the death of 39-year-old Leta Kagen, her son, 15-year-old Robert Delahunt, and 50-year-old Roland Wear. Anderson was also sentenced to death.
Robert Walden Jr. was convicted in 1992 of the 1991 of rape and murder of Miguela Burhans in her Tucson apartment. He also beat and murdered Nola Jean Knight in 1990, and confessed to, but was not prosectured for, the death of Denene Brevaire-Domet. He was linked to multiple other sexual assaults.
Roger Murray, along with brother Robert Murray, was convicted in 1992 of the 1991 murder of Dean Morrison and Jacqueline Appelhans in Grasshopper Junction. The brothers broke the couples home and burglarized the home and the nearby store the couple ran. Robert Murray died in prison in 2014.
Roger Mark Scott was convicted in 1990 alongside Debra Jean Milke and James Styers of the 1989 murder of Milke’s 4-year-old son, Christopher. Scott and Styers drove to the desert, where Styers shot and killed the boy. All three were sentenced to death, but Milke’s conviction was overturned in 2013, and she was released after being incarcerated for more than two decades.
Ronald Williams was convicted in 1984 of the March 1981 shooting death of John Bunchek, who witnessed Williams burglarize a Scottsdale home. Williams was convicted of killing a police officer in 1975, and was serving a life sentence when he escaped from a West Virginia penitentiary in 1979. During the breakout, Williams killed an off-duty state trooper. He was captured three months after the Bunchek murder, and was sent to West Virginia after that conviction, until 1995.
Sean Bernard Running Eagle was convicted in 1988 of the 1997 murder of Jacqueline and Herbert Williams. The elderly couple confronted Running Eagle and his cousin Corey Tilden as they attempted to steal car parts. Tilden was sentenced to two life sentences.
Clarence Dixon, 65, was convicted in 2008 for the 1978 murder of Deana Bowdoin, a 21-year-old senior at Arizona State University who was found dead inside her apartment with a belt around her neck.
Frank Jarvis Atwood had been convicted of lewd and lascivious acts and kidnapping an 8-year-old boy in California. In May 1984, he was paroled from the kidnapping sentence. Atwood came to Tucson in September 1984 in violation of his California parole. On Sept. 17, 8-year-old Vicky Lynn Hoskinson was riding her bicycle home after mailing a letter. Atwood kidnapped the girl and killed her. He left her body in the desert and fled to Texas, where he was apprehended. Vicky’s body was not found until April 1985.
Kenneth Thompson was convicted in 2019 of the 2012 murder of his sister-in-law, Penelope Edwards, and her boyfriend, Troy Dunn. He used a hatchet and knife to murder the couple, then poured acid over the bodies and set the house on fire before fleeing the scene.
– Developed by the USA TODAY NETWORK Storytelling Studio