The EXECUTION of the Most Evil Criminal on Death Row | Richard Djerf – Documentaries

The Execution of Richard Kenneth Djerf: The End of a 32-Year Wait for Justice

On October 17, 2025, after spending more than three decades on death row, justice finally caught up with Richard Kenneth Djerf. The mass murderer was executed by lethal injection at the Arizona State Prison Complex, closing the book on one of the most disturbing and brutal crimes in the state’s history: the massacre of an entire family.

The Catalyst: A Robbery Among Criminals

In January 1993, 23-year-old Richard Djerf met Albert Luna Jr. while both were working as night custodians at a Safeway supermarket in Phoenix, Arizona. A friendship developed, largely centered around petty crimes and robberies.

However, the relationship ended abruptly when Luna Jr. decided to rob Djerf’s apartment. He stole several electronic devices—including a television, VCR, and stereo system—as well as an AK-47 assault rifle. Djerf reported the theft to the Phoenix police, naming Luna Jr. as the primary suspect. When months passed with no progress in the investigation, Djerf felt ignored by authorities. His frustration quickly mutated into a deep, murderous rage, and he decided to take justice into his own hands.

A Calculated and Horrific Massacre

On September 14, 1993—roughly nine months after the robbery—Djerf enacted his revenge. Around 10:00 a.m., he arrived at the Luna family’s home in West Phoenix carrying a vase of artificial flowers.

When 42-year-old Patricia Luna opened the door expecting a delivery, Djerf violently forced his way inside, brandishing a 9mm Beretta pistol. Only Patricia and her youngest son, five-year-old Damian, were home. Djerf tied Patricia up with duct tape and forced her to load her own family’s valuables into their car. He then bound the mother and child to kitchen chairs, gagging them with black electrical tape.

For hours, Djerf psychologically tormented Patricia, demanding the whereabouts of her husband and older son. What followed over the course of the day was a nightmare of unimaginable cruelty:

• 3:00 p.m. – Rochelle Luna (18): When the teenage daughter returned home from school, Djerf dragged her into a bedroom. He bound, raped, and brutally stabbed her to death. He then returned to the kitchen to coldly inform Patricia of her daughter’s fate.

• 4:00 p.m. – Albert Luna Sr. (47): When the father of the family returned from work, Djerf ambushed him at gunpoint. He handcuffed Albert Sr. to a bed and bludgeoned him with an aluminum baseball bat. Leaving him for dead, Djerf went back to the kitchen to tell Patricia he had killed her husband.

• The Attack on Damian (5): Djerf then turned his cruelty toward the five-year-old boy. After failing to fatally snap the child’s neck, Djerf attempted to electrocute him by stripping the wires of a lamp and taping them to the boy’s leg.

Despite suffering catastrophic head injuries, Albert Sr. managed to free himself. Staggering from blood loss, the father made his way to the kitchen and, in a final act of bravery, lunged at Djerf with a small knife, managing to seriously wound him. Enraged, Djerf pulled his 9mm pistol and shot the father dead.

Djerf then turned to Patricia and asked a sickening question: “Do you want to see your son die, or would you rather have your son see you die?” Without waiting for an answer, he executed both the mother and the five-year-old boy with point-blank shots to the head.

Before fleeing in the family’s stolen car, Djerf attempted to burn the house down by turning on the stove and placing a pizza box over the burners, though the fire never ignited.

The Discovery and Arrest

At 11:45 p.m. that same night, Albert Luna Jr. returned home to an indescribable scene. The bodies of his parents and younger brother lay in the kitchen, and the house smelled heavily of gas. Horrified, he fled to a neighbor’s house to call the police. First responders and medical examiners were so deeply traumatized by the sheer brutality of the crime scene that many broke down in tears.

Meanwhile, Djerf went to the hospital to be treated for the stab wound inflicted by Albert Sr. The next day, he confessed the murders to his girlfriend, casually bragging about the blood and telling her she “should have been there.”

After receiving a tip from an acquaintance Djerf had bragged to, police arrested him on September 18, 1993. Searches of his apartment and vehicle uncovered the murder weapon, duct tape, rope, and stolen property from the Luna home.

A Chaotic Trial

Djerf, who had a documented obsession with violent “snuff” films and frequently mimicked serial killers, proved to be highly volatile in custody. In October 1993, he attempted suicide using a blade fashioned from a greeting card.

After clashing with his court-appointed attorneys, Djerf successfully petitioned to represent himself. Against the strong warnings of the judge and his former lawyers, Djerf pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in August 1995. He mistakenly believed that taking a plea deal would save him from capital punishment.

That assumption was fatally wrong. On May 22, 1996, the court sentenced Richard Djerf to death for each of the four murders. Upon hearing the sentence, Djerf mockingly remarked, “They can only kill me once.”

Final Apology and Execution

Decades passed as Djerf sat on death row. On September 18, 2025—exactly 32 years after his arrest—he wrote a handwritten letter to the media, formally apologizing and waiving any requests for clemency.

“If I can’t find a reason to spare my own life, why should anyone else? I hope my death brings some peace,” he wrote. “I became consumed by a vengeful obsession over a trivial matter… How could I look at those names, think about who they were and who they could have become, and ask that my life be spared?”

The execution took place on October 17, 2025.

• Last Meal: Djerf requested a double hamburger with lettuce and tomato, fried onion rings with ketchup, and a slice of cherry pie with whipped cream.

• Final Moments: Given tranquilizers to ease his anxiety, Djerf was escorted to the death chamber at 10:00 a.m.

When offered the chance to speak his final words, Djerf kept his eyes closed and remained completely silent. At 10:40 a.m., after a brief delay in locating a suitable vein, Richard Kenneth Djerf was officially pronounced dead, closing one of the darkest chapters in Arizona’s criminal history.