On a Monday afternoon, November 28, 1994, John Magoch, a male armored van driver for Wells Fargo, was on his route, servicing a Dillard's department store at the Arrowhead Mall in Glendale, Arizona. Known to be a smoker, Magoch opened the driver's side door of his van to have a cigarette. In that moment, a meticulously planned robbery turned fatal. An expert marksman, positioned in the parking lot, fired a single, deadly shot to Magoch's head.
He died almost instantly, his body slumping over in the passenger seat.
The perpetrators, Timothy Stuart Ring, James Greenham, and William Ferguson, executed their plan with precision. After the shot, Greenham moved Magoch's body, got into the driver's seat, and drove the armored van away from the mall. Ring and Ferguson followed in separate vehicles. The trio convened at a nearby church parking lot in Sun City, where they transferred the stolen money, amounting to over $800,000 in cash and checks, into Ring's truck. Later that evening, a churchgoer noticed the abandoned Wells Fargo van and alerted the authorities. Inside, police discovered Magoch's body and the empty cash bags, with only coins left behind.
The investigation initially yielded few clues, as the robbers left behind no fingerprints. However, a break in the case came when an informant pointed police towards the suspects. An investigation into their recent expensive purchases, including a new truck, further solidified suspicion. Police eventually identified Ring as the ringleader of the operation. A search of Ring's residence uncovered a duffel bag containing over $271,000 in cash.
Timothy Ring was arrested on February 16, 1995. During his trial, his accomplice, James Greenham, who had made a deal with prosecutors, testified that Ring was the shooter. A jury found Ring guilty of first-degree murder. Following the conviction, a judge sentenced Timothy Ring to death for the murder of John Magoch, finding that the murder was committed for financial gain and in an especially heinous and cruel manner.
