In the late morning of September 14, 1993, a quiet home in Maryvale, Arizona, became the scene of a prolonged and horrific ordeal for the Luna family. The nightmare began when Richard Kenneth Djerf, then 23 years old, used the ruse of delivering flowers to force his way into the family's residence. His motive was a twisted sense of revenge against Albert Luna Jr., who was not present, over a prior theft. Inside the house, Djerf's simmering rage was unleashed upon the innocent family members he found. The victims were 42-year-old Patricia Luna, her 46-year-old husband Albert Luna Sr., their 18-year-old daughter Rochelle, and their 5-year-old son, Damien J Luna.
Over the course of seven agonizing hours, Djerf subjected the family to unspeakable terror. Patricia and young Damien were bound to chairs in the kitchen. When Rochelle, a high school student, arrived home, she was taken to her bedroom, sexually assaulted, and then brutally murdered. The father, Albert Sr., returned from work to be met with an attack by a baseball bat and was left for dead. He later regained consciousness and, in a valiant attempt to save his family, managed to confront Djerf with a pocketknife, wounding him before being shot multiple times.
The horror continued as Djerf toyed with the lives of Patricia and her young son, at one point asking the mother whether she wanted to watch her child die or have her child watch her die. He attempted to electrocute the little boy, and when that failed, he tried to snap his neck. Ultimately, Djerf shot both Patricia and Damien at close range, ending their lives. Before fleeing in the family's car, he doused the home in gasoline and turned on the stove's burners, hoping to erase the evidence of his monstrous acts. The fire, however, failed to ignite.
Richard Djerf later confessed his crimes to friends. He pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in 1995 and was subsequently sentenced to death for each count. For nearly three decades, he remained on death row. On October 17, 2025, Richard Kenneth Djerf, aged 55, was executed by lethal injection for the murders of the Luna family, bringing a final, somber close to a case that had haunted the community for over 30 years.
