John V. Bunchek, a 74-year-old male Scottsdale, Arizona resident, was fatally shot on March 12, 1981, after interrupting a burglary in his neighbor's home. His death was the result of a chance encounter with a dangerous fugitive that shattered the peace of his quiet neighborhood.
On that Thursday morning, a man, later identified as Ronald Turney Williams, was seen wandering the neighborhood. He approached the home of Sylvia Bunchek and inquired if her next-door neighbors were present.
After being told they were not, Williams proceeded to their house. A short time later, John Bunchek arrived home, and his wife expressed her concern about the stranger. He went to the neighbor's house to investigate the suspicious activity. When he did not return, his wife went to check on him and tragically found him lying face down in a pool of blood, having been shot in the chest.
The investigation into the murder of John Bunchek quickly focused on Ronald Turney Williams, a man with a violent past. At the time of the shooting, Williams was a fugitive, having escaped from a West Virginia penitentiary in 1979 where he was serving a life sentence for the murder of a police officer. During that escape, he had killed an off-duty state trooper. Descriptions from witnesses in the Scottsdale neighborhood led to a composite sketch that was broadcast and published, leading to his identification. Williams had fled Arizona the same day as the murder. Three months later, he was apprehended in New York City after a shootout with FBI agents. A gun in his possession at the time of his arrest was determined to be the weapon used to kill John Bunchek.
Ronald Turney Williams was convicted of the first-degree murder of John Bunchek and armed burglary on February 10, 1984. He was subsequently sentenced to death for the murder and received an additional fourteen-year sentence for the burglary. Williams, a man with a history of violent crimes including multiple murders and numerous prison escapes, was extradited to Arizona from West Virginia, where he was also serving sentences for other crimes, to face execution for the murder of John Bunchek.
