Arizona Inmate Killed Three Sex Offenders — Now Prosecutors Want Him Put to Death TUCSON, Ariz. — An Arizona inmate already serving 16 life sentences is facing the death penalty after authorities say he killed three fellow prisoners in a single morning — and later openly described what he had done. Ricky Wassenaar, 63, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the April 4, 2025 deaths of Saul Alvarez, Thorne Harnage and Donald Lashley at the Cimarron Unit of the Arizona State Prison Complex in Tucson. He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors announced in May that they intend to seek the death penalty. According to the Arizona Department of Corrections, staff responded shortly after 7:15 a.m. to violence near the prison dining area. Harnage and Lashley were found critically injured there, while Alvarez was later discovered injured inside his cell. All three died. The account of what happened came later from Wassenaar himself. Wassenaar told the Arizona Mirror that Alvarez had been placed in his cell and that he killed him before heading toward the prison dining area. He said he carried a large rock inside a mesh laundry bag and used it to attack other prisoners as they gathered for breakfast. Harnage was serving a sentence for sexual conduct with a minor, while Lashley had been convicted of sexual conduct with a minor and molestation of a child. Alvarez was serving time for first-degree murder, sexual assault and kidnapping. His victim was a 15-year-old girl. Wassenaar made little attempt to distance himself from the killings in subsequent interviews. Speaking to the Arizona Mirror, he said he had deliberately targeted child sex offenders and remarked: “The taxpayers no longer have to pay for them.” He also said his regret was that he had not killed more prisoners.