Three people died after a “dispute” in Arizona prison, including two convicted pedophiles
The state's Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Re-entry, a notorious inmate killed three inmates, including two convicted pedophiles in a prison quarrel in Arizona.
The incident occurred in Tucson, Arizona Prison Complex.
State officials named the three dead as Saul Alvarez, Thor Hanachi and Donald Rashley.
A preliminary report says Wasenaar contacts people they intend to hurt them. Further details about the killing have not been made public.
The only suspect is another prisoner named Ricky Wassenaar, who has served 16 people in prison after being convicted of a prisoner uprising in 2004. The incident led to one of the longest prisoner standoffs in U.S. history.
Saul Alvarez, left, Thorne Harnage, and Donald Lashley, in the middle and right, were all killed while incarcerated on Friday, April 4 at Tucson, the Arizona prison complex. Police believe another inmate murdered the men (Arizona Department of Corrections)
Alvarez was sent to jail in 2004 after being convicted of first-degree murder in Maricopa County.
Harnage was convicted in Pima County last year and was jailed for having sex with a minor. According to the Pima County Attorney’s Office, Harnage abused his niece at the age of 7 or 8, and it took more than seven years for the prosecutor to drive him away.
Lashley was convicted in Pima County, where he had four counts of sexual conduct, one under 15, two counts of under 12, three counts of child harassment and two counts of sexual conduct with a minor under 18. He has been sentenced to two consecutive lifetime terms.
Ricky Wassenaar, an Arizona prisoner, participated in a 15-day standoff at the Arizona prison Lewis Prison in 2004.
Wassenaar, who was convicted in 2005 on 19 charges, including prisoner kidnapping, dangerous or deadly assault, aggravated assault, sexual assault and first-degree escape, committed a 2004 hostage situation in a state prison in Lewis.
In that incident, Wassenaar and another man, Steven Coy, were found guilty of a pair of prison guards for 15 days. One of the guards was a woman and claimed that the prisoner raped her several times during the standoff.
He is currently sentenced to 16 life imprisonment for participating in the standoff.
At the time of this report, investigators did not publicly share the motive for the killing.
The prison canceled visits in response to recent violence.
According to the Arizona Department of Corrections, the number of homicides in prisons this year has exceeded the total number of homicides in 2023 and 2024.
During those two years, the state calculated five homicides in its prison. By February 2025 (we have data in the last month), there have been four homicides in Arizona prisons. When you add the three deaths killed on Friday, this will bring the total to seven deaths.
