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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Man charged in deadly Goodyear group home stabbing once spent time in prison for manslaughter
The Brief We sat down with the family of a Native American man who was stabbed to death in a group home. Reno Caddo was 24 when he was killed at a facility in Goodyear. The suspect, Glynn Peaches, was Caddo's roommate at the facility. GOODYEAR, Ariz. - For two years, we've extensively covered the Sober Living Scheme that led to a $2 billion Medicaid scandal, with tribal members used as assets to bill the state for addiction treatment rarely provided. The Sober Living Scheme made national headlines in 2023, after people went missing and even died in certain facilities due to a lack of oversight and regulation by state agencies, stemming back to a time before the COVID-19 Pandemic. It's a scandal with repercussions still being felt by vulnerable people fighting addiction not just within Arizona, but from reservations across the country, as a majority of them are members of native tribes. In this latest report, we hear from family members of a Native American man who was stabbed to death in a group home, as they demand accountability. The backstory The deadly stabbing happened in Goodyear, at a behavioral health residential facility that looks like any other house. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom house, located near Indian School Road and Falcon Drive, now sits seemingly empty. It was there on April 12, 2025 when 24-year-old Reno Caddo was killed. According to Goodyear Police, Caddo was stabbed more than 10 times by his roommate, Glynn Peaches. Peaches said he and Caddo were drinking, and Caddo was being disrespectful. Caddo, according to Peaches, later pulled a kitchen knife on him, which led to a fight for the weapon. Peaches, who is accused of first-degree murder, had previous run-ins with the law. Dig deeper According to records from the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR), Peaches, who is 45, served two decades in an Arizona prison for manslaughter. Per the records, Peaches was given the sentence on March 13, 2003. While in prison, Peaches was disciplined several times for possessing a weapon, assaulting an inmate, and disorderly conduct. He was released from prison in September 2023. As for charges filed against him in connection with Caddo's death, Peaches has pleaded not guilty. He is represented by a public defender, and the Maricopa County Office of the Public Defender has issued a statement that reads: "This is a deeply unfortunate situation that unfolded in the context of a severely mismanaged and ill-equipped group home – an environment that failed in its responsibility to protect vulnerable individuals. We look forward to receiving full discovery to better understand the circumstances leading to these charges, and to ensure that Mr. Peaches' rights are safeguarded throughout the legal process." As for the Goodyear address, officials with the Arizona Department of Health Services have it listed under "His Mercy Assisted LLC." The license was closed in November 2024. We reached out to "His Mercy Assisted," and was told the provider left the home several months ago. Days before AZDHS updated the AZ Care Check profile for this address, we saw it listed under "The Academy Behavioral Health & Wellness," an unlicensed sober living home. The owner said his company placed clients in the home on April 2, but moved out after Caddo's death. We reached out to officials with AZDHS regarding the name change, and they said there was a "data entry error and the entry has been corrected." By the numbers According to the City of Goodyear, police have received 184 calls for service related to group homes from January 2024 through May 2025. During that same timeframe, the city documented 75 unlicensed homes. However, neither the City of Goodyear nor its police department can tell us exactly how many of these properties are sober living homes or behavioral health residential facilities that are unlicensed. A spokesperson said facilities frequently change names, which makes it a challenge to classify the type of homes operating. The city currently recognizes three licensed sober living homes within the area. Meanwhile, Goodyear Police officials say there has been no increase or decrease in calls for group homes. Department officials said they are trying to improve how calls are categorized between mental health, substance abuse and other issues. It has been over a month since Caddo was killed, and his family is still searching for answers. "I was told that he got murdered," said Caddo's sister, Nekeshia. Nekeshia still has questions about the brutal attack. What Nekeshia Said "That night, I just heard they were drinking," said Nekeshia. "I don't know who got the liquor, but they were both drinking because they were in the same room." Caddo's oldest sister, Shamira, was unaware that Caddo was staying in a residential facility for behavioral health. What Shamira Said "It was a shock, definitely. I think I was still in the state of denial, and I feel like I still am in this state of denial," said Shamira. "I've seen a lot of the stories being covered, but I think I sort of came at it with an arrogant mindset of, like 'oh, that only happens to people who allow themselves to be vulnerable to that system.'" We also asked Shamira for her reaction to finding out that her brother was sharing a room with a convicted felon who spent time in prison for manslaughter. "That is reckless, you know, and it's sad because my brother paid that price for their recklessness, and there should be some justice held on their end, too," said Shamira. Shamira just wants justice for her brother, and accountability from the provider that she believes was supposed to keep him safe.
Toronto Sun
22-05-2025
- Toronto Sun
Arizona plans to carry out its second execution this year
Published May 22, 2025 • 1 minute read This photo provided by the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, shows death row prisoner Richard Kenneth Djerf. Photo by Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry / AP PHOENIX — The state of Arizona is planning to carry out a second execution this year, this time for a man convicted of violently killing four members of a family in 1993 at their home in metro Phoenix. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Prosecutors filed a request Thursday with the Arizona Supreme Court to set a briefing schedule leading up to the execution of Richard Kenneth Djerf, who pleaded guilty to killing Albert Luna Sr., his wife, Patricia, and their 18-year-old daughter Rochelle and 5-year-old son Damien. A judge later sentenced Djerf to death. If the court agrees to the schedule suggested by prosecutors, the state's highest court would consider the request for Djerf's execution warrant in late July, with the execution likely occurring in early September. The Associated Press has sent an email seeking comment to attorneys who represented Djerf. Two months ago, Arizona executed 53-year-old Aaron Brian Gunches in the 2002 killing of Ted Price, marking the state's first use of the death penalty in over two years. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Gunches' execution had originally been scheduled for April 2023, but it was called off after Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs ordered a review of the state's death penalty procedures. Late last year, Hobbs fired the retired judge she had appointed to conduct the review, and the state's corrections department announced changes in the team that lethally injects death row prisoners. Arizona, which has 111 prisoners on death row, has been heavily criticized for its use of the death penalty. It underwent a nearly eight-year hiatus in the use of the death penalty after a 2014 execution was botched and because of difficulties obtaining drugs for execution. Tennis World Sports Toronto Maple Leafs Sunshine Girls
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arizona to execute Richard Djerf for 1993 quadruple murder of Phoenix family
Arizona has carried out most executions with lethal injection since 1992, but with a litany of changing protocols and problems, which ultimately halted executions in the state for eight years. Photo courtesy Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Richard Kenneth Djerf, who murdered four members of a west Phoenix family in 1993, will be the next Death Row prisoner put to death in Arizona. The Arizona Attorney General's Office filed notice in the Arizona Supreme Court Thursday to begin the process for obtaining a death warrant. If all goes according to schedule, the execution should take place in late August or early September. 'The people of this state still support the death penalty, as far as we know,' Attorney General Kris Mayes told the Arizona Mirror. 'And so my job is to carry it out.' It's become a mantra of sorts for Mayes: Execution is the law of the land in Arizona. She said it in March after the execution of Aaron Gunches, the first of her administration, and she said it again several times during a recent interview with the Mirror. Usually, it's Republicans who embrace execution as a tenet of their law-and-order credo. Nonetheless, Mayes, a Democrat, has promised to carry out the law in her administration, though she won't give hints as to who will go after Djerf. There are 22 other men on Arizona Death Row who have exhausted their appeals, and Mayes intends to cull the worst of them. Djerf was hardly a surprise candidate. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Defense attorneys had speculated for months that Djerf would be at the top of the list. And in late April, Maricopa County Attorney Rachell Mitchell blurted his name out at a press conference, even though executions fall outside of her jurisdiction. Consequently, journalists in the room rushed to figure out who Djerf was. While Mitchell was speculating, Mayes was analyzing. 'We have prepared a series of criteria by which I will be choosing the next people who are executed,' she said. The criteria 'includes things like blameworthiness, whether a child was killed, whether multiple people were killed, whether the crime was particularly heinous or cruel and the amount of time that the victims have been waiting. And I don't believe that's ever been done by any AG in the past. We did it.' In 1976, a U.S. Supreme Court opinion dictated that the death penalty be reserved for the worst of the worst crimes, defined by a set of aggravating factors. Arizona law follows the same theory, and Djerf's crimes fit the description: In September 1993, he took a family hostage in their home, killing the mother, father and a their 5-year-old son, and raping their teenage daughter before killing her, too. It was the work of a monster, or so it seemed. But it's never that simple. Djerf is now a 55-year-old man with a bald and bullet-shaped head and a leering smile. There's not a single item on his prison disciplinary record. According to one of his former defense attorneys, he sits in his cell drawing professional-quality, self-satirizing cartoons After a courthouse interview in December 1993, Bill Hermann my former colleague at The Arizona Republic, described the then-23-year-old Djerf as an enigma. 'Djerf appears to be a pleasant, retiring, gentle young man of medium height and stocky build, with wavy brown hair,' he wrote. 'He speaks softly and politely, and smiles often, in a friendly, if shy, manner.' It was a shocking portrait in light of what he had done. And though Djerf expressed his remorse in trial, it was too little, too late. Djerf had attended Independence High in Glendale. He was an unpopular kid, not anyone who drew attention. But he was not a complete stranger to police, having been arrested once for shoplifting and twice for extorting money from fellow students at the school. The Glendale apartment he rented after high school was decorated in nerd style, with auto racing posters, a Freddy Krueger doll and a street sign that said Elm St. Some time after high school, he took a job at a Safeway supermarket in west Phoenix, where he worked with Albert Luna Jr. But apparently they were not friends: Luna burglarized Djerf's apartment, taking electronic equipment and an AK-47. And though Djerf reported the theft to police, they did nothing. So, several months later, Djerf decided to get his own revenge. There were no surviving eyewitnesses to what happened next. But there is a detailed narrative in the court record, nonetheless, describing events down to the minute, presumably put together by prosecutors from his eventual confession and from what he told his girlfriend and other friends afterward. On the afternoon of Sept. 14, 1993, Djerf went to the 7200 block of West Monte Vista Road and knocked at the front door of the Luna house, brandishing a bouquet of artificial flowers. When Luna's mother, Patricia, 40, opened the door, Djerf pulled out a 9 mm handgun. He made her load belongings from the house into the family car and then taped her and her 5-year-old son, Damien, to kitchen chairs. He asked her where Albert Jr. was and taunted her by asking whether he should kill her or her son first, forcing the other to watch. Albert Jr.'s sister, Rochelle, 18, came home at 3 p.m. Djerf took her to her bedroom, taped her to the bed and raped her before stabbing her repeatedly and slitting her throat. He went back to the kitchen to let Patricia know he had killed her. An hour later, Albert Sr., 46, came home. Djerf forced him to crawl to another bedroom, and bashed his head with an aluminum baseball bat, leaving him for dead. Then he returned to the kitchen to tell Patricia. He tried to snap Damien's neck using a technique he'd seen in a movie, and when that didn't work, he tried to electrocute him with a frayed lamp cord. Albert Sr., who was not yet dead after all, leapt into the kitchen at that moment and stabbed Djerf with a pocket knife. The two men fought, but Djerf shot Albert Sr. to death. Then, after more taunts, he shot Patricia and Damien in the head, doused the room with gasoline, turned on the stove burners and left in the Luna family car to meet up with his girlfriend. The girlfriend drove Djerf to St. Joseph's Hospital; he said he'd been stabbed by two men who tied to rob him. But over the next few days, he told the girlfriend what he had done and bragged to other friends, as well. He was arrested on Sept. 18 and charged with burglary, multiple counts of kidnapping and aggravated assault, sexual assault, attempted arson, misconduct with weapons and four counts of murder. Djerf eventually confessed. Rather than face a jury, he pleaded guilty to all four murders and prosecutors agreed to drop the other charges. He fired his attorneys and represented himself through his sentencing, but after finding aggravators of pecuniary gain (murder for money), multiple murders, a victim younger than 15, and the heinous, cruel and depraved manner of the killings, the judge sentenced him to death four times. The last of his appeals failed in 2019. When Gov. Katie Hobbs took office in 2023, she declared a moratorium on executions, citing a litany of problems in carrying them out over the preceding decade. The prior attorney general, Mark Brnovich, had carried out three executions in the last months of his tenure, and he had obtained a warrant for a fourth. But Hobbs and Mayes let that warrant lapse as they awaited an analysis of the state's procedures for execution by lethal injection for which they commissioned a retired federal judge magistrate. 'A violent act in every case': One judge's impossible quest for a humane execution When that commissioner stated in a preliminary report that lethal injection, as practiced in Arizona, was fatally flawed, he was fired. His study was supplanted by a separate analysis conducted by Ryan Thornell, director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry. Meanwhile, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell was pressuring the state to seek a new warrant for Death Row prisoner Aaron Gunches, whose earlier warrant had lapsed. She petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court to let her file for a warrant herself, and when the court agreed to hear her argument, Hobbs and Mayes decided to seek a warrant after all. 'We objected to what we thought was a very inappropriate filing by her in the Supreme Court,' Mayes said. 'We made it clear to the Supreme Court that this was the purview of the attorney general — whether it's me or whoever follows me. It is the purview of the attorney general to make these decisions. And it would be utter and complete chaos if we had 15 county attorneys who could go directly to the Supreme Court and file for a death warrant. That's insane, and it's not going to happen in the State of Arizona under my watch. Nor should any county attorney be lobbying the attorney general about who should go next. And, again, it's only been one county attorney.' But Mitchell stepped in again, positing during an April press conference that Djerf was a likely execution candidate. 'Rachel and I agree on a lot of things, but on this she was way off base,' Mayes said. 'I expressed that to her.' 'One of the reasons you don't do that is it very much violates the rights of the victims in these cases,' she said. Mayes had already made the decision to execute Djerf but was not ready to announce it. She had already informed the surviving victims of the Luna family, and she was relieved that they would not be hearing it from the media. 'In everything I do in regard to the death penalty, I try to be serious, not headline driven, and victim-focused,' she said. 'So, I think that is what disturbed me about that.' 'Hopefully, that won't happen again, but we'll see.' In the months before the Gunches execution, attorneys and activists filed motions to stop it, arguing that the state's supply of pentobarbital, the execution drug, had possibly expired. Others argued that the drug's use constituted cruel and unusual punishment because, in 84% of cases, according to experts, it causes flash pulmonary edema, a chemical reaction in the lungs that causes the decedent to literally drown in his own body fluids, while unresponsive, but not necessarily insensate. Experts have compared it to the painful and terrifying sensation of water-boarding torture. In fact, autopsies of nine Arizona death row prisoners executed since 2011 showed clear signs of pulmonary edema. The Gunches execution went forward anyway, without a hitch, and his autopsy showed that he was one of the 16% who do not experience pulmonary edema. 'I think it was the result of extensive preparations by Ryan Thornell, and the fact that the state took the amount of time that we needed to take to get it right,' Mayes said. 'And there are obviously differing opinions on the death penalty, but it is the law of Arizona — and I'm the attorney general, and it's my job to uphold the law of Arizona.' Mayes scoffed at the suggestion that there may have been some luck involved in the Gunches execution happening without issue. And so she and Thornell are going forward in Djerf's execution with the same protocol. As she explained: 'What I think about when I'm making these decisions is, No. 1: Can the state do this constitutionally and competently, and we can. No. 2: I'm the top law enforcement officer in the state and it's my job to uphold the law. And No. 3: I think about what the victims went through. And what the victims went through in every single one of these cases is far greater than what the perpetrator deals with in those final moments. And that is certainly the case in every single case that I have looked at in terms of those folks who are on death row. They put their victims through pure hell, and that needs to be front and center.' 'I try to put myself in the shoes of someone who has had a loved one murdered,' she said. 'It's unimaginable, and therefore it's important for us to consider how they're feeling and what they think closure is for them. And no one can make that decision for them. Nobody. Not you, as a reporter who's covered these cases, not me, as an AG who's doing her second execution. Nobody but the victim knows what it's like to walk that path. And it's a horrible, horrible path. And it goes on for a long time because these cases take decades to do. That's where I put my focus.' Is execution closure for victims? Can anyone get over the trauma of having a family extinguished? 'It's the end of a chapter in a book that goes on forever,' Mayes said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Yahoo
Arizona man convicted of Phoenix boy's murder dies at Eloy prison
An Arizona prison inmate convicted of murder in a 2021 shooting of a boy in Phoenix has died. Dupree Oquavion Rollins, 22, died March 23 at La Palma Correctional Center in Eloy, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry. Rollins was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 22 years in March 2023, according to the Corrections Department. Rollins' conviction stemmed from the July 20, 2021, shooting death of 16-year-old Romeo Perkins, according to court and inmate records and reporting by The Arizona Republic. He was also convicted and sentenced to misconduct involving weapons and aggravated assault in 2023 related to the murder case, according to the Corrections Department and court records. "Due to the nature of Dupree's death, an investigation is currently being conducted by ADCRR's Office of the Inspector General," read a statement from the Corrections Department. "More information will be shared as it becomes available. All inmate deaths are also investigated in consultation with the county medical examiner's office." Court documents said Rollins was tied back to Perkins' death through witnesses, surveillance footage and social media communications. Police found Perkins wounded by several gunshots early in the morning in a living room at an apartment unit near Glenrosa Avenue and Black Canyon Highway, according to court documents. Perkins was pronounced dead at the scene with 10 casings found nearby, court documents detailed. Charging documents noted a woman called 911 and said she was inside the apartment with Rollins and Perkins when the three left and then returned shortly after. Video surveillance corroborated her account, according to court documents. Rollins told Perkins' family that he shot the boy 10 times, according to court documents. On Snapchat eight days later, Rollins admitted to a man whom he and Perkins were staying with at the apartments that he shot the boy because he feared the teen and the 911 caller were planning to kill him, charging documents said. Phoenix police announced on Aug. 27, 2021, on the social media platform X, previously known as Twitter, that they had booked Rollins on suspicion of murder. As of March 26, there have been at least 14 Arizona prison deaths in March 2025, according to the Corrections Department. Eyewitness account: Arizona promises transparent resumption of death penalty. For witnesses, much is unseen This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Inmate dies in Eloy prison after convicted of Phoenix boy's murder
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Yahoo
Arizona executes first death row inmate since 2022
March 20 (UPI) -- Arizona has executed a 53-year-old man convicted of kidnapping and murdering his girlfriend's former partner in 2002, marking the first death by the state since 2022. Death row inmate Aaron Gunches was executed by lethal injection at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Florence on Wednesday morning. The execution was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. MST. He was declared dead at 10:33 a.m., according to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry. "The process went according to plan and without incident," the department said in a statement. Gunches pleaded guilty in 2007 to first-degree murder and kidnapping and was sentenced to death for fatally shooting Ted Prince four times -- three times in the chest and once to the back of the head -- in an isolated area of the Arizona desert near Mesa, a city located east of Phoenix, in November 2002. Wearing a white jumpsuit, Gunches was escorted into the small execution chamber at 10:01 a.m. and strapped to a gurney. The drug protocol began at 10:13 a.m. and was completed six minutes later. Gunches declined to have a spiritual advisor present and when asked if he would like to issue a last verbal statement, he shook his head no, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry Director John Barcelo told reporters during a press conference that followed the execution. His last meal consisted of a western bacon cheeseburger, fries a spicy gyro, a BBQ gyro, onion rings and baklava for dessert, Barcelo said. "An execution is the most serious action the state takes and I assure you that it is not taken lightly but as the chief law enforcement officer in Arizona it is my job to enforce the law," Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes told reporters in the press conference. "The family of Ted Price has been waiting for justice for more than two decades. They deserve closure." Price was the ex-partner of Katherine Lecher, Gunches girlfriend in 2002. That November, Price stayed at Lecher's apartment for number of days while waiting for a school grant, according to court documents. On the 10th day, the former couple began to fight, and Lecher told Price to leave before hitting him in the face with a telephone. When Gunches came to the apartment that evening, he told Lecher and her roommate to put Price's belongings in the car, and he instructed them to drive out of Mesa, where he instructed them to stop in an isolated desert area. While Gunches rummaged through the trunk of the car, Price exited the vehicle. Gunches then shot Price four times. Each wound, the coroner concluded, would have been fatal, the court documents state. Gunches waived his right to counsel and represented himself during the trial. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to death by a jury in 2008, but the court later ordered a new penalty phase, ruling that evidence did not support the sentence. A second jury sentenced him to death in August 2013. He then waived his remaining appeals and remedies. He was originally scheduled to be executed in 2023, but Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs ordered a review of execution protocols. On Feb. 11, the Arizona Supreme Court issued a warrant of his execution. "If Ted were alive today he would be 63 years old," Karen Price, Ted Price's younger sister by 15 months, said during the press conference. "I'd like to imagine we would both be enjoying our retirement and perhaps planning a trip together rather than me coming here to witness the execution of the man who took his life." She said it was important to her family that everyone understands why her brother was killed. She said after Ted Price and Lecher broke up, he moved back to Utah to pursue his studies as a radiology technician. He was staying at her place temporarily in November 2002 until school housing became available as he was transferring to an institution in Arizona that would permit him to graduate earlier. Citing police records and documents, Karen Price said Lecher had started using methamphetamine following her breakup with Ted Price and when he came to her apartment he was surprised by this development. She said the argument that preceded his death was over Ted Price confronting Lecher about her doing methamphetamine with her teenage daughter in front of her son and his threat to contact police about the situation of the home. After hitting Ted Price with the telephone, Lecher, Karen Price alleged, called Gunches who arrived at the house not long afterward. "Ted just wanted to protect the two children that he had cared about. Tragically, he had no idea his threat would lead to his murder at the hands of Katherine Lecher's drug dealer who wanted him silenced," she said. "Ted was killed for doing the right thing, a senseless crime that robbed the world of a genuinely kind man." Gunches is the first person to be killed by Arizona since November 2022, when Murray Hooper was executed for the 1980 murder of Patrick Redmond and Redmond's mother-in-law, Helen Phelps. He is also the second person to be executed in the United States this week and the eighth so far this year.
