A KILLER who savagely murdered a family over stolen electronics has been put to death more than three decades after the brutal attack.
Convicted killer Richard Kenneth Djerf, 55, died by lethal injection in Arizona on Friday, for the 1993 murders of a Phoenix family-of-four.
When he was just 23 years old, Djerf viciously killed Albert Luna Sr., his wife Patricia Luna and their two children Rochelle, 18, and 5-year-old Damien, to exact revenge on a former friend.
He spent 30 years on death row, and was the second person to die via the death penalty in Arizona this year.
On the fateful day in September 1993, Djerf went to the Luna family home, armed with a handgun, a knife, gloves and handcuffs.
Prosecutors said Djerf’s savage attack was revenge motivated, after his former friend Albert Luna Jr. broke into his home and stole electronic equipment and an AK-47 assault rifle.
Court documents said he was “determined to take revenge” when he forced his way into the Luna home.
Djerf tied Rochelle’s wrists to the bed, before forcibly slashing her clothes off with a knife.
He raped her before stabbing the 18-year-old in the chest and head, then slit her throat.
He murdered Albert Luna Sr. when he arrived home from work.
Djerf hit the father to the back of the head “multiple times” using a baseball bat, coating the room with blood.
Albert attempted to fight back as Djerf plotted to kill five-year-old Damien, but his efforts were in vain.
Djerf shot him six times.
Finally, the merciless killer tied Patricia and Damien to chairs before shooting them in the head “at close range”.
He then doused the room in gasoline, and left the stove burners on before leaving in the family car, the Phoenix New Times reported.
Albert Luna Jr. later discovered the bodies of his four family members and called police.
Prosecutors said Djerf had left the property and was bragging about his sickening crimes to his girlfriend.
He referred to the murders as “really awesome”.
On Friday, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said: “Today should be about the members of the Luna family, who Richard Djerf brutally murdered that September day in 1993”.
“Those four innocent victims deserve justice and their loved ones deserve closure.”
According to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR), Djerf was declared dead at 10.40am.
An ADCRR spokesperson said the execution “went according to plan and without incident”.
In a press conference, ADCRR deputy director John Barcello said Djerf had put up “no resistance” during his execution.
His veins were “not optimal”, so it took staff “a few attempts” before the lethal injection IV could be placed in properly.
The convicted killer received two phenobarbital shots, before he “took a few heavy breaths with a brief snoring sound” and died.
Djerf’s last meal was a double cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato, onion rings with ketchup, a slice of cherry pie and whipped cream, plus a 20-ounce Pepsi with ice.
Barcello said Djerf had given no last words.
After 32 years, Djerf apologised for the pain he had caused last month, saying he hoped his death would bring “some measure of peace”.
He was the second person to be executed by lethal injection in Arizona this year.
The state has paused executions twice since 2014.
In 2014, death row inmate Joseph Wood took a mammoth two hours to die after he was injected with 15 drug doses.
Wood’s lawyer said he “gasped more than 600 times” before finally dying and that he had tried to stop his execution while it was ongoing.
Executions continued in 2022.
In that year, the state killed Clarence Dixon, Frank Atwood and Murray Hopper, whose deaths were later criticised by reporters and lawyers, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre.
As a result, state governor Katie Hobbs put executions on hold again and conducted a review of the practice.
The review concluded in November last year, when the Democrat governor fired the retired federal magistrate judge that she’d appointed to complete it.
Djerf was the 39th court-ordered execution in the US this year and the second in Arizona.
His death was also the fourth in the US this week, following executions in Mississippi, Florida and Missouri.
The first was Aaron Brian Gunches in March, who was executed over the 2002 murder of Ted Price.
