Ricky Wassenaar: 16 Life Sentences, 3 More Killings, 1 Day

A prison reform advocate had already emailed Arizona corrections officials warning them that Ricky Wassenaar was threatening to kill anyone placed in a cell with him. The emails were specific. The warnings were clear. Officials did not act on them. Weeks later, Wassenaar killed three men in a single day.

Wassenaar is one of Arizona's most well-documented dangerous inmates. He was already serving 16 consecutive life sentences for his role in a 2004 escape attempt at Lewis Prison in Buckeye that spiraled into a 15-day hostage standoff. During that standoff, guard Lois Fraley was held the entire time and has publicly stated she was raped by both inmates involved.

What Happened on April 4, 2025

On the morning of April 4, 2025, at the Arizona State Prison Complex Tucson's Cimarron Unit, Wassenaar strangled and suffocated his cellmate, Saul Alvarez. He later told the Arizona Mirror he did it simply because he did not want to share a cell with him.

Later that same day, Wassenaar placed a rock inside his fishnet laundry bag, walked to a fenced-in area where other prisoners were waiting to be let into the mess hall, and began swinging. He beat Thorne Harnage and Donald Lashley to death. A fourth inmate was injured in the attack but survived.

All three men who died had been convicted of serious sex crimes. Harnage and Lashley were serving life sentences for sexual conduct with a minor. Alvarez had been convicted of raping and killing a 15-year-old girl.

He Called the Press to Brag

After the killings, Wassenaar did not wait to be caught or questioned. He contacted the Arizona Mirror directly to confess, and then called a Phoenix television station to do the same. He was quoted as saying he wanted to kill them all.

Despite those public confessions, when Wassenaar was formally arraigned on December 18, he entered a plea of not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and one count of dangerous or deadly assault by a prisoner.

The Warning That Was Ignored

Prison reform advocate Donna Hamm had been explicit in her warnings to the Arizona Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Her emails to department leadership stated that Wassenaar needed to be kept in a single cell because he was actively threatening to kill anyone housed with him. She later told reporters that officials had ample warning, including from Wassenaar himself.

What made those warnings even more urgent in hindsight was a claim Wassenaar made about a previous cellmate. He told investigators he had killed Joseph Desisto in November 2024, again because he did not want to share a cell. An autopsy ruled Desisto's death was likely from natural causes, and Wassenaar was never charged in that case.

The detail that reframes everything: just weeks before the April killings, in December 2024, the Arizona Department of Corrections had quietly lowered Wassenaar's security classification from maximum security to close custody. That change gave him access to shared spaces, other inmates, and ultimately the opportunity to kill again. The reclassification came after Desisto's death, after Hamm's warnings, and less than four months before Harnage, Alvarez, and Lashley were dead.

How the Case Moved Through the System

The Arizona Department of Corrections did not refer the case to the Pima County Attorney's Office until late June, nearly three months after the killings. Pima County then declared a conflict of interest and passed the case to Pinal County, which ultimately brought formal charges.

Wassenaar now faces three counts of first-degree murder and one count of dangerous or deadly assault by a prisoner. Given that he is already serving 16 consecutive life sentences with no possibility of release, the practical impact of any additional sentence is largely symbolic. He remains incarcerated at the Arizona State Prison Complex.