Friend Turned Foe
Djerf and Albert Luna Jr. worked together at a Safeway in Phoenix. According to a police report, they also became partners in crime, stealing from their workplace. Djerf thought they were friends until his apartment was robbed in January 1993. The thief took a television, a VCR, stereo equipment, a car alarm and an AK-47 assault rifle. Djerf suspected Albert Jr. and told the police as much.
Months passed but they were no closer to apprehending a suspect, so a frustrated Djerf decided to punish Albert Jr. himself. He went to Albert Jr.’s home on September 14, pretending to deliver a bouquet of artificial flowers in a vase. When Albert Jr.’s mother, Patricia, opened the door, Djerf forced his way in.
He held her 5-year-old son, Damien, hostage and forced her to load her own car with items from the house, including two VCRs, a telephone, a CD player, four watches and food stamps. Djerf then restrained both in the kitchen with rope and electrical tape. He asked Patricia if she knew where to find Albert Jr.
When Patricia’s teenage daughter, Rochelle, arrived home from school, Djerf took her to a bedroom and tied her wrists to a bed. He then removed her clothes with a knife and raped her, afterward stabbing her four times in the chest and slitting her throat. When Djerf was done, he informed Patricia that he raped and killed her.
Patricia’s husband, Albert Sr., arrived soon after. Djerf handcuffed him and made him crawl to the master bedroom and lay face down on the bed. He then grabbed an aluminum bat and struck Albert Sr. in the head multiple times. Afterward, he replaced the cuffs with tape and told Patricia he killed her husband.
Djerf’s next victim was Damien. He tried to snap the boy’s neck by twisting his head “like he had seen in the movies.” He turned his head “all the way around and nothing happened.” Djerf then tried to electrocute him by taping exposed wires to his calves. Again, nothing happened. Although badly injured, Albert Sr. freed himself from the tape and charged Djerf in the kitchen with a pocket knife, stabbing him in the right arm and torso. Djerf pulled out a gun and shot him six times.
Djerf turned to Patricia and asked, “Do you want to watch your kid die, or do you want your kid to watch you die?” He then shot them both in the head.
Djerf boasted about the murders to his girlfriend, telling her the blood dripping from Patricia’s gunshot wound was “really awesome” and “you should have been there.” He also bragged to some friends. On September 16, one of his friends called the police anonymously and told them Djerf was the killer.
Djerf was hiding out at a Motel 6 when the police found and arrested him two days later. He was convicted of multiple counts, including the first-degree murders of Patricia, Damien, Rochelle and Albert Sr. During the penalty phase, Djerf argued that his counsel was not keeping him informed of progress on his case and decided to represent himself. He lost and received the death penalty. He was executed on October 17, 2025, by lethal injection.
A Peaceful Death?
Executions by lethal injection are supposed to be a humane response to barbaric acts. Proponents promised a procedure in which inmates are peacefully put to sleep before the fatal dose of a two- or three-drug cocktail is administered. However, lethal injection has been controversial since the modern version was instituted in 1977. One study of more than 200 autopsies found that 84% of executions using a one-drug pentobarbital protocol resulted in acute pulmonary edema, a condition in which fluid seeps into the lungs very quickly and painfully.
Another review of 27 autopsies–seven of which did not include a report on the lungs–found that 20 cases showed acute pulmonary edema. Eight of those cases were from Arizona.
Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs halted executions in 2023 pending a review. She enlisted retired judge David Duncan to look into execution protocols. He found that corrections officials were “seeking to learn the eve of an execution what doses of lethal drugs to administer from Wikipedia.” After citing the state’s botched executions over the years in a draft report, Duncan concluded that there was no humane way to kill someone with lethal injection. Hobbs said Duncan went beyond the scope of his mandate and fired him. The report was scrapped, and Arizona resumed executions in March 2025.
Corinna Lain, a renowned expert on the death penalty and author of Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection, tells A&E Crime + Investigation that she filed amicus briefs to stop Arizona from executing prisoners, arguing that “the state has a long history of execution failures that raise critical questions about the humanity, transparency, and constitutionality of executions by lethal injection.”
An autopsy of Djerf showed that the medical team had trouble establishing an IV line. There were seven needle puncture marks on his arms. Examiners also found that the needle tip did “not appear to be in the vein” and that a clear fluid was present beneath the skin, suggesting failed placement.
Currently, 27 states allow the death penalty, while another four states have a pause on executions by executive action. Hobbs said that Arizona’s Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry conducted “a comprehensive review of prior executions and has made significant revisions to its policies and procedures.” In addition to supporting death by lethal injection, Arizona legislators have been pushing legislation that would let voters decide whether to implement death by firing squad.
