CONVICTED FELON CARRIES OUT PRISON MURDERS IN ARIZONA 🪦 [3 CHILD PREDATORS WHACKED]

TUSCON, AZ (AZFamily) — One of the most notorious Arizona prisoners is the sole suspect in a mass killing at a Tucson prison. Now he’s sharing in his own words how and why he carried these murders out, and when he gave prison officials a warning that it would happen.

And it did happen in April, leading to major security concerns within the corrections department.

Go back two decades, when Ricky Wassenaar was responsible for one of the longest prison standoffs in U.S. history. In 2004, he and another inmate held guards hostage in a Lewis prison tower for more than two weeks. One said she was raped.

Now, he not only admitted he is a killer but said he had plans to kill more for a good reason.

“What did you feel in that moment killing them. Did that feel good to you?” asked true crime correspondent Briana Whitney.

“Well, I felt justified,” Wassenaar told Whitney in a call from prison.

“Do you wish you killed more?” asked Whitney.

“Of course! Of course. Here’s the thing, Briana, I jumped the gun,” said Wassenaar.

His statements were concerning and alarming, but Wassenaar said there was a reason he did it. The victims, Saul Alvarez, Thorne Harnage, and Donald Lashley, all had something in common.

“They were child molesters. Alvarez had raped…had kidnapped…first, he came to this country illegally. Then he kidnapped and raped and murdered a 15-year-old little girl. I did society a favor by killing that f****t,” said Wassenaar. “The other two, Harnage and Lashley, were both sexual child predators that molested several victims. So, I did society a favor.”

Alvarez was in prison for first-degree murder. Harnage and Lashley were in prison for child sex crimes.

Wassenaar said his killing spree was possible based on where they were allowed and locked in.

“The way the prison is situated when they let out for breakfast or meal times, they lock us in what they call a chute. It’s a cage outside the chow hall. Once we’re locked in, there’s nowhere to run to, we’re all in there,” he explained.

“Once I seen one of my main targets, I jumped the gun and started. If I would have waited until that chute was locked — that cage was locked, and we were all in there locked in — I would have killed at least seven. My goal was at least seven, but I was hoping for a baker’s dozen. I had several targets, all child molesters,” Wassenaar described.

Could this have been prevented? Wassenaar himself said he warned prison officials. In November 2024, Wassenaar said he was assigned a cellmate, Joseph Desisto, who was also in prison for child molestation and abuse.

He was assigned a cellmate after his custody level changed earlier last year from maximum custody to close custody for compliant behavior, meaning a lowered level of risk to the public and staff.

Wassenaar said he told prison staff he couldn’t have a cellmate.

“I can’t have a celly, I’m not prepared for that. I’ve been in my own cell for 21 years,” Wassenaar told us.

Desisto was found dead in the cell. Wassenaar claims he killed him as a practice for more and describes in detail how he did it.

“CIU (Criminal Investigations Unit) called me in there and I told them the details just what I told you. I told them I put suntan lotion on his neck, that I dropped sweat onto his face as I was killing him, the final strangulation. And nothing happened. They gave me my property. They put me back in a cell,” Wassenaar said.

Desisto was 81 years old. The Pima County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death was due to natural causes and underlying conditions, not a killing.

“When I got back to the yard, the inmates couldn’t believe it because they all know that I killed that dude. All of the inmates knew. And they send me back on the yard, they said, ‘What the hell?’ and I said, ‘Man, there’s higher powers, higher powers at work here.’ It’s going to recur. It’s going to recur when they put someone else in my cell. So, I warned them at least a month,” Wassenaar said.

Wassenaar told me he believed there was a chance he would be resentenced for his role in the Lewis prison standoff and have potential freedom.

Source: https://www.azfamily.com/2025/05/29/i-did-society-favor-prisoner-defends-murders-3-tucson-prison-inmates/