ABC15's "Death Row Diaries" takes a look at Arizona’s most notorious death row inmates past and present.
Robert Wayne “Bonzai Bob” Vickers
Born 04/29/1958
Executed 05/05/1999
Vickers entered Arizona's prison system as a teenager in 1977, after committing 12 burglaries in 13 days in Tempe.
His first murder came on October 4, 1978, when Vickers killed his cellmate, Frank Ponziano. He says he did it because Ponziano did not wake him up for lunch, and because he drank Vickers’ Kool-Aid. Vickers also carved the word “Bonazi” in Ponziano’s back using a sharpened toothbrush. He meant to write the Japanese war cry "Banzai" but misspelled the word.
Then, in front of a guard, Vickers burned a cigarette on Ponziano's foot to prove he was dead, telling the guard, "Get this stinking (expletive) out of my cell."
Escape plot
Vickers had a knack for creating makeshift knives and bombs, which he used to attack more than 11 prison guards during his two decades behind bars.
In August 1988, Vickers escaped from death row at the Florence prison and, along with another inmate, climbed atop the roof of Cellblock 6 through a shaft. Vickers had managed to short-circuit the electronic locking mechanism on his cell door and left a dummy in his bed.
Once atop the compound, however, the two realized they had no place to go. The outside fence was too far away, and it was too high to jump to the ground below.
Having nothing left to lose, the death row inmates stood on the roof and did a striptease for a female tower guard, until they were finally brought down by officers rushing to the roof.
Murder with toilet paper
On March 4, 1982, while on death row for the Ponziano murder, Vickers left his cell to do some clean-up chores. He went instead to the cell of Buster Holsinger, another death row inmate. Vickers was upset over an earlier remark Holsinger had made about Vickers’ niece, and wanted revenge. Vickers doused Holsinger with Vitalis hair tonic and threw burning toilet paper on him, setting him on fire. Holsinger died as a result of burns to the inside of his throat.
When a guard asked Vickers if Holsinger was dead, Vickers responded, "He should be. He's on fire." The attack also nearly killed a half-dozen other inmates due to smoke inhalation and forced officials to evacuate death row.
Afterward, Vickers told investigators, "I told them they should have gassed me in December when they had a chance."
It was not the first time Vickers had demanded death. In a letter the previous year to then-Gov. Bruce Babbitt, he'd written, "So what's the hold-up fella?”
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Vickers' conviction for the murder of Ponziano, but Vickers remained on death row for the murder of Holsinger.
Vickers' defense argued that his violent personality was a construct of the Arizona prison system, which failed to provide him with the psychiatric help he needed as a teen and instead raised him in a culture of violence. Vickers had a history of epileptic seizures, and psychiatrists said he had a brain disorder that resulted in violent outbursts.
"They should have gassed me...when they had a chance."
He spent 17 years on death row before his execution on May 5, 1999.
Vicker's last meal: Green chili burros - burritos with barbecued steak, French fries and ketchup, vanilla ice cream, cream soda, and a cigarette.
Information from Arizona Attorney General's office, Arizona Dept. of Corrections and Murderpedia.
