The murder of an Apache Junction widow on December 29, 1947, led to the first execution in Arizona’s new gas chamber at Florence, Arizona. This is a sad story of a pitiful man who was willing to take an innocent life to live a brief moment of success. The events leading up to the murder of Mrs. Katherine M. Gohn at her home on December 29, 1947, relives an early part of Apache Junction’s history.
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| The man who committed a shooting and homicide in Apache Junction worked for Julian King (above) out at King’s Ranch in 1947. Angel “Rocky” Serna, the perpetrator of the crime, was the first to be executed in Arizona’s new gas chamber. |
You might say this story began at the King’s Guest Ranch near Dinosaur Mountain in the area we know today as Gold Canyon. Julian and Lucy King had begun construction on their guest ranch in 1945 and continued to improve the place. During the summer of 1946, they were asked to give Angel “Rocky” Serna a job. The county probation officer, a friend of the Kings, explained to the Kings that Serna was an ex-convict and needed another chance to go straight. The Kings gave Serna the job.
“Rocky” as he liked to be called, helped the Kings put in their water system at the guest ranch. He worked all summer without any problem. When the weather cooled off, Rocky usually went to town on the weekends. He was very interested in horses and was a good jockey. He also owned his own racehorse for a while. Early in September of 1947, Rocky found the racehorse he wanted to buy. The only problem was the horse cost $400.00. Rocky didn’t have $400.00 or any way of obtaining it. Julian King tried to explain to him that it was a lot of money for a horse. Rocky insisted he would earn or find the money to buy the horse somehow. He quit working at the King’s Ranch near the end of October and took a job in Apache Junction. It was about nine miles out to the King’s Ranch in those days from Apache Junction.
Serna spent most of the morning at the Apache Junction Inn. His first trip down to the Superstition Mountain Chevron Station was to borrow the $400.00 from Mrs. Gohn to buy a racehorse in Chandler. Johnny Baker, the cook at the Apache Junction Inn, drove Rocky down to the service station. Mrs. Gohn wasn’t at the station.
Rocky was intelligent enough to know he could not earn $400.00 no matter what he did. It was on his second trip that he decided to rob the Superstition Mountain Chevron Station, one mile west of Apache Junction. Rocky stole a pistol from Grady Haskins and walked down to the station on Monday morning, December 29, 1947. He then walked into the Superstition Mountain Chevron Station and demanded money with a gun in his hand. Mrs. Fairy Thompson, 32, the daughter of Katherine Gohn, knew Rocky and thought he was joking around. When Mrs. Thompson laughed and said, “You are kidding Rocky,” he shot her in the left breast. Mrs. Thompson’s two young daughters were in a back room of the station. After the shot, Rocky rushed out the door. The two young girls found their mother lying on the floor. The oldest girl, Bonnie told her young sister to stay with their mother while she went to the Apache Junction Inn for help. She ran out the back door and toward Jack Anderson’s Apache Junction Inn to summon help. The police were immediately contacted.
After shooting Fairy Thompson, Rocky proceeded to the home of Katherine Gohn. Serna shot Mrs. Gohn in the hand, dragged her into the bedroom where he raped her and then shot her in the head. He then stole her car and headed east on Highway 60. He turned up King’s Ranch Road and drove up to King’s Ranch. Serna arrived at King’s Guest Ranch and confronted Paul Marchand, asking him for help to get to Safford. He further told Marchand he just killed “two women.” Marchand told Serna to go to Sand Tanks and wait for him. Marchand immediately contacted the Kings and they called the police, reporting what had happened. Sheriff Lynn Early and Sheriff Cal Bois were both involved in the search for Serna.
Earl Parrish, a Chandler constable and Highway Patrolman Coy Beasley captured Angel “Rocky” Serna several hours later. When arrested, Serna had fifty dollars in his possession. Rocky immediately confessed to killing Ms. Gohn and shooting Ms. Thompson. He was booked into Pinal County Jail at Florence.
Angel “Rocky” B. Serna was born in a small town near Douglas, Arizona, called Franklin. He had been in trouble with the law before. He was on parole from the Arizona State Prison for robbery at the time he shot Fairy Thompson and murdered her mother, Mrs. Gohn.
Angel B. Serna was tried and found guilty of murder in the First Degree and the punishment was set at death. The Pinal County Superior Court set the execution date for Serna on May 22, 1948. The Arizona State Supreme Court then gave Serna a temporary stay and then ordered Serna to be executed on January 21, 1950. Governor Dan E. Garvey granted Serna a Reprieve of Execution on December 10, 1949, and another on April 13, 1950.
Katherine Gohn’s luck ran out on December 29, 1947. Angel “Rocky” B. Serna’s luck ran out at 4:05 a.m. on July 29, 1950, when he became the first man to be executed in Arizona’s new gas chamber.
I received a letter several years ago from a retired librarian named Patricia Shively Elmore who inquired about the killer that murdered her grandmother in Apache Junction in 1947. She and I began researching the topic and the foregoing information surfaced. Today is a lot like yesterday. The victim is often forgotten and the criminal is remembered. Katherine Gohn, her daughter Fairy Thompson, the Superstition Mountain Chevron Service Station and their work have not been forgotten, nor was it in vain. Let’s hope that good will triumph over evil. My friend, Lynn Early, who was Sheriff of Pinal County in 1947, told me this story several decades ago and how tragic it was.
Another interesting twist occurred in this story. Just recently, in 2007, when Patty Brewer Simmons gave me some of the original stories and letters written by Angel “Rocky” Serna between 1948 and the time of his execution on July 29, 1950. Serna’s had hand written letters that revealed a lot about his character. Also more research revealed that 10,000 signatures were gathered in hopes of getting Angel Serna’s sentence commuted to life in prison. Even this effort by friends and family did not help Angel “Rocky” Serna escape the gas chamber at the Arizona State Prison.
Ironically, the wheels of justice move much more slowly today and it is much more difficult to bring criminals to justice. Our court systems today are overtaxed with criminal cases therefore incapacitating them from administrating justice like it should be. The court system of our county needs much stronger support from its citizen. We need more Superior Court judges to handle the huge case load the courts now deal with.
