Preston Strong, a man from Yuma in southwestern Arizona, stands convicted in two separate cases. In 2012 a Yuma County judge found him guilty of the 2007 murder of Satinder Gill, a conviction later merged into a single count of murder. In 2017 a Yuma County jury found him guilty of six counts of first-degree murder for deaths that had occurred on June 24, 2005: those of Luis Rios, Adrienne Heredia and her four children, who were between 6 and 13 years old. The jury voted for death. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and sentences on September 3, 2024.
The two cases were tried in reverse order of the events. The 2007 death was charged first and went to trial in 2012; the 2005 deaths were not charged until June 2014, about nine years after they occurred.
The deaths of June 24, 2005, occurred in Yuma. Luis Rios was 35 and Adrienne Heredia was 29. Heredia was Rios's girlfriend, and her four children, aged 6 to 13, died with them. Strong had been Rios's best friend.
At trial, prosecutors said the motive was money. Strong had a history of financial trouble and often borrowed from Rios, and the relationship soured when Rios refused to lend more. Prosecutors also said the two men had quarreled over how much time Strong spent with Heredia's family. Rios had earlier given Strong thousands of dollars before cutting him off.
Police named Strong as a suspect early, but years passed before he was charged. The delay became an issue on appeal. In September 2016 the defense asked the trial court to dismiss the case for preindictment delay. The motion was denied, and the Arizona Supreme Court later found no sign that the State had waited on purpose to gain an advantage.
The second case concerns Satinder Gill, who died in Yuma in 2007. The exact date is not on record. Strong was charged in the Yuma County Superior Court. The grand jury indictment named first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree felony murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault and other offenses. The State also alleged aggravating circumstances and gave notice that it would seek the death penalty.
Strong waived his right to a jury. In exchange, the State withdrew the death-penalty notice. After a bench trial lasting 34 days, Judge John Neff Nelson found him guilty on all eight counts. The convictions were two counts of first-degree murder, one count of kidnapping, two counts of aggravated assault and three other counts. The judge imposed concurrent terms of natural life on the two murder counts and consecutive presumptive terms on the other counts, totaling 22 years: five years for the kidnapping count, five years each for two of the other counts, and three and a half years each for the remaining counts. The conviction came in 2012; the sentencing date is not on record.
Strong appealed to the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One. His arguments covered pretrial publicity, a motion to disqualify the Yuma County Attorney's Office, the voluntariness of his jury waiver, and whether the evidence proved who committed the offense. In a memorandum decision of September 2, 2014, written by Judge Randall M. Howe, the court held that the jury waiver had made the publicity question moot, found no abuse of discretion in the refusal to disqualify the prosecutors, held the waiver knowing, intelligent and voluntary, and found substantial circumstantial evidence on identity. It did, however, rule that the two murder convictions were multiplicitous. It merged them into one and vacated the second natural-life term. All other convictions and sentences were affirmed.
The State charged Strong with the 2005 deaths in June 2014. Before trial, the defense moved in August 2015 to change the venue because of publicity; the court denied it in January 2016. A motion to suppress testimony about a financial dispute with Rios, filed in April 2016, was also denied after an evidentiary hearing. The case was heard before Presiding Judge Maria Elena Cruz of the Yuma County Superior Court. Jury selection began in January 2017.
On April 25, 2017, the jury returned verdicts of guilty on all six counts of first-degree murder. Strong was 50 years old. On April 28 the jury found six aggravating circumstances, one for each of the six deaths, which made him eligible for the death penalty. The aggravating factors alleged were a prior conviction for an offense that carried a possible life sentence, the commission of other homicides during the offense, and the murder of children under fifteen by an adult. A fourth, that the murders were committed in a cold, calculated manner, was also alleged; the jury found the factors proven, but the trial court later withdrew that one as an error under the law in effect at sentencing.
The penalty phase began on May 1. On Friday, May 5, 2017, after several hours of deliberation, the jury decided that Strong should be sentenced to death. Judge Cruz imposed death on each of the six counts. Had the jury not agreed on death, she could have chosen life without parole or life with release possible after at least 25 years.
Strong's appeal went straight to the Arizona Supreme Court, as the law provides for death sentences. The central question concerned a juror known as Juror 47, and the 2012 conviction. The defense argued that the juror had known of the Gill case and its outcome and had not disclosed it. On May 26, 2020, the Supreme Court stayed the appeal and sent the case back to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing on whether the juror knew of the conviction and whether any such knowledge was harmless. The trial court found that the juror had known of the Gill case but had forgotten that Strong was the person convicted until the aggravation phase, and found no misconduct.
When the appeal resumed, the Supreme Court rejected each claim. It found that the juror did not recall the conviction until the aggravation phase and did not discuss it with other jurors. It upheld the denial of the change of venue, finding that publicity had been mostly factual and that no actual prejudice was shown. It upheld the exclusion or limiting of several defense exhibits and witnesses, the admission of testimony on the financial dispute, and of testimony from a fellow inmate with a redacted letter, which the court treated as party admissions. It held that a jury instruction on the cold-and-calculated factor was erroneous but not fundamental error, since the jury was told to disregard it and other factors remained. It found that statements by relatives of the victims did not unfairly prejudice the jury, and that an omission in the instruction on the multiple-homicide factor was not fundamental error. Reviewing for abuse of discretion, because the deaths occurred after August 1, 2002, it concluded that reasonable evidence supported three aggravating factors and that the jury had not abused its discretion in rejecting the mitigating evidence. Justice William G. Beene wrote the opinion, filed on September 3, 2024: "We affirm Strong's convictions and sentences."
Strong asked the court to reconsider on October 9, 2024, again seeking a new trial on the juror claim. On November 1, 2024, the court unanimously denied the motion.
In November 2024 Strong's convictions and death sentences were final in the Arizona courts. His place of confinement within the Arizona prison system is not on record.
No other killings have been charged against Strong, and none are attributed to him. The 2005 trial turned on circumstantial evidence and the testimony of a fellow inmate, and the defense challenged both on appeal. The Arizona Supreme Court rejected those challenges. The exact date of the 2007 death, the date of the 2012 verdict and the date of the formal imposition of the death sentences are not on record.
June 24, 2005: Luis Rios, Adrienne Heredia and her four children die in Yuma.
2007: Satinder Gill dies in Yuma.
2012: Strong is found guilty on all eight counts after a 34-day bench trial and receives natural life.
June 2014: Strong is charged with six counts of first-degree murder for the 2005 deaths.
September 2, 2014: The Court of Appeals affirms, merging the two murder counts into one.
August 2015: Motion to change venue filed (denied January 2016).
January 2017: Jury selection begins.
April 25, 2017: Guilty on all six counts.
April 28, 2017: Jury finds aggravating circumstances.
May 5, 2017: Jury decides on death; Judge Cruz imposes death on each count.
May 26, 2020: Arizona Supreme Court stays the appeal and orders a hearing on Juror 47.
September 3, 2024: Arizona Supreme Court affirms the convictions and death sentences.
November 1, 2024: Motion for reconsideration denied.