AZ AZ - Diana Vicari, 19, Tucson, 23 Oct 1992

[bessie]

Dismembered and thrown in a dumpster: Who killed Diana Vicari?
By Marcelino Benito. CREATED Jan 15, 2014

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Twenty-one years later and the alley on 7th and Ferro still has that eery feel. In a Tucson dumpster, police found Diana Vicari's arms, severed from her body.

"It hit us all really hard, really hard," said Angela Vicari, Diana's sister.

[...]

For the longest time, county prosecutors and the Vicari family believed Lemuel Prion killed and dismembered Diana. Diana's car was found just days later near La Cholla and Osa St., just blocks away from where Prion lived at the time. In 1999, he was convicted and sentenced to death for the grisly crime.

"I did not murder Vicari, nor did I know her," said Prion at one of his court hearings.

He always claimed innocence and in 2002 his conviction and death sentence was overturned. There was no murder weapon or strong physical evidence to link Prion to Vicari's brutal killing, only arms in a dumpster. Diana's family was back at square one. The killer still out there.

[...]

TPD's cold case unit is reviewing the case. They are urging the public to come forward with new leads. Someone out there could very well hold the key to this decades old ca

[...]

If you have any information about this case, call 88-crime or TPD's Cold Case Unit at (520) 837-7588.

 

[bessie]

Diana Vicari is listed with NamUs, presumably because only partial remains (arms) were located.

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/20424/73

News articles:

Slaying of 19-year-old open wound for family

Utah inmate indicted in 1992 slaying
Associated Press Published: Sunday, Aug. 31 1997 12:00 a.m. MDT

A Pima County grand jury indicted convicted rapist Lemuel Prion on Thursday on charges of first-degree murder, sexual assault, aggravated assault and kidnapping.A woman collecting aluminum cans found Diana Dawn Vicari's arms in October 1992. The rest of the 19-year-old college student's body was never found, though her car was found within two blocks of where Prion lived at the time.

Mystery shrouds 1992 murder
Tucson Citizen
by Gabrielle Fimbres on Apr 20, 1994

[...]

“My name is Kathy Pashos, and my daughter Diana Vicari’s severed arms were found in a dumpster.’

Horrifying words for a mother to utter. But for Kathy, they are reality.

[...]

Diana, Kathy’s third-born child, was last seen alive in the early morning hours of Oct. 23, 1992. She was looking for friends in the parking lot of the Tucson Convention Center, where a rock concert was being held.

The following afternoon, a homeless woman looking for cans found Diana’s bloody, severed arms protruding from a plastic garbage bag in a dumpster just north of downtown. The rest of Diana’s body has not been found, and no arrests have been made.

[...]

Kathy drove to every spot in the city she could think of where Diana might have gone.

The searching stopped when Kathy called her daughter, Debbie, who was at home, waiting for word.

“She said, `They just had a bulletin on TV. Two arms were found in a dumpster. Mom, I know these are Diana’s arms.’ ‘

Later that evening, Kathy was shown a ring that was found on one of the fingers. It was a ring Diana had been given by her father, one she always wore.

 

[bessie]

A few articles about Lemuel Prion's conviciton and exoneration:

http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/1999/06/30/165277-prion-s-siblings-testify-of-father-s-abuse/

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/az-supreme-court/1291382.html

http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3551

 

[bflocket]

This ain't much, but here's his Murderpedia profile...

Lemuel PRION (Murderpedia.org)

 

[kevmoley]

Diana Vicari's sister wrote & sung a song she posted on facebook for her sister. There are a lot of articles regarding this case in the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KrZKiuy0I4

 

[wendybtn]

Does anyone remember the case of the young woman who was brutally raped and had her arms severed but lived to tell her story? Is there any possibility the cases could be related? I know the case I'm thinking of was in the southwest or Southern California.

 

[wendybtn]

Answered my own question. Mary Vincent raped and maimed in 1978 by Lawrence Singleton in Modesto, California. He was out of prison and off probation from approximately 1989-1997. He tried to settle in several California towns and eventually returned to Florida. But that does not mean he did not go back and forth and drive through Arizona.

 

[scriptgirl]

Vid of local news report:

[video=youtube;SuLzhZMPeww]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuLzhZMPeww[/video]

 

[CastlesBurning]

Sister Says Prion Still Guilty, Even Though His Conviction Has Been Thrown Out

 

[DesertSleuth]

We need to get fresh eyes on this case. According to a post in the bio under Deborah Vicari's song from January 2008...

I wrote this song for my sister Diana Vicari three months after her arms were found in a dumpster. This video is more intense. The Vicari name was already famous for a very bad reason. I had to take a break as life got too difficult. Murder's aftermath can bring great hardship. But I am becoming active in the victims rights groups and being an advocate again which is one reason for my becoming involved in the public arena again. There is a guy that is missing that is a huge suspect in my sister's murder dismemberment case. JOHN MAZURE. I am thinking that maybe.. just maybe.. if I can get THIS video out.. with the news article and his name JOHN MAZURE - maybe somebody will know where he is. Maybe somebody will know who murdered my sister. Maybe it was somebody else but people have been contacing me about HIM A lot lately. Her murder is unsolved. The internet can work miracles. I am praying youtube can help solve this cold case. Please help. It only takes ONE person to know. Please pass this around. Please. Another suspect was LEMUEL PRION. Diana was also dating her drama teacher. My Mom was searching for Diana at both his place and his fiancees' house. Consequently, the house where Diana's car was found was a house in escrow belonging to the fiancee's MOM. Pretty interesting eh??? Yeah a who done it if I ever saw one! Diana's purse was in her car like she was only there for a minute and only took her keys in. I always suspected him but the police said he passed a lie detector test. I am not convinced. It was the night of drama class she disappeared and they had an affair going. Yup a who done it! HIS name is Robert Encila. When I met him years later he never said he was sorry about Diana.. ONLY that he remembered the day was the anniversary becauae he was a murder suspect. I still suspect him because he never said anything kind about Diana to me her own sister. Others have mentioned the fiancee being a suspect. Good point. The DNA that is new COULD be male or female. We are still waiting as of September 6th. Welcome to my world. These, in my opinion, are the three (four) prime suspects. I put my money on Encila. Everybody else does John Mazure. The detective still believes it was Lemuel Prion but there is room for doubt. The cops convicted Prion and it was overturned and he is a KNOWN serial rapist possibly murderer out walking the streets.. OUR streets. Yes.. could be a who done it movie - sadly it is real life. It's terribly painful to go through. For anyone going through a murder or anything similar. I am so sorry. My sister's murder is status unsolved. I FINALLY said what I have wanted to say FOR YEARS!! Now please help!!! Please?? In the next week I will be making a oersonal video and adding info. I will also find out about cold case or AMW. Time to get this my sister's case some coverage again. Thank you EVERYONE so much for your incredible support. It has meant and means so much. Debbie Vicari

Now from what I found out in my many years since starting the forum on unexplained mysteries there is a 5th suspect named Gregory S Hatton who was a friend of Diana and her younger sister Angela. Greg was arrested in 1993 and sent to prison in July 1994 for several decades for sodomizing and horrifically physically abusing his girlfriends baby. According to a poster on that thread Greg and John Mazure were friends and "part of a sadistic group of guys" one of whom allegedly wondered aloud what it'd be like to cut someones arms off.

Mazure worked at Eegees and then the New Orleans Lounge bar on Oracle Road where Diana was last seen alive.

As far as Enclina he is now married to a woman named Virginia. At the time of the murder the woman his fiance and later would be his first wife was named Judy Hartley.

I find it unlikely Prion, Encila, Hartey's/Hartley's mother, Mazure, and Hatton were all involved in this. I think it's likely Prion was telling the truth and not involved. Maybe Encila was not involved either but somehow Hartley made contact with Hatton and Mazure and paid them? Maybe he was involved? I think the most likely scenario is Greg Hatton and John Mazure met up with Diana or followed her around, kidnapped and raped her, killed her and dismembered her body.

We know Hatton is a psycho based off what he did to his girlfriends baby. I feel Mazure might be as according to court records he had once bit the nose of a coworker and had history of violent behavior.

Mazure has disappeared. The question is does anyone out there know what happened to him? I feel detectives in 2008 would have revealed to Debbie Vicari if he had died. I can't find any missing persons report on a John Mazure. So what happened to him? Where is John Mazure now?

 

[DesertSleuth]

It's been a few years. I wanted to bump this thread to get more attention on the case.

Since my last post I found out John Mazure's real name was John Stephen Mazur. Mazur was incorrectly spelled with an E in Arizona Supreme Court docs.

Lemuel Prion was shot and killed in an incident in Utah in August 2023. There was no concrete evidence tying him to Dianas case and Mazur, Gregory Scott Hatton, Robert Encila and his ex fiancé/ex wife Judi Encila aka Judi Spencer/Judi Hartley are all still living. So is Troy Olson the New Orleans Lounge employee who fingered Prion.

Hatton is still in prison for child molestation. Encila still runs his own theatre company in Tucson and remarried after divorcing Judi. Mazur is a car saleman and salon owner in the state of Utah.

This case does not seem to be connected with the Canal Killer/Zombie Hunter case of Bryan Patrick Miller.

Last I checked years ago a detective named David Miller with the Tucson PD was in charge of this investigation and I believe he still is to this day.

 

[DesertSleuth]

Attaching more screenshots of articles found in Newspapers.com search. One screenshot is a 1994 photo of Hatton from his trial in the child molestation case.

 

[DesertSleuth]