Authorities introduced an arrest Monday within the brutal homicide of an unique dancer whose physique was found in a burning automobile on an Arizona interstate greater than a yr in the past.
Sencere Hayes, 22, was taken into custody Nov. 11 in Tennessee in reference to the killing of Mercedes Vega, 22, April 17, 2023, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned in a press release.
The sheriff’s workplace and native prosecutors are working to extradite Hayes to Arizona, the assertion mentioned, including that the case stays lively and below investigation and that no different data could be launched.
It is not clear what Hayes has been charged with, the place he’s being held or whether or not he has a lawyer to talk on his behalf.
Vega’s mom, Erika Pillsbury, mentioned that for 19 months she felt her daughter would by no means see justice.
“Now I do know the one who did this to her goes to pay for it,” Pillsbury mentioned by cellphone Monday.
Mercedes Vega.
Vega’s physique was found within the again seat of a Chevy Malibu early April 17 on the shoulder of Interstate 10 close to Tonopah, roughly 52 miles west of Phoenix, in response to a sheriff’s incident report. Vega, who carried out at a Phoenix strip membership and had plans to change into a private coach, had been overwhelmed, shot and burned, in response to her post-mortem.
Her face appeared to have been doused in bleach, in response to a forensic pathologist who reviewed her post-mortem for NBC Information.
Safety video of Mercedes Vega.
Hours earlier, a safety digital camera in Vega’s residence advanced confirmed her strolling into the storage the place she had parked her Dodge Charger, in response to video obtained by NBC Information. She wasn’t heard from once more.On April 18, the Charger was discovered in the course of a highway roughly a mile from Vega’s residence, the sheriff’s workplace has mentioned. It is not clear how the car bought there. Authorities have declined to remark.
Vega’s household has mentioned they discovered blood on the storage flooring close to the place she parked, prompting them to consider she could have been assaulted and kidnapped. The sheriff’s workplace has declined to remark.
In response to the incident report, the Malibu that Vega’s physique was present in had a salvage title and had beforehand been registered to an individual who could not be reached for remark.
A spokesman for the automobile’s most up-to-date proprietor, State Farm Insurance coverage, has declined to remark, citing buyer privateness coverage and “sensitivities surrounding this tragedy.”
The 911 caller who reported the automobile fireplace noticed somebody strolling across the Malibu, in response to the report, which did not present further particulars concerning the particular person.
This text was initially revealed on NBCNews.com