Haunting theory after woman found tortured to death with face covered in bleach
Police investigating the brutal murder of a dancer believe she was targeted for agreeing to testify against a man who had previously threatened her at gunpoint.
Mercedes Vega, 22, remains were discovered in April 2023 inside a burning car in Tempe, Arizona, with her face covered in bleach. Mercedes had been on her way to meet a friend but never arrived, reports the Mirror.
Now, police believe a third person may have been involved in her death. Two men have already been charged — but newly uncovered details have cast suspicion on a third individual called Cudjoe Young.
It has emerged that Young had previously been charged with armed robbery, with Vega naming him as the suspect. The incident happened in 2020 when the dancer was ambushed outside the club where she worked by a masked gunman.
He demanded her belongings, threatened to kill her, and shoved her to the ground before fleeing. Police have now confirmed Vega was due to give evidence in court against Young on the very day she was found dead.
NBC News reports that Maricopa County police believe Young should face charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Gloves and bleach were discovered in the front of the burnt-out car, while lighter fluid was found in the back seat.
'We've felt like we've been drowning in a sea of despair and grief for two and a half years,' said her heartbroken mother, Erika Pillsbury. 'And now we've been thrown a life preserver. The people that are responsible for murdering my little daughter are hopefully going to face justice."
Police say someone tried to hack into Mercedes' phone after snatching it — but failed to gain access. A spokesperson for Scottsdale Police, who investigated the robbery, said officers had done the best they could with the information available at the time.
Jared Gray and Sencere Hayes have already been charged in connection with Vega's death. Gray, currently in jail in Georgia, faces charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping. Hayes has pleaded not guilty to murder.
Police say Hayes' fingerprint was found on a bloody grocery bag inside Mercedes' car.
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Her devastated father, Tom Pillsbury, told of the torment of coming face-to-face with the man accused of killing his daughter.
'It's very hard for me to sit there and not want to reach over the counter and grab him and basically take his life," he said. "It's what we needed to do. But to know that this person is still on this planet and my daughter's not, and this is the person that supposedly did this, is very hard to swallow.
'He had to figure out Mercedes, what she did, where she was at, where she lived and all that stuff, and there's no way he could have figured that out without somebody helping him."
Her friend, Makenzie Lockhart, also believes more people were involved in the attack.
'You change your pain a little bit,' her mum Erika said during a court appearance by Hayes. 'It changes. It's been a year and a half since she was murdered so horribly. And that was the main, main focus that I would think about all the time before I knew that somebody was going to be held accountable.'
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