Family's chilling suspicion realized after dancer found dead in burning car with bleach poured down her throat
Mercedes Vega, 22, was discovered tortured in the back of a flaming Chevrolet Malibu off a highway roughly 50 miles west of Phoenix in April 2023.
Her battered body was found the day she was set to testify against Cudjoe Young, a man accused of robbing her at gunpoint in 2020. She had previously identified him as the culprit.
Vega's mother and step-father, Erika and stepfather Tom Pillsbury, have long believed she was killed to stop her spill incriminating evidence about the alleged assailant in court.
Now, their unsettling theory may have been proven true.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office believes the two men accused to killing Vega, Jared Gray and Sencere Hayes, are connected to Young.
While few details regarding the nature of their relationship have been made clear, they are all linked by location.
They all have ties to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Young grew up there, while Gray and Hayes traveled there from Phoenix.
Two people interview by detectives claimed Young paid Gray and Hayes to pick up the Chevrolet Malibu Vega was found in after buying it online in March 2023.
Gray and Hayes had also flown in from Tennessee together, NBC reported.
The person whose credit card was used to buy their tickets allegedly told police he never purchased them.
But they claimed the Young had access to their card and may have bought the tickets himself.
The revelation that these three men may have been in cahoots has brought some closure for Vega's parents.
'We've felt like we've been drowning in a sea of despair and grief for two and a half years,' Erika told NBC.
'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.'
Last month, the sheriff's office recommended that Young should be charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit kidnapping in Vega's death, according to court documents reviewed by NBC.
Hayes was the first suspect charged regarding Vega's murder. He was arrested in November 2024 and charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and theft. He has pleaded not guilty.
Gray, who is serving time in Georgia for an unrelated incident, faces the same charges in connection to Vega's death, according to a June 20 court filing reviewed by NBC.
Young is currently only facing charges related to allegedly following Vega home from the strip club she worked at, Le Girls.
Several other dancers had the club had also been violently robbed around the same time.
Young had allegedly followed Vega home one night - sprinting toward her in her building's parking garage and demanding her belongings.
'He shoved her to the ground, told her he'd kill her and held the gun to her face,' Erika told NBC.
Young allegedly stole everything she had on her and fled the scene.
After Vega identified Young as the man who robbed her, he was arrested and charged.
But he posted his $50,000 bond and has been a free man.
Vega had moved to a Tempe apartment complex she believed would be safer after she was attacked.
Since the incident, Vega was easily startled, her mother said. 'You couldn't walk up behind her without her jumping,' she added.
However, the garage of this building was the last place she was seen alive before she was kidnapped and murdered in 2023.
Vega vanished after telling friends she was headed to work.
'Uber is $60,' Vega wrote to her friend and co-worker Jelena Gamboa that night, as they were supposed to get together.
'I might just go to work then. I feel like it's a sign I shouldn't go.'
Security cameras caught the moment her car, followed by the Chevrolet Malibu she was found in, both exited the garage.
Her disappearance sparked a frantic manhunt, but she was found dead a day after she disappeared.
The Sheriff's Office said Young was out of custody at the time of Vega's death, but that his ankle monitor did not place him at the scene of the crime.
He has pleaded not guilty and his trial regarding the robbery case has been postponed 16 times, according to 12 News.
It is officially scheduled to kick off at the end of the month. It is unclear why it has been delayed for so long.
'I just don't understand how the system continues to allow someone to basically play the system to their full advantage. And that's exactly what he's doing,' Vega's step-dad Tom told 12 News in March.
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