MCSO arrest man in Tennessee tied to murder of Tempe woman found dead in burning car
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office announced Monday that it had made an arrest in the case of a Tempe woman who was found dead in a burning car in Tonopah in 2023.
Sgt. Monica Bretado, a department spokesperson, said deputies with the agency's homicide unit arrested 22-year-old Sencere Hayes in connection to the death of 22-year-old Mercedes Vega. Bretado said Hayes was arrested in Tennessee on Nov. 11, and deputies would work with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office to extradite him back to Arizona.
Bretado didn't elaborate on how detectives tied Hayes to Vega's death.
It was not immediately clear how long the extradition would take or the specific criminal charges deputies would submit to prosecutors as of Monday. Bretado also did not specify whether detectives had any additional suspects tied to the killing.
What happened to Mercedes Vega?
MCSO deputies responded to reports of a burning car outside Tonopah on April 17, 2023, where they found Vega’s body in the backseat — roughly 60 miles west of her Tempe home.
A medical examiner report ruled Vega’s death as a homicide, citing the cause of death being due to the burns she suffered and smoke inhalation. The report said she also suffered blunt force trauma and gunshot wounds that contributed to her death.
The report stated that gloves and bleach were found in the front of the car and lighter fluid was in the backseat.
Friends and family begged for answers months after killing
Family and friends of Vega gathered at Phoenix police headquarters in downtown Phoenix in November 2023 as part of a press conference with Silent Witness where they pleaded for answers and evidence that would lead to justice for Vega's stolen life.
Vega's mother Erika Pillsbury, cried during the news conference as she tried to make sense of her daughter's death.
“I miss her so much,” Erika said. “She was so bright. She was such a beautiful, sweet, kind soul. She didn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve what happened to her. It just doesn’t seem real that she’s gone. She was mine and the person that did this had no right to take her away.”
Makenzie Lockhart, a friend of Vega’s, read a letter addressed to her deceased friend as tears ran down her cheek during the press conference.
“God, I miss you,” Lockhart said. “I never ever in my life thought that there would be a world that you weren’t in. You were robbed of your life and your future. We, your family and friends, were robbed of watching your future and it can’t just be for nothing. I’ll be damned if these vile, evil people will get away with what they did to you.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: MCSO arrest man tied to murder of Tempe woman found in burning car
