Prosecutors in Arizona said they plan to seek the death penalty if two men are convicted in the brutal murder of an exotic dancer in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In court filings, prosecutors with the Maricopa County Attorney\u2019s Office said Wednesday that Cudjoe Young, 29, and Sencere Hayes, 23, acted in an \u201cespecially heinous, cruel or depraved manner\u201d in the killing of Mercedes Vega, 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials allege in the filings that the men murdered Vega \u201cto prevent her cooperation with an official law enforcement investigation, to prevent her testimony in a court proceeding, or in retaliation for her cooperation with an official law enforcement investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Young and Hayes were indicted on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, arson, theft and armed robbery with a deadly weapon. Hayes faces an additional charge of hindering prosecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Young is being held in lieu of $2.2 million bond, jail records show. Hayes is being held in lieu of $4 million bond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A notice of intent to pursue the death penalty was not filed against a third man charged with first-degree murder in Vega\u2019s killing, Jared Gray. A spokesperson for the county attorney\u2019s office declined to say why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gray, 26, is not in custody in Maricopa County, a spokesman for the sheriff\u2019s office said Thursday. His probation in an unrelated theft in Georgia was revoked earlier this year, and he was ordered to serve the remainder of a five-year sentence in that state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Young is awaiting trial in a separate case alleging that he robbed Vega at gunpoint in 2020 and tried to rob another exotic dancer weeks later. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authorities have said that Vega was abducted from the parking garage of her apartment building on April 16, 2023. She was later found burned, beaten and shot in an abandoned car on an interstate west of Phoenix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authorities have not said how the three defendants are connected, but all have ties to Chattanooga, Tennessee, according to an affidavit in support of an arrest warrant for Gray. Investigators have cited evidence connecting Young to the car that Vega\u2019s body was found in, according to the affidavit, while fingerprints link Gray and Hayes to the murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n