Third Suspect Nabbed in Dancer Burned Alive Case

A third man allegedly connected with the. brutal torture and murder of a dancer. has been extradited across the country. Jared Gray will now face charges in. Arizona. And this comes as his. codefendants contend with the. possibility of the death penalty. Could. Gray face the same fate? We are taking a. closer look at [music] his alleged. involvement in this sinister plot to. kill Mercedes Vega. And reportedly. [music] this was all done to keep her. from testifying. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber.

Now, here's something [music] to think. about. If you're in the content creation. game, if you're putting things out on. social media, have you ever wondered how. we're able to share so many clips from. all of these cases so quickly? Here's a. secret. We use something called Opus. Clip. This is an all-in-one AI editor. that makes it so easy to cut, create, and upload videos across any platform. through AI. OpusClip generates B-roll, it refframes, and even cleans up audio. It is so easy. You just visit. opus.pro/sidebar. You sign up, you upload, and in minutes. you will have perfectly edited clips.

ready to go. So for Tik Tok, shorts, reals, Opus Clip is your one-stop shop. And having a tool like OpusClip means. that our producers can get you viral. courtroom updates instantly. This is the. most powerful tool there is to share. ideas and edit like a pro. So go to. opus.pro/sidebar. to get a free week and then 50% off. When Mercedes Vega was robbed at. gunpoint in 2020, she may have been. terrified of her alleged attacker, but. she was brave enough to agree to pursue. charges and testify against him, picked. him out of a lineup. She was going to.

testify against him in court. But that. alleged attacker reportedly retaliated. against her, allegedly summoning two. other men from the other side of the. country to come and kill this young. woman. That is according to prosecutors. in Maricopa County, Arizona. In April of. 2023, Mercedes was expected to take the. witness stand and testify that Kojo. Young had been the man who threatened. her with a gun. But just one day before. that court hearing, Mercedes. disappeared. Surveillance cameras in her.

apartment's parking garage in Tempe. showed Mercedes walking out of the. building for the last time. Investigators believe she was abducted. off camera by men in a Chevy Malibu, who. also, by the way, allegedly took her. Dodge Charger and abandoned it not far. from her apartment. But now we got to. talk about one of the suspects being. brought to Arizona. Maricopa County. deputies claimed that Jared Gray was one. of those men, one of those men who was. involved in the kidnapping and murder of. Mercedes. And they say there was.

physical evidence to tie him to this. And we're going to get to that in a. minute, but I got to show you some new. video. Okay, so new video of Gray's. arrival out in Arizona. The sheriff's. office shared video of Gray being. brought in for processing at the. Maricopa County Jail on the night of. January 8th, shackles on his hands and. feet. Gray calmly followed the deputy's. directions, sometimes looking directly. into the camera that was filming him. He. was given a striped gel jumpsuit as well. as some food and a Gatorade. He had his.

mug shot taken, and he had a late night. arraignment. And this is where the judge. read out the charges that he now faces. >> A grand jury found that there was. probable cause for the following. allegations. One count of conspiracy to. commit murder in the first degree, which. is a class one felony. One count of. murder in the first degree premeditated, which is a class one felony. >> So, according to media outlet Arizona. Family, Gray faces a total of nine. charges, including first-degree murder. Now, he was originally indicted last.

summer. There was a warrant that was. issued for his arrest and he was taken. into custody in Georgia on unrelated. charges which delayed his extradition. But then you have this June 2025. indictment that reads Jared Demarcus. Gray on or about April 16th, 2023. intending or knowing that his conduct. would cause death with premeditation. cause the death of Mercedes Mariana. Vega. The state further alleges that the. offense charged in this count is a. dangerous felony because the offense. involved the discharge, use or.

threatening exhibition of a gun and or. blunt force instrument, a deadly weapon. or dangerous instrument and or the. intentional or knowing infliction of. serious physical pain upon Mercedes. Mariana Vega. And that's what we got to. talk about. Mercedes body was found in. the back of that Chevy Malibu, which by. the way was abandoned. It was engulfed. in flames on the side of I 10, so more. than an hour away from where Mercedes. lived. And the injuries that this young. woman sustained were horrific. The.

medical examiner confirmed she had been. shot in the arm, she had been beaten, she had bleach poured down her throat, and she was burned alive. She ultimately. died from smoke inhalation, according to. the medical examiner's office. But it. was the evidence in her abandoned Dodge. Charger that would lead investigators to. the three suspects. Inside the car, deputies say they found the large purse. that Vega was carrying in the. surveillance footage, but there was. blood. They also found apparently a.

plastic grocery bag with blood near its. handles that contained another bag. This. is according to court filings reviewed. by the Arizona Republic. And a. fingerprint apparently found on the. plastic was submitted to the national. database. It took a year for a matching. print from a crime in Tennessee to be. added. That is how police identified. Sincere Hayes. Jared Gay's fingerprint. was reportedly found on the bottom of a. plastic cup inside the Malibu. That's. according to the Arizona Republic. And. the criminal complaints indicate that.

police were able to get their hands on. travel information apparently tying. Young to the other suspects. And this. includes purchases of plane tickets for. Hayes and Gray to fly out to Arizona. from Tennessee where all the defendants. are apparently from. It is believed that. the credit card information connects. back to Young. And when investigators. apparently spoke with Gray, he allegedly. told them that he traveled to Arizona. for business, but wouldn't say with whom. and claimed he didn't know Young or. Hayes. Now, investigators believe that. Young had Hayes and Gray do his dirty.

work. Why? Because he was apparently out. on bond in the armed robbery case and he. had to wear a GPS monitor. But when. deputies learned about the flights that. Young had allegedly purchased, they were. able to connect the plane ticket back to. a phone number. That phone was then. apparently traced to the area where. Mercedes was found in the burning. Malibu. Maricopa County investigators. also reportedly talked to a man whose. cell phone location was near the scene. of that burning car. He apparently ended. up telling authorities that Young called. him to go quote pick up a package which.

turned out to be two men, so likely. Hayes and Gray. And the court paperwork. indicates that the man told detectives. that he was given the location as well. as a car. He picked up two men, drove. them back to the Phoenix area. Phones. belonging apparently to that man and. Hayes both allegedly show them an I 10. in the hours after Vega's death. And one. day after Mercedes was found dead, Hayes. and Gray reportedly took a Greyhound bus. back to Chattanooga, Tennessee from. Arizona. Maricopa County deputies. They.

flew to Tennessee in November of 2024 to. arrest Hayes. He was charged with. premeditated first-degree murder, kidnapping resulting in death, arson, armed robbery with a deadly weapon theft. hindering prosecution. And now that Gray. has been extradited as well, Arizona. outlets who have reviewed court records, they are reporting that he is being held. at a combined $4 million cash bond. He's. scheduled for a preliminary hearing on. January 20th. This is according to court. records. Now, prosecutors haven't said. whether they're going to seek the death. penalty against Gray, but his alleged. co-conspirators, they have already been.

informed that they could face capital. punishment if they're convicted of. killing Mercedes. You know, Mercedes. mom, Erica Pillsbury, told out ABC15, "To know that we'll be seeing all three. of them in the courtroom together makes. me a little nervous. It makes me a. little nauseous." And I had a chance to. speak with both Erica and her husband. Tom back before Christmas about some of. the latest developments in the case. Take a look. this decision to move. forward with the death penalty against. two of these defendants. Um, how are you.

feeling about that? And is this. something that you both were advocating. for uh since the beginning? >> Yeah. Um, I wanted. Kujo, Sincere, and Jared to know that we. would never stop, that they needed to. understand that and that any life I have. left in me and any breath I have left, I. will continue to advocate for Mercedes. and I will ensure that every lawful.

consequence that they could possibly. endure, they will face. They chose to. make this decision and I think that the. consequences should be brought down upon. them without mercy, without hesitation. We won't rest until every person who is. responsible for taking her away from us. is held accountable. >> It's something we've been fighting for. It's very hard to be happy about this. cuz you have mixed emotions. You're.

happy and sad and you're angry and. you're frustrated. I'm not happy that. someone could die. That's not what I. want. But what they did to our child, it. fits what they did to our child. I'm not. an advocate of saying, "Oh, well, this. or an eye for an eye." But I mean, ultimately, my daughter didn't do. anything wrong. This is over a cell. phone and $1,000. They had no caring of. life. People flying here that didn't. know her. Like Erica said, it fits what. they did. I mean, they could have simple. thing and but they ended up torturing. our child. They don't have any care for.

life. So, I don't have any reservations. about that. I'm glad that the state has. finally got to that point because Kujo. is the main person in this whole thing. He is the reason we're sitting here. The. other people just followed along and for. the state to agree that he deserves is a. very it's it's very good for us and it. it kind of helps us that we're now going. on that path that we know is going to be. a long path. >> They didn't just take her life, they. destroyed all of our lives. >> Yes. >> Okay. I want to bring on criminal. defense attorney Meg Strickler to talk.

more about this. Meg, thank you so much. for taking the time. I I really really. appreciate it. Um, now one of the things. people might not know is that you have. familiarity when it comes to. extradition. So I want to start right. there. Talk to me about the process of. extraditing someone from Georgia to. let's say okay Arizona here. What does. that entail? >> Well, you know what? I want to kind of. do a public service announcement first. off about extradition. Um, if you have. two different states and somebody has a. charge for murder, kidnapping, whatever. in Arizona and you were charged in.

Georgia, excuse me, picked up in. Georgia, wave the formal extradition. hearing. That's my public service. announcement. That's free legal advice. >> Explain that. >> Why I I'm saying that is I have so many. clients that call up and say, "We don't. understand. We don't know what we're. doing." I can explain it. An extradition. hearing would be to fight on the merits. that Arizona doesn't have the right to. come and get me. So you have the same. kind of law with different countries. So. for example, if you had a murder charge. in Mexico, they can come and there's no.

fighting extradition if the charges are. very similar in different countries or. different states. So same concept. forever. Now the only time you would. ever fight extradition is if it was. politically motivated. there was some. some reason that there was not merits to. the original charge. The reason I'm. saying it's a PSA is that it expedites. the entire process. If you want to have. an extradition hearing, you got to wait. for it to be calendared. It's better to. sign the formal extradition. So, in a. case like this, it's an easy thing to.

do. We know that the charges for this. gentleman are murder, kidnapping, all. these horrible things. That is something. that is similar in Georgia. There's no. reason to fight it. So, in other words, you're saying for somebody in Gray's. position, right, don't don't fight it. because you're just going to delay the. process. You're already going to be. locked up in jail uh out in Georgia. Um. but I guess like the question would be. he has to imagine and we'll talk about. the the bond, $4 million, um you know, out in Arizona. He had to have imagined. that he's not going to get to Arizona.

and be free, you know, out on bond. So, I guess the question is why not present. a legal challenge? And what would that. legal challenge be to extradition? The. paperwork is not complete. There's a due. process violation of some kind. They. have the wrong guy. I don't know how. What would be the challenges? >> That's all good stuff. You could. definitely save the wrong guy. You. didn't identify me properly. It was my. brother. Something like this. That the. charges themselves don't have any merit. And you certainly can just simply be a. latigious person and be like, you know. what? I'm just going to fight this tooth.

and nail for every single thing. And if. the tea wasn't crossed and the eye. wasn't dotted, I'm filing something to. fight it. And in a context like this, I. just feel like the entire system will. should just keep going. And look, I. don't know what's going on with this. case, but you got to wonder if that he. doesn't have the death penalty on him. yet. Is there some sort of cooperation. going on and that one of the things. that's been taken off the table is the. death penalty and he already has signed. the waiver extradition. That's why he's. being headed back to Arizona already.

That's pretty fast because everything. takes forever in the system. >> Let's uh that's interesting. I want to. talk about that. Um, one thing that was. interesting as far as I understand, so. he was originally Gray was officially. charged in June 2025, now extradited. Took some time. Why? >> Well, that is a kind of a $64,000. question, and I don't ever have a great. answer for that. So, for example, you. have an active arrest [snorts] warrant. in any state, in any county, they put it.

out on the wire. Okay? So here in. Georgia, I can only talk about Georgia. here, but they put it on the county, they put it on the state, and then they. put it on the federal. Okay? So if. there's an active warrant, the. government can say, "Hey, go get my. guy." So there's a governor's warrant, they can go get him in Georgia and ship. him back to Arizona. Okay. So I don't. really know in general why warrants. aren't we I just don't think we have the. ability to execute all these arrest. warrants and get people arrested fast.

and efficiently. But I don't really give. you a rational common sense answer. because I don't really understand why. some folk they run out and get them and. why other folk they don't run out and. get them. >> Yeah. So he comes here, right? He's on. this $4 million bond. Now, I know every. state is different, but generally. speaking, if this were Georgia, let's. say, why $4 million? Why just no bond? I. mean, we're talking first-degree murder. here. >> Well, here in our state, I would uh. really venture to guess we would never. get a a money amount put on it. Okay?

Because in our state when you're first. arrested, you wouldn't get bond because. it's one of what we call the seven. deadly sins. So you wouldn't get one and. a lawyer would have to petition the. court to say, "Hey, give my guy bond.". And all of these gentlemen have prior. criminal histories. So I do scratch my. head a tiny little bit that there's any. bond at all because the bond factors are. kind of the same throughout the United. States. Are you a danger as one? Are you. a risk to reoffend another? [clears throat] Are you going to. influence other witnesses? Why did you. get bonded? I don't know. Why is there a.

bond? Shouldn't be one. >> Especially given the circumstances of. this case when one of his codefendants. is accused of being out, right? GPS. monitor, ankle monitor, and uh allegedly. orchestrated the hit on uh Mercedes. So, um put that to the side. I I have to go. back to something that you mentioned. Now that he has been transferred there. deals, you have multiple defendants. here. Do you think that the prosecution. would be interested in working out some.

sort of deal with one of them to testify. against the others or not in this case? Not given the gravity of these. allegations, not given the alleged roles. of each of the perpetrators, not given. the savage nature of this case. And if. you look at all the evidence they seem. to have, do they even need one to. testify against the other? I mean, if. they're all allegedly complicit and and. deserve equal punishment if you're the. prosecution, if they believe these are. the people who did it, you think a deal. would be something in the works with. like, let's say, a Mr. Gray?

>> In my opinion, and remember, we all have. opinions. In my opinion, yes. And in my. experience, yes. They're often times. wanting to get to one individual. They. may not very much want the sincere Hades. guy because he's the biggest, baddest. guy, but they'll probably don't want him. to cooperate. They're probably like, you. know what, death penalty, no. negotiation, all bets are off. But. generally, my experience has been if you. got two, three individuals in there, you. we know there are three arrested, but. there's probably some other folk that. are kind of peripherilally involved in. doing some wrongdoing here. You can't. have done what you did here without.

having some other parts happening. So. those folk probably already are. cooperating and one of the three could. ultimately cooperate as well to get the. death penalty off the table which is a. pretty large feat to achieve and yes it. happens. >> So in other words, one thing to maybe. look out for Gray, they haven't. officially said they're going to pursue. the death penalty against him. There's a. possibility that they may not in order. to seek his testimony, right? I mean,

>> there is a possibility. >> and it may be a logistical issue. It may. be a logistical issue. I don't practice. in Arizona, but they may not have been. able to file the notice of intent to get. the death penalty until he was processed. in Arizona. That seems to be possible. procedural issue that just it didn't. happen solely because of that. We don't. know. >> Is it complicated or delay the whole. legal process if you have multiple. defendants who are each facing the death. penalty? Oh my gosh. Yes. As you.

probably have seen if you just Google. how much does it cost to prosecute a. death penalty case. It gets into the. millions. And as a taxpayer, you really. got to and I'm not trying to be. political about whether or not one. agrees with the death penalty, one does. not agree, but it definitely costs. Number one, it definitely takes time. Number two, and in my state, we have to. be certified. We have to go get extra. training in order to handle those kinds. of cases. And so there are a lot of. different things that require more time,

money, and effort. And then you don't. always succeed. You know, the prosecutor. couldn't go after it, but doesn't mean. you're going to succeed in that. conviction. >> I understand why they're going after. them for the death given this case. I. mean, it's it's truly horrific to think. about what she went through. And yes, they're innocent until proven guilty. But it does raise the question the. evidence. How strong do you think the. evidence is based on the reporting and. the documents that have been filed? How. strong do you think the evidence is. against these three? Well, sadly all my. cases these days, the technology kills.

me. Um, so in this case, you have flight. records, you have the credit card. statements, you have cell phone data, you have OnStar data, you'll have the. cell phone dumps, you're also going to. have the license plate readers, you're. going to have the flat cameras, you're. going to have ABCD, EFG, H, J, K, the. fingerprints, the DNA, the fingerprints. that are in the car, a car, the one car, and then you have the DNA of the other. guy. So science and technology is really. going to be the most strong real. evidence and then you have corroborating.

evidence. So it sure seems to me they. really did a fantastic job because when. this first happened they did not know. what they were all surprised. It took a. year for this to be investigated which. is how long it takes because you got to. execute all these search warrants and. subpoenas etc etc. But they were able to. connect the dots. And so technology and. science is what did it. And you can't. it's going to be very difficult to beat. the DNA and the fingerprints on the cup. >> I have to say I I think it's very.

interesting that the man who allegedly. picked two of these codefendants up. hasn't been identified. I got to imagine. key witness have to imagine granted some. sort of immunity to testify against. them. Right. >> Yep. But remember also there's some ties. to Chattanooga. and you know that these people have a. history of I don't want to say growing. up together but at least you know I. found an arrest where the one gentleman. was 18 and then I looked like his older. brother was 23 and it was a drug case um.

and it was uh I believe Gray and Hayes. that were on that and then Hayes's older. brother again I'm just going by Google. so who knows but by looking at that you. have the relationships. and so we know that With all of that, that's where we're talking about the. cooperating and other people cooperating. and that's what helps put two plus two. to equal four. You. >> think they would all be tried together? >> You know, with all that money, I'm going. to guess. But if I was the defense attorney, oh,

I'd be definitely fileing a motion to. sever 100%. But would it be granted? There is a more strong argument because. of the complexity of the case. the. horrific nature of the case, but then. all those witnesses, those expert. witnesses that have to testify and just. the witnesses in general, for the. purposes of cost savings, they may keep. it together as one. >> In a case like that, if they are all. tried together, would it kind of be like. a joint defense, so all three defense. attorneys say, "We're coming out.

together. We're saying none of us, none. of our clients had anything to do with. it, or he did it, he did it, he did it, he did it. The evidence is against him. The evidence is really strong against. Young, but it's not against Mcgra." I. mean, what would you see something like. that, a trial? >> Well, I've tried multiple defendant. cases, and it's always an interesting. ride. Uh, but remember, in this case, they're charged with conspiracy and. conspiracy and RICO are both terms of. art that I cannot stand because the. government came up with those things to. make my life more complicated, and I. don't appreciate that. So, in a. conspiracy case, it doesn't take a whole. lot for all them to be in the same.

bucket. So, um, there may very well be a. formal joint defense agreement signed. amongst these folk. I doubt it because. yes, we're going to we're going to be. all about me and my defendant and we're. going to probably punch holes in each of. the person's testimony that are out. there as we have trial, but I'm only. pontificating. I don't know. But in a. case like this, I mean, I just was in a. court this morning on a case where uh I. saw a codifant lawyer and he looked at. me like, hm. And I thought to myself, hm, you know, in we should have been.

working together, but you you have to. really protect your own client's. interests and sometimes that can. conflict. >> Meg Strickler, love having you on. You. break it down so easily for us to. understand. Really, really appreciate. you as [music] always. >> Thank you so much. I appreciate you. >> That's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us and as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. [music]. You can follow me on X or Instagram. I'm. Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next.

time.