True Crime with Kendall Rae - Abducted & Left in a Burning Car: What Happened to Mercedes Vega?
Episode Date: February 22, 2024A huge thank you to Erika, Tom, Alahzay, Makenzie, and Astilia for participating in this case. Their effort these last few weeks has made this episode possible, and I am so grateful for their time and... energy. A note from Erika to detectives: Dear MCSO, FBI and the Great state of Arizona. Your dismissive attitude towards my daughter’s murder is disgusting. The unimportance of her life is obvious. Your ignorance of reality and unwillingness to tell me why my daughter is gone pisses me off. If anyone deserves to know why she is gone, it’s me. It’s been almost a year... Explain to me why you can’t give her mamma an answer as to why she is gone!!! Why can’t you tell the mamma of this beautiful woman why her baby is dead!?!? Why do her siblings, cousins, grandparents, and her incredible friends continue to wait? No reason, no comfort, no answers?? Why do we have to continue to look over our shoulders for the killer of our loved one? Why are you not sharing details? Why aren’t you reaching out to the public for answers. Why are you unable to provide answers to these questions? Are you just ignoring us? Is she that unimportant to you? It can’t be that hard. I need you to find the ANSWERS! GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/reward-to-... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/honoringmer... Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@honoringmerce... Press Conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYnul... Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign... Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop This episode is sponsored by: Skims Factor - promo code: tckr50 ZocDoc Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - kendall@INFAgency.com
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Hello, everyone, and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining
me today. And if you're new, then welcome.
So I've got to say right out of the gate here
that the case we're going to be talking about today
is extremely disturbing.
It's very upsetting and shocking.
And what's also shocking is it hasn't gotten really
any media coverage and very little coverage
in the True crime community either.
And I wanted to take time to talk about it today because it's so badly needs attention.
More people have to know about this case.
We're going to be talking about Mercedes Vega.
Now before I jump into this case, I wanted to say it right in the beginning while the
majority of you are still tuned in, that this family
really needs some financial help.
And I'm going to be making a donation to their GoFundMe, of course, on behalf of this channel
and all of you who support it.
And if you are able to make a donation, I really encourage you to do so.
This family, they are so incredible.
I was truly moved talking to them
and feeling their passion and their love
and how badly they need justice
that they are not going to give up until they get justice.
And I wanna help them,
and I'm sure many of you wanna help them as well
to achieve that goal.
Right now they have put together a $2,000 reward
for information and they're
really hoping to increase that number as much as possible.
And I understand how rewards for information can sometimes seem so distant, like someone's
never going to come forward, but I really am so confident that someone has to know something
here and maybe they just need the right incentive or maybe they'll just
eventually feel guilty enough to say what they know.
I asked Mercedes friends and family if they would be interested in joining me in today's
episode to tell the story directly from those who loved her most, which I think is just
so valuable.
They have been incredible to work with.
I spent an hour and a half with them on the phone just yesterday and
one thing I can tell you is Mercedes Vega was
Incredibly loved. She was an amazing person and her friends and family are doing everything they can. They will not stop
until justice is served in this case and the people who did this horrific crime
will be held accountable
and I'm confident that they will not rest until that is the case.
What's really frustrating in this one is especially in the beginning the police did next to nothing
to help solve this case, to help this family and has just put them through unimaginable
pain and that's why it's incredibly important that this case is shared far and wide and as many
people know about Mercedes as possible, especially people that live in Arizona. Her murder was
incredibly violent, incredibly disturbing. And it happened somewhere where there's a good chance
that someone saw something and her family is just hoping that the right person will see this
and consider coming forward.
So we're going to be going over the very recent murder of Mercedes Vega. It has actually been
less than a year since her life was stolen. And of course, I always like to give this reminder
when I invite a family to be part of the video because I know they're going to be, you know,
seeing the things that are set out there. And so I just want to, yeah, again, remind people to be kind in the comments, to think
before you type.
Because I mean, that's the last thing that this family needs after everything they have
been through is to hear hateful things being said about their family and about Mercedes. And just really wanted to you know protect them as much as I can of course it's the internet people are gonna say what they're gonna say
However, if I see any of that you will be banned from the channel
So I just want to make that clear before we jump in I know it is not easy for friends and family to come on to such a large
Platform and be vulnerable and talk about one of the worst days,
if not the worst day of their life.
And I just really respect them for taking the time,
for being brave enough to do that.
And I hope all of you guys will send them
as much love as possible.
So with all that being said,
we do have a lot of ground to cover here.
So let's jump right in starting with Mercedes background.
Mercedes Mariana Vega was born on March 10th, 2001 in Anchorage, Alaska.
She was raised by her mother Erica, who is just fantastic.
I really enjoyed my conversation with her and also her stepdad Tom and they had a blended
family with four sisters, Jessica, Alexis, Mackenzie, and Shelby, and a brother named
Finn.
Tom says that even though they were a blended family,
he loved Mercedes as his own
and just felt so privileged to be her father for 17 years.
And the more I've learned about Mercedes,
the more obvious it's become to me
that she was a truly special person.
She loved so hard, cared for her family
and her friends more than anything and was, you know,
just such a rider-dye.
She was always willing to do anything to drop anything she had going on for someone who
needed it and really had an incredible future ahead of her.
After I spoke with her loved ones, it was just even more obvious how amazing she was.
I mean, she was loving, she was super, super generous and caring and hardworking, determined,
strong willed, she was funny.
I mean, you could just go on and on about what a great person she really was.
And one thing that I really loved learning about her was that she had a nurturing energy
that could soothe any crying baby.
And I think we can all agree that that says so much about the type of person she was.
She also had a beautiful voice and was often picked to sing the national anthem at special
events or sporting events.
Plus, and I always say this, but I think it really says a lot about someone when they
are a big animal lover.
She loved horseback riding and actually had her own horse named Cash.
And just speaking with her loved ones, it became very clear to me that her connection
with horses was a big part of her identity. Overall, it's just very clear that Mercedes
was down to her core, a good person. And you best believe she was always the type who
was going to work hard for anything that she wanted. And one story her family shared with me that I really loved is when she was only seven
years old, she made a PowerPoint about why the family should go to Disney World.
And then when she got older, she made another PowerPoint to convince her family to let her
get a tattoo.
Basically, if Mercedes wanted something, she was going to find a way to get it.
And of course, I can sit here and try my best to tell you about her, but the reality is
I never got the opportunity to meet her.
And so I now want to share some information from her friends and family, describing what
an amazing person she really was.
Hi, I am Erica Pillsbury, Mercedes Vegas mom.
I'm Tom Pillsbury, Mercedes Vegas mom. I'm Tom Bellsbury, Mercedes Vegas dad.
We want to talk a little bit about Mercedes and what she was like as a young kid.
She was born very, very quickly.
I was actually in labor with her for four minutes.
We got to the hospital at 3.58 and she was born at 4.06.
There was only five pounds, three ounces.
She was really, really tiny and just ready to be out in the world.
She got older.
She thought she was an adult her entire life.
First time she ever went to childcare, it's three, and I went to pick her up and
asked how she was doing or how she did that day.
They said, well, she was great until
the end. And we'd asked her to help clean up. And she didn't want to clean up. And I
asked her, well, Mercedes, why didn't you clean up when the teachers told you to clean
up? And she says, Oh, mom, she was talking to the kids. She was very protective. He wasn't
diving at two years old. She would jump off the high dive in some
ways. She was absolutely fearless. He loved to cook. He was into volleyball.
She loved Christmas. One year when she was very little, she made a Christmas list,
like he would roll on a scroll and get lost to have two
hundred eyes.
Another thing is that we would watch Christmas movies.
It was like our thing that we would lay on the couch, eat from the corn, and we would
watch Christmas movie after Christmas movie after Christmas movie.
It's something I missed this year, and it was really, really cloddered, because it's
something that I did with her every
single year I would record them.
Home alone we watched three or four times.
It didn't matter, the Grinch, whatever it was.
Another thing that I thought about was when she was little, there's a little pair sometimes.
Mom, she wanted her hair down a certain way and mom had to comb it and they would get
into some arguments like, she, you're pulling out my hair and mom would go in there and comb her hair every day.
I'd like to be done a certain way.
Mercedes was very meticulous and that came to her outfits also.
She would actually pick them out the night before and lay them on the ground kind of looking like, well, this is what I'm going to look like the next day. You just were that kind of person that if you got to know her, you'd love her.
She just was a very warm, genuine person.
Hey, my name is Mackenzie Lockhart and Mercedes is somebody who I will always
forever and always love and keep near to my heart.
She was just the absolute best.
And there's like no other way to say it.
She was the absolute best.
Some of the things that we really liked to do
with one another, we would always go
to the specific in and out.
And she'd be be racing and we would always be screaming,
shouting the song shoddy at the top of our lungs.
So whenever I hear that song, I dedicate that song to her. That's my Mercedes song.
Another thing that we would do all the time, all together, was watch the Savage X Fenty shows.
We both had the same passion for love, for dance, for fashion, for shoes, for jewelry, any way of expressing yourself
through fashion and dance.
And that's something that I'm really, really, really going to miss.
Hi, I'm Alize.
I'm Mercedes' childhood friend.
We met in junior high and the rest was history.
Mercedes was a light shoe, somebody you can depend on and she was somebody that you wanted
on your side.
She was amazing to say the least. Like you could literally call her, text her at any time of the
night asking her any type of question, asking her to do anything and she was there. They say like,
like, oh, like, they're too good for this world. Like, she was just too good for this world.
And that would really make me so mad.
But it really does make sense.
She really was too good for this world.
She was just somebody that you just wanted to be around
and hug and just talk to because you could talk to her.
My name is Astilia.
Mercedes was my cousin.
Mercedes was like my little sister. We really liked singing
together. I remember also I had this birthday party when I was younger and it was like a
silly little like America's Got Talent style thing and we used prepared songs and like remember she had like this
black and blue dress on and it was like sparkly. She looked like Hannah Montana. But I remember
just like the pure joy in her face, seeing her sing like that was definitely one of the
things she loved that in horses. She really she really did have a way with horses. She's
just so passionate about everything that she does.
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Now, as I mentioned earlier,
Mercedes was born in Alaska.
However, at some point,
her family moved to Gilbert, Arizona
and she lived there with them until she was 18. And when she turned 18,
she ended up moving to Tempe, Arizona. And this is where she was living in 2023, when she was
violently murdered. Mercedes had just turned 22 years old in March of that year and celebrated
her birthday with her friends in Hawaii. And after she returned from this trip, Mercedes shared with her mom that one day, way, way,
way in the future, after she gets married, has kids, lives a long, full life, she had
hoped to have her ashes spread on the beaches of Hawaii.
She said that that's where her soul belonged.
And no one, even Mercedes, could have predicted that that long life that she had dreamed of
would be cut short just a few weeks later.
So that brings us to April 16th, 2023.
It was a Sunday and that night, Mercedes had plans to meet up with some friends.
Now something that you should know about Mercedes is that she was in the process of trying to
become a personal trainer and she was very, very dedicated to this.
She loved all things health and wellness and was working extremely hard to get certified
and that meant maintaining her own diet and exercise regimen.
However, she did give herself cheat days normally once a week and Sunday the 16th was that kind
of day.
So it was only fitting for, you know,
a cheat day to agree to make plans with some of her friends and go out and have a good time and
sort of not worry about any of that. And living in Tempe, which is the home to Arizona State
University, there were plenty of things to go out and do. But out of the many options she had,
we know that she was ultimately deciding between
two things to do that night. Now, unfortunately, we don't know what she actually decided to do.
We know that the plan was to either go get sushi or go to Daven Busters. But like I said, we don't
know which one she chose. All we know is that she was in contact with two friends making these plans and she sent her last text at 8.54pm and then after that she just stopped her plying.
What she would think after making plans with someone and then they suddenly ghost you,
you would continually call and text them and try to figure out what was going on.
But that didn't happen.
After Mercedes just suddenly stopped her plying, one of those friends did end up out, but it wasn't until hours later, and they said something along the lines
of, I guess you aren't coming. Which could seem like an innocent response and reaction,
and it very well may be. However, her friends and family have some concern that she was possibly
set up for what happened to her that night. So at 9.15 p.m. surveillance footage from the inside of her apartment
Complex's garage captured Mercedes on video walking casually around a corner and she's looking down at her phone
And I can't stress this enough
Everything seems completely normal her family does think it's possible that she was on FaceTime based on the way that she was looking down at her
phone and just by looking at her outfit they think it's more than likely that she had decided to go to
Dave and Buster's because it was a pretty casual outfit and nothing and I really do mean nothing
about her demeanor indicates that she knew she was in danger but unfortunately Mercedes was in
danger and the surveillance footage that I've played for you has been trimmed down by police, but shortly after it cuts off, Mercedes was viciously
attacked.
And this is really upsetting to have to share and this may definitely be disturbing to some
of you out there, but not only was she struck so hard over the head that blood and brain
matter was found inside the parking garage later on,
but she was forced into a vehicle where it's believed that she endured what no person should ever have to endure.
And it would take several more hours before anyone was made aware of this senseless tragedy.
Shortly after 1 a.m. on April 17, the Department of Public Safety received a call about a burning car
on the side of Interstate 10 by mile marker 85, which is 10 miles west of Tonapah, Arizona.
And after they put out the fire, it became clear that this was more than just arson
because there was a body found in the backseat of the car and that body belonged to 22 year old Mercedes Vega and she
was found 60 miles away from her apartment. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office was immediately
called to the scene where they right away began working to identify her and it didn't take them
very long. Mercedes had what's known as a Las Vegas Sheriff's card which is essentially a work
permit that requires you to submit your fingerprints and sometimes undergo a background check.
It's required for a handful of jobs, including jobs in entertainment.
And something I haven't shared yet about Mercedes is that two nights a week she worked
as a dancer at a nightclub to earn, you know, extra money while working to become a personal
trainer.
And it was because she had this card that her fingerprints were in the system and
officers were able to quickly ID her. Which means the next steps were to notify her family and
Erica and Tom had just come back from a vacation and hours later they were given the worst news
of their lives and what's crazy is they weren't even given any explanation as to what happened,
where Mercedes body was found, absolutely nothing.
And all they were told was,
sorry, your daughter's life has been taken.
That's it.
I had just gotten back from vacation,
gone to the store, and I'd made me a dinner,
and I thought I heard it knock, and they didn't ring the doorbell.
It was that evening of the 17th, I think April, I looked at the people and I mentioned it, Tom, it looks like cops outside.
And I opened the door, these kids out of my door were standing there and they said to me,
does Mercedes live here?
And I said no, but I'm her mom.
Is she okay?
And they asked again to come in.
I said, tell me she's okay.
And they said, no, I'm sorry ma'am, she's not.
She's deceased.
And I asked, we're seeing a car accident.
I said, no.
And I said, did she kill herself?
And they said, no.
I said, did anyone else, was anyone else with her?
They said, no.
And they said someone took her life.
I honestly don't remember a lot.
I do remember I was upstairs.
And when I came down,
I might met them at the bottom of the stairs.
And then they told us, and all I can remember is yelling,
it's not true.
No, this is not true.
You've got the wrong person.
And I just was screaming and I had to go into the other room.
And it was Detective Ray and the other gentleman.
I cannot remember his name, but it was just like a ton of bricks had hit this house and
it just, I don't remember if we ate, I don't remember what we did.
All I remember is just sitting on the floor by the couch until our other daughter came.
It took days for it to sink in Right was just yelling and screaming and I can't even remember what I was saying
Well, sometimes this feels like it's not true. Yes, it does. We didn't get to see her body
We didn't get anything of her
We don't have anything we have her things from her apartment, but we have no, they did not tell us anything.
We didn't know. We asked a hundred times who killed her. Why is she dead? Why is she dead?
We've asked them a hundred times. We have not gotten the answer.
The one thing I do remember is they were very big And so I searched on the internet and because they told us where she was,
but they didn't tell us what happened. So the way I found out what happened to my daughter was
reading it in a news clipping. Didn't say her name specifically, but it said person found in
burning car in Tonapa, Arizona. Well, two and two, that's where my daughter was at.
So the police weren't even forth coming with the information.
I had to learn about it through the news
when they could have told us when they were here.
The news that Mercedes had been murdered
hit her loved ones incredibly hard.
And I mean, how could it not?
And when I first watched the clip that we just played,
it just brought tears to my eyes.
I cannot imagine that pain.
I mean, here's this incredibly kind, loving young woman with so much potential, so much
ahead of her, so much that she still had to do in life.
And then she's just gone like that with no explanation.
It's hard to even imagine what that would be like.
And the weight of her murder was felt far and wide and that continues to be true to this
day.
I got a text message from somebody really random saying like, sorry for your loss.
And I was like, what are you talking about?
And they were like Mercedes. And I immediately was like, they must have like,
things confused, like they're obviously confused.
So I reached out to one of like Mercedes closer friends
and one of my friends too.
And I was like, tell me what's going on right now.
And she just sent me the article.
And at the time it just said like police responded
to a report of a car on fire on the side of the highway at Tonapaw
and unidentified 22 year olds
Remains were found in the back. I didn't believe it
When I read that article I think the first thing I even
Said when I got on the phone with one of my friends was I hope that she was a tortured.
I hope that she was at peace and that just wasn't the case.
So when I found out that Mercedes had passed, I was home alone and my friend Alice a text me and she said, passed. I was home alone and my friend, Alize, texts me and she said,
Mercedes passed.
I'm so sorry.
And at first I thought that it was, I don't know, like a joke or just not real.
I really thought that she was wrong until the body found in the burning car.
Was identified as Mercedes.
And I remember I was sitting in a chair and I fell out of the chair under my hands and
knees and I started hyperventilating and cry.
It felt like my heart and lungs were ripped out of my chest.
And it still does.
Every day I wake up and the first thing I think about
is that Mercedes is here.
Recalling the moment that I found out about her dying
is extremely difficult
because I hadn't seen her in quite a few years.
My dad called me, so her uncle,
and he told me Mercedes was gone. And I I was like what does that mean she's gone?
Like you mean she's on a trip. She went on a trip with her friends. She didn't tell anybody
She took a road trip on her and he told me that she was murdered. I remember I was sitting in my
apartment in Denver at the time and I
apartment in Denver at the time and I remember thinking this isn't real and this can't be real how could she be invested by somebody I don't understand
it just didn't make any sense to me. And obviously the next step was to
conduct an autopsy and it revealed, you know, crucial information but also
devastating information. And sadly but not surprisingly considering how they've
handled everything else, the autopsy wasn't shared with her family for six
months. They didn't know what exactly happened to her for six months. But when
they did finally get it, here's what they learned. Not only had Mercedes suffered blunt force injuries to her head, but she also was shot
in her upper right arm.
And these were, of course, contributions to her cause of death, but there was something
else.
Mercedes had survived a vicious attack and a gunshot wound only to be abandoned in
a burning vehicle.
This is really hard to say,
and I'm sure really hard to hear,
but smoke was found inside her lungs,
which led the medical examiner's office
to determine that she was still breathing
when her car was set on fire,
meaning Mercedes was burned alive.
And that is just such a devastating piece
of information to learn.
I can't imagine how hard it was for her family to find that out, and I can only hope that
she was at least maybe unconscious when that happened because no one deserves to feel that
type of pain.
Her toxicology revealed only caffeine and traces of THC in her system as well, so she
wasn't under the influence of anything that could have masked this level of, I mean, there's no other way to say it, torture.
And sadly, it doesn't end there.
The autopsy also revealed that there was bleach in Mercedes throat.
Back at the scene, investigators had uncovered a bottle of lighter fluid next to her body
in the back seat, in addition to a bottle of bleach and a pair of gloves in the front of the car.
And hearing this just makes me sick.
I mean, why?
Why put bleach in her mouth?
It doesn't make any sense.
Now one thing Mercedes' mother Erica has brought up is that Mercedes had really hard and sharp
teeth.
When she was a child, they were doing, you know, drilling on her teeth at
the dentist and they literally had to bring in a diamond drill because her teeth were
so hard. And her mom believes it's possible that she may have tried to bite someone in
self-defense. And I think it's a good possibility as well. And maybe the bleach was used to conceal
the DNA she could have gotten in her
mouth from her attackers. Because that's the thing about Mercedes is she was tough and
she would have fought back in any way that she could. And this theory really does make
sense because bleach would have eliminated any DNA that was left behind in her mouth.
And it's possible that her attackers already had the bleach with them to clean up
anything they needed to. And I'm just thinking out loud here but I also wonder if it could have been
symbolic like a way to send a message and you're gonna hear her dad talk more about this later on.
What if Mercedes had said something that she wasn't supposed to or knew about something that
had said something that she wasn't supposed to or knew about something that people didn't want her to say. Was this some kind of weird message about not speaking up about something?
I mean, I'm completely theorizing here and her family obviously is going through all these thoughts
in their head trying to make sense of why this was done.
Obviously, we don't actually know.
I mean, no one knows why that's happened and that's what's so frustrating about it. It just doesn't make sense.
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Mercedes had known known enemies and she wasn't involved in anything shady.
It just seems so random,
but also so personal at the same time.
And her parents have echoed this same sentiment before.
But if this was just about murder,
why not just kill her right there in the parking
garage? They had the means and the opportunity, so why not just then and there? Why take her and
keep her alive for hours? What did this person or these people want from her? And that's what keeps
her friends and family up at night, because everything about her murder screams that this
was personal. The reason I think this was personal
is because the nature of the crime,
Mercedes was taken around 9.15
and frowned at one AM in the morning.
Well, from her house to Tonopah, Arizona,
that's an hour drive, about 60 minutes,
give or take with Freeway.
She lived right off the Freeway,
so it wasn't like that to drive a bunch of side roads
to get to the highway.
So they ultimately took her somewhere for two hours,
disposed of her car and Tempe.
They knew that they were on security camera
because they knew that they had to have staked out
the place prior.
Her garage had cameras, there were cameras outside.
They knew the surroundings.
They were waiting and wait for her to come down. As you can see from the video that you
showed earlier, this is not a person that was worried about her surroundings. She felt
very safe. If she felt that she was in danger at that particular moment, I don't think she
would have been looking down at her phone. She was just very protective of her surroundings.
So to me, someone had to tell her, or tell them that she was there and leaving at that
particular time.
There's a text at 8.54 and literally 17 minutes, 18 minutes later, she's missing.
So there's communication and then disappearing.
So how could that not have anything to do with it?
Because you're communicating with somebody,
so you're letting somebody know she's here,
she's there at that time.
She lived very close to her work
and they didn't have a lot of time.
Just not like you could have stayed down in that garage
for 20, 30 minutes and hopefully not get seen.
It was the parking garage for the entire complex.
That's why I believe she was set up and targeted. What bothers me the most is what did they
do with her for two hours? That is kind of back to what you were saying earlier, did
she know something or are they trying to show if you say something this could happen to
you also? So there was two thought out plans and the fact that she had no reason to be anywhere near Tonopah
and that they'd driven her all the way out there.
Maybe the car got a flat tire.
Maybe she was kicking the windows out of the car.
I don't know if she was bound.
We don't know if when she was shot, we don't know when the bleach was poured in her throat.
We just know ultimately that she was still alive when she was lit on fire after
all that she had gone through, whether it was a message that they were trying to send.
As I had mentioned before, Mercedes all was very, very protective.
I'm hoping that she didn't die protecting someone, but it's a possibility
that she wouldn't give up where someone but it's a possibility that she wouldn't give
up where someone was or what someone had said or done and her life was taken because of
it.
To me, this was done out of hatred.
And hatred can be rooted in a lot of things.
And in my opinion, I think that one, it could have been deeply rooted in jealousy from who knows,
there's theories that's an admirer or a stalker or somebody that she may have turned down
or possibly even a friend or that it was done out of fear of the possibility of her knowing
something that she wasn't supposed to know. When it comes down to it, I know she was set up.
And who it was, I don't know.
But to me at the top of the list, the last people that she talked to,
10 months later looking at every possible thing,
somebody had to know or be told when she was leaving.
The only people who would know she was leaving were the people that she was last talking to.
So why nobody saying anything is just completely cowardly, in my opinion.
Because all of these 10 months, it's not like you haven't seen us begging and pleading for answers and for justice from Mercedes.
If you know something, say something. Now, one major component of this case
that I haven't yet touched on has to do with
both Mercedes car and the car that she was found in.
Like you heard them say, when Erica and Tom were made aware
of what happened in Mercedes, they weren't given
any information about the car that she was found in.
In fact, to this day, they haven't been given any information about the car that she was found in. In fact, to this day, they haven't been given
any information about this car.
Nobody has.
And because they weren't given any details right off the bat,
they were under the impression that it was Mercedes car,
which would make sense with the information
that they were given.
However, it wasn't, and this is how they found out.
Only a day after her daughter was killed,
Erica received a very strange and very upsetting call from the Tempe Police Department. When she
picked up the phone, she was told that her car was parked illegally. And after a second of confusion,
she realized that they weren't talking about her car, they were talking about Mercedes car.
Mercedes drove a white Dodge Charger with the license plate. LUV333, because the numbers 333 were very special to her.
She considered them her angel numbers and her mom, Erica had co-signed the paperwork.
Hence why her number was on the record and hence why the police reached out to her about
moving it.
And I'm sure you can imagine the confusion and anger she felt when she received this
call.
Her daughter had just been killed, and to her knowledge, she was found inside of her
vehicle.
So, it was very frustrating and confusing why they were concerned about moving this key
piece of evidence.
She even explained that this couldn't be possible because that Dodge Charger, the one he had
called about, had been involved in a homicide.
So just imagine the shock and devastation she felt when she learned that wasn't the case.
Erica was now finding out that her daughter's car was somewhere else, and on top of that,
the officer wouldn't even tell her where. That's right. Even though she was originally called and
asked to move the car, they wouldn't tell her where the car was. And then she, Tom, and all of Mercedes loved ones
found out where the car actually was
at the same time that the rest of the public did,
which sadly is a common theme in this case.
So let's talk about where her car was found
because I have a lot to say on this.
Mercedes Dodge Charger was found abandoned
behind the restaurant culinary dropout,
which is off of Mill Avenue in Tempe.
I mentioned earlier that Tempe is the home
to Arizona State University,
which makes this a very popular and populated area.
And Mill Avenue specifically, where the car was left,
is really a hotspot for college students.
It's where all the bars and restaurants are located,
and you'd be hard pressed to find a time
where it's not filled with people.
And just keep that information in mind for a minute. We know that on the
day that Mercedes was abducted and killed that her car was in that garage. She would
have no reason to walk into the garage unless her car was inside, which means it was not
parked behind the culinary dropout. So what does that mean?
It means that whoever attacked Mercedes,
and at this point, I'm led to believe
it had to be multiple people,
also took her car and moved it to this location.
But why?
And sadly, that's the million dollar question here.
What is the point of moving her car to this location?
A location that's filled with tons of potential witnesses,
security cameras and traffic cameras,
only to leave Mercedes herself in another car
on a very busy interstate.
Interstate 10, where she was found,
is the main route used to go from Arizona
to Southern California.
And at all hours of the day and night,
it has drivers on it.
So on top of leaving her car in an area where it could be easily seen, why were her killers
also risk leaving her somewhere where they could not only be seen easily themselves,
but where Mercedes body could be so easily found.
Just think about it, they could have pulled off of Interstate 10 and driven 20 minutes
off the road and it would have taken a lot longer
for her body to have been discovered.
Yet they leave her next to a busy interstate
where they know that she's gonna be discovered quickly.
And sure, leaving her here gives these sick fucks
a much quicker getaway,
but it does put them at much higher risk
of being seen by a potential witness.
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yet, why you still haven't moved out of mom and dad's basement, whatever it is. And no matter how
much you try to just, you know, open up, you're just going to get judged
by that person and they're not going to listen.
And while you may have to grin and bear it with that family member, you shouldn't feel
that way when you're talking to your doctor.
I've had so many bad doctors over the years that I have felt judged by, I felt like they
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It just doesn't make sense why they would put themselves
at so much risk unless there
was a reason for it or they knew they would get away with it.
Like maybe they had done this before.
And as I'm sure you've probably noticed, I keep saying they because I strongly believe
that more than one person had to be involved in this crime and I know her family feels
the same way.
Oh no, it seems impossible for this to be a one-man job.
And if it was, why wouldn't they just kill her
in the parking garage and then leave her body there
and take the car for a quick getaway?
Plus, I highly doubt someone was going to walk away
from a burning vehicle by themselves on Interstate 10.
Not to mention, it would be pretty much virtually impossible
for one person to then
go back and get Mercedes car, dump that, and then get away. Someone would have had to go pick this
person up after the car was lit on fire, which leads me and many others to believe that there was
at least one other person involved, if not maybe three people or even more. And I say there's potentially three people involved because assuming she was targeted,
we have to consider the fact that they weren't just waiting in the garage, hoping Mercedes
left her apartment that night.
Yes, this was an area where people were coming and going a lot, but it seems pretty illogical
to think that whoever did this just happened to have the perfect timing when it came to
Mercedes leaving her place and that they, you know, just got lucky.
Like I mentioned right at the beginning of this episode,
one theory her friends and family believe to make sense of how her attackers knew
when she would be leaving her apartment was the idea that someone could have
been setting her up, maybe someone who she trusted.
And I also want to point out that there are a handful
of women who also have lived
at the same apartment complex that Mercedes did,
the Aubrey, who claimed that they have at one point
or another also been close to being abducted.
And honestly, after hearing what I have heard
from Mercedes loved ones, this doesn't surprise me.
But, and obviously I don't know this for sure,
but I do believe that Mercedes wasn't just in the wrong place
at the wrong time.
I agree with her loved ones that she was specifically targeted.
In fact, when I talked to them on the phone,
they told me that one of her friends had mentioned
that Mercedes had told them that she felt
like someone had been watching her.
Now, I don't know when this conversation happened and I obviously can't say for certain whether it
had anything to do with her death, but Mercedes was an incredibly intuitive person and if she felt
like something wasn't right, I think that could be the truth. But it's just so frustrating that
there is so much information that the police do know and they're not sharing with the public that could really help bring these people to justice.
I just have a hard time believing and I know her friends and family feel the same way that
there is just nothing to share, nothing that would be useful to share with the public.
I just don't believe it.
We also have to keep in mind that whoever did this got inside her parking garage, which
we know there are cameras there.
And between her apartment complex and dumping her car
in one of the most populated areas in the city,
an area filled with witnesses and security cameras,
you know, traffic cameras,
we're just supposed to believe that there's no footage
and no description of a possible suspect.
I don't know, man.
And it's not just about identifying this person or
people so that we can bring Mercedes killers or killer to justice. It's also about informing the
public about a potentially very dangerous person or group of people that is just walking around
Tempe. Erica herself used to work for the Penal County Sheriff's Office and knows that there are license plate readers at almost every intersection in the city. So this silence is absolutely maddening
and truly makes no sense. And of course, I know that police sometimes have to keep certain
information close to the vest to protect the integrity of the investigation. But at this
point, it has been almost a year since Mercedes was murdered,
and there has been no arrest made, no possible suspects as far as we know, and it seems like
sharing more information with the public at this point could be the best course of action.
From the beginning, we were told very, very little about what happened to Mercedes. I've had to
little about what happened to Mercedes. I've had to find out by going and getting a copy of her autopsy, asking questions with the police. I even sent them a list of a hundred
items they never bothered to ask me about my child. But as far as the police handling
the investigation, we've seen no more footage than what the public has. We've received,
we've found information on Twitter that the public that someone had put out there, and
that was the video of her walking to her parking garage, which was the first time I was able
to see what she was wearing the night that she died. They keep it very, very quiet. They don't answer our questions.
We've gone down and tried to get information.
We've gone to places asking to see video.
And most of the time we're turned down or we're told that they've been told
not to share it or not to talk about it.
Perception is a big thing to me.
They have made me believe that my daughter doesn't matter.
They made me believe because that she danced twice a night
that her death is twice a week, I'm sorry.
Her death wasn't important in some of these other cases.
It took seven months to implement the Silent Witness program.
You've not asked for help.
You've not asked for the public.
You've not asked us questions.
You came to my house one night, asked me if I'd seen Mercedes.
And I've been out of the country for two weeks,
and you never came back.
There's cameras everywhere.
This case should have been solved months ago.
There's cameras right as you pull out of her place
where the train goes by.
They had to drive right by that.
Do I believe that this case will be solved by them?
I have to put my hat on that
and hang my hat on the judicial system.
It's someone we were brought to justice.
But like I said, I feel that my daughter's case
is not a high priority.
And like you've heard, it doesn't seem like the police cared to learn as much as they
could about Mercedes' life leading up to her murder.
Like her parents said, they were never once called to be asked questions about Mercedes.
The fact that they never even took the time to ask even the most basic questions about her
is just frankly inhumane and no parent should ever
have to, you know, wonder if police even really care
about solving the murder of their child.
And it doesn't make it any easier
that there is no clear motive here.
I mean, her friends and family believed
that she was targeted, but no one knows why. They have their own theories and ideas, but at the end of the day,
nobody knows why. Is it possible that Mercedes was being stalked by someone from the club that she
worked at? Did she say something to someone that she wasn't supposed to? Was someone maybe jealous
of her? There's also a chance that this could be about money, but even that doesn't really make sense.
Mercedes had over $10,000 of cash in her apartment
and that was never touched.
And obviously whoever took her keys
also had the keys to her apartment.
So if this was about money,
why would they not go and get that money?
Or if it was really about money,
why not steal her car and sell it?
Why just dump it somewhere? And of course, nothing will make her murder make sense, but without any answers as to
why this happened, you know, her family and friends have been forced to kind of come up
with their own theories.
One of the theories that I believe is that I think that she may have been,
think they thought that she had some information and they were trying to get that information out of her
because we said it earlier they could have just shot her in the garage and left her.
Why take her? Why take the risk? Go from nine to one o'clock unless you're trying to get something out of her or find out something about somebody.
I do believe that there's multiple people on love. I do believe that there is most likely a female involved and two males involved.
Because my daughter had probably 5% body fat and she would not just go silently into the night. They had to be bigger than her, catch her off by surprise.
I believe that someone she knew let them know where she was at at that particular time.
And they had literally maybe 10 minutes to execute what they had planned.
One reason why I believe the car was left on the highway was it was a showy crime.
It's to say if you open your mouth, this is what
could happen to you.
Unfortunately, when it comes to her phone records and things we can't see, every Snapchat
she sent her every Instagram post. I don't know if it was Mercedes that got caught up
in it and that she knew something. They were coming to her to try to get information on someone else, and she wasn't willing to
give that up.
If she died as a murderer, I don't know if she ran her mouth and pissed somebody off.
Jealousy and anger, those are the two theories that we have.
It wasn't an accident.
It wasn't a mistake.
They purposely killed her.
She was targeted.
She was set up, and most likely she was set up by somebody she knew because you don't talk to somebody at
854 and 915 you go missing and
that's the hardest part for me to just sit back and and it's kind of where I was talking about talking about the police and in their
Investigation that person to me should be the biggest person of interest
Every person that was around that person, when that text came through, should be questioned.
Should have been, well, who did you tell
or who did you talk to?
And then for her to respond back later at 10.15 or so,
well, I guess you're not coming.
It was to cover her track.
It's one of the things about what happened to her
that sticks out to me is the bleach
that was found in her throat.
To me, there's two possibilities for that.
One, because her attackers, not one, but I think three, two or three at least,
to possibly get rid of any DNA, it would not have surprised me in the least
if Mercedes bit one of them, or it could have been a message.
And this is why I think that it could be a fear of her knowing something she isn't supposed to
because maybe they did it so that she wouldn't say anything. We're working with what we have
and what we have is what we think up here. I was also thinking possibly sex trafficking because that is very
common in the Tempe area but the people that did this obviously knew what they were doing.
This wasn't their first time doing it. It honestly just kind of, I feel like bamboozles all of us
because she did not deserve this. Something that her friends and family strongly believe
is that whoever did this to her didn't know
that she had such a strong and dedicated support system
who is literally going to stop at nothing
until these people are brought to justice.
After months without answers,
Mercedes friends decided to create social media accounts
dedicated to spreading awareness. And of course I'm going to link those below for you so you guys can stay up
to date on her case. These accounts are under the handle honoring Mercedes Vega and you
will be able to find updates and information as it comes out. There's a Twitter and Instagram
and TikTok, all of which I will have linked below. And I really ask that you take the
extra time to show them that support because it really goes a long way knowing that you're not alone in this fight, especially when you
feel like you're not getting enough support from law enforcement. Feeling like you have
people out there that care and want to see justice for your loved one, it makes a huge
difference. I do also want to point out that honoring Mercedes Vega is the only accounts
run by family and friends and is the most trusted resource for updates and information. It took months for the
media to pick up on this story and they've barely gotten any of that like I
said so now that people are talking about it we can't let the noise die down.
Also on November 28th 2023 her family and friends participated in their first
press conference and it was really, really powerful.
So I'm going to link that down below for you guys.
After months of being quiet and allowing the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office time to
conduct their investigation, her friends and family decided that they're no longer going
to sit on the sidelines.
They are no longer afraid to get as loud as they need to to put their faces out there
and they're ready for justice to be served.
Since this happened, Mercedes friends and family
have dedicated hours to seeking justice.
On October 2nd, friends and family returned
to where her car was found to pass out flyers
and asked questions to those who live and work in the area
and they continue to do so each and every month.
But despite conducting their own canvassing efforts
and asking local residents and businesses
to go through their own security footage,
unfortunately, they still have nothing.
But they know that answers are out there and they're not giving up until they find them.
And last year, on October 17th, they released balloons and lit candles in Mercedes honor.
And seeing the photos from this evening is a great reminder of how loved she was.
It's a reminder of how many people
Mercedes has in her corner and how many people
are going to continue to fight until the person
or people responsible for her murder are put behind bars.
We've done everything we possibly can
that we know that we can do.
There's gotta be more to do.
We need to bring more light to this.
That's why we continue to do things like this, because
there's no reason why it should be silent. Someone knows something and her life at 22 does matter.
And it is the biggest saying that I always say, and I've said it multiple times,
in everything that I've ever done, her life mattered. And I will do anything, and my wife will do anything
to help bring these killers to justice.
I have had evidence that I had to turn in to the police.
And I have noticed some suspicious behavior
on different Instagram accounts
that interacted with her account.
You know, it's not that hard to find these things
out these days.
And I'd say that people don't realize that.
So they're not quite as careful,
but I also have been on the phone with Erica constantly.
We both in the beginning really, really tried to figure this
out on our own because we felt like the police weren't doing anything and they weren't. They
weren't telling us anything. We couldn't find anything out. We had nothing. And for a while,
we were told to be quiet about it, but we got sick of waiting. So I was on the phone with her and with Erica
and she said, it's time, it's time to blow this up.
And I was like, okay, let's go.
That's when the honoring Mercedes Vega Instagram page
was basically born.
I have no doubt that by the end of this year,
we'll have our answers and that these fuckers are gonna
get caught and they will get what's coming to them.
I don't live in Arizona anymore so my physical efforts couldn't really be there but I did
and I still continue to try my hardest on social media by making TikToks and videos
to really keep her name alive.
And making sure nobody forgets her smile and her laugh
because that really would radiate through the screen
and it still continues to.
And I know that people on social media
and people all over the world are hearing her voice
and hearing her story and that's what we want
and that's what we're doing.
We like to just kind of walk down the streets
and pass out fires and kind of share her story and
as short of a briefing as we can. Not only to share her story, but to spread awareness and
let people know that it's not safe. The only form of social media that we have is at honoring Mercedes Vega.
So the honoring Mercedes Vega profile that we have is the sole account where friends and family
are using to close case updates, but most importantly share who Mercedes was,
what we want people to remember about her.
Like you may have heard mentioned before, Mercedes loved ones are working with Silent
Witness, which is really cool.
It's a nonprofit program that gives people the opportunity to anonymously report crimes
to assist law enforcement.
And as I said earlier, they have put together a $2,000 reward, but they are really hoping
to increase that.
So if you are able to please consider making a donation to this family, you know, any amount
big or small, of course, if you're not able to, I completely understand.
But anything that you can would really go a long way with this family.
But if you can't do that, it would be super helpful to just share information about this
case, share this video or share other media related to this case, share her story, pictures
of her, people need to know.
I mean, there are so many people in Arizona in Tempe that don't even know about this case.
She was a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a friend.
She made an impact on everyone in her life.
And if it were anyone else in this position, she would be fighting just as hard for them.
The one thing that we really want people to understand and that is very important is
that this is a capital case.
Anyone involved in this case is facing the death penalty with abduction, kidnapping, shooting, and killing my child.
Anyone, even if it was the person that just sent the text of where she was going to be,
you are all facing the death penalty. And your best bet is to come forward and to talk to,
you can call Silent Witness, but we're not going to show any mercy. There's
a murderer, a killer, a criminal, a torturing, evil, subhuman walking around in Tempe, Arizona,
and everyone should be afraid. Everyone, every child, every mom should be afraid for their
child. Every dad should be afraid for their child, everybody needs to be careful.
This murderer is still walking around.
This murderer is facing the death penalty and if you've got anything to do with it, you are too.
We're not going to stop.
You're going to face capital punishment.
So if you weren't aware, you can call Silent Witness and you can help
yourself out. There's also a reward involved, but your best bet is to come forward now.
I want people to know that Mercedes was an amazing person and she was so strong, really. She was
taken from us for a reason and I feel like that's for us to spread the word and the awareness
that you need to be careful out there.
Tempe isn't as glorious and as amazing as it seems if you really look into the missing cases, the kidnapings,
we just need to bring awareness to
everybody to look over your shoulders, look over your back, do self-defense classes,
carry pepper spray if you do, just be careful out there
because this world is evil,
to evil fucking world out there, it's actually crazy.
And it's funny because me and Mercedes
would joke about that like it's the evil world out there.
We did not even understand how evil it could get.
What I want and need people to know about Mercedes
is that if you judge her for her line of work,
the problem is you.
She was one of the most dedicated, strong,
perseverant, stubborn people I ever fucking knew.
And she was loving and caring and kind. her severe and stubborn people I ever fucking knew.
And she was loving and caring and kind.
And when she fought with you, it's because she fucking loved you.
And I realize that now more than ever.
And I want you to walk away being careful and aware of your surroundings and paying attention
to behavior from strangers.
She was like the physical embodiment of an angel and because some evil, disgusting,
vile scumbag person did what they did, she now is an angel that we can't see anymore.
And I'm very blessed that Marcee's
is such a strong spiritual being.
She was before she passed.
So now it's like, I feel her all the time.
No one is perfect, but she was to me. And I'm gonna miss her.
I love her until I take my last breath. And I'm going to fight. I'm gonna fight for her
as long as I have to. And just a reminder to everyone that Mercedes lived at the
Aubrey apartment complex on West Washington Street in Tempe, Arizona. And if you lived here
or in the area on April 16th, 2023, please think hard
about if you saw something suspicious. And I know that from speaking to her friends that the
apartment complex has been actively removing the flyers about Mercedes, which is just disgusting
to me. And I can't wrap my mind around why that would be. But it's just another example of why
this needs to be shared with as many
people as possible. And maybe if you live in Tempe and you have, you know, security cameras or a
ring doorbell, maybe check it from back in April and see if you have anything. I mean, just check.
You may not know it, but you might have the missing piece that solves this case. So please,
I'm asking you to just look. Again, Mercedes drove a
white Dodge Charger with the license plate LUV333. It's distinct enough that you might
recognize it on video. And if you have any information related to the murder of Mercedes
Vega please call 480-WITNESS. That's 480-WIT-S. That number takes you to silent witness and you will not be asked a single identifying question.
You will be 100% anonymous.
Now, before I wrap up today,
I wanted to take time to read a journal entry
that Mercedes had written shortly before her passing
and gives me chills.
It's really, really powerful.
It says, I am divinely guided and divinely protected.
The entirety of my existence is all for the highest good.
I am allowing the universe to handle everything for me.
I recognize the divine is orchestrating all that happens,
even in my most tragic moments.
I am being divinely led to my higher purpose.
The universe has perfect timing."
Mercedes was a very deep, complex, and spiritual person,
and there was one thing that her family shared with me
when I was on the phone with them, her family and friends,
that truly just sent chills down my spine.
But there was a time when they were all together doing sort of a celebration of life
and they were outside and all of a sudden they look up
and they see three balloons going across the sky.
And as I mentioned earlier, Mercedes loved the number 333.
It was her angel number.
It was a very special number to her,
so much so that it was on her license plate.
Now, what's even crazier about this is
those balloons were in the shape of threes.
It was literally three balloons.
The number threes just floated across the sky
in this moment when they are honoring her life.
I mean, I don't know.
I know some people out there don't believe
in things like this, but to me, that is a sign.
And they told me several other instances where they believe Mercedes is still with them.
They still feel her presence, that she is communicating with them from the other side.
I don't know, just it really, I think it's really incredible to think about.
It is not an option for this case to go cold.
There has to be justice for Mercedes.
I mean, it seems like this case is so easily solvable.
So again, before I go here, I just want to ask, please take a moment, share her story,
consider donating to the GoFundMe and support this family's quest for justice.
People need to be aware of what happened.
Her mom talked a lot about which I thought was so amazing in her time of need.
She is so concerned about this happening to other people, to other parents out there,
and wants to make sure that awareness is spread about Mercedes' story for that reason.
Working on this case has been incredibly difficult for me and my team, but I am just so thankful
that their family trusted us to tell this story and had the bravery to come out here
and share their experience with all of you.
So again, I just wanted to thank you all and that is going to be it for me today guys.
I'm hoping there are updates to share with you all soon, but that is all I have for you today.
Of course, I will have everything you need to help this family linked below and I know
you guys are going to show up for them like you have for so many other families that I have brought
onto this show. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode.
And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
It really does help me out.
If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel,
which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray.
I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.