Suspect arrested year and a half after missing dancer is found dead in burning car

TEMPE, Ariz. (TCN) -- Law enforcement officials in Tennessee apprehended a 22-year-old man wanted for allegedly killing a woman who was found dead in a burning car in the Arizona desert last year.

"True Crime News" obtained a statement from the Maricopa County Sherif's Office saying Sencere Hayes was arrested Nov. 11 in Hamilton County, Tennessee, in connection with Mercedes Vega's death. The sheriff's office said they are working to get Hayes extradited back to Arizona to face charges. He's being held in the Hamilton County Jail without bond.

According to Silent Witness, on April 17, 2023, at 12:30 a.m., the Arizona Department of Public Safety responded to the Interstate 10 freeway near Tonopah regarding a car engulfed in flames. Firefighters arrived at the scene and discovered Vega's body inside the vehicle after extinguishing the blaze. Homicide Unit detectives from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office took over the investigation into Vega's "violent murder."

KSAZ-TV reports investigators told Vega's mother, Erika Pillsbury, that the 22-year-old dancer "was abducted and that she had been hit over the head and forced into a vehicle and that she was shot through her right arm and that she had been burned alive."

Vega also reportedly had bleach in her throat and was still alive when the car was set on fire, according to KTVK-TV. Pillsbury told KTVK her daughter "suffered and was tortured," adding, "I believe someone was forcing her or trying to force her to do something that she said no. I know she died fighting."

Video footage showed Vega leaving her Tempe apartment and walking to her car at around 9 p.m. on April 16, 2023, before she met up with some friends at Dave & Buster's. KTVK reports the suspect attacked Vega in her parking garage.

Her father Tom Pillsbury said, "Based on the way the car was parked and where the blood splatters were, I believe she was turned backwards and opening her door, and they hit her from behind."

Vega was the victim of an armed robbery in October 2020, but the suspect in that case has yet to stand trial. According to KTVK, the suspect had an ankle monitor on and is not believed to be connected to her killing.

Hayes and Vega reportedly did not know each other prior to Vega's death. The car she was found in wasn't actually her vehicle, either.

After learning that detectives made an arrest, Tom Pillsbury said he "went outside and screamed for her and said, 'Mercedes, they got him for you. You’re going to be vindicated.'"

MORE: