Authorities announced an arrest Monday in the brutal murder of an exotic dancer whose body was discovered in a burning car on an Arizona interstate more than a year ago.
Sencere Hayes, 22, faces a first-degree murder charge in the the April 17, 2023 killing of Mercedes Vega, 22, a spokesperson for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said Tuesday.
Hayes, of Chattanooga, Tenn., was taken into custody Nov. 11 in that state and is being held in Hamilton County, jail records show.
The sheriff’s office and local prosecutors are working to extradite Hayes to Arizona, the sheriff's office said, adding that the case remains active and under investigation and that no other information would be released.
It isn't clear if Hayes has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.
Vega’s mother, Erika Pillsbury, said that for 19 months she felt her daughter would never see justice.
“Now I know the person who did this to her is going to pay for it,” Pillsbury said by phone Monday.
Vega’s body was discovered in the back seat of a Chevy Malibu early April 17 on the shoulder of Interstate 10 near Tonopah, roughly 52 miles west of Phoenix, according to a sheriff’s incident report.
Vega, who performed at a Phoenix strip club and had plans to become a personal trainer, had been beaten, shot and burned, according to her autopsy.
Her face appeared to have been doused in bleach, according to a forensic pathologist who reviewed her autopsy for NBC News.
Hours earlier, a security camera in Vega’s apartment complex showed her walking into the garage where she had parked her Dodge Charger, according to video obtained by NBC News. She wasn't heard from again.
On April 18, the Charger was found in the middle of a road roughly a mile from Vega's apartment, the sheriff’s office has said. It isn't clear how the vehicle got there. Authorities have declined to comment.
Vega's family has said they found blood on the garage floor near where she parked, prompting them to believe she may have been assaulted and abducted. The sheriff's office has declined to comment.
According to the incident report, the Malibu that Vega's body was found in had a salvage title and had previously been registered to a person who couldn't be reached for comment.
A spokesman for the car's most recent owner, State Farm Insurance, has declined to comment, citing customer privacy policy and "sensitivities surrounding this tragedy."
The 911 caller who reported the car fire saw someone walking around the Malibu, according to the report, which didn't provide additional details about the person.
