AZ Mercedes Vega, 22, Tempe, abducted& found dead in burning car. April 2023.

cnmccarthy

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I looked to see if she had a thread on here but couldn’t find one. This one is pretty awful .

Mercedes Vega was a 22yo woman who lived in Tempe, Arizona. She was on her way out to Dave and Busters with friends when she was assaulted and kidnapped from her apartment’s parking garage. She was found later in a burned out vehicle, with a gunshot wound to her arm, bleach in her throat and had died of smoke inhalation.
Her car was also found in another location abandoned.


“On April 16th, her friends say she was abducted from her apartment. DPS troopers discovered her body in a burning car a day later.”
Mercedes Vega abducted & killed.



Found dead in burning car.

“Deputies with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office responded in April to reports of a burning car outside Tonopah, where they found Mercedes Vega’s body in the backseat — roughly 60 miles west of her Tempe home.

A medical examiner report ruled Vega’s death as a homicide, citing the cause of death being due to the burns she suffered and smoke inhalation. The report said she also suffered blunt force trauma and gunshot wounds that contributed to her death.”

Parents want answers months later.
This link has the security footage form her apartment garage. Unfortunately her abduction was not caught on film.

True Crime Arizona Podcast
This is a link to a recent podcast where her parents are interviewed.
“In April 2023, 22-year-old Mercedes Vega was leaving her Tempe, Arizona apartment to meet friends for dinner. The next morning, her body was found burning in a car off the I-10 freeway 60 miles away in the rural desert. Once the autopsy report was released, the details revealed one of the most gruesome murders and causes of death. Now 7 months later, her parents are sitting down for the first time to open up about what they know, the last known surveillance footage of Mercedes, and what the desperately seek as her killer, or killers, still walk free.”
 

Bianca Buono TV ·​

"She was tortured."​

Mercedes Vega was just 22 years old when she was abducted from her Tempe apartment complex. She was later found in a burning car on the side of the I-10 freeway and medical examiner reports reveal the kind of evil she faced before she was killed.

But 7 months later, no arrests have been made.

We sat down with her heartbroken family to learn more about who Mercedes was as they desperately plead for justice.
*Warning: The details in this case are disturbing.


Interview with Mercedes parents, heartbreaking!!
 
IMO It has to be an ex or a jealous girl somehow….

Bleach in her throat - to symbolize her to keep her mouth close? Did she know something she shouldn’t? Or did the perps think she knew something but she didn’t??

Or could bleach in her throat just be because bleach is inflammable?


Jmo/ imo / all that jazz. Just throwing things out there Reminds me a bit of Jessica Chambers. How awful…. I desperately want resolution for this one
 
  • On April 16, 2023 Mercedes was captured on video, just after 9 PM leaving her Tempe apartment parking garage, believed to be Facetiming with someone as she leaves. She was on her way to meet friends.
  • A day later, her burned body was found in the backseat of an unknown car along the side of Interstate 10 in Tonopah. Sixty miles from her apartment.
  • A medical examiner report said Vega was shot in the arm, hit in the head, had bleach in her throat, and eventually died from smoke inhalation while being burned alive in that car.
  • The report stated that gloves and bleach were found in the front of the car and lighter fluid was in the backseat.
  • Mercedes was working towards becoming a personal trainer. Her parents said she danced at a club two nights a week and they are working to learn if her death was tied to somebody who met her at work, and if there are other victims involved.
The crime certainly seems targeted and personal IMO. Someone abducted Mercedes, but how & why?
 
IMO It has to be an ex or a jealous girl somehow….

Bleach in her throat - to symbolize her to keep her mouth close? Did she know something she shouldn’t? Or did the perps think she knew something but she didn’t??

Or could bleach in her throat just be because bleach is inflammable?


Jmo/ imo / all that jazz. Just throwing things out there Reminds me a bit of Jessica Chambers. How awful…. I desperately want resolution for this one
Or (I feel gross saying this) but sexual assault dna cover up?
 
I just watched the YouTube video on Mercedes done by Kendall Rae. She danced at a club 2 days a week for extra money to get through school. I wonder if any of the customers/clients were interviewed. Maybe someone developed a obsession with her. There's also the possibility someone in Human Trafficking saw her at the club. Majorly feels like the police dropped the ball on this one.

Here is the link if anyone wants to watch. Her family and friends are involved with the video as well.
 
I just watched this as well, just my opinion but it seems like the police really are not taking this seriously.

Just some notes:
Someone had to move Mercedes’ car to the bar where it was found a few days later. She was NOT found in her own car. It’s unclear whose car she was found in.

The police have not given the family any information. They have not asked about Mercedes personality, her habits, her daily schedule, who she hung out with socially, anything.

All of this is conjecture and MOO: This makes me really wonder if this is a serial murder, and the police already know who the killer or killers are? I really hate to believe that the police just are ignoring such a horrific murder. I’ve seen other cases where police are extremely tight lipped and they are doing things behind the scenes. Hopefully this is that…?

Again all my opinion but I do think it would really help the family and allay public fears if police gave more information about the process and at least said they were addressing the case.

The family is really struggling, in this video it’s clear they are traumatized and just want answers. I hope they can get some soon and that police are able to solve this case. rip Mercedes
 
IMO It has to be an ex or a jealous girl somehow….

Bleach in her throat - to symbolize her to keep her mouth close? Did she know something she shouldn’t? Or did the perps think she knew something but she didn’t??

Or could bleach in her throat just be because bleach is inflammable?


Jmo/ imo / all that jazz. Just throwing things out there Reminds me a bit of Jessica Chambers. How awful…. I desperately want resolution for this one
Or could be because she talked back.
 
The details of this case are horrific. I have a hard time believing this could be a random act of violence with how vicious the assault was. IMO LE has got to have some inkling of what happened. Knowing she was a dancer perhaps there was an obsessive customer who wanted to date her, but she ultimately rejected. Jilted obsessive fan. The bleach down the throat makes me consider perhaps attempt to erase DNA evidence from SA, fire to erase the rest. All MOO
 
I just watched this as well, just my opinion but it seems like the police really are not taking this seriously.

Just some notes:
Someone had to move Mercedes’ car to the bar where it was found a few days later. She was NOT found in her own car. It’s unclear whose car she was found in.

The police have not given the family any information. They have not asked about Mercedes personality, her habits, her daily schedule, who she hung out with socially, anything.

All of this is conjecture and MOO: This makes me really wonder if this is a serial murder, and the police already know who the killer or killers are? I really hate to believe that the police just are ignoring such a horrific murder. I’ve seen other cases where police are extremely tight lipped and they are doing things behind the scenes. Hopefully this is that…?

Again all my opinion but I do think it would really help the family and allay public fears if police gave more information about the process and at least said they were addressing the case.

The family is really struggling, in this video it’s clear they are traumatized and just want answers. I hope they can get some soon and that police are able to solve this case. rip Mercedes
Or possibly someone wanted her for trafficking and she crushed an ego or else got some sort of damaging info on someone or was giving advice or assistance to someone controlled by traffickers or something. Seems like a rage kinda murder to me.
 

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