TEMPE, Ariz. — An arrest has been made in the 2023 murder of Mercedes Vega.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office announced the arrest Monday following more than a year of investigating.
Sencere Hayes, 22, was arrested in connection with Vega's death, however, MCSO says the case remains under investigation.
Hayes was arrested on Nov. 11 in Tennessee. MCSO is working to extradite Hayes to Arizona.
RELATED: Mercedes Vega was cooperating in armed robbery investigation before being tortured, murdered
On the night of April 16, 2023, around 9:15 p.m., surveillance footage shows Vega walking to her car at her Tempe apartment complex. She was heading out to meet friends and the footage is the last look of her before she was taken.
MCSO told 12News Vega’s last known communication was abruptly canceling personal plans and she had stated she was going to work.
Vega’s car was later found parked illegally with the keys still inside of it near Culinary Dropout in Tempe. Her body was found in the backseat of a burning car on Interstate 10 near Tonopah. A medical examiner’s report revealed she was tortured. She had bleach in her throat, a gunshot wound on her arm and trauma to her head.
The vehicle Vega was found inside, a Chevy Malibu, did not belong to her. Records show it had a salvaged title.
12News spoke to the previous owner of that car who stated she turned it into a Peoria car dealership in June 2022, nearly a year before Vega’s death. She said she was unaware it was at the center of a murder investigation.
In May, 12News reviewed 911 calls connected to the investigation into Vega's death.
The calls were from a witness and first responders at the scene. During the call with the witness, an operator can be heard asking where the incident occurred, and the witness explains to the operator that he saw flames inside the vehicle.
"It’s off on the side of the road… it went down in the ditch but I saw, like, flames literally inside the vehicle, I don’t know how many people are in it or what color vehicle or anything," the witness said.
The witness also stated he saw at least one person outside the vehicle.
The call from first responders at the scene is consistent with the incident report released by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, with authorities at the scene calling in to report that what they thought was a vehicle fire also was where they found a dead body, later identified as Vega.
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