PHOENIX — A former dancer who worked with Mercedes Vega at the time she was robbed at gunpoint is opening up about the violent crime.
Vega was 19 years old when she was robbed in the parking lot of her Phoenix apartment complex in October of 2020 as she was coming home from work at a club, records show. A man wearing a mask and gloves pointed a gun at her before taking her phone and bag containing money.
Loved ones recall Vega was shoved to the ground and injured.
"I remember her coming into our work and seeing the scratches down her spine and I remember because she had just gotten her favorite tattoo on her back and so she was really upset that it was affecting her brand new tattoo," said Jelena Gamboa. "He must have really pushed her hard."
'It feels relieving that we're finally able to talk about this because it was such an important part of what happened to her in some of our eyes.'
Gamboa remembers Vega was not the first victim of violent crime that was connected to the club they worked at.
In November 2019, another dancer was targeted as she pulled into her residence parking lot after work. A Scottsdale PD report says the suspect was wearing a mask when he robbed her at gunpoint. He took her bags.
“Everybody was really on edge about it," Gamboa recalled.
A month after Vega was robbed, it happened again.
In November 2020, another dancer from the same club reported a man attempted to rob her at gunpoint in the parking garage of her Scottsdale apartment. He ran off when a passerby arrived, a police report says.
“Mercedes was very, very smart. She was very strong, but she was also very mentally strong," Gamboa said. "It definitely scared her. It would scare anybody, any person that would go through something like that. But she kind of just took it, it seemed like, as you know maybe this isn't the best environment. And I remember she stopped going in as often, kind of stayed back for a little bit and reassessed her safety precautions."
Vega cooperated in the armed robbery investigation. She provided police with information and they were ultimately led to suspect Cudjoe Young.
Records show Young was seen inside of the gentlemen's club following the robberies.
Vega identified Young in a photo lineup and he was charged in connection to the two 2020 cases.
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The 2019 armed robbery case remains unsolved. This week, however, Scottsdale PD said detectives are reviewing the case to see if it is connected.
“We were pretty concerned if he had an insider in [the club] telling him, 'Hey, this is probably the best person to target right now.' And so a lot of people were getting a little more secretive with the amount that they were making because we didn't know who to trust," Gamboa said.
On April 13, 2023, court records show Young's attorney at the time filed a disclosure notice that a man named "George" was expected to testify at the robbery trial that "he was the individual who threatened Mr. Young to commit the armed robberies."
No last name for "George" was given.
Four days later, Vega was found dead.
Young was out on bond with electronic monitoring at the time of her death.
12News has asked the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office if detectives are investigating any connections between the robberies and the murder. A spokesperson said they "will not comment on this or any other possible connects at this point."
Vega was last seen the night of April 16, 2023, leaving her Tempe apartment. Her family says she was abducted from her parking garage. Medical examiner records show she was tortured. Her body was found on fire inside of a car on the I-10 freeway near Tonopah, about a hundred miles west of her apartment.
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“You go through different phases of anger and then you don't know who to blame," Gamboa said. "Life happens and you want to talk to your friend and you can't even do that.”
The robbery case was set to go to trial this week, but another change in Young's attorney has pushed the trial back to the fall.
“It makes us all really, really upset because even when she had a chance to be here and live her life, she still didn't get justice for being mistreated that way," Gamboa said.
Young has been held without bond on a separate drug case since November.
Vega's loved ones plan to be in court when the time comes. They've been told they cannot bring up what happened to Vega and why she is not there, but they're committed to doing whatever it takes to bring her justice.
“Everybody deserves justice and eventually the truth is going to come out and you're going to have to pay the consequences," Gamboa said.
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