Angel #333 /// Part 2 /// 799 | Forensic Files

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today [Music] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who knows that orenthal James was a mighty bad man
here is the captain baddest man in this whole damn town it's good to be seing and good to see you thanks for listening
thanks for telling a [Music] friend today we are still sipping on the Fantastic brew from Stone Brewing called
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hit subscribe and there you go Bingo Boingo and that's enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a
chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime for me wa for me [Music] we discussed the situation that took
place in the parking garage or the suspected situation that took place in the parking garage we have poor Mercedes
Vega here who is abducted in this parking garage we we're told by police eventually that that's where they
believe that this went down and they have something telling them that and we'll go through those possibilities as
we get to it but but we have her car that's missing that's another great mystery of this case the vehicle her
vehicle is eventually found she was driving a 2019 white Dodge Charger this vehicle is later found
abandoned outside of a restaurant near First Street and Farmer Avenue this is is in Tempe Arizona so
Vegas car is found abandoned and parked illegally this is not far from her apartment complex so we have a couple of
things that are taking place here captain and we know this based off of where she's found in the vehicle
information and vehicles being used in the commission of this murder her vehicle is moved we're told that the
abduction took place in the in the parking garage she's found in a vehicle that doesn't belong to her many many
miles away what we cannot say is how did they transport her out of the parking garage and I know that I'm already
saying they but when you have this kind of movement with vehicles and you have an abduction that takes place in a
parking garage and a in a public place all all I can keep thinking about here Captain is that it makes more sense and
it's so much easier to do these horrible evil acts if you have two people working
in unison together to to carry out this hor horrific murder well cuz you have to
move the victim and you also have to move the car so some of the physical evidence that we're going to find at the
parking garage is a a statement by her her family that is saying they had to get this information from police they're
saying she was hit over the head because there was tissue and blood found in the parking
garage and based off of the surveillance footage that we have of her walking into
the parking gar her car being moved transported to this other location this feels to me a lot like what I suspected
happened in the Jennifer kessie case in Florida many years before this case right Jennifer cessy's case she lives in
what was supposed to be a nice apartment in a nice area parking garage I believe
that she was attacked on her way to her vehicle intercepted before she could get
in that vehicle or pulled out of it at some point here we have a very similar situation
because we are seeing and being told that there is physical evidence that says the attack took place in the garage
could it be police would actually go on and add clarification to this later they
think based off of blood evidence that they found in the garage and on her vehicle that was later recovered that
she very likely had approached her vehicle her back was turned to the as salant or or or as salance and that
suggests to me that she's attempting to get into her car right and the and these
cowards attack her from behind well but because we know where the victim was found because we know where the victim's
car was found it makes you wonder how much surveillance footage law enforcement has that they're just not
sharing with the public you are so spoton going to that point right here in in our coverage of the case because one
thing that's perplexed me amongst other things in this case is that they they being law enforcement have said they've
never released it but they've said that we have surveillance footage of her car being parked there illegally makes me
wonder too if we have any form of DNA evidence I know we have some gloves so if the gloves were left by the killer
then he wore those gloves so they'd have touch DNA evidence in inside the gloves
unless he dous those gloves and bleach yeah or the fire the the heat it doesn't even have to be the fire itself it could
be the Heat and also the the water the the water pressure coming out of those fire hoses and whatever they use to
extinguish those flames on the vehicle very likely disrupted and destroyed and contaminated a lot of the physical
evidence that they probably suspected that they would find potentially in the vehicle or on the victim herself the
problem is with this vehicle being a salvage title it's it would be different if it were her vehicle it would be
different if it was the suspect's vehicle you would expect to find a lot more evidence physical evidence in those
situations this is a situation Captain where the perpetrator perpetrators and the victim may have only been in this
vehicle for a very very short period of time yeah i' I would start looking for individuals that were similar in age to
her yes if not if not maybe a hair older thank you and look it's so difficult to
try to crawl into the minds of these monsters here and figure out who they are why they did what they did or or or
why they They carried out the crime in the manner that they did but I I can't shake the fact I shouldn't say fact
because it's not a fact I cannot shake the idea the suspicion that I have that the perpetrators of this horrible crime
are probably younger folks and probably similar in age she was in her early 20s I would suspect that these whoever did
this to her probably about that same age early 20s mid 20s somewhere in that neighborhood now one thing that I think
it's been talked about we're not going to be the first to have to have talked about this
but this case is discussed and and and there's plenty of articles about the case but one thing that I don't think
that that that comes through and is actually not even presented in most of the articles is police have somewhere to
start their investigation it may have taken them a bit of time to connect these dots but if
you go back in time to October of 2020 Mercedes Vega was she was horribly attacked back then and so you have to
look at that while we cannot say that they're 100% connected that it's it would stand a reason that there is no
connection at all what information do you have on that attack so until you can can you clear this you you have to say
there's a possibility so here's what we have October 12th 2020 this is from police and court
records this is early morning hours it's in the 4:00 hour 4: a.m. hour Mercedes is getting home from her shift at the
gentleman's club that she was working at the time now I want to be perfectly clear here the apartment that she's
living in in 2020 is not the same apartment that she lived in when she was abducted in
2023 right so she's arriving at home she pulls into the parking lot she gets out
of her vehicle and a man wearing a mask mask and gloves points a gun at her demanding
her her keys her handbag and her phone threatens her life and throws the poor young lady down
on the ground viciously so violently that when when she reports this she still has gravel you know like we talk
about Road Rash or whatever but she still has the gravel from the parking lot like sticking to her back yeah when
reporting this and she is visibly shaken she is terrified she's scared beyond all
get out here and her family has talked openly about this attack as well and they say look after after this went down
this guy's wearing a mask the our poor victim here has no clue who did this to her but they took her her belongings her
personal belongings likely her identification that would have been in her handbag along with the keys to her
vehicle and her cell phone so they have her personal information she never goes back to that
apartment ever again ever not after reporting the crime she never returns to that apartment or that parking lot
simply out of fear and so yeah there be so much trauma there but that to me feels like a a
robbery this her murder case doesn't feel like a robbery gone bad no because it's it it appears that it's violent
right away yeah right because it's it's a it's not just violence right away to hurt and harm her but it's hurt and harm
her with the the intent of abducting her and moving her elsewhere which really shows me and
tells me that it's very likely that they had to hurt and harm her to make it easier for to abduct her and move her
elsewhere and like you said law enforcement shows up to our apartment we have we find some kind of evidence that
there's attack that happens in the garage so I'm guessing that there's blood and stuff in the garage but also
blood on your car it just makes you wonder why why would they move her car because you don't need to move her car
to abduct her and kill her you don't but maybe you're hoping that maybe you're hoping that at the very least that that
detectives will not be able to know that she was abducted from the parking garage
because try to think about it from the criminals angle if she is targeted the criminal the abductor and
killer are going to her parking garage because they know that there's a high probability that that's where they can
find her and abduct her from but if if you don't so so what that means is as the perpetrator you are now on a shorter
list of of people who could have conducted this crime why because that means you have to be in the know of
where she lived and where she parked her car you can't say that any Bob Tom and James off the
street would know where this person lived they might know where she dances they might know where she works but they
may not know they likely wouldn't know where she lived where she parked her car and so what this is suggestive to me
moving the vehicle again you're putting yourself at risk but you're doing that because you're trying to stag the scene
of the crime of the abduction and set it up in a way that maybe the detectives can't figure out that she was abducted
in that parking garage and that opens up a whole other list of possibilities which would then carry
itself to a whole other list of potential suspects so let's go back to that 202 attack what happens here
is Mercedes Vega she's no dummy she starts noticing look on on some of the apps that I use there's activity on some
of the apps that I were was using and in at least one case she can tell that someone is trying to transfer money out
of one of her accounts and this this guy is a dummy however because guess whose account he's
trying to put it into his own I mean come on come on Cracker Jack why don't you can you come up with a better plan
here so she goes to police and she's she she God bless her after this horrible attack happened to her in 2020 like she
didn't just want to get the guy busted she she moved elsewhere she had to change her whole life and her parents
say like she almost it was almost like she was starting over because she had to up and move abruptly she had to she had
to change her her routes she changed where she worked and things of that nature but she she doesn't want to just
get the guy busted who who who scared her who hurt her who stole her stole from her she tells the police like I'm
willing to work with you morning noon and night on this because I I want to help other people I don't want this this
guy to do this to anybody else so she's she goes to police and says look at this activity this person is
trying to get my money out of my account and trying to put it into his so police
take that information and it leads right to the doorstep of the perpetrator well we can't say that he
perpetrated the the the robbery on her 100% but we know that we know the result right the robber took her her personal
belongings along with her phone so I'm assuming here that this person somebody is using her phone to to get into these
accounts and attempt to move things right this leads them to a person named Kujo young and I want to spell that
because I'm I'm likely saying the first name wrong it's probably cudjo young it's c u DJ o e last name
Young last name but licker we know that this attack and robbery on her takes place mid October 2020 let's fast
forward one month to mid November 2020 this is when another dancer at the same club that Vega was working at was
targeted just one months later according to records a woman was getting home to her Scottdale apartment very nearby not
far around 3:45 a.m. she's approached by a man at gunpoint then a vehicle or a passer
by stumbles into the area and this man gets spooked and runs off we can't say for certain that it's the same crime but
doesn't it sound very similar we have two people that worked at the same at the same
establishment and both are attacked when they return to their apartments in the middle of the night a gun A gun is used
in both situations yeah and you would think that because of her profession she's probably carrying cash exactly and
here's the thing we talked earlier about these businesses most of them the good ones
anyway they're being escorted to their the people that work there are being escorted to their cars and often times
it's not just it's not just dancers it's waitresses and bartenders and everybody
involved they're being escorted usually by a very large and capable security guy
I I tell you what I got thrown out of one of these establishments one night and I was uh through no wrongdoing of my
own just a complete misunderstanding you know and uh but I'll tell you this Captain I was very happy that they
didn't result to violence to get me out of there because it it one punch is all it would have taken you should have seen
the size of these guys they they were mountains I tell you so that's what she said these if you're going to attempt to
Rob one of these young ladies or a bartender or whomever coming out of one of these joint you ain't going to do it
in the parking lot at one of these joints and like you said this is a is primarily a cash
industry and why would one would somebody work at this establishment for the same reason I used to bartend one of
the best parts of it was you got to leave usually with a good stack of cash at the end of a busy night people can
Target these type of people and and and it doesn't take a sophisticated criminal
to Target these these persons well like you said you could have the idea well these lers are leaving with a lot of
cash I'm going to rob one of them okay well I'm going to do it right after they leave work oh they're being escorted out
I can't can't do it here okay I need to follow them home and that's what happens twice this cudjo
young is picked up Mercedes Vega picks him out of a photo lineup this is in December of 2020 and let's keep in mind
he's also charged at the same time with another armed robbery and let's go a step further records show that young was
seen inside of the gentleman's club following the robberies right so he's going into this so he has a direct tie
to this Gentleman's Club yeah but it makes sense you go into the club you see which girl is working more you can see
the dollars being thrown and then you pick out your victim and you follow them home and unfortunately he he post bond
posted Bond on both of these cases and he he gets let out now we we should point out a few things here he's out on
bond at the time of Mercedes Vega's death in in April of 2023 at the time of her murder what gets a little difficult
here so he so he's out and and could have potentially committed this murder but what gets difficult here is there
there are records there are court records that show that he may have had an ankle monitor at the time right so
they would be able to track his movements but you would but good suspect nonetheless because one he's capable
capable of the crime and on top of that it probably wouldn't be too hard if he's
been a a customer before to figure out where she lives you know he he knows somebody that knows somebody and gives
them information doesn't even know that this guy robbed her in the first place but maybe the idea is well if I get rid
of her she can't identify me and that's all they really have so I won't be charged and I won't go to jail here to
back up some of this information this is from news2 or 12 news they are on record saying that they
have confirmed that cud Joe Young was wearing an ankle monitor in April of 2023 and that ankle monitor did provide
GPS information so if he's the perpetrator and they've not connected that dot he
either figured out a way to to get out of that monitor or or be because it would it would track
his movements now the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said well when asked if they've investigated potential links
between the robberies and this homicide the they did say we will not comment on this or any other possible
connections at this at this point but let's go to April 13th of 2023 so this is days before the abduction and
murder court records there show that young Young's attorney filed a disclosure notice that a man named and
I'm going to go air quotes here George so we don't know if this is a real name fake name what have you but in this
filing names a air quotes George who was going to be testifying at the robbery trial
because cud Joe Young is saying that this George character is the person that threatened him and which then forced him
to commit armed robberies no last name for George is given and then as we know sadly four days later is when Mercedes
Vega is found dead but a couple things to consider here with these robberies I'm not talking about the abduction or
the murder I'm talking about the robberies here if if these persons are being escorted out to their
vehicles which I think it's easy to make that assumption and we should there's a
reason again there's a reason why these robberies are happening when the person gets out of their car not when getting
into their car and in both situations they've left the establishment the same establishment mind you and they're
attacked later so either they're being watched and Then followed to where the attack takes place and the robbery takes
place or or could you have a situation where you have two people in communication saying the target's
leaving and if you if you know where they live well you got a pretty good idea of their destination in the middle
of the night and you could have somebody sitting on the other end waiting to [Music]
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to upgrade your selling [Music] [Music] today all right we are back please raise
your hand if you've ever been kicked out of a gentleman's club tall can's in the air cheers colel
I will not put my tall can in the air but I will I will not I will not this case I don't want to say that it seems
open and shut but I think I think in most cases where there's smoke often times there's fire and here we have the
situation with this this armed robber a violent armed robber cudjo young this George character we don't know who he is
could this be retaliation for getting someone busted could it be retaliation before someone's about to be sent off to
prison I I think that those are suspicions that would be that that most people would have we can't say with any
level of certainty but it can't be overlooked now I do know the the family is disappointed with the investigation and
one aspect that they're disappointed with is that the the vehicle that she was found in that description you know
we we gave that description to you in in part one a 2018 white Chevy Malibu that's not released to the public until
over a year after the murder and the reason why they say they're disappointed is they think that it would have been
more helpful to the investigation or more helpful to the public if you are since you are in fact asking the public
for their help yeah to have released that information much much sooner I agree 100% with what the family's saying
I do want to kind of throw a little bit of a wrench in the whole situation though because we don't know what leads
and what police were working on and detectives were working on it prior to releasing this
information what I think we have here Captain is I think and I'm hoping that I'm right I don't know that I'm right
but I'm hoping that they were hot on something they were working that angle they were
chasing those leads and that they released this information when they figured out we have to move on from
whatever it is we're working on well they had three crime scenes yeah so I think they were hopeful
that they're going to get maybe some DNA maybe a fingerprint we don't know what they have what they don't have but it's
very tough for law enforcement and I don't want to come off as a boot licker but
the idea that these Law Enforcement Officers don't want this solved that they did there was some
malice by not releasing information it's sometimes you just make a bad decision and and you have to kind of go with go
with what you think is best but again I I agree with the family I think a year is too long now if you said hey we we
followed this we worked this hard within a couple months it doesn't go anywhere well then then release information but
but we have cases and this is the whole [ __ ] thing you know the True Crime world I mean how
many cases do we have that are 20 30 years old and law enforcement is still keeping things that could possibly solve
the the crime too close to the the chest that's the flip in this situation where
here we look if a year later was it too late very difficult for anyone to say however
it's a year later it's not 10 years 15 years later we've seen in cases 19 years later where they're
releasing like okay well good luck the person that might be able to identify that item that you're asking us to
identify May no longer be on the Big Blue Marble May no might be Pushing Daisies by this point yeah it gets hard
to say I I think when we're looking at something within a year's time I I bet you I would suspect like you said three
crime scenes Sur veillance footage at the at the scene that we're being told by and they back this up with evidence
that the abduction took place at one of the places where we have surveillance footage we have an eyewitness who can't
really describe the person he sees outside of the vehicle at another one of the crime scenes and then we have police
on record saying that we have surveillance footage of her car being parked illegally they're not saying we
have surveillance footage of her car being parked there they're saying we have surveillance footage of it being
physic somebody physically pulling and parking it and so when you have a witness at one scene and surveillance
footage at two other scenes it's very likely that detectives were working this for a while under the impression that we
are going to solve this soon and we need to keep a lot of this stuff close to the
vest because we are going to find ourselves sitting across the table very soon from the guy or guys that did this
and we need everything in our Arsenal to get them to confess or to later get them
convicted in the court of law this this situation of course is very troubling to
all I understand the frustrations and the disappointment of with the family Sorry by the family with this
investigation I do still feel like that there's this one could be solved very soon I think there's a chance that
there's a lot going on here and that they're closer to solving this than we know to stay on to this uh cut Joo young
ass hat yeah in November of 2020 3 he's arrested again this is in a Tempe Arizona this is the police department
there in Tempe they're running this narcotics operation he's picked up and arrested in this narcotics operation
he's accused of facilitating a large scale drug transaction involving around 40,000 pills that's a four with four
zeros after it 40,000 pills containing fentanyl this is according to court documents records show 11 codefendants
have been charged in that particular case some of them have agreed to plea deals cut Joo young has not so he's
facing a long list of charges including this criminal Enterprise money laundering transporting drugs for sale
uh conspiracy and we know that he's also facing those robbery charges armed robbery charges in July of this year of
2024 his robbery case it's supposed to go to trial well it gets pushed back to October unfortunately one big thing
that's going to be missing from the robbery trial is Mercedes Vega she picked him out of the photo lineup she's
no longer around to Aid in the prosecution of this guy and God bless her parents because they say you know
what if if this guy whenever he's in court we're going to be in court too representing our daughter honoring our
daughter making sure he knows there are so many people that want to see him where he deserves to be whether he
killed our daughter or not he deserves to be behind bars and punished for the crime these other crimes but doesn't
that isn't that what this crime feels like it feels like somebody that thinks they're a badass gangster and because
it's not just probably not just one individual but two individuals oh we're gonna move her car and then we're gonna
we're gonna kill her and we're gonna set set the car on fire we're probably steal
this other car from this lot and there's so many crimes that are taking place here plus the robberies and what
concerns me and what makes me believe and suspect that that he's good for this or involved in it again it's the the
what you and I agree is the suspected age of the perpetrator of the abduction and homicide yeah the and this is you
know Wann toe gangster whatever I don't know this cat and and and don't want to know him and I have no interest in even
talking with him but I what I can say is based off of his rap sheet and his name
constantly being in news articles this dude is what I would Define as a career criminal and these types rarely talk
they rarely rat on another and they're usually if if they're out walking around they're committing crimes real pieces of
[ __ ] yes and I that's who I think that this guy is does it mean that he murdered her we can't say with a great
level of certainty but I but if police haven't been able to move on from him it's also not it's wouldn't be out of
the realm of possibility that somebody he knows or is associated with was involved I I see a situation here
Captain where I think more than one person was involved in the abduction and murder and I see a situation where I
think it was likely that more than one person was involved in those robberies is that complete coincidence could be it
also could not be a coincidence at all now this guy you know he reminds me of uh of somebody that we spoke about
before and one of the criminals that that you and I loved to hate uh the one that thought he was some kind of
talented rapper from inside of the jail yeah but uh and so October 15th this this is where you
get frustrated not frustrated with law enforcement frustrated with this guy with the cudjo young in October this is
October 15 2024 so just a couple weeks ago we have Mercedes VGA her family her parents they're back in court because
they still don't know who killed their 22-year-old daughter but they're in court for a different case they're in
court again for robbery charges and for for charges that cut Joe Young faces he is playing the system he is playing the
system you know what he keeps doing he keeps firing his attorney so that his trials will keep getting pushed back and
pushed back and pushed back so once again in October he because he he he changed his they're saying changed his
attorney the trial has once again been pushed back he's currently being held without bond on several drug charges and
has been since November of 2023 so at least he's not out and walking the streets but he's playing the system and
he's he's using every card that he has up his sleeve to delay what I think will be his eventual his inevitable
conviction in at least one of these cases there is a statement and I want to be clear here I don't know who this is
coming from I don't know if this is coming from the family or from law enforcement again the Maricopa County
Sheriff's office has not been an open book regarding this homicide investigation or or their findings thus
far so I I don't I I don't suspect that this is coming from them but it came from somewhere there is a statement out
there in reports and in stories that say that she was attacked and taken by at least two people she was hit over the
head shot in the arm and eventually left in a vehicle so there's no nice way but
somebody took an accelerant lighter fluid and put it on her head and hands and that's where the fire started and
unfortunately that information seems to be true because based off of the eyewitness's statement when he's calling
911 he's what is he saying again he's saying that he's seeing he can see a flame or Flames coming from inside the
vehicle but again the statement I don't know where it comes from but what's interesting about it to me and and
and I believe to everybody would be the statement of taken by at least two people is that speculative or is that
something that they can they know from the surveillance footage or is that something they know by the the physical
evidence at the scene or scenes what we do know this is this that moving these vehicles much easier to do with two
people and in both cases we have two vehicles we have we have the Salvage tidal vehicle that was moved at least
twice right off of the lot and then placed at the where it was found in Flames we don't know if it was used to
abduct Mercedes we don't know if her vehicle was used to transport her out of the parking garage I mean we have the
situation with all this movement with the vehicles and with the blitz attack on our victim I don't know it just seems
a lot easier for two people to to have carried this out than one and you have to wonder is it retaliation right there
are people that have suggested that the bleach in the throat may may be more of to send a message to somebody I I don't
know that I agree with that 100% I don't think it's a bad assessment or specul speculation I think that I truly think
that the setting of the fire the purpose of that was to destroy and burn everything and that if you were trying
to send a message to someone else beyond the victim well what kind of message are
you actually sending if all of that evidence and all of that information is destroyed which the fire would imply
that you were attempting to do so yeah I unfortunately and I hate to say this out
loud because there's going to be people that know and love and care for our victim I I think that that was just a
way to punish her in the moment this is clearly whoever did this I think there's
a direct connection between the suspect between the perpetrator and the victim and I think that somebody in that moment
for and thankfully it was a very short period of time wanted to hurt harm and and and torture this poor young woman
yeah if I'm investigating this crime like you said she was attacked before but to me that
feels like a robbery doesn't feel but it's a difficult case and again we don't know how much they're holding
back this is just a little over a year old as far as the case goes and you you got three difficult crime scenes yeah
one crime scene that was set on fire the other one was the parking garage which hey glad that we have surveillance
footage and then the abandoned car but they could have a lot on this individual and well the the more crimes scenes in
the more known crime scenes so these these are not just unknown like we have plenty of cases that we've reviewed
where we know that there are additional crime scenes we just don't know the location of them and here we know the
locations of of the multiple crime scenes so that in itself would be would lend itself to the idea that the more
crime scenes the more evidence and therefore you're I think you're right I think you're spoton
Captain I think they have something they have stuff here they have meat on the bone and what what can they do with it
it's very difficult to say at this time this case is still relatively new it appears that they're working it very
good I hope and it it appears that they have more information than what has been
released to the public we should I do want to point out a couple things too before we wrap here her vehicle remember
her vehicle one of those crime scenes is where her vehicle was found that was the
parking lot of a business called The Culinary Dropout this is near Mill Avenue and Fifth Street and the report
is I've never been to this Culinary Dropout but the report here from the locals is her vehicle is found behind
one of the most popular restaurants in that area her vehicle was a white 2019 Dodge Charger with the license plate Luv
love 333 this is is near ASU Campus and again we have that statement I and I I hate to keep throwing that out
there because we don't know where it came from but a statement of she was attacked and taken by at least two
people and if that's the case you hope that that police can get an advantage point at some point where they can
leverage something to get person a to turn on person B and that might just be the only thing that
remains in this investigation for them hopeful hopefully they've honed in on on who's responsible or they have a a small
pool of people and they know that someone someone's inside of that pool of people are responsible for this murder
make no doubt about it make no mistake about it the these are very very dangerous people for obvious reasons in
the murder of Mercedes Vega but even beyond that the these armed robberies are whether they were committed by the
same people or not are very very dangerous people this this cartel for a lack of better word uh a conspiracy of
11 12 people to move 40,000 pills of fentol are very very dangerous people this this situation does not get any
more serious than this I do want to include this information from the family that says this is the family talking
here Captain we aim to keep Mercedes Vega story alive in the media and ask that all of you continue to share her
story share this True Crime Story repost her story on social media if you have information on her murder and you are
afraid because again we're talking about dangerous people dangerous Circles of people if you're afraid of these people
and you have information about her murder her Abduction the vehicle information any anything that could help
police help out this poor family there are ways for you to come forward and and not and these people
don't have to know that it was you there is a reward for information leading to the arrest of the person's responsible
you do not have to give your name if you have any information regarding this case
you may contact Silent Witness we've talked about them before in other cases and they've had great success great
successes helping solve these cases in some cases many years after they occurred yeah they should change their
motto silent but deadly Silent Witness you can contact them at 480 witness wi t n SS that's
480948 6377 or for Spanish speaking you can call 48 t s g o you can also leave an
anonymous tip on the Silent Witness website at [Music] H wait for me wait for [Music]
me want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage thanks for telling your mother thanks for telling your
brother Colonel do we have any recommended reading thank you Captain this week we are recommending the Leon
shootings and All-American Tragedy by Robert Conlin this is available in all forms kle audiobook with Audible and of
course hard and paperbacks October 25th 2023 was supposed to be an ordinary day ordinary night in Lewiston Lewiston is a
small workingclass city of about 37,000 people in Central Maine friends and family gathered to do things that they
loved when Terror was Unleashed at the local bowling alley and a popular sports bar and restaurant we had a deeply
paranoid Army reserve soldier who walked into both locations with a high-powered
rifle open fire and then he fled and this all took place in the great state of Maine a state that the FBI had just
months before named the safest state in America and one of the tragedies within a multitude of tragedies here is that
there were numerous red flags raised in the months before the attacks read or listen to to the Leon shootings and
All-American Tragedy by Robert Conlin you can find that recommendation and many more on our website's recommended
page at true Crim garage.com and until next week be good be kind and don't litter
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Angel #333 /// Part 2 /// 799

Part 2 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com (http://www.truecrimegarage.com/)

In the early morning hours of Monday, April 17, 2023 around 12:30 a.m., the Department of Public Safety received a 9-1-1 call of a vehicle on fire on interstate 10 outside of Tonopah, Arizona. The Fire Department extinguished the fire and found 22-year-old Mercedes Vega inside deceased. This vehicle fire quickly became a homicide investigation. If you have any information regarding this case you may contact Silent Witness at 480-948-6377 / 480-WITNESS, or 480-T-E-S-T-I-G-O for Spanish speaking. You can leave a anonymous tip at www.SilentWitness.org (http://www.silentwitness.org/)

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Brief Summary

Mercedes Vega was abducted and murdered in Tempe, Arizona, with connections to previous robberies and suspect Cudjo Young.

Key points

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Mercedes Vega's Abduction. Mercedes Vega was abducted in a parking garage, leading to a complex investigation.
Surveillance Footage Mystery. Law enforcement has surveillance footage but hasn't shared it with the public.
Cudjo Young's Connection. Cudjo Young, a suspect in Mercedes Vega's case, had prior robbery charges.
Investigation Insights. The Sheriff’s Office is tight-lipped about connections between robberies and a homicide.

Episode highlights

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2:09WatchNov 7, 2024

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