CAUTION: This story contains some graphic details, including sexual violence, that may be objectionable to some readers.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – An arrest report obtained by FOX5 has revealed the intricate details of an alleged plot to kidnap and kill Marayna Rodgers, who went missing on December 5 and was found dead in Henderson ten days later.
Sakari Harnden,19, and Chance Comanche, 27, were arrested and each face a charge of open murder.
Comanche was a professional basketball player in the NBA G-League before he was released by the team today. According to Harnden’s arrest report, the two suspects began planning the murder of Rodgers at the end of November and eventually acted on their reported plot when Comanche’s team played in Las Vegas.
A series of text messages revealed that the two suspects initially attempted to have a third party kill the victim. Comanche first mentioned the plan and told Harnden he would “run it by him” on November 30.
“I told my dawg the whole plan,” Comanche wrote to Harnden on December 2. That night another party, unnamed by police and only referred to as “Tre” in the report, asked Comanche what he specifically wanted done to the victim.
According to the police report, Comanche replied with a coffin emoji.
The group text continued, with an issue of finding a gun cropping up on December 4.
“I can snap her neck,” Tre wrote. Harnden replied with a location where the murder could take place, which Comanche responded to with a heart emoji.
Chance’s team, the Stockton Kings, traveled to Las Vegas at approximately 4 p.m. that day for a game and checked in to the M Resort. Police provided a timeline of his movements after he arrived, which included getting into a gray Mercedes that matched the description of Harnden’s car just after midnight on December 6.
Police secured a search warrant and also tracked the suspects’ movement through cell tower data, noting that the two suspects appeared to travel together from the hotel to a liquor store where they met the victim. Investigators reported that all three of their cell phones used the same tower at 1:21 a.m., which “would suggest to detectives that Sakari, Marayna and Chance were all traveling together in the same vehicle.”
Police obtained surveillance video that showed the gray Mercedes pulling into the liquor store parking lot, where they stopped to purchase alcohol and returned to the vehicle. All three phones utilized a different tower at 2:18 a.m.
The victim’s phone stopped working at approximately 3:35 a.m. Both of the suspects’ phones were tracked to a nearby tower less than 15 minutes later.
Video footage indicated that Comanche returned to his hotel and left the resort with his luggage at 8:50 a.m. Police added that Harnden was seen “leaving the hotel room, visibly upset and crying,” at approximately 10:24 a.m.
She was located by police and taken into custody by an LVMPD CAT team on December 13. She declined to speak to detectives.
Comanche was taken into custody by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Bureau at his team’s practice facility on December 14. He was booked into the Sacramento County Jail and is awaiting extradition to Las Vegas.
In an interview with detectives that day, he recounted more details of the plan and its ultimate execution, explaining that he had met Harnden through a dating app approximately a year and a half ago. He told police that the two dated and broke up but remained in contact with each other.
He told police that Harnden had relayed some issues she was having with the victim, claiming that Rodgers was going to “smoke her” if she did not give her a Rolex watch. Comanche said that he and the other suspect then “began putting a plan together to lure Marayna away from her friends so they could kill her,” according to the report.
That led to the group text chat, with Comanche saying that “Tre” was not interested in helping. The suspect then reportedly said he would offer $3,000 “as an incentive for them (to) complete the job sooner rather than later.”
He admitted that they were unable to get anyone to help with the murder, so they crafted their own plan, which included Comanche posing as a “trick” to schedule a meeting with the victim “under the direction” of Harnden. As part of the scheme, Comanche told Rodgers that he was into “kinky sex” and wanted to tie both women up in the car.
Believing that she was earning $1,000 for the encounter, the victim consented, allowing Comanche to zip-tie her hands together. Harnden joined her in the front seat and also presented her hands to be bound.
Comanche said that he then placed an HDMI cord around the victim’s neck, admitting to “strangling Marayna for approximately 10 seconds with the cord.” He stated that he stopped when he heard her struggling to breathe.
While he used the cord, he said the other suspect placed her hands on the victim’s neck and choked her. Once she was unresponsive, both suspects began checking for a pulse, believing that she was dead.
Comanche told investigators that the suspects then proceeded to drive around, looking for a place to leave the body, settling on a ditch on the side of Vincenzo Lane in Henderson. They left her body there, covered it with rocks, and smashed her cell phone. Comanche admitted to using a towel to move the rocks so DNA could not be traced.
The two suspects returned to his hotel room at approximately 6 a.m.
During his interview, Comanche pointed out the location of Rodgers’ body on a map. Homicide detectives responded to the scene and located the body.
Harnden has been charged with one count of open murder in Clark County Justice Court. Comanche is currently still in custody in Sacramento and no date for extradition or a Clark County court appearance has been announced.
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