A photo of Mercedes Vega is displayed at the Silent Witness conference in Phoenix on Nov. 24, 2023.

Two men accused of kidnapping and murdering an Arizona woman who was left inside a burning car while she was still alive in 2023 could be executed if convicted.

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced on Dec. 3 that her office filed notices of intent to seek the death penalty against Cudjoe Young, 29, and Sencere Hayes, 23, in connection with the brutal killing of Mercedes Vega, 22, of Tempe.

“I believe the death penalty is an appropriate sentencing consideration for the jury for these two defendants,” Mitchell said in a statement. “We will continue to pursue justice for Mercedes Vega and her family.”

Erika Pillsbury, Vega's mother, has said she wants her daughter's killers put to death.

“I walk into the courtroom,” Pillsbury previously told The Arizona Republic. “I see them — their chests moving up and down, and I see them breathing. And I’m like, ‘That is so unfair.’ That’s my thought. My thought is, ‘My daughter isn’t breathing — why are you breathing?'”

Young and Hayes face multiple felony charges that include first-degree murder, kidnapping and arson of an occupied structure.

Jared Gray, 26, has also been charged with Vega's murder but remains in Georgia where he awaits extradition. Erin Pellett, a spokesperson for the County Attorney's Office, declined to comment on whether Mitchell would seek the death penalty against Gray as well.

Investigators: Vega killed in plot to silence testimony

Vega was kidnapped in the parking garage of her Tempe apartment complex before being tortured, beaten, shot and left to die in a Chevrolet Malibu set ablaze in Tonopah on April 17, 2023.

Her death was the result of a brutal combination of blunt-force trauma, gunshot wounds, severe burns and smoke inhalation, meaning she was still alive as the Malibu burned, according to an autopsy report.

Investigators said they ultimately connected the motive behind her murder to Young, whom Vega had previously identified as the suspect who robbed her at gunpoint after following her home from Le Girls Gentlemen's Club where she worked as an exotic dancer in 2020. Detectives believe Young, who was once an NFL prospect, plotted to have Vega killed to prevent her from testifying in his armed robbery case, according to court documents.

Detectives with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office struggled to make an arrest in connection to Vega's killing until November 2024 when deputies arrested Hayes in Tennessee after discovering his fingerprint on a bloody grocery bag that had been left in Vega's car, according to court filings.

He has since been extradited to Arizona.

Gray was taken into custody in Georgia months later after Sheriff's Office detectives discovered his fingerprint on the bottom of a plastic cup inside the Malibu where Vega died, court documents said. It was not immediately clear when he would be extradited.

The trial is scheduled to begin on May 28, 2026, in Maricopa County Superior Court, though capital cases can be delayed for years due to their complexity.

Young is scheduled to go to trial on Feb. 2, 2026, on charges that he robbed Vega at gunpoint.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Prosecutors seek death penalty for 2 men accused of murdering Arizona woman

Reporting by Perry Vandell, Arizona Republic / Arizona Republic

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