A man has been charged with the brutal murder of an Arizona dancer who planned to testify against him.
Mercedes Vega, 22, was found tortured in the back of a flaming Chevrolet Malibu off a highway around 50 miles west of Phoenix in April 2023.
Her battered body was found the day she was set to testify against Cudjoe Young, the man accused of robbing her at gunpoint in 2020 and who has now been indicted on multiple charges related to Vega’s death.
Young faces charges of armed robbery, arson of an occupied structure, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, first-degree murder, kidnapping and theft of transportation.