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Angel #333 /// Part 1 /// 798

November 06, 2024 / 54:43

This episode covers the murder of 22-year-old Mercedes Vega, discovered in a burning vehicle on I-10 in Arizona. Key topics include the timeline of her abduction, the investigation details, and the evidence found at the scene.

On April 17, 2023, a 911 call reported a vehicle on fire, leading to the discovery of Mercedes in the back seat. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office quickly identified the scene as a murder investigation. Mercedes was found with blunt force injuries and a gunshot wound, and evidence such as bleach and gloves was located in the vehicle.

Mercedes was last seen alive on surveillance footage from her Tempe apartment complex on April 16, just hours before her body was found. She had changed her plans to go to work instead of meeting friends, raising questions about her abduction.

Investigators noted that the vehicle Mercedes was found in did not belong to her, complicating the case further. The episode discusses the potential connection between her profession as an exotic dancer and the circumstances of her murder.

The hosts emphasize the importance of public awareness in solving this case and the need for more attention to be given to victims like Mercedes.

TLDR

Mercedes Vega, 22, was murdered and found in a burning car on I-10, raising questions about her abduction and the investigation.

Episode

54:43
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gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime [Music] wait me uh he was like down in the bushes but
00:04:10
I saw a plane inside vehicle okay see they on the left by 10 yes yeah just just north of the
00:04:21
highway I don't really know what it is it I couldn't tell you okay unknown vehicle okay anyone you said there's
00:04:28
people outside the vehicle I believe I saw at least one person outside [Music] yeah you heard it there in the 911 call
00:04:48
this was received about a vehicle on fire the Call Comes In This is the early morning hours of April 17th
00:04:58
2023 according to police the 911 call was received at about 12:30 a.m. on April 17th the fire department responded
00:05:07
but while they were there extinguishing the Flames the firefighters noticed someone in the back seat of this vehicle
00:05:15
the Department of Public Safety at approximately 1:40 a.m. notified and dispatched several Sheriff patrol cars
00:05:23
to this scene so we have the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office they're at the scene now and they're responding shortly
00:05:31
after 2 a.m. they we have about five cars there five officers and patrol cars on the scene by 212 a.m. at the very
00:05:40
latest the vehicle was located sitting on the North shoulder of I 10 this is a freeway right around the 85 mile marker
00:05:53
the vehicle that is found in Flames is a white 2018 Chevrolet Malibu now we don't get a very
00:06:04
detailed description of the scene here Captain but we we have that vehicle information and we have a pretty basic
00:06:12
description of a female occupant in the back seat of the vehicle who appear to be deceased when First Responders arrive
00:06:22
on the scene yeah so pretty quickly law enforcement's going to learn it's all hands on deck this is a murder scene yes
00:06:30
sadly the female occupant in the backseat of the vehicle who appeared to be deceased sadly that was the actual
00:06:37
case and unfortunately this is already a situation where they did not need to and
00:06:44
there was no reason to attempt to perform life-saving measures in that moment so later the sheriff's office
00:06:53
would determine that the deceased female occupant found in the back seat of this
00:06:58
vehicle was 22-year-old Mercedes Vega she's pronounced dead at the scene from my understanding this vehicle is found
00:07:08
just west of tonopa this is Desert there is nothing out there tonopa is a approximately 50 a 5 Mile Drive West of
00:07:20
the great City of Phoenix and this is about 10 miles further west than that little city this is the most common
00:07:32
route that one would take when driving from Phoenix out to Los Angeles the 911 caller was identified and he has
00:07:43
cooperated extensively in this investigation to be perfectly clear here he didn't see the body in the backseat
00:07:52
of the car he just saw Flames he called this in Via his cell phone as he was driving on the 10 and continued along
00:08:01
his journey while on the phone and after the 911 call ended so this is just somebody saw something and they're
00:08:10
saying something phoning it in hey this is what I see I'm driving out here on I 10 and there's a vehicle on fire now one
00:08:19
thing that I find interesting there there's a few things that are interesting about this 911 call the
00:08:24
first is his description now keep in mind he's traveling at a at a at a rate of speed here down the highway so we
00:08:34
can't say with great certainty how good of a look he got at what he's reported but based off of his words on
00:08:42
the 911 call here Captain one thing he says is he says I can see a flame or he says I can see Flames
00:08:51
inside the vehicle as he's driving P it so that's not clarification if the outside of the vehicle were on fire too
00:08:59
but based off of reports that we would later have the opportunity to review it sounds like the vehicle fire was started
00:09:07
from inside and that is what our witness is seeing when he calls hey there's this
00:09:12
vehicle on the side of the road and I can see Flames inside he also notes and says that I can see somebody down there
00:09:21
that's exactly what he says down there by the bushes I find this incredibly interesting the
00:09:27
911 person responding to the call the answering the call they're called the 911 operator dumbass says to him you can
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see two people and he says no just one keep in mind what's going on here if you're the dve if you're this guy
00:09:41
driving along you see this vehicle on fire he's doing the right thing by calling 911 notifying them it doesn't
00:09:49
sound like this is a vehicle that's just blazing right a fire that's just blazing
00:09:55
and flames and flames and Flames it sounds like an isolated fire inside the vehicle that he's seeing
00:10:02
and Reporting but if you're the if you're this guy traveling along you're probably assuming look vehicle vehicle
00:10:11
fires happen they you know a vehicle can malfunction something goes wrong with it what was the poor what was the
00:10:19
old thing that they were saying for years they were calling Ford Explorers Ford exploders because they had some
00:10:25
terrible recall they had to do cuz the Explorers kept catching on fire fire all of us most of us who have traveled the
00:10:31
freeways frequently eventually you'll see a vehicle either on fire or one that has been recently put out by the good
00:10:38
people of the fire department so this is not uncommon and I'm guessing that he's
00:10:45
under the assumption that well the person I saw outside of the vehicle probably it was the driver of said car
00:10:53
had to get out of the vehicle because it was on fire so he probably thought hey I'm calling this in to not just get this
00:10:58
fire put but to help this person that I S spotted near the vehicle as I was driving along unfortunately what we
00:11:06
don't get captain is a great description of the person that he saw near the vehicle because what we would later
00:11:12
learn is this vehicle doesn't belong to the victim who was found in it and it also clearly does not belong to the
00:11:21
person that was seen on the side of the road yeah and if you're law enforcement this gets difficult because what do we
00:11:27
know about evidence being destroyed water can destroy evidence pretty well and so can fire now not only do you have
00:11:36
a murder scene a murdered victim but somebody that obviously was trying to cover it up make no mistake about it
00:11:43
this wasn't a situation where this person died in the vehicle from the vehicle fire no that this was an attempt
00:11:49
like the Captain's pointing out to destroy physical evidence at a scene and leave the victim there inside of
00:12:00
this vehicle let's continue through the known details of the crime scene before we get into some other pertinent
00:12:06
information a medical examiner report revealed the evil that the victim faced before passing before the murder she had
00:12:18
blunt force injuries a gunshot wound and the odor of bleach was detected in her or around the lck of the victim again
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this is 22-year-old Mercedes Vega she lived in Tempe she lived nearby gloves and bleach were found in the
00:12:41
front of this vehicle let's talk about these blunt force injuries and the gunshot wound a bit here before moving
00:12:48
on so the gunshot wound is primarily reported to have being as she was shot in the arm there is one report out there
00:12:58
that says that she was shot in the head but I I don't think that that was the case here Captain I think that was just
00:13:04
a typo or some bad information because every other report that we were able to review say that she
00:13:11
was shot in the arm the blunt force injuries seem to be primarily on the the head of our
00:13:20
victim here it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to deduce the situation of if you're if you have this bleach odor
00:13:27
coming from the the throat of the victim per the medical examiner report yeah well bleach a bleach container bottle
00:13:38
was found in the front portion of this vehicle gloves too right so we have somebody here who who likely
00:13:49
used gloves at the in the commission of this crime and probably just took them off or
00:13:56
or bought an excessive amount of gloves we've seen that in several cases and left left these gloves along with the
00:14:04
Bleach inside this vehicle Who belongs to who knows who we have this poor victim that's found in the back and like
00:14:10
you stated it's not her car we don't know who owns this car but what we always say it's easier to find a car so
00:14:17
if you have the car you can find out who it's connected to and her father so Mercedes Vegas father and I'm sure the
00:14:25
her mother believes this as well and feels the same he feels strongly that the car could be the key to unlocking
00:14:32
this mystery yeah I I would agree so what we have here this this is what we do know the vehicle that Mercedes is
00:14:39
found in th this is we cannot stress this enough it's a very big part of this mystery the vehicle was not hers this is
00:14:48
the white Chevy Malibu it did not belong to Mercedes Vega the vehicle had a salvaged title now we have have a family
00:15:00
news 3 uh Arizona family news who working with the police and look the police already did this work behind the
00:15:10
scenes but for this portion of the story to reach to the public it had to be the the news station
00:15:18
that uncovered this information they figured out who this vehicle once belong to it once belonged
00:15:26
to a and I'm just going to I'm going to simp liy her name a bit it is public record but it's not it's not super out
00:15:33
there but the vehicle used to belong to a Mis case and she openly spoke to the news about what she knew about the
00:15:45
vehicle that that she once owned so this vehicle was involved in an accident and
00:15:52
it was total at the scene of that accident so the technically we have a salvage title but technically the
00:16:00
vehicle no longer belongs to this misc case in fact if you review some of the reports on this case the actual owner at
00:16:09
this point would appear to have been State Farm Insurance Agency which makes complete sense based off of what this
00:16:17
woman is saying about the vehicle she says I had the vehicle for a short period of time uh I was involved in a
00:16:23
terrible accident the vehicle was total by the insurance company right and the last time I saw it was being towed off
00:16:31
to a lot it was on the back of a tow truck so possibly somebody stole it from that lot that has to be what happened I
00:16:38
would like to know what I what we don't know is if it's totaled there I would think there would have to have been some
00:16:45
repairs or considerable repairs to this vehicle at some point but and and then what is the condition of the vehicle
00:16:52
like did how does it appear to law enforcement that this vehicle was was stolen right does it look as simple as well
00:17:01
somebody got the keys hopped in it started it up and drove it off the the Salvage lot right or you know did
00:17:08
somebody bust out a window and have to have to Jimmy rig this thing so that they could they could take it off of the
00:17:15
lot which could be fairly easy given the state of the vehicle we don't know what
00:17:20
condition this vehicle was in it makes you wonder if the the lot has any cameras and it can we figure out
00:17:28
who stole this vehicle but I do know that you can buy a car off of somebody with a a salvage title yes you
00:17:37
absolutely can and so I don't know if the lot purchased it from State Farm or or how that all worked itself out
00:17:45
sometimes it can be a situation where if a vehicle is determined to be abandoned
00:17:52
which can happen with total vehicles or vehicles that have been in an accident and they're towed off to a lot sometimes
00:17:58
insurance companies will leave them there sometimes people will leave them there and then at some point the vehicle
00:18:03
becomes the property of the the lot or junkyard owner very mysterious this whole vehicle but this adds a little
00:18:12
background information for the vehicle of who it once belonged to and how it may have gotten to be involved in this
00:18:22
horrific murder while we're at it here Captain I want to make sure we mentioned AZ family news 3 we also have news2 and
00:18:30
KT news that's a radio station 92.3 FM have all done great work covering this case since the beginning yeah so we want
00:18:39
to give them a shout out because most of our source materials coming from from those three Outlets specifically with a
00:18:46
Briana Whitney from a family in particular having done a great job with this very difficult story we don't know
00:18:54
how Mercedes got there we don't know why she's there we don't know who car this is or who was controlling the
00:19:02
car we don't know who's leaving the scene but what do we know about the victim who is Mercedes yes let's hit
00:19:09
some background information what do we know about the victim what do we know about this area in particular so
00:19:15
Mercedes Mariana Vega was only 22 years old when she was abducted and killed and
00:19:22
we we know this is an abduction because of how she's found and we know that right away because she's found in a
00:19:28
vehicle not belonging to her from a young age her parents say that she was a confident and driven girl her
00:19:36
personality was magnetic her parents say that she was going to be an amazing mom
00:19:42
someday she came from a blended family this is a bit of a Brady Bunch type situation if you will the youngest one
00:19:49
in curls yes when when her parents get married uh they're each bringing children to the to this new
00:20:00
formed family Mercedes she went to middle school and high school in the East Valley area and eventually moved
00:20:09
into her own apartment this in Tempe Arizona now Tempe Arizona is a city located in Maricopa County Arizona the
00:20:18
Census Bureau reporting that the 2020 population was over 180,000 people it's located in the East Valley like we said
00:20:28
section of Metropolitan Phoenix which is big and sprawling that's what she said it's bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe
00:20:36
on the west Scottdale on the North Chandler on the south and Mesa on the East the one thing that may play a
00:20:46
factor here in this case is Tempe is the location of the main campus of ASU Arizona State University and I say the
00:20:56
reason why that might might play a fact Factor here is unfortunately Arizona State
00:21:03
University at this time and in the year prior were reporting higher than normal crime
00:21:11
rates and it's we're not saying that these crimes are being committed by students of the University
00:21:20
but th this is something that I think is somewhat familiar to people that have awareness and and good knowledge of
00:21:28
these larger universities that are spread out through this great country that that sometimes
00:21:34
you get this influx of people and population in a certain area and therefore crime can sometimes and crime
00:21:43
Trends can follow that yeah the university and the surrounding areas are occupied but not by all students it's
00:21:50
actually a small percentage of the students that live in that area and they're actually more occupied by just
00:21:58
people of that similar age not going to school Mercedes danced at a club she was
00:22:03
an exotic dancer she danced at a club two nights a week and she had done so for a little bit of time and we we'll go
00:22:10
back in time here in her timeline for reasons that will be obvious when we get to it but she at the time of her Murder
00:22:19
She was dancing at a club two nights a week she was saving money to accomplish her goals she was working to get her
00:22:25
personal training her personal trainer certification Mercedes listed out her goals for 2023
00:22:33
as follows so she listed this out and this is when somebody's passes away you always have that moment or in most cases
00:22:41
where people are going through your loved ones are going through your belongings and remember she lived out on
00:22:47
her own my family would be very disappointed in me her family finds that she had listed out her goals her
00:22:55
short-term goals for the year of 2023 yeah and they were listed as follows she wrote pick up a new hobby be open to
00:23:04
relationships that are meaningful and travel great goals her mother Erica Pillsbury goes on to say quote she was
00:23:12
just starting to realize that she had so much potential end quote one month before she was killed this was for her
00:23:21
birthday she went and visited Hawaii which was her favorite place this was open and known to people that that knew
00:23:30
her best that Hawaii was her favorite place she had been there several times before unfortunately nobody knew that
00:23:37
this was going to be her last visit to Hawaii she comes back captain and she tells her mom like how special the trip
00:23:45
was and how much she loves that place and she says mom I want my kids to cremate me and spread my ashes in Hawaii
00:23:53
because that's where my soul belongs I have some experience with this cuz I have been to Hawaii it's it's hard to
00:24:00
explain to people anytime somebody says I want to go to Hawaii I go you have to go but also there's this there's
00:24:08
something spiritual or it feels spiritual while you're there you feel like you're your soul is Awakening in some
00:24:20
capacity yes I I'm a big proponent of uh go and cleanse your your soul and your existence and your reality in the oceans
00:24:30
of this beautiful world that we live in like whether it be Hawaii off the the West Coast or off the east coast like
00:24:36
there's something to me and I know you're talking Hawaii specific I've not been there but to me anytime I get to go
00:24:45
to the ocean there's something that's like mentally emotionally and even spiritually healing to me about being in
00:24:53
in the ocean and I can't speak for for Miss V obviously but clearly she felt that that is where her soul belongs I
00:25:03
mean for for someone to say that at her young age of 22 and to have that I mean that's almost a a brilliant observation
00:25:11
by a young person to tell parents one day I want my kids to spread my ashes there because that's where my soul
00:25:19
belongs yeah like I said I I I agree with her but it could have been the Mojitos or it could have been the
00:25:25
shirtless buff male hoola dancers but I felt Awakening my friend that's right well th this thing this portion seems a
00:25:41
bit trite here but I think this is important to the case as well because this gives us a little bit of insight
00:25:51
into the Dynamics of her family and Mercedes parents this is and Erica Pillsbury they said that look we we are
00:26:02
very close to our daughter we are very close to to our kids but very close to Mercedes in particular and furthermore
00:26:10
they say we were in constant communication with her adding that if there had been any
00:26:17
safety concerns if if Mercedes had any safety concerns or people that she was suspicious of they said Mercedes would
00:26:25
have told them this so yeah and I'm not victim blaming quote I am not victim blaming but
00:26:38
the the profession that she was in those clubs attract some some bad stuff and but I'd also say that just
00:26:50
about any bars when I played in a cover band those bars didn't always just attract people
00:26:57
that were were going out for a good time over the weekend no they can certainly attract
00:27:07
some unsavory characters to to put it politely and look there is a reason why these
00:27:18
clubs escort the women to their vehicles yeah after their after the shift yeah after their shift is over and look you
00:27:27
we're going to see things in her timeline we're going to see actions by our victim to that will notify us and
00:27:37
make us understand that she was concerned about her safety and she wasn't dumb she was I I I would wager
00:27:48
Franklin on this and I feel very confident here Captain she would not have worked at a club that she felt
00:27:54
unsafe I I I feel that very strongly now is there a connection between her murder
00:28:00
her abduction and where she worked very that's certainly a possibility it would be a possibility also if you're a
00:28:09
bartender female or male there are people that get the wrong impression because you're just giving them friendly
00:28:19
service and you you start getting regulars that show up and have infatuation with you and that also
00:28:26
happens at at strip clubs oh absolutely I mean probably more so but but but even like like I said
00:28:35
going back to the cover band thing we had women that would show up and that would have an infatuation with the cover
00:28:42
band so I'm not victim blaming at all it's just a part of the equation that we have to look at if we want to solve this
00:28:49
crime yeah and there are there are men uh unfortunately I don't know any of them personally but there are men that
00:28:57
will spend their entire paychecks at at these types of establishments so if if if you Flinch at the word
00:29:06
infatuation right don't because you could one would only spend their entire paycheck if they if they were infatuated
00:29:14
even if it's just fleeting now as we pointed out arriving on the scene on the side of I 10 immediately the Maricopa
00:29:24
County Sheriff's office they have to understand as soon as they they they figure out just two simple things this
00:29:33
poor woman that was found in the back of this vehicle she didn't own this vehicle
00:29:37
then secondly the vehicle has a salvage title so it's rightful to believe that nobody technically no individual anyway
00:29:45
owned this vehicle so immediately if you're an investigator or even just a deputy you're going this poor young
00:29:53
woman was abducted somewhere and killed and then brought to the scene now we have to go and figure out where was she
00:30:01
abducted from when was she last alive and [Music] well hey there it's Steve Fishman and
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00:38:31
tall cans in the air party to the people hotel motel holiday in cheers to you Colonel cheers to you stay thirsty my
00:38:40
friends and stay filthy April 16th right unfortunately our victim is found in the
00:38:50
very early morning hours of April 17th and it's not going to take a whole team of blood hounds to figure out where Miss
00:39:01
Vega was abducted from so we go to the prior just hours prior Mercedes Vega is last
00:39:10
seen alive and well the night of April 16th 2023 on surveillance camera footage from her Tempe apartment complex hold on
00:39:22
I might be the dumbest boy in school but does she have identification on her is that how they're able to
00:39:30
figure out who our victim is she very likely did I I the the problem with this case is they've kept some of the
00:39:40
information and I I I need to rephrase that I shouldn't say the problem the problem for the storytelling angle of
00:39:46
this case is that law enforcement has kept some of this information very hush hush on the
00:39:53
details my assumption is that she would have had some form of identification on her we know that she is identified
00:40:02
rather quickly yes and then we have an address so then we can go to our we can go to our apartment complex then we can
00:40:09
ask them oh and she lives in a nice place so she has um the place that she lives in has security and they have
00:40:17
video so now we can see that it's working yeah yeah surprise surprise it's working let's give this place a let's
00:40:25
give this place a thumbs up we don't we don't know how great the place is but I give it three thumbs up three thumbs up
00:40:31
because cameras are working if this is your first garage show we've reviewed hundreds of cases and it feels like 75
00:40:41
to 80% of the time the surveillance camera cameras are not operating properly whether it be from an apartment
00:40:49
or from a gas station or a school sometimes they're working but they're it's such bad quality that it doesn't
00:40:55
really matter or they're working but the timestamp isn't correct yeah well these
00:41:01
ones were working and I they released police released a very small snippet of security camera footage now we say
00:41:11
released a small snippet we do we don't know we just don't know how much they have um this could be all that they have
00:41:17
I don't know the positioning of these cameras but to to do my best to try to describe it for everyone the camera
00:41:25
footage comes from the park garage of her apartment complex so she's seen walk walking into the parking
00:41:36
garage and her apartment is not on the first floor you can see her entering the parking garage and it appears that she's
00:41:45
entering via like a staircase or a stairwell this is at 9917 p.m. remember the the 911 call comes in and at it was
00:41:58
about 12:30 a.m. we only have about a missing 3 hours here we talked about the distance between Tempe and where the
00:42:08
vehicle was eventually found it's every bit of of 50 minutes 5 minutes to maybe closer to an hour so if she's alive and
00:42:18
well at 9:17 p.m. and found in this vehicle that's spotted by an eyewitness at 12:30 and that 3 hours and 15 minutes
00:42:30
roughly well so yeah so we have a small time window in which she was abducted attacked and
00:42:40
abducted let's think about the the let's try to crawl Inside the Mind of the abductor here because what I when you
00:42:51
have this small of a window of time that's in question we don't know everything that took place during that 3
00:43:00
hours and 13 minutes roughly but it would seem it would stand to reason to me anyway that if you're finding gloves
00:43:11
and a bleach container and Flames yeah inside a vehicle that nobody with the salvage
00:43:22
title this individual arrived not just willing and but ready yeah ready ready with a vehicle that could be dumped
00:43:35
ready to start a fire ready to to use bleach to destroy physical evidence and gloves to hide detection a and so I
00:43:47
can't imagine for the life of me that that within that little window of time and and one hour of that has to be spent
00:43:53
driving out to the location where she's found that in two hours time after the abduction that those items were
00:44:00
purchased I don't think so not for a second I think this person showed up ready to go and that would indicate to
00:44:08
me that that a high probability I think that she was targeted Well here here's I have so many questions one do
00:44:19
we know what her schedule was supposed to be that night well that's very interesting too because
00:44:29
she originally she was due to meet friends for a lot of Reports say she was meeting
00:44:37
friends for dinner but it's pretty late right yeah but but here's the thing she's younger so well but but once you
00:44:45
hear the whole story you may change your mind on on the details of this a lot of
00:44:50
the reports said she was meeting friends for dinner but also there are reports that says she was meeting friends at a
00:44:55
local Dave and Buster so you can one could have dinner at Dave and Busters one could also just go there
00:45:01
and play video games and have a few cocktails right but what we do know now is police later determined that yes she
00:45:11
while she had these plans she changed her plans and they they say abruptly that's the word that they chose to use
00:45:19
she changed her plans abruptly and she decided to go into work that night well anybody that's worked in any service
00:45:26
indust knows that if somebody doesn't show up or their short staffed or whatever you could get a call that says
00:45:32
hey Nick could you come in and bartend for this evening and she chose to go into work that night now when they say
00:45:43
changed her plans abruptly I would like what we don't know what's not the clarification that's not provided on
00:45:50
that is did she notify her friends that she wasn't going to meet up with them or
00:45:54
was it a situation where friends are hanging out and they go yeah Mercedes was supposed to show up wonder what
00:45:59
happened you know and then but but they speak to her employer right investigators speak to her employer and
00:46:05
they're like yeah we we spoke to her on the phone and she was coming into work tonight or last night or the day before
00:46:11
whenever they speak to them and you can see her on this surveillance footage so the surveillance footage is is quite
00:46:17
good it's not grainy like you can you can see her and she's wearing a casual outfit she appears to have a large
00:46:27
handbag with her I know given the occupation sometimes you're bringing outfits or makeup or things of that
00:46:34
nature with you so she's wearing like a black T-shirt and jeans and she doesn't appear to be stressed out or worried or
00:46:43
in fear that something's about to happen right now we crawl Inside the Mind of the victim and we go this poor young
00:46:51
woman was probably ambushed and like go back to what her parents said if she were in danger or she was in fear or
00:46:59
suspicious of anybody we feel very confident telling all of you the public in the news that she would have
00:47:06
communicated that to us well it makes you wonder if her destination was leave my apartment go right to work but we
00:47:15
also know like when you're getting called into work cuz somebody didn't show up or whatever you don't always
00:47:22
have to be in a hurry to get there so is is there a possib ility that she had a another stop before she was going to go
00:47:30
to work well stop or no stop it doesn't matter because we get told by law enforcement that she was abducted right
00:47:36
there in the parking garage I wonder if they have any footage of that that's a good great question because like with so
00:47:43
many other cases you know the deli Cas is in trial right now and so many people had eyeballs and earballs on that for
00:47:49
years and one of the big one of the points of contention with that amongst the masses were was always well do they
00:47:56
we have this little this little video clip here and we have this audio but do they have any video or audio prior to
00:48:05
that or or after what we've been shown well then it also makes you wonder is this just random oh here's this pretty
00:48:13
girl walking in the parking garage here's an opportunity or is it somebody that was laying and waiting for her I
00:48:22
know where she lives if if she has a stalker or if she has again somebody that is infatuated with her oh I figured
00:48:31
out where she lives I know what her car is I just now have to go and and wait for her yeah it's very troubling because
00:48:40
I can't say with any great level of certainty that I'm correct here but everything about it tells me that I
00:48:47
think she was I think she was targeted simply for the fact that I think that that somebody went to Great Lengths to
00:48:54
hide evidence to destroy evidence and to convolute the the scene and the movements of the victim and the
00:49:00
movements of the perpetrator and I think that to me in most cases here Captain one only goes to all of those efforts if
00:49:11
there's some kind of connection between the victim and the perpetrator because if if it's
00:49:18
completely random then you you don't need to distance yourself so so much from the victim right or or really stage
00:49:25
the scene or really confus destroy evidence yeah because because there's really no ties to you now I guess
00:49:33
something if if the perpetrator in this situation would have become aware or knew in advance I I shouldn't say become
00:49:40
aware we should say knew in advance because again this killer appears to have shown up at the site of the
00:49:48
abduction prepared to do what the result was and again which I think so maybe they did went to those efforts simply
00:49:57
because they knew that there were there would be surveillance footage yeah very possible but I I lean towards what
00:50:03
you're saying this individual comes prepared and so how would you why would you come prepared well no I guess that
00:50:12
makes sense though too uh if you're just looking for a victim you would come prepared you would come prepared yeah
00:50:20
but but but but to conceal and Destroy evidence and confuse the scene implies that there's either a connection
00:50:28
between the perpetrator and the victim or you knew that there's going to be things like surveillance footage that
00:50:34
you would have to these are hurdles that you have to overcome to to get away with
00:50:39
this I mean do we have law enforcement telling us whether we should be looking for one killer or two killers when we go
00:50:46
through the de some more of the details to come I think many will have a shared suspicion that it it took two to to do
00:50:57
this uh these are these are not just monsters these are animals this is so vicious and I I don't
00:51:10
understand and I'm sure that this case was suggested by some listeners but we live in a messed up Society where we're
00:51:19
this has not been talked about enough this case has not been talked about enough in the sense of we we have
00:51:26
information to give out to the public that they could help us and I think it just simply goes back to what it always
00:51:34
is oh well this this individual she was a dancer so I guess she doesn't matter as much yeah the case has been a a
00:51:42
rather big case in the area there I did see some reports that it's gone out Nationwide but but this one is fairly
00:51:50
new to us now in in the grand scheme of things it's unfort a fairly recent case you know she was she was killed last
00:52:00
year yeah and but here's the thing captain we're told that the she's attacked in the parking garage right so
00:52:10
they have some evidence they have something that tells them that they don't just say that on a hunch but
00:52:18
here's here's the [ __ ] of this the car that she's found in is not hers and then
00:52:24
her car is not found where it would be part parked in the parking garage her she's she's found dead in a
00:52:31
car on the highway and her car her vehicle is Mia then on top of that don't don't law enforcement find I think they
00:52:38
find some blood evidence in the garage and that kind of is what I'm guessing is the evidence unless like you said they
00:52:47
have the attack on film exactly we just don't know what they do and do not have on film they've been tight lipped about
00:52:54
that they have shared a small snippet of the surveillance footage that's the one
00:53:00
that I described where you can see her going about her business carrying out her day walking towards her car getting
00:53:07
ready to head off to work and she doesn't look concerned about what might be around the corner what we have here
00:53:15
Captain is they do find the vehicle and as you suggested maybe they found some blood evidence or evidence at the scene
00:53:23
in the parking garage that is telling them a story but they're also going to find this vehicle and once they locate
00:53:29
the vehicle they're going to find evidence with the vehicle that is going to start to tell them a portion of the
00:53:35
story as [Music] well join us back here in the garage same bat Time same bat Channel and until
00:53:46
then be good be kind and don't litter [Music] next credit is here to say yes to a
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Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most heartbreaking
  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 80
    Most unpredictable
  • 75
    Most intense

Episode Highlights

  • Mercedes Vega's Tragic Story
    22-year-old Mercedes Vega was found deceased in a burning vehicle, leading to a murder investigation.
    @ 06m 58s
    November 06, 2024
  • A Mother’s Heartbreaking Reflection
    Mercedes' mother recalls her daughter's potential and aspirations just before her untimely death.
    “She was just starting to realize that she had so much potential.”
    @ 23m 15s
    November 06, 2024
  • A Dream of Hawaii
    Mercedes expressed her wish to have her ashes spread in Hawaii, her favorite place.
    “Mom, I want my kids to cremate me and spread my ashes in Hawaii.”
    @ 23m 50s
    November 06, 2024
  • The Healing Power of the Ocean
    Discussing how being near the ocean can be spiritually uplifting and healing.
    “There's something mentally, emotionally, and spiritually healing about being in the ocean.”
    @ 24m 46s
    November 06, 2024
  • A Young Woman's Insight
    Reflecting on a poignant statement made by a 22-year-old about her final wishes.
    “For someone to say that at her young age of 22 is a brilliant observation.”
    @ 25m 05s
    November 06, 2024
  • Understanding Safety Concerns
    Exploring the victim's awareness of her surroundings and safety in her work environment.
    “She would not have worked at a club that she felt unsafe.”
    @ 27m 48s
    November 06, 2024
  • Mental Health Matters
    Encouraging listeners to seek therapy and support for their mental health.
    “If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try.”
    @ 34m 05s
    November 06, 2024
  • The Case of the Missing Car
    A victim is found dead in a car that isn't hers, raising questions about the crime scene.
    “The car that she's found in is not hers.”
    @ 52m 21s
    November 06, 2024
  • Surveillance Footage
    A snippet of surveillance footage shows the victim going about her day, unaware of danger.
    “She doesn't look concerned about what might be around the corner.”
    @ 53m 09s
    November 06, 2024

Episode Quotes

  • You better call someone who cares.
    Angel #333 /// Part 1 /// 798
  • She was just starting to realize that she had so much potential.
    Angel #333 /// Part 1 /// 798
  • Mom, I want my kids to cremate me and spread my ashes in Hawaii.
    Angel #333 /// Part 1 /// 798
  • If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try.
    Angel #333 /// Part 1 /// 798
  • This is so vicious and I don't understand.
    Angel #333 /// Part 1 /// 798
  • We live in a messed up Society where this has not been talked about enough.
    Angel #333 /// Part 1 /// 798

Key Moments

  • Introduction01:53
  • Murder Scene Discovery06:30
  • Victim Background19:11
  • Family Goals22:55
  • Hawaii Wish23:50
  • Brilliant Observation25:05
  • Societal Issues51:19
  • Surveillance Insights53:09

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown