Former NBA G League basketball player Chance Comanche plotted a murder during a game, posed as a sex-work customer in order to lure a woman to her death, and made a full confession to police, according to an arrest report obtained by Las Vegas station KLAS.
In one text message exchange obtained by police, Comanche shared a coffin emoji with his 19-year-old alleged accomplice, Sakari Harnden.
‘I can snap her neck or just strangle the [expletive],’ Comanche allegedly wrote in a group chat obtained by police.
Comanche and Harnden are accused of the murder and kidnapping of 23-year-old Marayna Rodgers, who went missing on December 6 and whose strangled remains were later discovered in Henderson, Nevada.
The 27-year-old Comanche was arrested by authorities in California on Thursday before being released by the Sacramento Kings’ G League affiliate in Stockton. The 6-foot-10 former University of Arizona center remains locked up at Sacramento County Main Jail as he awaits extradition to Las Vegas, where he and Harnden are facing murder and kidnapping charges. Harnden was arrested Wednesday in Las Vegas.
Chance Comanche (left) and 19-year-old Sakari Harnden (right) are accused of the murder and kidnapping of 23-year-old Marayna Rodgers, who went missing on December 6
Marayna Rogers, 23, from Washington disappeared on December 6 while visiting Las Vegas
DailyMail.com has requested the arrest report from Las Vegas Metropolitan Police but has not yet received the filing.
KLAS reports that Comanche told investigators that he was following Harnden’s instructions when he lured Rodgers to her death and later killed her by strangulation.
Police say Harnden and Rodgers were friends in Washington state, where the latter was working as a medical assistant. However, Harnden recently became upset with Rodgers for telling others that the 19-year-old had implicated Harnden’s own boyfriend in a double murder in California, according to police.
Rodgers and her boyfriend, identified as Tremaine, traveled to Las Vegas from Washington on December 1 with the intent of ‘engaging in prostitution,’ according to the police report.
Upon learning of their trip, Harnden allegedly plotted with Comanche to lure Rodgers away from Tremaine and her other friends in Las Vegas so they could kill her.
Pretending to be a prostitution client or ‘trick,’ Comanche called Rodgers to a meeting place, where he strangled her with an HDMI cord with some help from Harnden, police claim. The pair allegedly ditched Rodgers’ body in Henderson, where it was later found.
Rodgers was a medical assistant who was visiting the Las Vegas area from Washington state
Rodgers’ cause of death has not been confirmed as of yet.
Messages between Comanche and Harnden on the Telegram application allegedly show the former pro basketball player instructing his teenage accomplice how to talk to police about the disappearance of Rodgers, which was actually reported by Harnden herself on December 6. (Rodgers’ friends also filed a missing persons report on December 7)
‘You got this boo,’ Comanche allegedly wrote to Harnden. ‘This the post game [sic] interview. Just smile and wave.’
Harnden and Comanche are facing a charge of open murder.
Comanche played in only one NBA game for the Portland Trail Blazers, and had only recently joined the Kings’ G League affiliate.
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