NBA G-League’s Chance Comanche Admits to Murdering Sex Worker With His Ex-Girlfriend
On Wednesday (Dec. 21), Chance Comanche, 27, confessed to fatally strangling a woman with the help of his girlfriend, a woman by the name of Sakari Harnden.
Initially arrested and charged with first-degree kidnapping over the weekend after 23-year-old Marayna Rodgers went missing, Comanche and Harnden are both facing murder and conspiracy to commit murder after the woman’s body was found in a ditch in an area close to Las Vegas, according to ESPN.
Harnden, the girlfriend of Comanche, was arrested in Las Vegas on Dec. 13 and booked into the downtown Las Vegas Jail, also on a first-degree kidnapping charge, KLAS reported, citing court records.
A criminal complaint accused Harnden of “detaining Rogers against her will and without her consent for the purpose of killing her and/or inflicting bodily harm,” according to the outlet.
Harnden was also arrested on a theft charge for allegedly stealing a Rolex.
Comanche was released from the Stockton Kings, a developmental affiliate of the Sacramento Kings, shortly after his arrest.
He played a G-League game in Henderson, Nevada, 15 miles from Las Vegas, the night before Rodgers was last seen and reported missing.
Local police have been able to piece together what happened the night of the murder and why Comanche and Harnden might have murdered the young woman. According to police, Harnden and Rodgers were working as sex workers.
Allegedly, a dispute erupted over an “expensive watch.”
More from ESPN:
Rodgers, a medical assistant from Washington state, was reported missing on Dec. 7 during a trip to Las Vegas to visit friends. Her remains were later found in the Vegas suburb of Henderson.
According to the affidavit, Comanche and Harnden worked together to choke Rodgers in the early hours of Dec. 6.
Police said Harnden and Rodgers were both sex workers and that Harnden had an ongoing dispute with Rodgers over an expensive watch.
According to the affidavit, the plot called for Comanche to pose as a sex customer who would tie Rodgers’ hands behind her back. Comanche then used a cord while Harnden used both her hands to choke Rodgers, the affidavit said.
As nuts as this story sounds, Comanche is not the only professional athlete to be investigated for murder recently. Earlier this month, the DNA of former NFL player Sergio Brown was linked to his mother’s death through DNA found on his mother’s remains.
Brown has only been charged as a fugitive, but his involvement in his mother’s death is still being investigated by authorities due to his leaving the country with his mother’s belongings shortly after she reportedly passed.