2 arrested for kidnapping couple, murdering woman in Phoenix hotel
Oct 31, 2018, 9:41 AM | Updated: 9:42 am
(Flickr/vxla)
(Flickr/vxla)
PHOENIX — Two people were arrested for allegedly kidnapping a couple and murdering a woman in a Phoenix hotel room over the weekend.
Sgt. Tommy Thompson, a spokesman for the Phoenix Police Department, told KTAR News 92.3 FM that 43-year-old Mario Morris and 53-year-old Samantha Vasquez were arrested and booked into Maricopa County Jail on Tuesday.
Both Morris and Vasquez each face two counts of kidnapping and one count of first-degree murder for allegedly killing 29-year-old Tiffani Selleys in a hotel room in the area of Interstate 17 and Thunderbird Road.
Officers arrived to the hotel around 7 a.m. on Sunday when Selleys’ boyfriend, identified only as a 38-year-old man, said he and the woman “had gotten into an altercation with some individuals visiting them” and were bound with duct tape.
The man was able to escape and call for help, but Selleys’ was pronounced dead on the scene.
Thompson said Selleys’ cause of death will not be determined until the medical examiner completes its investigation, but said she did have bruising on her body “as if she’d been beaten.”
Court documents said one of the victims was “badly beaten and bound with duct tape and extension cords.”
The suspects and a third unknown black male were accused of stealing the couple’s money, drugs and debit cards, according to the court documents.
Vasquez told police that her and Morris believes that Selleys stole their money, drugs and debit cards so they assaulted her and tied her up. Morris admitted to staying with the couple in the hotel room, but denied any altercation took place.
Both Morris and Vasquez were released on $1 million bond and will appear in court next on Nov. 6.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Madison Spence contributed to this report.
