ARIZONA NEWS

Mother of Tempe victim in unsolved murder wonders if robbery suspect was involved

Jul 20, 2024, 7:15 AM

PHOENIX — No arrests have been made in connection to the investigation around Mercedes Vega, a 22-year-old Tempe woman who was tortured and killed in April 2023.

However, her mother, Erika Pillsbury, said this week she believes her daughter’s murder could be connected to a violent robbery she endured three years before her death.

The robbery took place in October 2020 outside a Phoenix apartment complex where Vega was living.

“She was held at gunpoint and shoved to the ground and her life was threatened,” Pillsbury told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Chris and Joe Show on Wednesday.

Vega was so traumatized by the incident she refused to return to the her apartment afterward, her mother said.

“I couldn’t even walk behind her without her falling to her knees and crying because she was so terrified,” Pillsbury said.

Pillsbury said she has wondered since her daughter was killed if the murder was connected to the robbery.

Vega’s body was located April 17, 2023, in a burning vehicle near Interstate 10 in the Tonopah area.

Media accounts citing the medical examiner report said the cause of death was smoke inhalation and burns. But there also were signs of blunt force trauma, a gunshot injury and bleach in her throat.

Mother of Mercedes Vega wonders about robbery connection

She mentioned the potential robbery connection to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, but investigators told her there was no link.

“When the police came to our house and asked us three or four questions … they said, ‘Did Mercedes own a gun? Was she right- or left-handed? Did she have any reason to be in Tonopah, Arizona? And they took her address. That was it,” Pillsbury said.

Investigators have remained tight-lipped about the case, both to the public and to Vega’s family.

“Unfortunately, a lot of the things we learned about Mercedes and her death were on the internet,” she said. “We found out she was burned not by the police, but on the internet.”

Another agency recently reached out to Vega, but not about the murder case.

“I received a call from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, about a month ago, asking to speak to my dead child, who’s been dead for over a year, and — to tell her that the man who held her at gunpoint is going to trial,” Pillsbury said.

She said she plans to watch the trial.

Anyone with information that could be related to Vega’s murder is asked to call Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS (948-6377) or 480-TESTIGO (837-8446) for Spanish.

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Mother of Tempe victim in unsolved murder wonders if robbery suspect was involved