Prosecutors to seek death penalty in killing of exotic dancer found burned, beaten and shot on Arizona highway

Prosecutors in Arizona said they plan to seek the death penalty if two men are convicted in the brutal murder of an exotic dancer in 2023.

In court filings, prosecutors with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said Wednesday that Cudjoe Young, 29, and Sencere Hayes, 23, acted in an “especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner” in the killing of Mercedes Vega, 22.

Officials allege in the filings that the men murdered Vega “to prevent her cooperation with an official law enforcement investigation, to prevent her testimony in a court proceeding, or in retaliation for her cooperation with an official law enforcement investigation.”

Young and Hayes were indicted on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, arson, theft and armed robbery with a deadly weapon. Hayes faces an additional