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Missing 23-year-old Washington woman found dead in Nevada desert, cops say. 2 arrested

Marayna Rodgers, 23, disappeared Dec. 5 after meeting with friends in Las Vegas, police said. Her remains were found in Henderson, Nevada.
Marayna Rodgers, 23, disappeared Dec. 5 after meeting with friends in Las Vegas, police said. Her remains were found in Henderson, Nevada. Screengrab from Marayna Rodgers' Facebook

A 23-year-old’s remains were found in a Nevada desert after the Washington woman met up with friends in Las Vegas, police said.

Now the two people who reported her missing will face murder charges in her killing, the Las Vegas Police Department said in a Dec. 17 news release.

Marayna Rodgers, of Edmonds, Washington, met up with 19-year-old Sakari Hamden and her boyfriend, Chance Comanche, 27, on Dec. 5, police said.

Then Rodgers vanished, police said.

Police arrested Hamden and Comanche on kidnapping charges related to Rodgers. Hamden was arrested Dec. 13 in Las Vegas, and Comanche was arrested Dec. 15 in Sacramento, California.

Comanche is a former University of Arizona basketball player, The Sacramento Bee reported. He played for the Stockton Kings G League but was released from the team Friday, Dec. 15, following his arrest.

The Stockton Kings is an affiliate of the Sacramento Kings NBA team. The team played in Henderson on Dec. 5, the day Rodgers arranged to meet up with Comanche and Hamden.

After the arrests, police said they found Rodgers’ remains in the desert in the Henderson area.

Authorities are amending their kidnapping charges to murder “through coordination with the Clark County District Attorney’s Office,” police said.

Rodgers worked as a scrub nurse at Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue, Washington, according to her Facebook.

“Rest in heaven my beautiful friend! I’ll never stop talking about u,” her friend Leah Seabron wrote on Facebook.

“You will be missed so much. Justice will be served.. We all love you and will miss you very much,” Amber Violet posted on Facebook.

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This story was originally published December 18, 2023 at 3:04 PM with the headline "Missing 23-year-old Washington woman found dead in Nevada desert, cops say. 2 arrested."

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Helena Wegner
McClatchy DC
Helena Wegner is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter covering the state of Washington and the western region. She’s a journalism graduate from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She’s based in Phoenix.
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