A Washington medical assistant’s disappearance in Las Vegas landed a California basketball player under arrest by the FBI.
(Video: KLAS 8)
Friday, 27-year-old NBA G League player Chance Comanche was arrested with the help of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office after a warrant had been issued out of a Sin City court over alleged first-degree kidnapping. The player, whom KLAS reported had been released from the Sacramento Kings developmental team the Stockton Kings, was the second person arrested in connection with the disappearance of of 23-year-old Marayna Rodgers.
The outlet reported that Comanche had been in Henderson, Nevada for a game against the G League Ignite on Dec. 5 just outside Las Vegas where, according to loved ones, Rodgers would last been seen in the early morning hours of Dec. 6. They told KLAS she “had a good job and she would never leave her family back home in Washington state or abandon her dogs she had taken with her to Las Vegas.”
According to the Sacramento Bee, “Comanche starred at Beverly Hills High School and went on to play at Arizona, where he appeared in 60 games from 2015-17. After going undrafted in 2017, Comanche played for the G League’s Memphis Hustle and Canton Charge, the Basketball League’s Enid Outlaws and Yeni Mamak Spor of the Turkish Basketball First League.”
It was unclear how much time he had spent in the Las Vegas area following the game, but it was known that he appeared with the team on Dec. 7 when they faced off against the Rip City Remix in Portland, Oregon.
Booked into the Sacramento County Jail, the basketball player was taken into custody and designated ineligible for bail. The Bee indicated that his “felony arrest fell under a California penal code provision allowing for a peace officer to arrest a person ‘charged by a verified complaint … with the commission of any crime in any other state.'”
His arrest came only days after 19-year-old Sakari Harnden was arrested, also facing first-degree kidnapping charges for her alleged involvement in the disappearance of Rodgers.
Thursday, Las Vegas Justice Court Judge Diana Sullivan had set Harnden’s bail at $500,000 and included the condition of high-level electronic monitoring. Court documents alleged that the 19-year-old had held or detained “RODGERS against her will, and without her consent, for the purpose of killing…and/or inflicting substantial bodily harm upon” the missing woman.
Along with kidnapping, KLAS reported that Harnden faced charges of theft in a separate and seemingly unrelated case after she was alleged to have stolen at least one Rolex. Regarding the kidnapping case, she was scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Dec. 28.
As for Comanche who last played in Salt Lake City, Utah on Dec. 12, he was expected to appear in Sacramento County Court Tuesday, Dec. 19. At the time of this post, neither the Sacramento Kings, their affiliate, the NBA nor the Justice Department had issued a statement regarding the player’s arrest.
Anyone with information related to the disappearance of Rodgers was encouraged to contact Las Vegas Metro Police.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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