Ex-NBA star Chance Comanche looks emotionless in court after ‘confessing to choking Marayna Rodgers to death with cord’
AN ex-NBA player showed no emotion in court on Tuesday after he allegedly confessed to killing a woman with an HDMI cord.
Chance Comanche, a 27-year-old who played for an affiliate of the Sacramento Kings, was arrested after basketball practice on December 15 in California.
Comanche waived extradition during his first court appearance, which lasted only a few minutes on Tuesday.
Friends and family were in attendance at the hearing in Sacramento County court but declined to talk with reporters.
Las Vegas police now have 30 days to take Comanche back to Nevada to face charges there.
He reportedly confessed to killing Marayna Rodgers, 23, earlier in December as part of a sick plot with his ex-girlfriend, 19-year-old Sakari Harnden.
Las Vegas police found Rodgers’ body covered with rocks in a ditch in the desert near Henderson, Nevada.
Rodgers, a medical assistant who lived in Washington state, was reported missing on December 7, two days after an alleged encounter with Comanche and Harnden, who was also arrested in her murder.
A criminal complaint was filed in Las Vegas court on December 18 charging Comanche with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Court documents obtained by local NBC affiliate KCRA revealed the basketball star’s confession.
Timeline revealed in court docs
Detectives pieced together a timeline of the night Marayna Rodgers was murdered using cellphone data and security footage.
- 4 pm – Comanche arrives in Las Vegas with the Stockton Kings
- Midnight – Comanche seen getting into Harnden’s gray Mercedes
- 1:21 am – Comanche and Harnden meet Rodgers at a liquor store
- 2:18 am – All three phones ping at a cell tower indicating they are together
- 3:35 am – Rodgers’ phone stops working while the couple’s phones ping at the same cell tower 15 minutes later
- 8:50 am – Comanche returns to the hotel then leaves with his team
- 10:24 am – Harnden seen leaving the hotel room ‘visibly upset and crying’
VICTIM ‘LURED’ BY ‘KILLERS’
Comanche allegedly began plotting Rodgers’ murder at the end of November and acted on it when his team played in Las Vegas.
At first, he and Harnden wanted a third person to kill Rodgers but he refused, court documents allege.
Rodgers was with friends on December 5 when she had a prearranged meeting with Harnden, Las Vegas police said.
The two were former friends who planned to meet up for a double date while working as prostitutes, according to court documents.
Harnden brought Comanche along as part of a “set-up,” the documents allege.
The basketball star, who had played for the Stockton Kings earlier in the evening, posed as a “trick” who would pay Rodgers $1,000 for sex.
Rodgers agreed to have her hands tied up after Comanche told her he was into “kinky sex,” he said in his confession.
But then he and Harnden strangled Rodgers; him using an HDMI cord and Harnden using her hands, court documents allege.
The couple drove around for a while looking for a place to ditch her body.
After picking a spot, Comanche used a towel to pick up rocks to cover her body, then smashed her cellphone, according to the docs.
Comanche and Harden returned to his hotel room and he boarded his team bus hours later.
Rodgers was reported missing two days later.
During a police interview, Comanche pointed to a location on a map where Rodgers’ body was later found.
Harnden was arrested in Las Vegas on December 13 and held on $500,000 bail.
SICK ‘MOTIVE’
Court documents revealed several possible motives for Rodgers’ murder.
Harnden told Comanche that Rodgers was after Harnden’s Rolex watch and had threatened to “smoke her” to get her hands on it, Comanche allegedly told police.
Harnden also complained about Rodgers buying the same items as her.
But Rodgers’ boyfriend told cops that Harnden was upset over a lingering issue in which Harnden allegedly implicated Rodgers’ boyfriend in a double murder.
Meanwhile, Comanche confessed to police that he and Harnden had planned to kill Rodgers and had tried to hire someone to do it, but that person wasn’t interested.
Comanche and Harnden also described their relationship differently to cops; he called her his ex-girlfriend while she said he was in love with her.
We really have nothing to say. We’re going to let the courts deal with it. We’re going to deal with it in Nevada.”
Comanche's attorney Michael Goldstein
The two met on a dating app a year and a half ago.
Case documents included Telegram messages between Harnden and Comanche.
“I can snap her neck,” Comanche allegedly said in one text.
Dated from December 1, the messages included coffin, ghost, and gun emojis as they allegedly communicated about the plot.
A message dated December 2 from Harnden to Comanche said: “Good luck on your game.”
Harnden has been charged with one count of open murder.
“Early in the investigation, detectives suspected foul play and obtained evidence to arrest Harnden and her boyfriend Comanche for their role in the kidnapping and disappearance of Rodgers,” Las Vegas police said.
When asked about Comanche’s confession outside court on Tuesday, his attorney Michael Goldstein said: “We really have nothing to say. We’re going to let the courts deal with it. We’re going to deal with it in Nevada.”
The Kings released Comanche after his arrest.
