December 20, 2023, 8:10 p.m. ET
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A former NBA G League player has allegedly admitted to fatally strangling a woman whose remains were found near Las Vegas earlier this month, according to court documents obtained Wednesday.
Chance Comanche, 27, was taken into custody last week in Sacramento, California, where he described to Las Vegas investigators the suspected murder of Marayna Rodgers, 23, according to an affidavit from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
“I cannot comment on the content of the statements made to law enforcement,” Comanche attorney Michael Goldstein said Wednesday. “We appeared for the first time yesterday and the allegations will be heard in court.”
The basketball player, who is being held without bail, appeared in a Sacramento County court on Tuesday and agreed not to object to his transfer to custody in Nevada, where authorities said he faces murder and conspiracy to commit murder charges.
“We will take it to the courts,” Goldstein told reporters outside court. “We’ll take care of it in Nevada.”
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Comanche's former girlfriend, Sakari Harnden, 19, also is charged in Rodgers' death, police said. She is being held without bail in a Las Vegas jail.
Anna Clark, a Clark County deputy public defender who represents Harnden, declined to comment on the case Wednesday.
Rodgers, a medical assistant from Washington state, was reported missing on Dec. 7 during a trip to Las Vegas to visit friends. Her remains were later found in the Vegas suburb of Henderson.
According to the affidavit, Comanche and Harnden worked together to suffocate Rodgers in the early morning hours of Dec. 6.
Police said that Harnden and Rodgers were both sex workers and that Harnden had an ongoing dispute with Rodgers over an expensive watch.
According to the affidavit, Comanche was supposed to pose as a sex customer and tie Rodgers' hands behind his back. Comanche then used a cord while Harnden choked Rodgers with both hands, the affidavit said.
With Rodgers dead, Comanche and Harnden left her body in a ditch on the side of the road, police said.
Before his arrest, Comanche had played for the Stockton Kings, the NBA G League affiliate of the Sacramento Kings, and averaged 14 points and seven rebounds in 13 games.
Comanche, a 6-foot-3 power forward and center, played college basketball at the University of Arizona from 2015 to 2017 before declaring for the NBA draft.
He went undrafted and signed a free agent contract with the Portland Trail Blazers last April, but only played one game.
Sacramento signed Comanche in October but waived him 10 days later, after which he joined Stockton.