Police: G League player admits to planning woman’s murder

A former professional basketball player admitted to killing a 23-year-old woman with another woman and planning the murder, according to an arrest report.

Authorities in California arrested 27-year-old Chance Comanche during a practice session Thursday in Sacramento.

He later told Las Vegas homicide detectives that he followed the direction of 19-year-old Sakari Harnden, who told him she was having issues with Rodgers, according to a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report.

Harnden was upset with Marayna Rodgers, who told other people that Harnden had implicated her boyfriend in a double murder in California, according to the report.

Comanche said he and Harnden planned to lure Rodgers away from her friends so they could kill her.

Police obtained text messages from the Telegram app in which Harnden and Comanche discussed their plans. During one exchange, Comanche sent a coffin emoji to Harnden, according to the report.

“Starting my game. I’ll check half time,” Comanche wrote.

A person identified only as Trevion in the report was added to the Telegram group. Comanche told Las Vegas detectives that he called his friend “Tre” to “commit the murder for him and Sakari but that Tre was not interested,” the report stated.

“I can snap her neck or just strangle the (expletive),” Comanche wrote in the group chat.

Comanche pretended to be a client for prostitution. He and Harnden were in Harnden’s vehicle when Rodgers arrived. Comanche described strangling Rodgers with an HDMI cord while Harnden choked her with her hands.

He said they hid Rodgers’ body in a ditch on Vincenzo Lane in Henderson. Police responded and found Rodgers dead.

The Clark County coroner’s office Tuesday morning had not confirmed Rodgers’ cause of death.

Rodgers’ friends reported her missing on Dec. 7. A day prior, Harnden filed a missing person report for Rodgers, according to the arrest report.

Telegram messages included in the report showed Comanche telling Harnden what to say about Rodgers’ disappearance.

“You got this boo. This the post game interview. Just smile and wave,” Comanche wrote.

Police interviewed Rodgers’ boyfriend, identified only as Tremaine, who said he and Rodgers drove to Las Vegas from Washington state on Dec. 1 “with the intent of engaging in prostitution,” according to the report.

According to a verified GoFundMe page created by a Tremaine McAdams, Rodgers had two dogs and worked as a surgical tech.

“She left behind both her dogs, her car, and all belongings making it very unlikely that she disappeared on her own,” according to the online fundraiser, which was created Dec. 9, two days after Rodgers had been reported missing to Las Vegas police. “She also had no cash or debit card at the time of her disappearance.”

Harnden and Comanche are each facing a charge of open murder, according to court records.

Rodgers lived in Washington state, the GoFundMe said.

When neither Rodgers’ boyfriend nor her close friends had heard from her the next morning, they realized she was missing.

The GoFundMe was set up to help cover the cost of private investigators, as well as other costs associated with the effort to bring Rodgers home safely, the online fundraiser states.

Comanche, who played one game with the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers in April, had played a 7 p.m. NBA G League game in Henderson on Dec. 5. He scored 16 points in the Stockton Kings’ 103-91 loss to the Henderson-based Ignite at Dollar Loan Center.

Harnden was arrested Dec. 15 in Las Vegas. She made an initial court appearance Monday and was ordered back in court on Wednesday.

Comanche’s extradition to Nevada is pending. As of Tuesday morning, Comanche had not been booked into the Clark County Detention Center.

Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com. Contact David Wilson at dwilson@reviewjournal.com.