Report: Former NBA G-Leaguer Chance Comanche Admits Planning Homicide
Ex-NBA G-League player Chance Comanche who was affiliated with the Sacramento Kings admitted strangling a woman in Las Vegas along with his former girlfriend who he says helped him devise the murder plot, the
Appearing in a court in Sacramento County, Cali., on Tuesday (Dec.19), Comanche, 27, waived his extradition back to Nevada, where he’s been charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
According to NBC News, Comanche’s girlfriend Sakari Harnden, 19, and Maryana Rodgers, 23 – who were both sex workers – had an ongoing dispute over a Rolex watch. Rodgers allegedly told mutual friends that “she was going to ‘smoke her” if Harnden did not give her the watch, law enforcement officials said.
The affidavit stated that on Dec. 6, Comanche hatched a plan to pose as a customer and tie Harden’s and Rodgers’ hands behind their backs to trick her into engaging in a sex act.
As Rodgers was tied up in the back of a vehicle, Comanche said that he used an HDMI cord to strangle her "for approximately 10 seconds with the cord but stated he stopped when he heard Rodgers struggling to breathe.” The report goes on to say that “Sakari continued choking her.”
After Rodgers died, Comanche and Harden discarded her body in a roadside ditch and covered her with rocks, authorities said.
Surveillance footage from the M Resort Casino, where the Sacramento Kings were staying, showed Comanche returning at 6 a.m. before the team left the establishment at 8:50 a.m.
Comanche told the authorities that he had a friend who could kill Rodgers but they “decided to carry out the murder themselves.”
Outside of the courtroom on Tuesday, Michael Goldstein, Comanche’s attorney did not have a comment about the confession outside of court.
‘We really have nothing to say. We’re going to let the courts deal with it,” Goldstein said. “We’re going to deal with it in Nevada.”
On Dec. 7, Rodgers, a medical assistant from Lakewood, Washington, was reported missing just two days after she was last seen with a group of friends who were planning to meet with Comanche and Harnden.
Her remains were later discovered in the Vegas suburb of Henderson.
“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,” the police’s statement read.
On Dec. 13, Harnden was arrested in Las Vegas and Comanche was arrested Dec. 15 in Sacramento.
Following his arrest, Comanche was released by the Kings’ organization.
