Kings G League player Chance Comanche, accused of murder, appears in Sacramento court
Former Sacramento Kings G League player Chance Kyler Comanche, who is accused of luring a woman to her death in Las Vegas, made his first appearance Tuesday afternoon in Sacramento Superior Court.
Comanche, 27, was booked Friday afternoon at the Sacramento County Main Jail, where he has remained in custody ineligible for bail. The professional basketball player is awaiting extradition to Las Vegas, where allegations have implicated him in a murder plot with another woman who also has been arrested.
His hearing Tuesday lasted only about two minutes. Comanche was wearing an orange jail inmate uniform as he stood inside a courtroom holding cell a few feet away from his attorney.
Comanche and his attorney provided the court an extradition waiver, which means he was waiving his right to challenge the extradition. The judge accepted the waiver and told Comanche that Nevada state authorities will have 30 days to pick him and return to Las Vegas to face criminal charges there.
An arrest report obtained by FOX5 in Las Vegas indicates Comanche reportedly admitted to his role in the murder of Marayna Rodgers. The 23-year-old Washington woman was missing for 10 days before her remains were discovered in a desert area in Henderson, Nevada.
Comanche told investigators he conspired with 19-year-old Sakari Harnden in an elaborate plan to murder Rodgers, according to the arrest report.
The Clark County District Attorney’s Office has charged Comanche with murder and first-degree kidnapping, Clark County Justice Court records show. Prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Comanche on Monday, the same day the court granted a request for an arrest warrant for him.
Prosecutors also have charged Harnden with murder and first-degree kidnapping. She made her first appearance on Monday in a Clark County courtroom and remains in custody at the county jail, where she is being held without bail.
Comanche was playing for the Stockton Kings, a G League affiliate of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, when the woman was killed. He accompanied the team to Las Vegas for a game against G League Ignite on Dec. 5. The Stockton Kings released Comanche on Friday.
The arrest report indicated Comanche told police he met with Harnden after the game to carry out their plot against Rodgers, who was visiting Las Vegas with friends. He also reportedly told investigators he met Harnden on a dating app about a year-and-a-half ago and remained in contact with her after they broke up.
Comanche claimed Harnden was having problems with Rodgers, who was going to “smoke her” if Harnden did not give Rodgers a Rolex watch, according to the arrest report. The basketball player told investigators he lured Rodgers and strangled her with an HDMI cord while Harnden choked the victim with her hands.
The Bee’s Jason Anderson contributed to this story.
