Mom posts to TikTok after child’s slaying

Erika Pillsbury took to TikTok calling for justice for her daughter, Mercedes Vega, as her slaying in Tonopah remains unsolved.

With the hashtag, #honoringmercedesvega, as its caption, the video has accumulated over 400,000 views on the site as of Thursday.

“I am the mother of Mercedes Vega and I need the people of the Phoenix area to be aware that my child’s killers are still at large,” Pillsbury said at the beginning of her 10-minute TikTok video.

According to the Maricopa County Sheriff ’s Office, these were the details of Vega’s case:

In April 2023, the Maricopa County Sheriff ’s Office responded to reports of a burning car outside of Tonopah, roughly 60 miles west of Vega’s Tempe residence.

In the car, deputies found Vega’s body in the backseat. Gloves and bleach were found in the front of the car while lighter fluid was found in the backseat.

A medical examiner ruled Vega’s death as a homicide. The report cited that the cause of her death was due to burns and smoke inhalation, but that she had also endured blunt force trauma and gunshot wounds.

Maricopa County Sheriff ’s Office was not immediately available to provide any updates on the case on Thursday.

While recounting the graphic details of her daughter’s murder and abduction in her video, Pillsbury warns parents to be cautious about allowing their children, specifically women, to live in Tempe. Pillsbury said because the Arizona State University campus, dorms and apartments are in a compromising location by the freeway, it is easier for young women to be abducted.

“You need to reevaluate where your child is because if they live in Tempe, they are not safe,” Pillsbury said.

Neither the Tempe Police Department nor Arizona State University were available to provide comment on these claims.

She then turned her message to address the attackers. She said she hopes justice is found for Vega and said the attacker deserves the death penalty.

“I know you think you’ve gotten away with this. You thought no one would care when she was gone. You thought this was something you could do without consequence,” Pillsbury said. “Guess what, my friend. You choose your action, you choose your consequence, and the death penalty is what you deserve.”

Vega, as her mother remembers her, was “a fighter” and would not often let people get the best of her. Pillsbury calls for the public to share any information to the silent witness line.

“You can be the person who brings justice to Mercedes,” Pillsbury said. “She didn’t deserve to die. She was 22 years old. She was a kid.”

Police ask anyone with information to contact the Silent Witness line at 480-WITNESS or 480-TESTIGO in Spanish or the Maricopa County Sheriff ’s Office directly.