LAS VEGAS — A Las Vegas trio is accused of detestable torture in the process of murdering a man. The victim was reportedly burned with a blowtorch, struck with an ax and beat with other implements for hours before he was forced to strip and walk off a cliff while then shot to death, records show.
Heather Pate, her boyfriend, Kevin Dent, and Pate’s former beau, Brad Mehn, reportedly tortured Roy Jaggers, 27, with knives, a baton and an ax, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Jaggers body was discovered Aug. 1 in Nye County’s Cathedral Canyon, where his neighbor, Mehn, 37, allegedly then shot Jaggers after he was forced to strip off his clothes and walk off the cliff.
Sheriff’s officials said in a video statement early last month that Pate, 27, and Dent, 36, had lured him to her home in Las Vegas because they believed he hurt the woman’s child.
“When he arrived, they confronted Jaggers and subsequently beat him,” Nye County Sheriff’s Capt. David Boruchowitz said. “Upon arriving in Nye County, they met Mehn who led them to an area in the desert where they tortured Jaggers over multiple hours using numerous different weapons.”
The trio hauled Jaggers a distance of about 25 miles to Cathedral Canyon, where they made him walk off the cliff’s edge. After falling down the embankment to the gorge below, he was shot multiple times, according to the complaint, New York Post reported.
An autopsy revealed Jaggers died from multiple gunshot wounds, according to Boruchowitz.
As police continue to share details about the investigation with the man’s mother, Kassy Robinson, and father, Jerry Jaggers, the two have understandably struggled with the horrific killing of their son.
“How can you do that to another human being?” Jerry Jaggers said in a recent interview with the Review-Journal.
Jaggers’ mother, Kassy Robinson, said her son occasionally watched Pate’s children or cared for her dogs. She was unable to talk about her son’s gruesome death, but said he was a non-violent, kind man.
“I know exactly what he was like, what he’s capable of, what he’s not capable of,” Robinson told the news outlet.
Jaggers’ parents said they plan to attend every court hearing moving forward. They are motivated to ensure “that justice is served” in their son’s brutal slaughter.
“It’s going to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Jerry Jaggers said.
Pate, Dent and Mehn remain in custody at the Nye County Detention Center on charges that include murder and kidnapping. They are being held without bail, the Review-Journal reported.
Prosecutors are considering the death penalty for Mehn, who allegedly fired the shots that killed Jaggers.
