Photo: Nye County Sheriff's Office
Three people in Nevada are facing murder and kidnapping charges for allegedly torturing a man and forcing him to walk off a cliff. Authorities said that Heather Pate, 27, and her boyfriend, Kevin Dent, 36, lured Roy Jaggers, 27, to her house because they believed he hurt one of Pate's children while babysitting them.
According to a court filing obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the couple tortured Jaggers in front of Pate's two children.
"There are video recordings of the crimes being committed, and as disturbing as that is, it is much more disturbing that in one video recording, the children are seen entering the room while the defendant/mother and her criminal co-defendants were committing various physical, criminal acts against the deceased of the criminal action," the filing said.
The couple then took Jaggers to a shooting range in Pahrump, where they met up with Pate's ex-boyfriend, Brad Mehn, 37. They continued to torture him and drove him to Cathedral Canyon, which is about 25 miles away.
"They met Mehn, who led them to an area in the desert where they tortured Jaggers over multiple hours, utilizing numerous different weapons," the Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
After torturing Jaggers using knives and a blowtorch, they forced him to walk off a 30-foot cliff. While he survived the fall, authorities said that Mehn shot him multiple times with a shotgun, ultimately killing him.
"After they finished torturing Jaggers, they drove him to Cathedral Canyon, approximately 25 miles away, where they threw him off the cliff into the gorge where they subsequently shot at him numerous times, ultimately killing him," the statement continued.
Prosecutors said they are seeking the death penalty against Mehn.