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Nevada Babysitter Tortured With Blowtorch, Pushed Off Cliff And Executed With Shotgun
Heather Pate, Kevin Dent, and Brad Mehn are accused of the vicious murder of Roy Jaggers, whose mutilated body was found in a remote Nevada canyon in early August.
The family of a Las Vegas babysitter who was tortured by his neighbor, thrown off a cliff, and shot multiple times with a shotgun, is demanding justice for his brutal killing earlier this month.
Heather Pate, 27, Kevin Dent, 36, and Brad Mehn, 37, are accused of the vicious murder of Roy Jaggers, whose mutilated body was found in a remote Nevada canyon in early August. Authorities suspect Jaggers was lured to Pate’s home, where he was beaten and handcuffed by Pate and Dent. The couple then allegedly drove him to Pahrump, where they met up with Mehn and continued their violent assault.
The trio allegedly tortured the Nevada man for hours in the desert using a blowtorch, an axe, a baton and a knife, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Oxygen.com. Jaggers was ultimately taken to an abandoned tourist destination known as Cathedral Canyon where he was stripped of his clothes and pushed from a cliff into a gorge.
Mehn then allegedly shot the wounded man several times with a shotgun, according to the complaint.
Jaggers’ body was found in Cathedral Canyon on Aug. 1 around 6:20 a.m. after an unknown 911 caller tipped off authorities and was identified by his fingerprints. His cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Nye County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators then contacted Jaggers’ mother, who disclosed her son was last seen alive at Pate’s residence. Detectives later executed a search warrant of her home.
Pate, Dent, and Mehn were separately arrested by county authorities. Mehn, who was apprehended while driving on an interstate, led law enforcement to the shotgun allegedly used to kill Jaggers. The three were charged with open murder and first-degree kidnapping with the use of a deadly weapon.
Jaggers’ parents vowed to attend every court hearing to ensure that justice is served in their son's death.
“How can you do that to another human being?” Roy Jaggers, his father, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
He was interested in anime, played the saxophone, enjoyed the outdoors, and was politically active, according to his family, who added that he occasionally babysat Pate’s children; at the time of his death, he lived with his mother in east Las Vegas.
“He used to come in my room and sit on the edge of my bed, and we’d just sit and talk for hours,” Kassy Robinson, his mother, told the Review-Journal. “And I miss that so bad.”
Jaggers had also studied tai chi and kung fu since he was a teenager. Prior to his death, he'd aspired to become a martial arts instructor.
"He loved teaching," Jack Soderberg, his martial arts teacher, told Oxygen.com.
Soderberg, who operates Create, Develop & Flow Martial Arts Academy in Las Vegas, said he trained Jaggers since he was 15. He described Jaggers as a great fighter who racked up a plethora of medals and trophies in his short career. In 2015, Jaggers was awarded a black sash, a high honor, he said. The Las Vegas martial arts instructor said his former student had an unmatched lust for life.
“He was just a fun-loving guy," Soderberg added. "He was the type of guy, very excited about everything and anything."
The case remains open and ongoing. Pate, Dent, and Mehn are being held without bail at Nye County Detention Center, according to corrections officials. They’re scheduled to appear in Pahrump Justice Court court on September 2.
Prosecutors told Oxygen.com that they haven’t decided whether to seek capital punishment in the case.
Mehn has prior arrests in Nye County for petit larceny, aiming a firearm at a human being, and for bad checks, according to court filings. He wasn’t convicted in those cases.
Dent was released from prison earlier this year after pleading guilty to resisting a public officer with a firearm, child abuse, and domestic violence battery in 2019. The prior year, Dent pleaded no contest to an additional misdemeanor domestic battery charge. A year earlier, he also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery, court documents show.
Dent’s public defender, Jason Earnest, as well as Mehn’s attorney, Tom Gibson, weren’t immediately available for comment on Tuesday.
Pate was arrested in Clark County in 2012 on a drug paraphernalia charge but the case was later thrown out.
Nadine Morton, Pate’s public defender, declined to comment when contacted by Oxygen.com on Tuesday.
Anyone with additional information related to Jaggers’ murder is urged to contact Nye County homicide investigators by calling 775-751-7000.
