We lost this beautiful woman, Marayna Rodgers in December of 2023 (Photo courtesy of King 5 News).
We’ve been covering Chance Comanche’s case updates on the true crime segment of The Forkball’s podcast, Tailgate Update. If you don’t keep up with TU, now’s a great time to start. Sometimes it can be hard to keep track of all the details of a crime, particularly amongst all of the debauchery in the sport’s world, so we’re going to go deep with Chance Comanche’s case.
Key Individuals In The Case
There’s a handful of people involved in this crime, so we’re going to cover them first so we keep everyone straight.
Chance Comanche
27-year-old former NBA G League player for the Stockton Kings. Ex-boyfriend of Sakari Harnden. Self-proclaimed “superb” actor and apparent wet noodle who folded under five seconds of police interrogation.
Comanche has no obvious past criminal record, and a baby face the big fish in jail will love. Is Chance a sociopath or just smitten with Sakari? Both? Neither? It’s not clear.
Sakari Harnden
Sakari Harnden is a 19-year-old Las Vegas adult activities worker. We don’t know much about her other than that she is pettier than Nikki Minaj and vaguely resembles the woman from The Grudge (the Japanese version).
She dated Comanche, who she says will still do anything for her. Harnden is also dating Iosua Sataua, but their dynamic is… complicated.
Marayna Rodgers
Miss Marayna Rodgers is the victim of this case. The beautiful 23-year-old young lady was incredibly loved by her family and worked as a medical assistant in Washington. She was also doing grown folks stuff for money, at least temporarily, during her trip to Las Vegas.
Iosua Sataua
Iosua Sataua, also known as the rapper ‘EBK Lil Play’, is an 18- or 19-year-old alleged gang member who allegedly worked together with a 16-year-old accomplice to take the lives of two individuals in 2023.
Sataua is one of Harnden’s boyfriends. Now the couple is like ‘Love After Lockup’ just without the after.
Chance Comanche Takes A Chance
Prior to December 2023, by all accounts, Chance Comanche was a nice young man who was a contributing member of society.
No one could have known that Chance actually was a decent actor. He had a cold-blooded murderer lingering beneath the surface as he continued to play basketball and plot the death of a young lady with his accomplice at the same time.
Granted Chance did try to delegate – he tried to pay $3,000 to a friend to take care of Marayna Rodgers. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t get anyone who would do it for that price… he only had so much disposable income; after all, he wasn’t in the actual NBA.
December 6th, 2023
Comanche and Harnden lured Ms. Rodgers to a secluded desert area outside of Las Vegas under the pretense of some paid adult activities. Her friend dropped her off and thought it was odd that the basketball player was in the backseat of Harnden’s vehicle.
According to what Chance Comanche has confessed to, he strangled Ms. Rodgers with a cord, and his ex-girlfriend jumped in with her bare hands. The couple then put the medical assistant in a ditch and covered her body with rocks.
Murder One For Everyone
The crime was clearly premeditated. Chance and Sakari had been texting each other since December 1st with incriminating information. December 1st was the day that Hardnen and Rodgers traveled together, along with some other friends, to do adult work in Vegas. It’s unclear why Sakari initially reached out to Chance, other than having previously been dating (and him possibly being a sociopath).
For the first few days, Comanche was clearly telling Harnden that he was providing Rodgers information to his friends who were going to do his dirty work for him. On December 4th, the former Stockton King began to suggest rat poison as a possible method.
Comanche then suggested he could end Ms. Marayna’s life himself. Texting his former girlfriend: “I can snap her neck or just strangle the *expletive*, If you get a nice little thick piece of rope or sum sturdy I can do it from the back seat. Like how killers do it in the movies.”
On the 5th, Sakari reached out to Marayna, planning a dirty ménage à trois, where the trick (Chance Comanche) would pay Rodgers $1,000.
Because Harnden was told that Comanche liked it raunchy, Rodgers was not alarmed when things like zip ties around her wrists came into play. Marayna was given a false sense of security and clearly trusted Sakari and, by extension, Chance. She didn’t know what was happening until it was too late.
The Brain Dead Motive
All crimes have a motive. They can range from logical, almost understandable (stealing bread because of food insecurity) to a brain-dead motive like the one Sakari Harnden was cooking up in her noggin.
She was mad at Rodgers for disclosing to other people that she allegedly had snitched on her boyfriend, EBK Lil Play. Sakari had apparently implicated her BF as the shooter of the aforementioned double homicide.
Why Harnden would commit a crime that would land her in the slam slam where people really don’t like snitches is beyond me.
Comanche’s motive was apparently that he would do whatever Harnden wanted (according to her) because he still loved her. Weird.
So What Is With Chance Comanche?
The fact that the motive was entirely Sakari’s bodes well for Chance. Harnden was also the one who reached out to Rodgers directly, knowing full well what was going to happen to her “friend.”
Comanche was also forthcoming, getting chatty with the cops quickly and providing them with key information like the location of Marayna Rodgers’ body.
Obviously, the fact that Comanche committed the murder reflects poorly on him as a person, particularly since one of his proposed methods was the one implemented. Coaching Sakari on how to lie to the police was also gross. He helped her come up with this “story”:
Ultimately, whether or not Harnden was the mastermind who “seduced” Comanche into murdering someone or he is a sick sociopath who enjoyed the crime, it doesn’t really matter.
We lost a beautiful young lady with a full life ahead of her. She had a loving family, a boyfriend, two dogs, and a career as a medical assistant. Her life mattered, and she is the most important part of this entire sick story.
Chance Comanche and Sakari Harnden will be punished for their behavior; there will be accountability for their hideous crimes. Hopefully, Ms. Marayna’s family will take comfort in that justice.
The world should remember Rodgers for her life, not who ended it and how. Ms. Marayna will be missed, and this world is the worst place without her.
There is a chance for improving missing persons responses. Marayna Rodgers missing persons report was not released to the public as quickly or thoroughly as it should have been (see the tweet below). We can and need to do better.
RIP, Marayna Rodgers.
