LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Almost exactly two years ago, 27-year-old Roy Jaggers was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by a woman he considered a friend and two of her associates.
Two of the accused pleaded guilty. The third was convicted after a trial in May.
In exchange for taking one life, they all face life sentences.
"I have a hole in my soul for my son that will never heal," said Jerry Jaggers, speaking on camera for the first time to 13 Investigates.
In court Thursday morning, the Jaggers family addressed a killer.
"You are a cold-blooded murderer," Heather Jaggers, the victim's sister, shouted at Kevin Dent. "You should have no hope of getting out, just like Roy had no hope of living! You gave us a life sentence without Roy and that's what you should get! You have destroyed my family and took the baby of our family from us!"
Heather Pate, Kevin Dent and Brad Mehn were all charged with the kidnap, torture and murder of 27-year-old Roy Jaggers on July 31, 2021. Nye County authorities say Pate believed Roy had molested one of her children, which police later said was unsubstantiated.
The three lured Jaggers to Pate's Las Vegas home and beat him before handcuffing him, wrapping him in a tarp, and traveling to Nye County where they tortured him for hours with multiple weapons. They then took him to Cathedral Canyon where he was stripped of his clothes and forced to walk off a cliff before Mehn shot him to death.
Mehn was tried and convicted of first-degree murder in May, then sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Pate and Dent both avoided trial by taking plea deals.
"Now, my biggest fear is coming true," Jerry told 13 Investigates in May. "Now, every year that they're up for parole, my family has to go up and relive this case and try to keep them in."
On Thursday, Dent pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 10 years.
"Now we're all involved for life over something that should have never, ever happened at all," Jerry said to Dent in court. "And you're a bully! This is not the first time you've done this! You're a predator!"
Dent is a convicted felon who had been released from prison just eight months before Roy Jaggers' murder.
Heather Pate pled guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. She also received a life sentence with parole eligibility in 15 years.
Pate's sentencing was delayed with court still in session as of the publishing of this article. We will provide an update when the sentence is finalized.
