Man shot dead after being tortured for hours with blowtorch, knives; forced to walk off cliff naked

In a shocking incident in Nye County in Nevada, a man was severely tortured, allegedly by a neighbour and her friends, before being shot dead.

Roy Jaggers was found dead on August 1 by Nye County Sheriff's deputies who were responding to a call for a deceased male. According to the criminal complaint in his case, the 27-year-old had been tortured with a blowtorch, knives, baton, and axe, after which he was stripped of his clothes and forced to walk off a cliff in Cathedral Canyon.

When the victim reached the bottom of the canyon, he was shot multiple times, reports People.

His mother, Katherine Robinson, told investigators that he was last seen with a neighbor, Heather Pate, 27, of Las Vegas. After further investigation, law enforcement officers detained Pate, her boyfriend Kevin Dent, 36, and her ex-boyfriend Brad Mehn, 37.

Nye County Sheriff's Captain David Boruchowitz said about the crime, "They met Mehn who led them to an area in the desert where they tortured Jaggers over multiple hours, utilizing numerous different weapons. 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."

Mehn revealed the location of the murder weapon to the deputies, who have also collected additional evidence.

According to Boruchowitz's statement, the motive behind the murder was Pate's belief that Jaggers had hurt her child. To confront him, she and her boyfriend had lured him into their residence, where they subsequently beat him and eventually killed him.

The victim's mother said that she did not know Pate well but her son used to occasionally babysit her children or watch her dogs. Pate was also in a contentious custody battle with the father of her 3-year-old and 4-year-old sons. According to court records filed by the boys' father, the toddlers also witnessed a part of the crime as he saw in a video.

"I know exactly what he was like, what he's capable of, what he's not capable of," Robinson said about her deceased son. In a GoFundMe page she created requesting help to organise his funeral, a grieving Robinson described him as a "loving" person who was friendly to everyone he met.

"The world is now short 1 amazing angel. Roy Jaggers loved playing his sax among other instruments. He was a black belt in the CDF Academy and very proudly competed and won many tournaments as well as protected the innocent ones. He loved his anime and was a very respectful martial artist," she wrote.

"Roy was killed doing what he did best. Protecting the innocent. He adored Mother Nature and all that entailed," she added.

All three suspects are being held without bail on suspicion of murder, kidnapping, battery with substantial bodily harm, and conspiracy to commit murder. Prosecutors are considering the death penalty for at least one of three people for the heinous crime.