A Tucson woman was indicted Monday on two felony charges alleging she threatened a witness in a homicide case.
Virginia Rose Hudson is charged with influencing a witness and conspiracy and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Pima County Superior Court.
Hudson and a teen girl are accused of threatening a man who is a witness in the state’s case against Nick Phillip Rogers, who is charged in the death of Todd Mike Whitzel, 27, said Deputy Erin Gibson of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
The teen is facing similar charges in juvenile court, Gibson said.
Whitzel's family reported him missing to Marana police May 15.
Pima County sheriff’s detectives spoke with a man on Oct. 12 who told them that Rogers, 23, and Whitzel were at the Wagon Wheel Bar near Picture Rocks and Sandario Road around May 12 when they got into an argument with another group of people, according to court documents. Rogers pulled a gun on the group and then fled on the back of Whitzel’s motorcycle to a home on West Picture Rocks Road, the man said.
People are also reading…
The man told detectives Whitzel fell off his motorcycle, hit his head and became delirious. They were also told Rogers decided to kill Whitzel because Whitzel “had threatened all of their lives over a drug debt.”
The man said he heard two or three gunshots while he was outside smoking a cigarette and Rogers came outside shortly afterward saying he’d killed Whitzel.
He also told detectives he and Rogers wrapped Whitzel in a blanket, burned and buried Whitzel’s body in a shallow grave and set a couch and Whitzel’s motorcycle on fire.
Whitzel’s body was found in Avra Valley on Oct. 12 based on what the informant told detectives and Rogers was arrested Oct. 13.
The Arizona Daily Star is not naming the man who spoke with police because he has not been charged with a crime.
It is unclear how Hudson is related to Rogers or how her alleged victim is connected to the case as he is not the man who spoke with police.
A call to Hudson’s attorney, Assistant Pima County Public Defender Michael Rosenbluth, wasn’t immediately returned.
Contact reporter Kim Smith at 573-4241 or kimsmith@azstarnet.com
