Jesus Vance was a 20-year-old Hispanic/Latino man from Rapid City, South Dakota, who died from gunshot wounds during a violent episode at the South Dakota Rose Inn on the afternoon of April 9, 2021. Police were called for shots fired and arrived about 4:15 p.m.; they found 37-year-old Jake Williams outside room 212 with multiple head cuts and Vance dead inside the motel room. Early statements described the shooting as appearing to be drug-related.

Investigators used surveillance footage to track vehicles leaving the motel and concluded a group was involved. Four people were implicated: William Long, Gilbert Reyna, Tracy Laughlin, and Travis Nelson. A grand jury indicted all four on aiding and abetting first-degree murder, along with aiding and abetting second-degree kidnapping and aggravated assault for the attack on Williams.

In October 2021 Judge Jeffrey Connolly dismissed the first-degree murder indictments, finding that Williams had shot and killed Vance during the confrontation and that Vance had been involved in Williams’ kidnapping, undercutting a felony-murder theory against the co-defendants. After the dismissal, some defendants resolved their cases: Laughlin pleaded guilty to accessory in November 2021, and Long pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting aggravated assault in June 2022, with a related kidnapping charge dismissed as part of his deal.

Does anyone have information about the events at the Rose Inn on April 9, 2021, or recognize any of the vehicles seen leaving that scene?