Seneca Higley wanted his daughter to grow up knowing she was loved. When her mother passed away in October 2023, he knew that pain very well as his own mother had passed away when he was a boy. He took Indica on a trip to California to give her a break from her grief. He wrote about how proud he was of her and began speaking openly about his wish to find a partner who could become part of their family. A new beginning. However, just four months after her mother’s passing, Indica lost her father too. Higley, 46, was found unresponsive in a room at Caesars Palace following an encounter with a woman he had known for about a year. In September 2026, that woman, Heidi Warner, was sentenced to prison after admitting responsibility for supplying pills connected to his passing. Indica was left with a final note by Higley: “I’m so incredibly grateful that I get to be her father!” Seneca Higley Seneca Rex Higley was born on August 8, 1977, in Ogden, Utah, to Letoy Jacobs and Rex Higley. His mother’s passing marked his childhood. He went on to graduate from Roy High School, attend Weber State University and find a profession that let him connect with people: auctioneering. He was good at it. His family remembered his ability to hold an audience and the sense of purpose he found in his work. Success arrived early, but a period of substance dependence later upended the life he had built. Seneca Higley In a 2023 Project Recovery interview, Higley described experimenting with potent pain medication and losing ground as his use escalated. He made attempts to recover, spent time without a home in Los Angeles and watched his relationship with his father deteriorate. Once he committed to sobriety, the two began repairing it. Higley spoke publicly about those years. He wanted his experience to be useful to people facing similar struggles. “Only you can change and make the decision to be a better version of yourself!” Seneca Higley His relationships changed over time as well. He married Carrisa Spencer, and they later divorced. Higley then married Gretchen Harper. Together, they had Indica, before that marriage also ended. Whatever had happened between the adults, Indica remained central to Higley’s life. His family recalled how often he spoke about her. He admired her character, took pride in the person she was becoming and treasured the time they spent together. By May 2023, Gretchen had married Alex Bloemen. She became stepmother to his two children while remaining part of the lives of her daughters, including Indica. Five months later, the family received news that would change everything. Seneca Higley Gretchen passed away on October 15, 2023. Her obituary did not give a cause. It thanked the staff at Holy Cross/Davis Hospital’s intensive-care unit for looking after her and her family. For Higley, concern for Indica was immediate. He knew what it meant to grow up without a mother, and he could see his daughter facing years of milestones Gretchen would miss. Higley said he couldn't stand the thought of of Indica growing up without her mother’s love and support. He felt her pain even as he tried to help her cope with it. Around January 2024, Higley took Indica to California. He said he wanted to take her mind off what had happened. During the trip, he wrote that his purpose was no longer just about himself and described how proud he was of the way she was handling her grief. Seneca Higley He planned to show her both Skid Row and Beverly Hills. Higley had experienced homelessness in Los Angeles himself; he wanted Indica to see the starkly different lives that existed within the same city. Back home, he was also thinking about what their family might look like in the years ahead. Dating in his mid-40s frustrated him. He complained about misleading profiles and described himself as a “hopeless romantic” who felt he had been taken advantage of. Still, he wanted to try. Higley said he hoped to find love and create a family, especially for Indica. In the months after Gretchen’s passing, the wish carried new weight. He could offer his daughter his own care and attention. He also hoped someone else might eventually share their lives. He had met Heidi Warner sometime in the preceding year, according to what she later told a judge. Their first meeting and the nature of their contact were never established in the available reporting. The encounter investigators would reconstruct began at Caesars Palace in February 2024. Oxa Roxa/Unsplash (not the actual photo) On February 23, 2024, Higley was in Las Vegas. That day, surveillance cameras recorded him walking through the Caesars Palace lobby with Warner. They went to his room on the 17th floor. About an hour later, Warner appeared on camera again. She was wearing a hooded sweatshirt as she walked alone down the hallway, entered an elevator and returned to the lobby, according to the police account reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Investigators later examined messages on Higley’s phone. He had asked a woman using the name “Thalia” for a “date.” Police traced the number saved under that name to Warner. An ATM record showed that Higley had withdrawn $2,400 on the day the pair entered the hotel together. The available reporting does not establish what he did with the money. Then contact with Higley stopped. James Lee/Pexels (not the actual photo) His former mother-in-law tried to reach him and grew worried when she could not. She contacted police, prompting Caesars Palace security to check his room. They found Higley unresponsive in the bathroom. Nearby was a clear plastic bag containing five blue pills stamped “M 30,” a marking associated with prescription pain medication. Testing showed the pills were counterfeit and contained fentanyl and acetaminophen. The coroner classified Higley’s passing as accidental. Its findings attributed it to the combined effects of drinking, f*ntanyl, amph*tamine and other substances. Bastian Riccardi/Pexels (not the actual photo) Higley’s family laid him to rest in Utah that April. His obituary remembered the warmth with which he treated other people, his gift for making them feel heard and the pride he took in raising Indica. The month also brought an unrelated arrest for Warner in a matter involving paid encounters. Police seized her phone. Investigators later obtained a warrant for her digital accounts and found Higley’s contact information saved under the name of a different Strip establishment. The discovery added to the messages already recovered from Higley’s phone and the hotel footage showing Warner entering his room. Detectives continued working to establish how the counterfeit pills had reached him. Cottonbro Studios/Pexels (not the actual photo) On April 10, 2025, police arrested Warner at her Las Vegas apartment in connection with the case. She initially faced a second-degree homicide charge and a charge involving the sale of a controlled substance. While the investigation did not erase what Higley’s relatives had said about his sobriety or what he had shared about his earlier dependence. It established that counterfeit pills were present in his room and that a combination of substances had proved fatal. Prosecutors then pursued Warner over her role in supplying them. For more than a year after her arrest, the case moved through court. Warner posted bail while the proceedings continued. In June 2026, she pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and admitted responsibility for Higley’s passing. Prosecutors agreed to make no sentencing recommendation. Review Journal Warner arrived at her September 23, 2026, sentencing hearing out of custody. Before District Judge Michelle Leavitt decided her punishment, Warner spoke about the man she had known. She said she had met Higley about a year before the Caesars Palace encounter. She remembered his warm heart and how proud he had been of his daughter. Since his passing, she told the court, she had prayed for Indica. Warner also said she had attended therapy and enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada to study business. Her attorney, Charles Goodwin, asked the judge for probation. He said Warner had entered work involving paid encounters after losing her father. Goodwin argued that Higley had asked her to obtain substances and that she had acted as an intermediary. Seneca Higley According to Goodwin, Warner could not get what Higley initially requested but had pills she believed were Percocet. He argued that she did not know they contained f*ntanyl. Leavitt rejected the request for probation. She sentenced Warner to serve between three and eight years in prison. Warner was led from the courtroom in handcuffs.
