Naomi Irion, 18, was found dead this week in Churchill County after police said that she was kidnapped from a Walmart parking lot in Nevada earlier this month.
Churchill County Sheriff’s Office investigators got a tip about the teenager's disappearance on Tuesday. It led them to a potential grave site, reported Fox News. The Churchill County Sheriff’s Office said on Wednesday evening that the body of an adult "Caucasian female was recovered from that grave site." It was transported to the "Washoe County Medical Examiners Office for an autopsy and to confirm identification." Later, the human remains were confirmed as "those of Naomi Irion, the family has been notified."
Irion's father works for the US State Department in the foreign service, so she grew up in several countries with her family. Last August, she moved from South Africa to Nevada. She was staying with her brother, Casey Valley, in Nevada. Valley wrote in a Wednesday evening Facebook post that he was at a "loss for words," and he thanked everyone for their support. He said that his sister was "taken away from us far too soon."
In connection to Irion's disappearance, 41-year-old Troy Driver was arrested last week and charged with first-degree kidnapping. During a hearing on Wednesday, his bail was set at $750,000 by Lyon County judge Lori Matheus. A court date for Driver was set for next Tuesday. A preliminary hearing will take place on April 12 to decide if there is evidence for him to be tried in state court, and if convicted, he could face life in prison without parole.
On March 12, Irion was waiting in a Walmart parking lot for a shuttle to her job at a factory, New York Post reported. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said that she was "abducted" at that time. Surveillance footage captured a suspect walking from a nearby homeless camp to the parking lot.
The person then got into the driver's seat of Irion's car. Then the suspect drove away in an "unknown direction with Naomi in the passenger seat." It is not clear if Driver, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1997 for his role in covering up a murder and a string of robberies, is the person captured on the surveillance footage.
Irion's vehicle was located in Fernley, Nevada, on March 15.
According to Daily Mail, over the past two weeks, hundreds of volunteers had joined in searches across the desert area around Fernley looking for Irion. The Churchill County and Lyon County sheriff's departments, which have been working closely on Irion's case, extended their "sympathy and condolences to the Irion family."
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