The body of 18-year-old Naomi Irion, a Nevada teenager who has been missing for over two weeks, has been found in a remote part of the state, authorities said Wednesday.
Investigators were called to a gravesite in a remote part of Churchill County in Nevada on Tuesday after receiving a tip about the disappearance of Irion, according to a joint news release from the Churchill County Sheriff’s Office and the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.
‘The body of an adult Caucasian female was recovered from that grave site, the body was transported to the Washoe County Medical Examiners Office for an autopsy and to confirm identification,’ the Churchill County Sheriff’s Office said.
On Wednesday, Irion’s family was notified that the remains were Naomi’s.
Troy Driver, a 41-year-old Nevada man, was arrested last week and charged with first-degree kidnapping in connection to Irion’s disappearance. His bail has been set at $750,000.
Irion was last seen around 5am on March 12 in a Walmart parking lot in Fernley, Nevada, when she was abducted by a man, according to the FBI.
Surveillance video captured the kidnapping, in which a man wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, dark pants and shoes, approached Irion’s car, walking over from a nearby homeless camp.
A minute after the man approached her car he was seen driving the vehicle out of the parking lot, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office said.
Her car was discovered near the Walmart three days later.
Irion, who grew up in several countries due to her father working for the US State Department, had been living with her brother, Casey Valley.
‘I can’t believe this. I’m at a loss for words,’ her brother wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday evening. ‘Thanks to everyone for your support. Now comes a different kind of effort. Naomi was taken away from us far too soon.’
Irion’s sister, Tamara Cartwright, shared: ‘My sister is gone. Please pray for comfort for our family.’
Driver was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1997 for his role in covering up a murder and several other violent crimes, according to documents obtained by News 4 and Fox Reno.
The accessory to murder charge came from a 1997 case where then-17-year-old Driver helped dispose a body of a methamphetamine dealer shot and killed by his girlfriend.
Driver reportedly helped stuff the body inside a car, then dumped it into the brush in a rural area of Mendocino County, according to a story published in the Ukiah Daily Journal.
He also pleaded guilty to robbing several gas stations and a hardware store, the newspaper reported.
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