Naomi Irion, 18, was found dead in a rural area of Nevada on Tuesday, more than two weeks after she was kidnapped outside of Reno.
Sheriffs followed up on a tip about the woman’s disappearance, which led them to a probable cemetery in Churchill County, where a corpse was discovered, according to officials.
The human remains “were verified as those of Naomi Irion,” according to the Churchill County Sheriff’s Office, who added that the investigation remained ongoing.
Troy Driver, 41, was being jailed on $750,000 bond for allegedly kidnapping Irion on March 12 in a Walmart parking lot while she waited for a shuttle to her job at the Panasonic facility.
He was seen uncomfortably pacing on surveillance video before getting into Irion’s 1992 Mercury Sable and driving away. The car was eventually discovered in an industrial park.
Driver has been jailed at the Lyon County Jail in Yerington as a suspect in Irion’s kidnapping, according to investigators. He has yet to enter a plea.
Driver will be required to wear a GPS tracking device if he posts bond, according to Justice of the Peace Lori Matheus.
According to the two-page criminal complaint filed Wednesday in Lyon County’s Canal Township Justice Court, Driver abducted her “on or about March 12” and “did hold or detain her with the intention of committing sexual assault and/or murdering her.”
The FBI offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to Irion’s capture. Hundreds of volunteers have joined the hunt for clues across a large desert region over the last two weeks.
Irion resided in Fernley with her elder brother, Casey Valley, who told reporters after the court that the family was “all in disbelief” that bail had been imposed at all.
Valley said early Wednesday that they planned another search for Saturday in Hazen, about 12 miles (19 kilometres) east of Fernley, close across the Churchill County line.
“We would like to express our sympathies to the Irion family and appreciate all of the volunteers for their efforts in locating Naomi and bringing closure to the family,” the sheriff’s office stated in a statement Wednesday night.
Valley said his sister normally takes a bus from the Walmart parking lot to work at a Panasonic factory in the Reno region. Valley said she never came at work, and when Irion did not come home that weekend, he alerted family members and authorities.
