On April 1st, the family of Naomi Irion finally received devastating answers in her abduction and disappearance when Troy Driver was officially booked on murder charges with the use of a deadly weapon, according to the Lyon County Sheriff. Driver was previously charged only with kidnapping. Driver is being held in custody at the Lyon County Jail. Troy Driver, a Fallon resident, was arrested on March 25, charged with first-degree kidnapping to start and is being held on $750,000 bail.
Naomi Irion, 18, was abducted from the Fernley, Nevada Walmart parking lot on March 12, 2022, and was never heard from again. Her body was recovered last week when Sheriff officials in both Lyon and Churchill Counties responded to a tip about a body in remote Churchill County in northern Nevada. She had been placed in a shallow grave near Coal Canyon Road. Cause of death has been reportedly established, but law enforcement has chosen not to release that information for fear of compromising the investigation—offering only that her death has been ruled a homicide. In the criminal complaint against Driver filed by Lyon County District Attorney Stephen Rye alleges first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon.
On Tuesday afternoon, the media finally learned that the cause of death was shooting. Naomi Irion was shot and died from gunshot wounds to her head and chest in a rural part of northern Nevada. The complaint also contained details related to how Driver allegedly destroyed Naomi’s cell phone and replaced the tires on his truck in order to conceal evidence connecting him to her kidnapping and murder. Driver’s pre-trial hearing was originally scheduled for April 5, but was pushed back after Judge Lori Matheus approved a joint stipulation request from the district attorney’s office. That pretrial hearing has been moved to May 10.