Found Deceased NV - Naomi Irion, 18, kidnapped from pkg lot, car fnd, Fernley, 12 Mar 2022 *POI died in jail before trial* #4

[JerseyWasHome2]

I do wonder - what if Naomi's brother did not go to Walmart on Monday morning to request access to security footage. Would police have eventually discovered the footage, or would it have been over-recorded and lost? Would her disappearance have been one of those very common scenarios that we hear about where someone simply vanishes and no one discovers what happened. Is that what happened with any potential earlier victims of Troy Driver?

Would the story be that Naomi wanted to experience life in the USA and ran away from her brother and family to do this? That's certainly one of the theories that was discussed earlier - that she staged her own kidnapping so she could life free from her family. Without the family's intervention and actions, this could have ended much differently.

BBM above - ack, an awful thought. Makes me think any business who has any type of security cameras should be required to keep at least 2 weeks' worth of video footage just for this purpose, and perhaps the "justice for" movements could campaign to have more security cameras installed on roads. I know it's big brother watching, but think of how the footage has helped so many cases. I'll bet TD had no idea there was a camera on the roof facing that part of the parking lot (at WM).

 

[Satchie]

I am sincerely confused about those that are dismissing the young woman's video and claim that she was stalked and followed along the highway and various parking lots. And am also disheartened by the fact that the police did not bother to investigate her claims or view her video.

She did what we urge our own selves, our daughters and other women to do! She observed and paid attention and did her best to protect herself. She did it right and probably saved her own life.

Whether it was TD or not, whoever that man was in the video she took, he was up to no good and no one believed her.

And it makes me wonder about those that are dismissing her so easy. It seems us women are damned if we do manage to survive by doing our observant best but then we aren't believed when we say we were in danger.

And damned if we don't survive because then the words of wisdom are we weren't careful and aware of our surroundings at all times and the implication is we deserved what we got.

What might have been more helpful than a police investigation, was if she'd gone to social media, the local media, etc, warning women about the risks of being followed in your vehicle by men, and please be safe, ie lock your doors.

Not saying she's to blame for not doing that, or that she needed to target the compact car guy directly, but a head's up reminder is always helpful for younger women.

JMO

 

[Arkay]

also golden state killer, he had a very clear progression. first he broke in and ransacked houses. her was prob stalking beforehand. then he progressed to stalking a woman alone or w a kid and rape and terrorizing. then he started raping women w their partner there. then he went on to rape and murder.

I was thinking the same thing about the GSK...he had three different serial killer titles, because he operated in different parts of the state, and first just burgled, put dishes on the husband's back, etc, before he advanced to rape, and killing husbands too, etc.

We don't know enough about TD to know what stage he was in during his long career in crime. IMO.

I agree, and there are so many 'if's that I know her family and loved ones will play over and over, but probably none would have saved Naomi's life. I do want to comment on a couple of the 'if's posted here. Walmart was not yet open when Naomi was abducted, so security would not have been watching live cams. I do not know if it is standard procedure for them to review every minute of video from hours the store is not open, but even if it is, that would have taken some time to scan some 7 hours of video, and by then, Naomi may well have already been far away, if not dead. Secondly, again, most companies have specific procedures for reporting out from a work shift, and when Naomi did not show or report out, I am sure it was noted, for future action. Her direct supervisor may have attempted to call her phone, but got no answer. That is as far as trying to track down an absent employee is going to go. Emergency contacts are for contacting if an employee is injured or has a medical emergency while at work, not for finding out why they are not at work, especially when the employee is an adult. Many times, an emergency contact may not even live with the person, they are just an immediate family member in close proximity to the work location. And finally, perhaps I am the only one who is, and I am thankful that they were, but I am very surprised that Walmart security allowed someone not affiliated with law enforcement to come in with a story, and allow them to sit and watch security video. Again, many things could have been, and should have been done more quickly, but even in one of your previous posts, you stated that most murders take place within 1-3 hours of abduction, and I do believe that is probably true. Perhaps some changes will be made to LE procedures, but I do not believe any perceived delays contributed to Naomi's death. JMO

I completely agree, especially that the brother was allowed to view the security footage. He must have had some proof, maybe pictures or proof of address, to show that Naomi was his sister. How was security to even know if he himself was an angry ex-boyfriend stalker?

But however it worked in the brother's favor, I'm grateful.

 

[DutchTreat]

And she has his license plate on video, but didn't make it public. The police likely know who that man is if they looked him up.

Ah ok, I thought is was unreadable.

 

[otto]

This looks like the first step towards ensuring that police take missing person reports seriously.

"The family of slain 18 year-old Naomi Irion has filed a complaint against the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. During a press conference in Fernley on Friday, Irion’s brother, Casey Valley, indicated that the sheriff’s office neglected to file a Missing Persons report for nearly 24 hours after the office was contacted. The suspected kidnapper, 41 year-old Troy Driver, remains in custody and has been formally charged with murder, in addition to felony charges of robbery, burglary and destruction of evidence"
​

The Family of Naomi Irion Files a Complaint Against The Lyon County Sheriff's Office

 

[Sillybilly]

For those who missed my edit in the previous thread, please note:

I have degrees, certifications and professional designations in science, environmental design, education and a partial degree in wearable tech. for health care.

<ADMIN NOTE:
@otto was previously Verified by Tricia in relation to the above and the Verification List has now been updated to include the above designations next to otto's name ... obviously too much to enter into the limited field under their avatar.>

 

[SteveP]

I cannot find a link to it now, but I distinctly remember reading a statement from somewhere, maybe her brother Casey, that there was no visible cause of death, which I took to mean Naomi was not stabbed or shot, and there probably was not a lot of blood. TD was, however, charged with 'open murder with a deadly weapon'. I'm assuming she likely was asphyxiated, but still, it seems there would be ligature marks or bruising. Would bare hands be considered a deadly weapon, or have I misremembered something?? JMO

 

[beandawgs]

I cannot find a link to it now, but I distinctly remember reading a statement from somewhere, maybe her brother Casey, that there was no visible cause of death, which I took to mean Naomi was not stabbed or shot, and there probably was not a lot of blood. He was, however, charged with 'open murder with a deadly weapon'. I'm assuming she likely was asphyxiated, but still, it seems there would be ligature marks or bruising. Would bare hands be considered a deadly weapon, or have I misremembered something?? JMO

she also could have died from being tased ? I’ve heard of this happening?

 

[otto]

I cannot find a link to it now, but I distinctly remember reading a statement from somewhere, maybe her brother Casey, that there was no visible cause of death, which I took to mean Naomi was not stabbed or shot, and there probably was not a lot of blood. He was, however, charged with 'open murder with a deadly weapon'. I'm assuming she likely was asphyxiated, but still, it seems there would be ligature marks or bruising. Would bare hands be considered a deadly weapon, or have I misremembered something?? JMO

she also could have died from being tased ? I’ve heard of this happening?

I posted the link in the last few days but can't find it again offhand. Her brother was quoted as saying that he did not see cause of death on her body. Police have said that releasing cause of death could compromise the investigation.

Taser could have used to subdue her at the moment of abduction, to control her during the kidnapping, and I think over-use of a taser could have resulted in her death.

"Since 2010, there have been at least 513 cases in which subjects died soon after police used Tasers on them, according to fatalencounters.org. Examples from the data include a man who fell to the ground and hit his head after being tased and many more who die after losing consciousness, sometimes hours after they were tased. Because there’s no government source for the data, the actual totals are undoubtedly higher, the website’s founder said."
​

April 2021
Police use of Tasers ends in hundreds of deaths like Daunte Wright

 

[Lillymac]

This looks like the first step towards ensuring that police take missing person reports seriously.

"The family of slain 18 year-old Naomi Irion has filed a complaint against the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. During a press conference in Fernley on Friday, Irion’s brother, Casey Valley, indicated that the sheriff’s office neglected to file a Missing Persons report for nearly 24 hours after the office was contacted. The suspected kidnapper, 41 year-old Troy Driver, remains in custody and has been formally charged with murder, in addition to felony charges of robbery, burglary and destruction of evidence"
​

The Family of Naomi Irion Files a Complaint Against The Lyon County Sheriff's Office

Is the complaint posted somewhere?

 

[otto]

Is the complaint posted somewhere?

I haven't seen it - only saw the article stating that a complaint had been filed.

 

[SteveP]

RSBM

The local media doesn't report the lethal weapon aspect as a charge:

"Last Friday, 41-year-old Troy Drive was charged with murder along with robbery, burglary and destruction of evidence." Murder Suspect Troy Driver Expected to Appear in Court Tuesday

"...charged with open murder, burglary and destruction of evidence...The sheriff’s office did not elaborate on details of the murder, but it is alleged to have been done with a deadly weapon."
Not sure where the 'alleged' comes from in this TV news report. It doesn't seem to be an actual charge. Suspect faces murder charge in 18-year-old’s kidnapping

IMO the kidnapping could have involved a deadly weapon, but not necessarily the murder (strangulation is so very common in this type of murder).

JMO

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

I cannot find a link to it now, but I distinctly remember reading a statement from somewhere, maybe her brother Casey, that there was no visible cause of death, which I took to mean Naomi was not stabbed or shot, and there probably was not a lot of blood. TD was, however, charged with 'open murder with a deadly weapon'. I'm assuming she likely was asphyxiated, but still, it seems there would be ligature marks or bruising. Would bare hands be considered a deadly weapon, or have I misremembered something?? JMO

And I thought I read the cause of death seemed immediate but they were waiting for the official autopsy, but I could be mistaken. Not sure whether "open murder" covers strangulation, but in the Brian Laundrie / Gabby Petito case, it was shown that strangulation can be proven if the hyoid bone in the neck is broken (assuming a body may be too decomposed to have bruising left as an indicator).

 

[OldCop]

Missing persons cases involving an adult are such a conundrum for LE. An adult has every right to disappear, vanish off the face of the earth, drop out of sight, or go to ground just because they feel like it. There are any number of reasons a person may disappear: accident, self harm, running from LE, running from a DV situation, mental illness, drug use, or they just want to get away from it all, to mention just a few. In some cases we never find out what happened to the person. Just a tiny fraction of the number of missing adults in the US at any given moment are due to foul play. But, what if it’s your loved one who is in that tiny percentage?
Fernley does not have its own police department but is covered by the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. They have a substation in Fernley. I was not able to find to find an annual report for the agency since 2017 under the previous sheriff but did find one CAD report, for March 2019. There did not appear to be a missing person in the county that month. Otherwise I did not find much current information about this agency. Not a good look when you have experienced a high profile crime. I have not tracked down the definitive number of deputies or investigators after a quick search. What I will say is that once they got onto this case they worked hard and brought in a relatively quick arrest.
So, how do you prioritize your missing persons cases? How do you weed out the intentional from the suspicious? How do you do it quickly before critical time is lost?
I am not giving LCSO a pass here, but how much info was NI’s brother able to provide on Sunday evening when he made his first report? We know now that NI was abducted on Saturday morning, but initially and by his own admission, Casey wasn’t even sure when she disappeared. He did not view the Walmart footage until Monday. He made the report a little after 9:30 and it was followed up with a phone call two hours later. Unfortunatelyy that time, almost 40 hours had passed since NI had disappeared.
CV has stated that LE should have immediately put out a BOLO for his sister and or her vehicle. I can understand that. What if instead we start doing welfare checks? We go to people’s homes at the request of friends and relatives when they are worried about their well-being. Why does that need to be restricted to a home? Why couldn’t we broadcast a request that anyone who sees a person or vehicle matching a certain description stop and ascertain the well being of the person. Or if it is a vehicle and the person driving is not the owner, detain that person until the owner’s welfare can be confirmed. In the meantime, the investigation to determine whether the person has gone missing voluntarily or not can be begun in the background.
Perhaps LE could work with local media to do short segments on adult missing persons.
We don’t have all the answers on how to handle all these cases, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to explore new ways of handling them that will help prevent them from falling through the cracks.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

Missing persons cases involving an adult are such a conundrum for LE. An adult has every right to disappear, vanish off the face of the earth, drop out of sight, or go to ground just because they feel like it. There are any number of reasons a person may disappear: accident, self harm, running from LE, running from a DV situation, mental illness, drug use, or they just want to get away from it all, to mention just a few. In some cases we never find out what happened to the person. Just a tiny fraction of the number of missing adults in the US at any given moment are due to foul play. But, what if it’s your loved one who is in that tiny percentage?
Fernley does not have its own police department but is covered by the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. They have a substation in Fernley. I was not able to find to find an annual report for the agency since 2017 under the previous sheriff but did find one CAD report, for March 2019. There did not appear to be a missing person in the county that month. Otherwise I did not find much current information about this agency. Not a good look when you have experienced a high profile crime. I have not tracked down the definitive number of deputies or investigators after a quick search. What I will say is that once they got onto this case they worked hard and brought in a relatively quick arrest.
So, how do you prioritize your missing persons cases? How do you weed out the intentional from the suspicious? How do you do it quickly before critical time is lost?
I am not giving LCSO a pass here, but how much info was NI’s brother able to provide on Sunday evening when he made his first report? We know now that NI was abducted on Saturday morning, but initially and by his own admission, Casey wasn’t even sure when she disappeared. He did not view the Walmart footage until Monday. He made the report a little after 9:30 and it was followed up with a phone call two hours later. Unfortunatelyy that time, almost 40 hours had passed since NI had disappeared.
CV has stated that LE should have immediately put out a BOLO for his sister and or her vehicle. I can understand that. What if instead we start doing welfare checks? We go to people’s homes at the request of friends and relatives when they are worried about their well-being. Why does that need to be restricted to a home? Why couldn’t we broadcast a request that anyone who sees a person or vehicle matching a certain description stop and ascertain the well being of the person. Or if it is a vehicle and the person driving is not the owner, detain that person until the owner’s welfare can be confirmed. In the meantime, the investigation to determine whether the person has gone missing voluntarily or not can be begun in the background.
Perhaps LE could work with local media to do short segments on adult missing persons.
We don’t have all the answers on how to handle all these cases, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to explore new ways of handling them that will help prevent them from falling through the cracks.

Excellent post. I've always been under the impression that in general, the LE will *not* file a missing persons report for 24 hrs, for the reasons you cited. I don't know if that's true, or unique to certain states or towns or counties, but they probably have statistics on why they can't rush out to search when 90% of the time the person resurfaces (guessing on the 90%). I'd be curious on the stats where families/friends insist the person would not just disappear, and whether those are the cases where the person does not just reappear on their own, compared to someone reporting a disappearance in a less certain way.

*Edited to add - just checked the internet and it seemed the 24 hr time period was valid until the 80s or 90s, but now many states don't require it and you can file a report within 24 hrs. Good to know!

 

[beandawgs]

I don’t think even a quicker missing persons report would have made a difference in this case. My feeling is that poor Naomi was killed shortly after abduction, by the end of the day on Saturday.

 

[Arkay]

Missing persons cases involving an adult are such a conundrum for LE. An adult has every right to disappear, vanish off the face of the earth, drop out of sight, or go to ground just because they feel like it. There are any number of reasons a person may disappear: accident, self harm, running from LE, running from a DV situation, mental illness, drug use, or they just want to get away from it all, to mention just a few. In some cases we never find out what happened to the person. Just a tiny fraction of the number of missing adults in the US at any given moment are due to foul play. But, what if it’s your loved one who is in that tiny percentage?
Fernley does not have its own police department but is covered by the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. They have a substation in Fernley. I was not able to find to find an annual report for the agency since 2017 under the previous sheriff but did find one CAD report, for March 2019. There did not appear to be a missing person in the county that month. Otherwise I did not find much current information about this agency. Not a good look when you have experienced a high profile crime. I have not tracked down the definitive number of deputies or investigators after a quick search. What I will say is that once they got onto this case they worked hard and brought in a relatively quick arrest.
So, how do you prioritize your missing persons cases? How do you weed out the intentional from the suspicious? How do you do it quickly before critical time is lost?
I am not giving LCSO a pass here, but how much info was NI’s brother able to provide on Sunday evening when he made his first report? We know now that NI was abducted on Saturday morning, but initially and by his own admission, Casey wasn’t even sure when she disappeared. He did not view the Walmart footage until Monday. He made the report a little after 9:30 and it was followed up with a phone call two hours later. Unfortunatelyy that time, almost 40 hours had passed since NI had disappeared.
CV has stated that LE should have immediately put out a BOLO for his sister and or her vehicle. I can understand that. What if instead we start doing welfare checks? We go to people’s homes at the request of friends and relatives when they are worried about their well-being. Why does that need to be restricted to a home? Why couldn’t we broadcast a request that anyone who sees a person or vehicle matching a certain description stop and ascertain the well being of the person. Or if it is a vehicle and the person driving is not the owner, detain that person until the owner’s welfare can be confirmed. In the meantime, the investigation to determine whether the person has gone missing voluntarily or not can be begun in the background.
Perhaps LE could work with local media to do short segments on adult missing persons.
We don’t have all the answers on how to handle all these cases, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt to explore new ways of handling them that will help prevent them from falling through the cracks.

Thanks for posting this, @OldCop. I've been wondering about this even though I understand the brother's plight.

My daughter is 40 now, but a month after she turned 18, she took off to go stay by her boyfriend whom I despised. (With good reason). I didn't know at first that she had gone to his house, just that she hadn't come home. When she didn't come home that night I called the police and they very nonchalantly informed me that an 18-year old doesn't have to come home at all. This is NYC, so not a small town with less experienced LE.

Of course she came home a week later, but that whole time I was in hysterics, even when I found out where she was. That experience had me wondering all along why the brother felt that the police would in fact go looking for Naomi.

Unfortunately the brother was right, but again I was surprised, due to my own experience. I appreciate your very cogent explanation.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

I am sincerely confused about those that are dismissing the young woman's video and claim that she was stalked and followed along the highway and various parking lots. And am also disheartened by the fact that the police did not bother to investigate her claims or view her video.

She did what we urge our own selves, our daughters and other women to do! She observed and paid attention and did her best to protect herself. She did it right and probably saved her own life.

Whether it was TD or not, whoever that man was in the video she took, he was up to no good and no one believed her.

And it makes me wonder about those that are dismissing her so easy. It seems us women are damned if we do manage to survive by doing our observant best but then we aren't believed when we say we were in danger.

And damned if we don't survive because then the words of wisdom are we weren't careful and aware of our surroundings at all times and the implication is we deserved what we got.

Many people have no idea what it's like to be a woman in this world. Unfortunately, a good number of them are police officers. I'm not anti-police by any means, but there are tons of cases where things like this are discounted or dismissed.

 

[Turkeytrot]

Pre-trial hearing pushed back for man accused of killing Naomi Irion

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

Pre-trial hearing pushed back for man accused of killing Naomi Irion

Hoping that's a good thing - perhaps they want to wait for autopsy results, DNA, etc., to come back? But whatever happened to him being allowed to post bail? I don't believe there have been any reports that was revoked or put on hold given the new charges...