A 43-year-old Nevada inmate found dead in cell while awaiting trial on allegations of kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder in the March 2022 slaying of a rural adolescent.
A Nevada inmate found dead in cell in an apparent suicide who awaits for his trial (Photo: Court TV)
The inmate found dead in cell allegedly kidnapped a teen and murdered her, authorities claim its a suicide
In a published article from U.S News, an inmate found dead in cell where he appeared to have committed suicide, according to the local sheriff, was in custody awaiting trial on kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder charges in the fatal shooting of a remote northern Nevada teenager last year.
When a deputy discovered Troy Driver, 43, in his Yerington jail cell soon after 6:00 p.m., he was not breathing. Sunday and called for assistance from others to try to revive him, according to Lyon County Sheriff Brad Pope.
His death will be the subject of an official investigation by state authorities. The sheriff announced in a statement Sunday night that no other information will be disclosed until that inquiry is over.
Driver, the inmate found dead in cell, was charged with kidnapping Naomi Irion, 18, from a Walmart parking lot in Fernley, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Reno, before dawn on March 12, 2022, and murdering her before disposing of her body in a distant desert location. Driver, the inmate found dead in cell, had entered a not guilty plea to all charges and stood to receive the death penalty if found guilty. His trial was tentatively due to start in July of next year, and his subsequent status hearing was scheduled for September.
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Casey Valley, Irion’s brother, wrote on Facebook that he has been experiencing “a lot of mixed emotions” since the family was informed by authorities on Sunday night that Driver had passed away.
Valley, who had lived in Fernley with his younger sister, wrote: “I deeply regret that he took the easy way out before the trial, but I do not doubt in my mind given what I have been privy to that he is the perpetrator.” Three days after she vanished, Irion’s car was discovered in an industrial park along Interstate 80 not far from a Walmart store, next to a paint manufacturing plant.
Driver, the inmate found dead in cell, his attorneys claimed he might not be able to stand trial and that he couldn’t be tried for murder in Lyon County because the actual crime occurred in a remote area of neighboring Churchill County. As a result, the trial had been postponed. Later, a judge determined that Troy Driver, the inmate found dead in cell, was competent to stand trial, and his attorneys consented to forego a preliminary hearing in February in Lyon County’s Canal Justice Court.
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