Nevada teen’s alleged killer found dead while awaiting trial

The man accused of killing a Nevada teenager after abducting her from a Walmart parking lot died in his jail cell on Saturday, said the sheriff’s office in Lyon County.

Troy Driver, 43, is thought to have intentionally asphyxiated himself, the sheriff said.

Driver was awaiting trial for the murder of Naomi Irion, 18. Her body was found in a desert grave in March 2022, two weeks after she went missing from a Fernley parking lot where she was waiting for a predawn shuttle bus to her job.

Driver was arrested after a neighbor in Fallon reported that the man had a pickup truck that resembled one seen on surveillance video from the parking lot.

Sheriff Brad Pope’s statement on Sunday said Driver was found unconscious during a routine cell check at 6:17 p.m. Saturday. He was in a maximum-security cell and had no contact with other inmates, the statement said.

Deputies and fire department paramedics attempted to rescuscitate Driver, Pope said.

Irion’s sister, Tammy Cartwright, told the Reno Gazette Journal that upon hearing of Driver’s death she felt justice could not be truly served now.  “I wanted everyone to know that he was 100 percent guilty,” she said.

But she added:  “I do feel like Naomi would be comforted. She would be at peace knowing he couldn’t hurt anyone else.”

Driver had a criminal history since his youth in Willits, California. In 1997, when he was 17, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the killing of a man whose body was found in the woods, the Ukiah Daily Journal reported.