WORST FEAR CONFIRMED

Abducted Teen Naomi Irion Found Dead in Remote Grave

A tip led police to the site days after a suspect in the kidnapping was arrested.

The remains of a teenager kidnapped from a Walmart parking lot in Nevada two weeks ago were found in a grave in a remote area days after her accused abductor was arrested.

“My sister is gone. Please pray for comfort for our family,” Naomi Irion’s sister, Tamara Cartwright, wrote on Facebook as the grim discovery was announced by police.

Naomi’s family had been holding out hope the arrest of ex-con Troy Driver last week would lead to police finding the 18-year-old alive.

Instead, investigators got a tip that brought them to an out-of-the-way area in Churchill County on Tuesday.

“The body of an adult Caucasian female was recovered from that gravesite,” the county sheriff said in a statement, adding that the remains were identified as the teen’s on Wednesday.

Irion had parked in the lot in Fernley early on the morning of March 12 to wait for a bus to take her to her job at Panasonic Energy at the Tesla Gigafactory. Video showed a man apparently accosting her and then driving off with her in her car.

The car was found abandoned days later, at which time the sheriff’s office said “evidence suggesting Naomi's disappearance is criminal in nature was located in the vehicle.”

Police have not detailed what led them to arrest Driver, 41, an ex-con, but he was charged with abducting her “for the purpose of committing sexual assault and/or for the purpose of killing her.”

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Tracy Connor

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