Search on for missing man's car

MOUND HOUSE - Lyon County investigators continued Thursday to search for the car of a man whose body was discovered last week, although they believe he died of natural causes.

Lyon County Sheriff's Department investigator Cherie Rye said Thursday an attempt-to-locate broadcast was immediately sent out to law enforcement agencies in California and Nevada in the hopes of finding the 1976 Monte Carlo in which David Venus Solomon, 52, known as Ambassador Merlyn Merlin II, lived.

The badly decomposing body of Solomon, who was well-known at the Nevada Legislature where he had lobbied on behalf of space aliens, was found July 13 on Kit Kat Road.

Rye said every indication is that Solomon died of natural causes, although an autopsy ruled the death undetermined.

"When he was found there was no evidence of foul play. He had money in his shirt pocket and his car keys on him," Rye said. Nearby, investigators found some clothing, hygiene products and numerous papers with the name "Merlin" on them.

"He was known to park his car and walk on occasion, so we think it may be parked somewhere in the desert," Rye said.

Solomon, known to most as Merlin, was a colorful character in the Nevada Legislature from 1995 to 1999. A register lobbyist, Merlin fought for the passage of a bill to rename State Route 375 in Southern Nevada the "Extraterrestrial Highway."

In 1999, Merlin was barred from the legislative grounds when a female employee reported he exposed himself to her.

The Carson City sheriff's department had a recent incident involving Merlin when a church asked he be banned from the premises.

According to Sgt. Rod King, "he was making some of the parishioners uncomfortable."