Fernley murder suspect found dead in jail cell

YERINGTON — Troy Driver, the man charged with kidnapping and murdering Naomi Irion in 2022, was found dead Sunday evening in his jail cell in an apparent suicide, Lyon County Sheriff Brad Pope said in a statement.

Driver was awaiting trial for the 2022 kidnapping and murder of Naomi Irion of Fernley. Irion’s body was found in Churchill County two weeks after she disappeared form a parking lot in Fernley.

According to Pope, deputies in the Lyon County jail conducting routine hourly cell checks and inmate cell counts found Driver unresponsive alone in his cell at 6:17 p.m., on Sunday. Pope said they immediately entered the cell and started lifesaving measures. The on-duty jail control room officer requested an ambulance, which was dispatched to the jail. 

While deputies performed CPR, medical personnel with the Yerington/Mason Valley Fire Department arrived and took over lifesaving attempts. After several rounds of CPR with no effect, fire department medical personnel contacted an emergency room doctor through regional medical control who was advised of the lifesaving attempt and advised medical personnel on scene to terminate CPR and pronounce the inmate deceased.

Pope said preliminary details indicate Driver committed suicide by asphyxiation.

He was housed in a maximum security jail cell and had no contact with other inmates.

Per Lyon County Sheriff’s Office policy, an outside agency is required to conduct in-custody death investigations. The Nevada State Police Division of Investigations was requested to respond to the Lyon County jail to investigate the events leading to Driver’s death.

The Lyon County District Attorney’s office had charged Driver with first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon against Irons. He also faced four other charges outlined in the criminal complaint that was filed in the Canal Township Justice Court.

Driver was arrested in Reno on March 25, 2022 and his pickup truck was towed from a home on Alcorn Road west of Fallon. The Churchill County Sheriff’s Office assisted the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigations in the service of a search and seizure warrant.  He had been held on $750,000 bail.

Irion was reported missing from the Fernley Walmart on March 12, 2022.  Her vehicle was found March 15 at the industrial park in Fernley. At the time, Lyon County deputies said evidence found inside the car suggests Irion’s disappearance was the result of a crime.

Steve Ranson of the Lahontan Valley News assisted with the reporting.