Naomi Irion’s remains located, investigators say

(NewsNation) — Nevada police announced Wednesday that they found remains belonging to Naomi Irion, who’s been missing since March 12.

A news release says a tip led investigators to a “remote part of Churchill County” on Tuesday where the remains were discovered. They were identified Wednesday.

The release did not say what condition the body was in, where specifically it was found, or any other new evidence they may have learned.

Irion, 18, was living in Fernley, Nevada, which shares a border with Churchill County.

Earlier Wednesday, a judge set a $750,000 bond for Troy Driver, the man charged with kidnapping her. He’s expected back in court April 5. The judge ordered he not be released without an ankle monitor.

Irion was last heard from just before 5:30 a.m. March 12. She was in a parking lot waiting in her car for a shuttle to pick her up. Police say surveillance video shows Driver walking around the lot at the time she was there.

Diana Irion, Naomi’s mother, told NewsNation her family has seen a longer cut of that video that shows Driver approach Naomi’s driver’s side door and get in without a struggle.

Her car was found three days later at a nearby paint production plant.

Reports from 1997 in the Ukiah Daily Journal in California detailed Driver’s arrest in connection with the murder of a 19-year-old. Driver was 17 at the time of the crime and pleaded guilty to multiple counts of robbery, burglary, use of a firearm and being an accessory to murder after the fact, California court records show.

He was not charged with or convicted of murder. Two others also were arrested in connection with the same incident.

Irion’s family has described the young woman as a magnetic and genuine person who usually maintains regular communication with her friends and family. A diplomat’s daughter, Irion moved to the U.S. from South Africa in August to gain independence and save up for a place of her own some day, family said.