Authorities are still looking for Naomi Irion, who was reportedly kidnapped while at a Walmart store in the town of Fernley. It’s now been going on five days since she was last seen, and a handful of days since her abandoned car was located containing evidence of a possibly violent crime. Now the loved ones of this missing Northern Nevada woman are speaking to the media in hopes of keeping public interest front-and-center.
The brother of missing Nevada woman Naomi Irion says that he didn’t even realize she was missing until a day following her abduction. It wasn’t until she didn’t show up for work that her loved ones were alerted to the fact that she’s missing. Her mother, who lives in South Africa and is unable to do anything about this disappearance, says that her daughter hasn’t posted to social media since Saturday — something that is completely out of her character, just as it’s out of character for her to miss work.
The town of Fernley, Nevada — like much of Northern Nevada, excluding Reno — is a small, quiet place where everyone pretty much knows one another. While crime isn’t entirely unheard of in this region, violent crimes such as rapes, kidnapping and murders of women don’t always make their way to national headlines. Nonetheless, this region does have a bloody history — and the kidnapping of Naomi Irion is far from the first case of its kind. In fact, Northern Nevada has a dark history of unsolved missing women and unsolved murders. Some of these cases include The Great Basin Murders as well as an unidentified serial killer who’s been attacking motorists for many years. The rural desert backdrop and desolate environment between towns makes it incredibly easy for violent murderers to hide the evidence of their deeds and go uncaught.
As for the kidnapping of Naomi Irion, more clarification is needed. Prior reports indicate that the unidentified man seen getting into the missing woman’s car may have come from a nearby homeless encampment — but what is the proof to that? Reports all state that the man got into the driver’s side of Naomi’s car, while Naomi was sitting in the passenger side. What hasn’t been clarified is whether or not any kind of altercation took place prior to this. What led to Naomi sitting in the passenger side of her car as opposed to the driver’s side? If surveillance footage only shows her sitting in the passenger seat of the car, while someone else gets into the driver’s side, wouldn’t this possibly indicate that she knew her abductor?
Chelsea Hoffman is a true crime writer with over a decade of professional writing experience. She is best known for her coverage of missing people including the tragic disappearance of Madeleine McCann as well as the heartbreaking cases of Dylan Redwine, Heather Elvis and many others.
