An autopsy has revealed that 18-year-old Naomi Irion was killed by several gunshots to the head and the chest after she was kidnapped and later found buried in rural Nevada.
The authorities have recently increased the charges against the man accused of committing the killing, 41-year-old Troy Driver, who was arrested last month.
Ms Irion was abducted on 12 March in Fernley, east of Reno, and she was reported missing by her family not long after.
On Tuesday, Lyon County District Attorney Stephen Rye filed an updated criminal complaint to include first-degree murder and other crimes to the list of charges against Driver, who previously had been charged with kidnapping, according to NewsNation.
Driver stands accused of abducting Ms Irion and killing her on or before 25 March. Authorities found Ms Irion’s body in a grave four days later after receiving a tip.
The new complaint also states that Driver got rid of the tires on his truck and destroyed or hid Ms Irion’s phone to try to get rid of evidence that could prompt his arrest.
Driver has been held on a $750,000 bail at the Lyon County jail in Fernley since his arrest. He’s now facing charges of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping, robbery, burglary of a motor vehicle, and destroying evidence.
The amended complaint states that Driver shot Ms Irion in a rural area in Churchill County northeast of Fernley. The legal filing says that Driver took the teenager to the area “for the purpose of committing sexual assault and/or purpose of killing her”.
The complaint says he entered Ms Irion’s 1992 Mercury Sable in the Fernley parking lot intending to commit grand petit larceny, assault, or battery. He then drove the vehicle away with Ms Irion against her will.
Mother Diana Irion previously told NewsNation that the family has seen surveillance footage showing Driver enter the driver’s seat without incident. The car was found three days later at a paint production plant in the area.
The Ukiah Daily Journal in California reported in 1997 that Driver, who was 17 years old at the time, was arrested in connection to the murder of a 19-year-old. California court records reveal that he pleaded guilty to several counts of robbery, burglary, use of a firearm as well as being an accessory to murder after the fact. He wasn’t charged or convicted of murder at the time and two other people were arrested in connection to the same incident.
Ms Irion was the daughter of a diplomat who moved to the US from South Africa in August to be more independent and start to save up for a place of her own, according to the family.
Driver is expected to appear in court for a pre-trial hearing on 10 May.
