Where is Naomi Christine Irion? Nevada woman missing after stranger gets into her car
A Nevada family is pleading for the public to help find Naomi Christine Irion, after she mysteriously vanished on March 12, 2022. The 18-year-old was last seen at a Walmart parking lot in Fernley, where a stranger got into her car, took the wheel, and drove off. There's now an active effort to find her, being led by the Lyon County Sheriff's Office in Nevada, which has so far not turned up much.
In the aftermath of Gabby Petito's disappearance and death, the US has been on edge over missing women. Nonetheless, several have disappeared in 2022 alone, with few being found. On January 26, Alexis Gabe of California was reported missing, after her car was found with the keys still inside in Antioch. The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office is also on the lookout for Paola Miranda-Rosa, who was last seen swimming in the Wekiva River. In early February, Sara Celeste Otero also went missing after heading to the gym in California.
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The latest updates from Irion's case indicate that the police located her car, but there was no sign of her. As a result, the police is now calling her disappearance "suspicious", but hasn't termed it a kidnapping just yet.
Where is Naomi Irion?
Irion was last seen on March 12, 2022, at the Walmart in Fernley. According to her family, she leaves her car there and takes the company bus to her job at the Panasonic Gigafactory. Security footage shows her sitting in her 1992 Mercury Sable when a man approaches her and motions her to slide into the passenger seat. He then takes the wheel and drives off. CCTV footage from earlier in the day shows her at a store, dressed in a blue Panasonic top with a grey coat.
Police have so far tracked the man back to a nearby homeless encampment, from where he emerged. He reportedly "began lurking" near parked vehicles, before getting into Irion's car. She was reported missing after her family was notified she didn't show up for work on March 12 and 13, which her mother Diana said was "really unusual", adding, "My daughter was extremely reliable." So on March 13, she was reported as missing.
On March 15, Lyon County officials found her car vehicle in the industrial park in Fernley, but there was no sign of the 18-year-old. "Evidence suggesting Naomi's disappearance is criminal in nature was located in the vehicle," the Sheriff's Office said in a statement but did not detail what that evidence was. Irion's father Herve Irion told reporters at a press conference, "Naomi’s not a fighter, meaning the guy who pushed her into her car — she froze, she didn’t do anything."
Tamara Cartwright, Irion's sister was also present and said, "She loves people, she loves people so much, that’s why she’s so trusting. She’ll do anything to help people. I’m so afraid that someone betrayed her trust." The family urged the public to help find Irion, and have even started a GoFundMe to raise funds for her search. At the time of reporting, the fundraiser has raised over $23,000 of its original $20,000 goal.
Irion is a White female, who is 5-feet-11-inches tall with one green and one brown eye. She has black hair and a nose piercing. Anyone with any information is urged to call the Lyon County Sheriff's Office at 775-577-5206 ext 2 or email at Detective@Lyon-County.org. The FBI is also assisting in the search, police confirmed.