Nevada police released video footage this week of an unknown man pacing a Walmart parking lot moments before 18-year-old Naomi Irion disappeared.
The video, released over the weekend, showed the mysterious man at the Walmart off of Newlands Drive in Fernley. The incident happened at around 5 a.m. on March 12.
“We are providing a video clip showing parked and moving vehicles in the Walmart parking lot within visual distance of Naomi’s vehicle and minutes before she is abducted,” the Lyons County Sheriff’s Office said. “The suspect is seen on this surveillance video pacing on the east side of the building.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Naomi was last seen sitting in her vehicle on security footage, while apparently waiting for a shuttle she takes to work when she disappeared. Naomi works for Panasonic in the Reno-Sparks area, her mother said, and it’s typical for her to catch the shuttle to work.
The man on the footage walked from the direction of a homeless camp located nearby on the day in question; he began lurking in parked vehicles before getting in Irion’s car and driving away. KOLO reports that Irion was in the passenger’s seat as the man drove away.
Naomi’s brother, Casey Valley, said that security footage seemed to show the suspect saying or doing something that made Naomi move from the driver’s seat to the passenger seat. Valley viewed the footage after going to Walmart to see if his sister had made it there.
“I was mortified,” Valley said. “I didn’t expect to see that. I was just trying to verify she made it to Walmart.”
“She is not a fighter, meaning the guy who pushed her into a car, she froze. She didn’t do anything. She just froze.”
Naomi’s mother, Diana Irion, confirmed with ABC 4 that Naomi didn’t show up for work shifts over the weekend.
“They confirmed that she missed her shifts Saturday and Sunday, which was really unusual,” Diana said. “My daughter was extremely reliable.”
Investigators found Naomi’s blue 1992 Mercury Sable on March 15 at the Fernley industrial park. They said evidence inside the car suggests that a crime was committed.
Sheriff Hunewill with the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office said they’re not sure if the suspect is actually a homeless person, but the security footage suggests he came from the nearby homeless camp.
Meanwhile, Naomi’s brother is pleading for help in locating his sister.
“We are out of time. It’s so critical right now. Just anything that you know or heard or thought of, it needs to be reported,” Valley said.
Police are also searching for a late model Chevrolet High Country four-door pickup truck, which was spotted in security footage leaving the area around the time Naomi disappeared. Investigators feel that the suspect may have been driving the truck shortly after her disappearance.
Naomi is described as a white female who stands 5-feet-11-inches tall with green eyes (one eye is green and brown). She has dyed black hair, according to her family, who created a GoFundMe page to help with search costs.
Anyone with information should call the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office at 775-463-6620 and reference case 22LY01068. You can also contact Secret Witness at 775-322-4900.
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[Feature Photo: Naomi Irion/Police Handout]
