BAKER – Law enforcement officials are trying to identify a woman whose body was discovered early Sunday morning at California-Nevada border. So far, authorities are calling the case a homicide. Along with the identity of the victim, a suspect is also being sought.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Sgt. John Gaffney released information on the woman, on whom on autopsy will be conducted, who appeared to be in her 30s.
According to Nevada Highway Patrol troopers, the body was found at about 6:15 a.m. It was in plain sight along the dirt shoulder of Interstate 15, about two miles south of the state line and the city of Primm, Nevada. Only one lane on I-15 was left open, the traffic heading into California facing gridlock for more than 12 hours as law enforcement officials investigated the crime scene. Primm is famous to California drivers headed to Las Vegas as the home of Whiskey Pete’s Casino and Hotel.
The woman was seen about 2 miles south of the border in California.
A motorist reported the body, which led to the freeway closure. Nevada Highway Patrol said the driver stopped at the side of the highway, called 911 and awaited the arrival of law enforcement officials. Sheriff’s officials from Baker, the nearest law enforcement station to the location of the body, were dispatched to the scene, which was located on the California side.
Due to the nature of the discovery, homicide investigators were called in to take over the case. Authorities, who confirmed the death was not due to a traffic accident, did not, however, disclose the cause of death.
California Highway Patrol officials, who were handling the traffic portion of the freeway conditions, told media outlets they were “handling a fatality”. Traffic was flowing smoother by about 10 p.m. on Sunday.
Notorious criminal Jeremy Stohmeyer, forever linked to Primm Nevada. (1997)
Primm Nevada gained some degree of notoriety in 1997 when 18-year-old Jeremy Strohmeyer molested and murdered a seven year old girl, Sherrice Iverson. He had made contact with her at 4 am while she was with her family at the Primadonna Casino (which is now the Primm Valley Resort and Casino). When the child went into the women’s restroom, Strohmeyer followed her in, where he molested and killed her. His 17-year-old friend David Cash Jr. witnessed part of the incident.
Both returned to Long Beach, California with Cash’s father. They were later identified from security footage, and Stromeyer was eventually convicted of murder, kidnapping, and sexual assault on the child, and is serving life without parole in Nevada. Cash was not charged with a crime, but faced a degree of public outcry for his inaction in the incident, and was labeled a “bad Samaritan”, with activists once holding a rally to have him expelled from UC Berkeley.
Read More:
Wikipedia: Jeremy Strohmeyer
CrimeVoice staff contributed to this story
