Lyon County Sheriff’s Office
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
A murder victim whose body was discovered in 1992 was recently identified, according to a news release from the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.
Vincent Marion Trapp, 43, was killed in 1991 but his body was not discovered until 1992, according to the release.
For the past two years, the Major Crimes Division of the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office has been investigating the unsolved murder of an unknown Caucasian male whose body was discovered on March 12, 1992, in Sand Canyon in the southern portion of Lyon County, according to the release.
The victim (who had been murdered in 1991) had remained unidentified and had been known as Sand Canyon John Doe.
In July, the LCSO— working with Parabon NanoLabs Snapshot of Virginia, as well as Parabon’s Chief Genetic Genealogist CeCe Moore — was able to narrow a list of potential family members of Sand Canyon John Doe using genetic matches from the GEDmatch database and investigative genetic genealogy techniques.
On Aug. 31, LCSO confirmed the identity of the murder victim as 43-year-old Vincent Marion Trapp, originally from Sacramento, California, the release said.
Trapp stood 6 feet, 6 inches, weighed 190 pounds, and had blue eyes and red hair.
After identifying Trapp, LCSO detectives traveled to two states to interview persons of interest, and were able to establish a rudimentary timeline of his general whereabouts leading up to his death.
Detectives don’t know the exact date when Trapp moved to Nevada, but they did establish he was living in Douglas County (Topaz Ranch Estates) in late 1989 through the fall of 1990, and was a resident of Lyon County (Yerington) in the spring of 1991, according to the release. It is believed Trapp was murdered sometime between the spring and summer of 1991.
The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office and the Nevada Division of Investigation are asking for the public’s assistance in finding out any information regarding Trapp’s murder.
If you know anything about the murder of Trapp, contact Detective Lt. Jerry Pattison of the Major Crimes Division of the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office at (775) 577-5206, or Investigator Matthew Wehn of the Nevada Division of Investigation at (775) 684-7412.
If you wish to provide information anonymously, call or text Secret Witness at (775) 322-4900.
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