Missing woman found dead in remote Nevada, cops say. Now, man arrested in her death
.jpeg "Two months after a missing 25-year-old woman’s remains were found in a remote Nevada area, an arrest has been made, deputies say.")
Two months after a missing 25-year-old woman was found dead in a remote Nevada area, an arrest has been made, deputies say.
Robert Matthew Richards, 39, of Utah, was arrested in the death of Sara Filiatraut, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office said in a July 29 Facebook post.
An investigation into Filiatraut’s disappearance began on April 15 when her family filed a missing persons report in Michigan, deputies said in a May 31 Facebook post.
She was last known to be in Lyon County on March 31, according to deputies.
Over the next several weeks, deputies said they “followed up on numerous investigative leads, all the while hoping to find Ms. Filiatraut alive and well.”
However, while searching a remote area of Churchill County on May 22, detectives found the remains of a woman, later identified as Filiatraut, deputies said.
The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide, according to deputies.
“Early on in the investigation,” deputies said they identified Richards as a suspect in Filiatraut’s death.
At the time of her disappearance, Richards worked and lived in the Lyon County city of Fernley, deputies said.
He left the state shortly after, deputies said.
When Filiatraut’s remains were found in May, detectives learned Richards was working and living in Colorado, deputies said.
After traveling to the state, detectives found “numerous items of physical evidence” while serving a search warrant, according to the sheriff’s office.
With the evidence, deputies said a warrant was issued for Richards’ arrest in late July.
He was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on a murder charge July 29 and will be extradited to Nevada to stand trial, deputies said.
Lyon County is about a 75-mile drive southeast from Reno.
This story was originally published August 1, 2024 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Missing woman found dead in remote Nevada, cops say. Now, man arrested in her death."
