Rhiannon Folsom and Carlos Gurri died in a head-on collision on SR 160

Pahrump resident Rhiannon Folsom died Saturday evening in a head-on collision on State Route 160.

Folsom had turned 21 just four days before the crash, and was leaving home on Saturday night to visit friends in Las Vegas, her mother, Danielle Smith, told the Review-Journal.

“There’s nothing that I can think of that’s more devastating than this,” Smith said in a phone interview. “This is a loss that’s absolutely unfathomable.”

The crash happened when another driver, 62-year-old Carlos Gurri, of North Las Vegas, attempted to pass a vehicle and struck Folsom’s car south of Manse Road, the Nevada Highway Patrol said in a news release on Tuesday. Both Gurri and Folsom died at the scene.

Gurri had spent nearly 33 years in custody in Nevada, which he claimed was a wrongful imprisonment in connection with the 1990 killing of FBI Special Agent John Bailey. He was accused of being the getaway driver in the robbery, during which his roommate, Jose Echavarria, shot and killed Bailey.

Officials have identified Gurri as Carlos Gurry-Rubio, but he was named Carlos Gurri Rubio on his birth certificate, according to previous reporting by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Attorneys have claimed prosecutors had insufficient evidence to place Gurri at the scene of the crime, and Gurri had repeatedly denied his involvement.

His conviction was overturned in 2018 because of alleged judicial misconduct in the case, and prosecutors dropped the charges against him in 2023, shortly before he was set to stand trial again. He was released from custody in June 2024, after spending nearly 33 years behind bars.

Gurri filed a lawsuit in May that alleged prosecutors intentionally withheld information about the judge in his trial and continued the “malicious prosecution” after his conviction was overturned. He also was pursuing a lawsuit that asked a judge to grant him a certificate of innocence.

Attorney Alanna Bondy, one of the lawyers representing Gurri, confirmed Tuesday that he was involved in the Nye County crash.

“We’re looking into next steps with his cases, but otherwise the information we have is what NHP has reported,” Bondy said.

The Highway Patrol said troopers responded to the crash at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Investigators determined that Gurri was driving a 2006 Nissan Xterra when he tried passing a 2023 Chevrolet Camaro Coupe at a “high rate of speed” by veering into the southbound lane. The Nissan then struck the 2021 Chevrolet Spark Hatchback that Folsom was driving.

The crash caused the Nissan to turn, also hitting the front of the Camaro. The driver of the Camaro had minor injuries, the Highway Patrol said.

‘Enthusiastic about life’

Folsom had lived with Smith in Pahrump for nearly 12 years. She spent the majority of that time in Nevada, but she also grew up in Florida with her father, Smith said.

She had recently graduated from the College of Southern Nevada with a certificate in audio engineering and dreamed of moving out of this small town to become a music producer.

Smith said Folsom was a good driver, so she never worried about the lengthy drive to Las Vegas. State Route 160 was a familiar drive for Folsom, who frequently traveled to Las Vegas for school or to visit friends.

Her mother said Folsom had big dreams that varied between “going everywhere” to moving to the Pacific Northwest to renting a place alone in Las Vegas.

Smith said she shared a deep love of music with Folsom, and the two bonded over artists such as Fleetwood Mac, the Beatles and Mitski. Folsom was a self-taught guitar player who was deeply focused on learning music but “barely had a chance to go that far with it,” Smith said.

Above all, Folsom was “enthusiastic about life,” her mother said.

“She was one of the most vibrant people I had ever known,” Smith said.

Wrongful conviction lawsuit

Echavarria, who is awaiting a new trial set for January, had never implicated Gurri in the crime. Several witnesses reported seeing someone outside the bank but could not positively identify Gurri during the trial, the Review-Journal previously reported. One woman only identified Gurri to the police after she saw a photo of him on the news, according to court transcripts.

Prosecutors previously have pointed to evidence that tied Gurri to the gun and stolen motorcycle Echavarria used in the robbery.

Gurri was pursuing a certificate of innocence, which could have allowed him to receive up to $100,000 for each year he spent imprisoned on a wrongful conviction. The certificate would have only required acknowledgment that he was wrongfully convicted, not that there was misconduct by officials.

He had filed a lawsuit against several government agencies and police officers involved in his initial conviction. He accused the Clark County district attorney’s office of prosecutorial misconduct, but a federal judge recently dismissed the agency from the lawsuit, ruling that Gurri had to sue the agency in control of the office, which is the Clark County government.

“The Clark County District Attorney’s Office has long maintained an institutional policy and practice of prioritizing convictions over truth and justice, even in the face of compelling evidence casting doubt on a defendant’s guilt,” attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.

District Attorney Steve Wolfson did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

In past interviews with the Review-Journal, Gurri focused on the years that he spent in prison for a crime he said he didn’t commit. He said officials “need to answer” for those decades.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Digital content producer Trevor Squire contributed to this report.