Authorities: Man’s death in Nevada desert town is possibly related to July 4th earthquake

Detectives in Nevada began to investigate Tuesday the death of a man who may have died as a result of the July 4 earthquake near Ridgecrest in Southern California, authorities said. If confirmed as quake-related, it would be the first death from last week’s earthquakes.

At about 1 p.m. on Tuesday, deputies with the Nye County Sheriff’s Office were called to Fort Churchill Road and Carrol Road in Pahrump, Nev., where they found the body of a 56-year-old man pinned beneath a vehicle, said Sgt. Adam Tippetts of the Sheriff’s Office in a video posted to Facebook on Tuesday evening.

The man appeared to be working on a vehicle at the time of his death.

Since investigators observed that the car had been properly jacked up prior to the incident, they believe something else may be to blame: the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that rocked the Mojave Desert towns of Ridgecrest and Trona, Calif.

“Based on preliminary timing and circumstances at the scene, the Nye County’s investigation reveals that this may be the result of the vehicle, falling off the jacks on July 4th during the earthquake,” Tippetts said.

Thursday’s quake, the first of a pair of large temblors that shook in the area in as many days, could be felt as far south as Baja California, Mexico and was felt in Las Vegas as well.

Pahrump, a Nevada town about a one-and-a-half hour drive from Las Vegas, is located about 100 miles northeast of the quake’s epicenter.

The 56-year-old man was last seen alive July 3 at a local gas station, authorities said. His identity was withheld until authorities could notify his next of kin.

Edited video and photos of the scene, released by Nye County authorities, show a red Jeep leaning toward its right, a missing front right wheel, and a blurred out area on the screen, possibly where the man was found.

It was not immediately known whether the man was trapped alive beneath the vehicle for a time, or was instantly killed.

A local newspaper in Nevada, the Pahrump Valley Times, reported both quakes last week shook the Pahrump area.