Police Desperately Seek Info on Burning Man Homicide Suspect

Nothing puts your problems into perspective like death. Sure, the orgy dome being rendered unusable^[1] by wind was a bummer, but it doesn’t compare to the unsolved homicide that appears to have happened on the grounds of Burning Man over the weekend. Making matters worse, the situation remains unsolved, and police are struggling to connect with potential witnesses as they head back home from the desert getaway.

Thus far, the details about the situation are pretty sparse. According to USA Today^[2], the suspected homicide is thought to have happened on August 30, sometime between 8 and 9:30 p.m. local time, around the time of the final “Burn” event, when a 100-foot wooden effigy was set ablaze. Festival goers who spotted the victim flagged down police and told them of a body “lying in a pool of blood,” officers told the press. The police quickly determined the man was deceased, but have yet to identify him. According to reports^[3], the victim is believed to be 35 to 40 years old, around 6 feet tall, and weighs around 200 pounds with short brown hair and facial hair.

Getting much clarity beyond that has been a real uphill battle for law enforcement. To start, the event is intentionally isolated, located in the middle of the desert, about 10 miles^[4] from the closest town. The Pershing County Police Department is tasked with addressing any criminal complaints out of the temporary city of Burners, and, according to Salon, their offices are about two hours away from the playa.

“When we have a difficult investigation, such as a homicide, sexual assault, crime against children or other major or heinous crime, some of which occur annually, we must work quickly and diligently to obtain as much information and evidence as possible, because we cannot return to the scene next week, or sometimes even the next day, when the ‘address’ no longer exists,” Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen told Salon^[5].

The city itself isn’t just gone, but its residents (and, in this case, potential witnesses and suspects) are as well. About 80,000 people attended Burning Man this year, visiting from more than 70 countries, according to law enforcement. Most of them have left the desert—and in some cases, the country—and aren’t going to be easy to identify or contact.

Burning Man organizers issued a statement^[6] informing festival-goers that police are looking for any information that could assist in their effort to determine what happened. “The investigation is ongoing and the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office will be the primary source of further information,” they said. “If you are in Black Rock City, do not interfere with law enforcement activity.”

The death is not the first at Burning Man, which has suffered three deaths in the last three years. At least eight people^[7] have perished during the annual event. But it is the first alleged homicide to occur on festival grounds.