Nye County sheriff releases video in two in-custody deaths investigations

The Nye County Sheriff’s Office has released additional information and body-worn video in the deaths of Stevie Miller, 30, and Christopher Stewart, 40, as investigators continue to examine two in-custody deaths that occurred within about a week of each other.

Miller’s case began around 10:40 a.m. on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, when deputies tried to stop a vehicle near Highway 160 and Loop Road in Pahrump. Authorities said the vehicle fled briefly, reached an estimated 70 to 80 mph near Basin Avenue, struck two other vehicles and kept going until it became disabled. The driver ran away, and Miller was later found unresponsive in a Nye County holding cell on June 10.

Stewart died early on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, after a separate arrest tied to a reported home invasion in Pahrump. Dispatch received that call at about 1:25 a.m., and the sheriff’s office said Stewart suffered a medical episode while in custody before being pronounced dead at Desert View Hospital at 4:31 a.m. The sheriff’s office has not publicly resolved what led to the medical emergency.

The Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner will handle the death investigations. That office investigates unattended deaths and deaths caused by violence or criminal means, a standard that places both cases under outside review as Nye County faces questions about what happened between the arrests, the jail or holding cell, and each death.

The timing has sharpened attention on county custody practices because the deaths happened in the same county, only days apart. Nevada law requires sheriffs to submit a biannual report to county commissioners with aggregated data on deaths of prisoners in county jails, a reporting requirement that gives county leaders a formal role in tracking custody deaths over time.

Nye County also says public-records requests are typically answered within five business days, a process likely to draw more interest as the investigations move forward. For now, the release of video and new details answers parts of the timeline in both cases, but it leaves open the central questions: what the footage shows about the deputies’ actions, what medical response was provided, and what investigators conclude caused each death.