DEATH ENDS CLAIM OF WRONGFUL CONVICTION

Former suspect in FBI agent’s murder among 2 dead in Nye County crash

 

By Katelyn Newberg 

 

Las Vegas Review-Journal

Mar 8, 2026 

 

 

Carlos Gurri visits the grave of FBI Special Agent John Bailey at Palm Eastern Mortuary on July 25, 2024, in Las Vegas. Gurri had recently been released after spending more than 30 years in custody for being convicted as the getaway driver in a robbery that led to Bailey’s death in 1990. 

 

Carlos Gurri, who claimed he was wrongfully imprisoned for decades in connection with the murder of an FBI agent, died Saturday evening in a head-on collision just south of Pahrump.

The crash happened when Gurri, 62, tried passing a vehicle while driving north on state Route 160, south of Manse Road in Pahrump, the Nevada Highway Patrol said in a news release on Tuesday.

Gurri struck a southbound vehicle that was being driven by 21-year-old Rhiannon Folsom of Pahrump. Both Gurri and Folsom died at the scene.

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.

Gurri was imprisoned 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.

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.

‘Absolutely Unfathomable’

Folsom had left home shortly before the crash and was driving to meet up with friends for the night, her mother, Danielle Smith, told the Review-Journal on Tuesday. She had turned 21 four days earlier.

“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.”

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 the 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, which turns into a rural, two-lane road in sections, was a familiar drive for Folsom, who frequently traveled into the valley 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 like 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

Gurri previously told the Review-Journal that he fled to the United States as a political refugee from Cuba in 1987. He grew up with 11 siblings in Havana, where he worked as a fisherman and mechanic. He reached Florida by paddling with swim flippers on an inner tube before immigration officials sent him to Las Vegas.

He found work at a Hilton hotel, got a studio apartment with help from Catholic Charities and allowed Echavarria to room with him. Echavarria was another Cuban immigrant and worked as a dealer at the El Cortez. Gurri previously said he had no idea his roommate was planning a robbery.

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.

Gurri was released from custody in 2024 and moved in with a friend in North Las Vegas. His immigration case was in flux after he was granted “withholding of removal status,” meaning he could have been deported to Cuba if the political climate or relations between the country and the U.S. improved.

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.

“They took all those years from me,” Gurri told the Review-Journal in May. “There’s no way I can get all that back.”