Women identified in Voltaire Canyon deaths

The two women found dead in Voltaire Canyon on Thursday morning were Sandra Leggett, 24, and Monique Evans, 20, according to a report released Friday from the Carson City Sheriff’s Office. According to the autopsies performed Friday morning, both women died of close-contact, single gunshot wounds to the temple. Toxicology reports will take six to eight weeks to complete, said Sheriff Ken Furlong.No other injuries were found, and there were no indications of a struggle, according to the Washoe Medical Examiner’s Office.Investigators still believe the two women were alone when they died either late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, Furlong said.“Weather is giving us an indication no one else was there” because there were no tracks other than those of the two women in the wet, sandy soil where their bodies were found, Furlong said Thursday. Indentations in the soft sand also indicate there was no struggle. Investigators are trying to piece together the series of events that led up to the shots being fired. “We’re getting very little cooperation,” Furlong said. “A lot of the things we look to solve (what happened) come from the cooperation” of the people close to the two women.The women appear to have been very close, non-intimate friends, he said.The gun used in the deaths, a .38 caliber revolver, had been taken to Voltaire Canyon in a gun carrying case. Both the case and the revolver were found at the scene. Analyses of the gun powder residue is not yet complete, he said.Furlong said an empty alcohol container was found in the vehicle, but it is unknown if the women had been drinking, pending the toxicology report.The women were found about 8:30 a.m. Thursday by a man walking his dog, who drove half a mile down Voltaire Canyon to the nearest house to alert authorities.The bodies were found next to an SUV parked in a clearing in the sagebrush-studded canyon on the west edge of Carson City. The SUV is registered to an address on the Stewart Indian Colony. Furlong said both woman had a history of drug charges.He also said investigators reported Leggett had scars on her arm that suggested prior suicide attempts.The deaths remain under investigation and anyone with information is encouraged to call the sheriff’s office at 775-887-2500 or Secret Witness at 775-322-4900.