Silver Springs man sentenced to life for murder

A Silver Springs man was sentenced to life without parole for the 2015 murder of Alea Jane Clark last week.

Ryan Coddington, 37, was arrested in January 2015 after the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to a missing persons call. Clark, 32, was reported missing January 9, 2015 after not contacting family or friends for several days.

Lyon County Sheriff’s Office and Nevada Division of Investigations investigated the case, with assistance from the Washoe County Sheriff’s FIS Division and determined Coddington killed Alea Jane Clark at his Dayton home. Clark’s remains were found in two separate locations in Silver Springs. Investigators received a break in the case when a citizen reported going to Lake Lahontan and seeing the fire and the burning remains at that location. Further investigation led to the arrest of Coddington and two others in connection with the murder and destruction of Alea’s body.

The murder trial lasted two weeks and included testimony about how Coddington committed the murder and then dumped, burned and buried Alea’s remains at Lake Lahontan and another location in Silver Springs. Lyon County District Attorney Stephen B. Rye and Chief Deputy District Attorney Jeremy Reichenberg prosecuted the case.