Body Discovered Inside Nevada City Home Connected to Nevada State Standoff, Shootout

NEVADA CITY (CBS13) – A Nevada City man is dead and homicide investigators are connecting it to a wild stand-off and deadly shooting across the state line.

The series of violent encounters has left a Nevada State Department of Transportation employee shot on the job, the suspect dead in a shootout with police, and investigators connecting that suspect to a body discovered in a Nevada City home.

Nevada County deputies say they were called to a Bodie Ridge Road home after the suspect vehicle, a white van, in the Nevada State shooting came up registered to a person who lived at the address. Deputies went into the home and found the door was unlocked. Then they discovered the body. "I've watched that van go out and come back many times in the past couple of years," Chris Owen said.

Owen lives next door to the home.

"It's just completely shocking and disturbing and sad," Owen said. "It just reminds us that tragedy, and things of that nature can happen anywhere because I would really not believe it."

Owen says he hasn't seen his neighbor who lives there in days and fears the worst.

"It's been very disheartening since I learned who they believe the victim was," Owen said.

Deputies responded to the home deep in a rural neighborhood after a wild encounter in the state of Nevada. A Nevada State Department of Transportation employee was shot on Highway 278. He's recovering in a hospital.

Nevada City neighbors now have lots of questions about how a place with such serenity could be home to such a tragedy.

"And it's a magical place to be, and this is very upsetting to have that feeling," Owen said.

The Nevada County sheriff is not releasing the identity of the man found dead here, pending notification of next of kin.