Review-Journal links four tourist heat deaths on rented ATVs to gaps in oversight at Nellis Dunes and nearby tours

What happened

The Las Vegas Review-Journal has identified four female tourists who visited Southern Nevada and died of heat illness on rented ATVs during a three-year period that began in the summer of 2023. The newspaper said it reviewed hundreds of pages of police documents, court records and autopsy reports, along with 911 calls and body camera footage.

According to the Review-Journal, three of the deaths are tied to companies that a lawsuit says are illegally running unguided tours at Nellis Dunes with the Bureau of Land Management's permission. Nellis Dunes is an off-highway-vehicle area of some 10,000 acres near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, northeast of Nellis Air Force Base. The fourth death happened this July on a guided tour at a small desert outpost across the Arizona border.

Two deaths weeks apart in July 2023

A rental from The ATV Xperience

Eleesha Dorsey, 31, of Maryland, rode at the dunes in July 2023 during her brother's bachelor party on a day that reached 110 degrees, the Review-Journal reported. Less than an hour into her rental she said she felt unwell and headed back, and a friend later found her unconscious. He waited on hold for five minutes before reaching a 911 operator, and death investigators recorded her internal body temperature at 115 degrees.

Five months before her death, the BLM had sent a cease-and-desist letter ordering The ATV Xperience to halt "non-permitted activities" on BLM-managed lands. The Review-Journal reported the letter did not keep the owners from continuing to run tours.

Lost after an unguided ride

Two weeks earlier, Nakeia Cole, 42, a nurse from Youngstown, Ohio, rented from Las Vegas Outdoor Fun on July 8, according to a police report cited by the newspaper. She called the company because she was lost and was told to climb to the highest point and ride toward Las Vegas Boulevard. An employee found her about an hour and a half after that call, and the coroner ruled the death was caused by heat illness and blunt force injuries from a crash.

How permits work at Nellis Dunes

Unguided rentals without a permit

Only six ATV tour companies have permits to operate at Nellis Dunes, according to a list the Review-Journal obtained through a records request in March. Las Vegas Outdoor Fun owner Joe Haldiman said the BLM has denied his permit request several times, allows his unguided rentals without one, and has reprimanded his staff for leaving company property. "It's almost inhumane in my book," Haldiman told the Review-Journal.

Rickey Ware, owner of The ATV Xperience, said in a sworn deposition that rangers told him he could rent ATVs as long as he did not run guided tours or physically step on BLM land. Ware has since filed for bankruptcy, the newspaper reported.

A limited state role

In Nevada, anyone, regardless of age or whether they have a driver's license, can ride an ATV off-road if it is properly registered, according to the Nevada Commission on Off-Highway Vehicles. A commission spokeswoman said the state's role is limited to grant funding for law enforcement, education and trail maintenance. On a September rental by Review-Journal staff, neither employees nor the safety video mentioned the heat.

The lawsuits and the data gaps

Dorsey's mother, Grace C.L. Dorsey Edwards, has filed federal and state wrongful death lawsuits claiming land managers, ATV companies and the ticketing platform Viator failed to protect riders. Her federal suit asks the BLM to enforce permit laws. The Justice Department has argued in filings that the law creates "no direct mandate" for how the BLM enforces federal law or warns of hazards like extreme heat, and Viator's lawyers wrote that Dorsey failed to protect her own safety.

Since 2014, 10 people have died at Nellis Dunes, according to the coroner. The BLM declined to answer detailed questions or say how many ATVs are rented there each year, and Metro said it cannot provide the number of calls for service it receives for the area. More coverage is available in our public safety section.

What to watch next

• Edwards' federal lawsuit asking the BLM to enforce the laws governing which tour companies need permits.
• Her state wrongful death lawsuit against The ATV Xperience and Viator, with Ware now in bankruptcy and without legal counsel.
• Whether Metro releases data on how often it responds to calls at Nellis Dunes, which it has said it cannot provide.