Town file
Sun Valley, Nevada
Sun Valley, Nevada (Washoe County, Nevada) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 47, "Anger, Obsession, Revenge" (6 December 2017). Sun Valley, Nevada, is a census designated place of about 19,000 people between Reno and Sparks in Washoe County.
- Town
- Sun Valley
- County
- Washoe County
- State
- Nevada
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 47
- Approximate location
- 39.610, -119.777
Episode 47 / 6 December 2017 / 133 min / full
Anger, Obsession, Revenge
"James: 'This is Sun Valley, Nevada, it's between Reno and Sparks', in Washoe County" about 0:07:04
The case: Murder of Brian Pierce and kidnapping of April Robinson (August 7, 2002). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2017
- Population
- 19,299
- Median age
- 37
- Median household income
- $44,000
- Median home value
- $221,000
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $1,000 a month
- Cost of living
- 104
- Religious
- 30%
- Property crime
- ▲ slightly above average
- Violent crime
- ▲ about 20% above average
History, in brief
- Sun Valley is a census designated place of 14.9 square miles, part of the Reno-Sparks metropolitan statistical area. about 0:10:17
- The town's own site calls it the fifth largest unincorporated area in the state. about 0:10:42
- A 2015 short documentary was titled 'Sun Valley, the biggest trailer park in the world'. about 0:11:16
- The land was part of the Spanish Empire, then Mexican territory, before the United States took it. about 0:11:44
- In the 1840s, after the United States acquired it, the area was visited by trappers and explorers. about 0:12:52
- In 1843 mountain man Old Bill Williams led his trappers from Klamath Lake to the area. about 0:13:31
- In 1849, at the California Constitutional Convention, a delegate from Coloma argued the land to the east was an unexplored barren wasteland of no advantage to California. about 0:14:25
- In 1868 a San Francisco Times correspondent described the county's population as gamblers, sharpers, prostitutes and Paiute people. about 0:15:09
- Modern Sun Valley was founded in about 1945 as land for returning war veterans. about 0:17:08
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Lemmon Valley, Nevada6.1 miles
- Incline Village, Nevada25 miles
- Dayton, Nevada26 miles
- Minden, Nevada45 miles
- South Lake Tahoe, California48 miles
- Grass Valley, California73 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.