Multiple Women Die During Las Vegas Desert ATV Rides

Four women who traveled to Las Vegas looking for adventure never made it home after ATV excursions turned deadly in the scorching desert heat. Now, a disturbing investigation has raised serious questions about whether their deaths could have been prevented.

The women, ages 31 to 42, died between July 2023 and August 2026 while riding rented all-terrain vehicles in Southern Nevada or just across the Arizona border. Temperatures reached as high as 114 degrees, and some victims became stranded in remote areas where emergency assistance was difficult to reach.

A sweeping investigation by the Las Vegas Review-Journal uncovered troubling details about the deaths, including delayed rescues, tourists getting lost, allegations of inadequate safety precautions and questions about whether some operators were conducting tours without the necessary federal permits.

The most recent victim, 32-year-old Chynna Otero-Aqueron, was visiting Las Vegas from Buffalo, New York, in August when she rented an ATV from Las Vegas Outdoor Fun.

She and a friend were exploring Nellis Dunes, a sprawling desert recreation area near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, when Otero-Aqueron’s ATV overturned.

Unable to get the vehicle upright, the women found themselves stranded in 108-degree heat. Her friend, Tatiana Gavila, called 911 but struggled to explain their exact location to dispatchers.

As the situation deteriorated, Gavila began experiencing symptoms consistent with heat illness, telling the dispatcher that she felt as though ants were crawling over her body.

Emergency responders eventually reached the women, but Otero-Aqueron could not be saved. The medical examiner determined that she died from environmental heat stress and blunt force injuries.

She left behind three young children and a grieving family.

Just one month earlier, another family vacation had ended in tragedy.

Lashawn Ashe, 33, had traveled to Las Vegas to visit her uncle, Darryl Taylor. Hoping to spend time with relatives, she organized an ATV excursion through Bullets and Burgers, a company offering guided desert adventures near White Hills, Arizona.

The temperature climbed to approximately 114 degrees that day.

During the ride, several participants began falling behind the group. Taylor eventually found his niece on the ground, suffering from severe heat illness as others attempted to help her with water and sports drinks.

A tour guide returned with a four-seat vehicle, but Taylor recalled that they were unable to lift Ashe into it. As her condition worsened, she lost consciousness.

According to Taylor, at least an hour passed before emergency personnel reached her. Ashe ultimately died from hyperthermia, a dangerous elevation in body temperature.

Her family is now preparing to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit.

But the warning signs stretch back several years.

In July 2023, 31-year-old Eleesha Dorsey traveled from Maryland to Las Vegas to celebrate her brother’s upcoming wedding. She had organized an ATV adventure through a company called The ATV Xperience.

The desert temperature reached approximately 110 degrees when the group headed out that afternoon.

Less than an hour into the excursion, Dorsey began feeling unwell and returned toward the starting area. When another member of the group realized she was missing, he went searching and discovered her unconscious.

A frantic 911 call followed. The caller performed approximately 17 minutes of CPR under instructions from an emergency dispatcher, but Dorsey never recovered.

Investigators later recorded her internal body temperature at an astonishing 115 degrees.

Even more troubling, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the Bureau of Land Management had sent The ATV Xperience a cease-and-desist letter five months earlier, ordering the company to stop activities conducted without the required permits.

The company’s owner, Rickey Ware, subsequently said in sworn testimony that federal rangers had told him he could continue renting ATVs under certain restrictions, including not conducting guided tours on federal land.

Dorsey’s mother, Grace Dorsey Edwards, has since pursued legal action alleging that tour operators, federal land managers and the booking platform Viator failed to take adequate measures to protect customers.

Viator has disputed liability, arguing in court filings that Dorsey failed to take sufficient precautions for her own safety.

Perhaps one of the most chilling revelations is that another woman had died in the same desert recreation area just two weeks before Dorsey’s fatal outing.

Nakeia Cole, a 42-year-old nurse from Youngstown, Ohio, was visiting Las Vegas with her husband in July 2023 when the couple rented ATVs from Las Vegas Outdoor Fun.

During the outing, Cole became separated from her husband and called the rental company to report that she was lost.

According to police records obtained by the Review-Journal, she was advised to head toward higher ground and travel in the direction of Las Vegas Boulevard.

After the company unsuccessfully attempted to contact her several times, an employee began searching for her.

Approximately 90 minutes after her initial call, Cole was discovered unresponsive near what appeared to be an ATV crash site.

The temperature had reached 105 degrees that day. Her death was attributed to environmental heat stress and blunt force injuries.

Cole left behind three children and four grandchildren.

The deaths have intensified scrutiny of Las Vegas’ lucrative desert adventure industry, particularly the distinction between guided ATV tours and businesses that rent vehicles to tourists who then venture into the desert independently.

According to the Review-Journal, only six companies had federal permits to operate ATV tours at Nellis Dunes as of records provided earlier this year.

A federal lawsuit brought by Dorsey’s mother alleges that the Bureau of Land Management failed to adequately enforce permit requirements against certain operators. The federal government has disputed the extent of its legal obligation to take specific enforcement actions or warn visitors about recreational hazards.

Las Vegas Outdoor Fun owner Joe Haldiman has maintained that his company is allowed to offer unguided rentals without a federal permit. He also said he would prefer to provide guides but has been unable to obtain the necessary authorization.

Meanwhile, former ATV tour employees interviewed by the newspaper described concerns about insufficient preparation for the desert’s extreme temperatures.

Some argued that companies should suspend ATV excursions during the hottest summer days, particularly when temperatures exceed 110 degrees.

The dangers are not limited to these four incidents. According to Clark County coroner records cited by the Review-Journal, 10 people have died at Nellis Dunes since 2014 from various causes, including ATV accidents and heat exposure.

The investigation underscores how quickly an exciting vacation activity can become a life-threatening emergency when visitors are exposed to extreme heat, difficult terrain and limited access to help.

For the families of the four women, however, the central question is no longer whether the desert is dangerous. It is whether enough was done to protect the people who paid to explore it.

As lawsuits move forward and questions about oversight remain unresolved, their relatives hope the tragedies will lead to changes that prevent another family from suffering a similar loss.