The death of Burning Man Festival, investigated as a murder
A murder investigation has begun at the Burning Man Festival after a man “lying in a pool of blood” was found dead.
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If you were on fire over the weekend, authorities would like to know if there is information about the identity of the man whom thousands of people saw the wooden man statue starting to burn and found him “lying in a pool of blood.”
The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada said the man’s death was being investigated as a murder committed between 8pm and 9:30pm on Aug. 30. At the event, which brings together around 70,000 participants, known as “burners,” at Black Rock Rock Dessert, and builds an entire city from scratch on a week-long Labor Day weekend, the sheriff’s office hopes someone has seen something that will help them investigate.
Burning Man ends with two massive “burns” two nights before Labor Day. It’s a 100-foot wooden man statue packed with fireworks, and a burning “temple.”
The man was discovered as the event that reached the pinnacle of the festival when participants in the event flagged sheriff’s deputies. The Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Land Management have found a man who has been “evidently deceased.” He had not been identified as of September 1, but was said to be a 200-pound white man, about 35-40 years old, about 6 feet tall, with short brown hair and facial hair.
In addition to the victim’s identity, the sheriff’s office said it was looking for information about “people who commit such a heinous crime against other people.”
“At this point, there’s no information too small to ignore,” Sheriff Jerry Allen said.
Murder is not the first time that death has shaken a man on fire. Since 1990, at least eight people have died at the festival. This included 2017 when 41-year-old Aaron Joel Mitchell came across the Burning Man structure.
In 2025, the festival celebrated new life with the unexpected birth of a baby to shock parents.
Contributor: Trevor Hughes, USA Today; Siobhan McAndrew and Brett McGinness, Reno Gazette Journal
