Body found in barrel in Lake Mead identified as Arkansas man after DNA testing, Las Vegas authorities say
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Dalia Faheid and Chris Boyette, CNN
LAS VEGAS (CNN) — A body found in a barrel in Lake Mead in 2022 has been identified as an Arkansas man after DNA testing, authorities revealed Thursday in a case that sparked a frenzy of questions and speculation decades after his death.
Edward Lelburian Jackson, believed to be in his 50s, was likely fatally shot sometime in the early 1980s, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Homicide Lt. Robert Price said.
The update sheds more light on the mystery four years after the barrel was found in the Nevada reservoir’s receding waters, stirring up a flurry of theories from the public about Las Vegas’ historic mob ties. But investigators have repeatedly dismissed the theories, and affirmed Thursday there is no solid evidence to support the claims.
“I know there’s been speculation in the past that the homicide had ties to an organized criminal group,” Price said at a news conference Thursday. “However, at this point of our investigation, we don’t have any information to support those theories.”
Jackson, who was also known as “Buddy,” had faced criminal charges in Utah and was last seen visiting family in Arkansas in the early ’80s, according to Price. The investigation revealed Jackson had no ties to Las Vegas.
The question for investigators now is how Jackson ended up in the reservoir.
Identifying the body proved difficult
A visitor to the nation’s largest man-made reservoir discovered the body in May 2022, finding it in a metal barrel so corroded that she could see the decomposed remains of a man sealed inside, authorities had said.
“It was determined that the individual was murdered, and he had suffered a single gunshot wound to his head,” Price said Thursday.
The 2022 discovery was one of several oddities found around the lake that year as the reservoir – affected by drought and water overuse – plunged to then-record-low levels, revealing objects that had long been underwater. The body in the barrel was the first of four sets of human remains found there in 2022 – and until now was the only one that had yet to be identified.
The bones in the barrel found in May 2022 still wore battered light blue jeans with a Vidal Sasson-style design on the pocket, a 2X-sized striped short-sleeved button-down shirt, size 11 Velcro sneakers and a silver Timex watch, authorities had said.
Detectives estimated at the time that the man was killed sometime in the mid-1970s to early ’80s based on the clothing and footwear, Las Vegas police said in 2022.
But the case soon went cold.
When the body and barrel were discarded, it was likely done in a location that back then was hundreds of yards offshore, when Lake Mead was fuller, Las Vegas police Lt. Ray Spencer said in 2022.
“If you were to go back 40 years ago, where the victim was found was probably about half a mile to a mile offshore,” Spencer said then.
“That area is now considered the shoreline” because Lake Mead shrank, he said.
Investigators were able to use DNA analysis and investigative work to identify three of the other sets of remains found at the lake in 2022, but the identity of the body in the barrel had been more difficult.
A body discovered soaking in water after decades makes genetic genealogy difficult, and at the time the victim is believed to have died, DNA of the victim would not have been on file because it was not widely collected then.
“The person (who disposed of the body) took a lot of steps to make sure that the victim had not been recovered,” Spencer told CNN in 2022.
DNA testing led to identification
DNA testing and genealogy profiling led to Jackson’s identification, authorities said Thursday.
Because Jackson’s DNA was not in the system, the FBI lab in Quantico created a composite face released to the public in 2023, Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse said at the news conference.
In early 2024, a bone sample sent for genealogy profiling returned a possible match that “was close and within the same family, but not close enough for us to consider it a compelling match,” Rouse said.
Then, a strong lead on who the person was came from Oklahoma State University’s forensic scientists earlier this year.
A DNA packet was then sent to someone who was believed to be a member of the man’s family and that resulted in a match to Jackson.
The Arkansas resident had traveled to various parts of the country, authorities said Thursday. He had lived in California with his wife in the early ’70s, and in Utah, where he was charged with aggravated arson and conspiracy fraud in the early ’80s, Price said. He had no known children.
The relatives investigators spoke with were distant family members and only knew him as “Uncle Buddy” who often traveled.
“He would show up when he showed up, and that was just to say ‘hi.’ But they didn’t think anything other than that. They just figured that he was just out and about,” Price said.
But police say the case is still unsolved and the investigation is continuing.
“It’s a piece of the puzzle, and as we get more and more pieces, we’ll be able to keep on digging deeper,” Price said.