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Body Found in Barrel at Lake Mead Identified as Arkansas Murder Victim
Confirmed
In Short: The remains of a man found in a barrel at Lake Mead have been identified as Edward Jackson, a murder victim from Arkansas.
The remains of a man found in a rusted barrel on the shore of Lake Mead have been identified as Edward Jackson, a 52-year-old man from Hot Springs, Arkansas, whose murder remains unsolved. Jackson was shot in the head and stuffed into the barrel, which was discovered in May 2022 as the water levels at Lake Mead receded.
Jackson's family told investigators that he had a brief criminal history in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the early 1980s, including charges of aggravated arson and conspiracy to commit fraud. He was last seen in Las Vegas in 1998 and had a history of traveling around the country.
The identification of Jackson's remains comes after several other sets of skeletal remains were found at Lake Mead in 2022. One set was determined to be an accidental drowning victim from 1974, while another was identified as a Las Vegas resident who disappeared in 1998.
Geoff Schumacher, vice president of research, collections, and programs at The Mob Museum in Las Vegas, noted that the case has all the 'earmarks of a mob hit,' similar to the 1976 case of Italian mobster John Roselli, who was killed and dumped into a bay outside Miami Beach.
The discovery of the barrel by boaters in May 2022 sparked memories of Las Vegas's mob era, which lasted from the 1940s to the mid-1980s. Organized crime played a significant role in the city's development, and a body stuffed in a barrel was often a sign of a mob killing.
Robert Price, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department homicide lieutenant, said that Jackson's remains were found in a barrel, indicating a violent end. The barrel was likely used to hide the body, with the assumption that it would never be found.
Las Vegas historian Michael Green added that whoever committed the crime probably thought the body would 'never come near the surface,' given the high water levels in the early 1980s, which often flooded the spillways at Hoover Dam.
Background
Lake Mead is a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the Southwestern United States. It is located in the states of Nevada and Arizona, 24 mi (39 km) east of Las Vegas.
What's confirmed
- October 16, 2026 / 6:31 AM EDT / CBS/AP The remains of a man who was shot in the head and stuffed into a rusted barrel found on the shore of Lake Mead after the water level dropped were identified Thursday as an Arkansas man whose decades-old killing remains unsolved.
- Skeletal remains found in August were identified as a 52-year-old Las Vegas resident who disappeared in 1998.
- He said the case had all the "earmarks of a mob hit," mirroring another case from 1976 when Italian mobster John Roselli was killed and stuffed in a barrel and dumped into a bay outside of Miami Beach.
- The discovery of the barrel by boaters in May 2022 sparked memories of the city's mob era, which lasted from the 1940s to the mid-1980s.
- Another set of skeletal remains was discovered that May, and they were identified as a drowning victim from 2002.
- Geoff Schumacher, vice president of research, collections and programs at The Mob Museum in Las Vegas, said there are still many questions about who Jackson was and what he was involved in that "earned him a trip in a barrel into the lake."
- Jackson's family told investigators that he liked to travel and detectives found records of him in California, where he lived with his wife in the early '70s.
- Jackson, believed to be from Hot Springs, Arkansas, had a brief criminal history in the early 1980s in Salt Lake City, Utah, which included one charge of aggravated arson and conspiracy to commit fraud, said Robert Price, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department homicide lieutenant.
- Las Vegas historian Michael Green said whoever committed the crime probably thought the body would "never come near the surface."
- An expert on mob activity in the city said the case bears the "earmarks" of a mob hit and that questions still linger.
- Organized crime helped build up Las Vegas, and a body stuffed in a barrel was known to signify a mob killing.
- In the early 1980s, the lake levels were so high that the spillways flooded at Hoover Dam, he said.
What's still developing
- Its receding waters are leaving behind the usual flotsam and jetsam of a lake heavily trafficked by weekend boaters — and even exposing a ship dating back to World War II.
- "I would say that this is a piece of the puzzle and as we get more and more pieces, we'll be able to keep on digging deeper."
- In August, the water level dipped to 1,039.77 feet above sea level, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, well below the previous record low set in July 2022.