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Body in Lake Mead Barrel Identified as Arkansas Man
· Confirmed
In Short: The remains of a man found in a barrel at Lake Mead have been identified as Edward Jackson, an Arkansas resident.
The remains of a man who was shot in the head and stuffed into a rusted barrel found on the shore of Lake Mead were identified Thursday as Edward Jackson, an Arkansas resident whose decades-old killing remains unsolved.
Jackson's body was discovered in May 2022 by boaters, as the water level at Lake Mead dropped due to a prolonged drought.
The barrel had been submerged for nearly 40 years before it was exposed by the receding waterline.
Geoff Schumacher, vice president of research, collections, and programs at The Mob Museum in Las Vegas, suggested that Jackson's murder could have been a mob hit, similar to the 1976 case of Italian mobster John Roselli.
However, investigators have not confirmed any connection to organized crime.
Jackson's family told investigators that he liked to travel and lived in California in the early 1970s.
The discovery of the barrel sparked memories of Las Vegas's mob era, which lasted from the 1940s to the mid-1980s.
Despite the identification, the murder remains unsolved, and authorities have appealed to the public for information.
The press conference Thursday revealed that Jackson was originally from Arkansas and had not been connected to Las Vegas.
The barrel was found in Hemenway Harbor, and investigators worked to identify him based on skeletal remains preserved inside the barrel.
Other remains found in 2022 have been identified as those of people who were reported to have drowned, including Thomas Erndt, 42, of Las Vegas, in 2002, and Donald P. Smith, believed to have drowned in 1974.
The water levels at Lake Mead, a reservoir created by the Hoover Dam, have declined due to a drought of more than 25 years, the worst in its history.
What's confirmed
- Drought and Lake Mead’s receding waterline exposed the barrel after it had been submerged for nearly 40 years.
- Investigators “don’t have any information to support those theories,” he said.
What's still developing
- “Once he moved to California, we lose track of him,” Price said.
- Organized crime played a role in the city's development, and placing a body inside a barrel was considered a hallmark of a Mafia killing.
- Robert Price of the Las Vegas homicide unit discusses murder victim Edward Jackson ( Photo: AP Photo/Jessica Hill ) Identified decades after he was last seen; on screen: a reconstruction of what Jackson may have looked like ( Photo: AP Photo/Jessica Hill ) Family members said they last saw Jackson in Arkansas in the early 1980s.
- Authorities immediately suspected foul play when they found a gunshot wound to the man's body.
- "The bad old days always resurface, don’t they?"
- "Two in the back of the head," he said, describing mob-style murders of the era.