The remains of an American man who was shot in the head and placed inside a rusty barrel were identified Thursday as those of Edward Jackson of Arkansas. Jackson was murdered in the 1980s, and the barrel containing his remains was discovered on the shore of Lake Mead after water levels dropped.
Jackson was believed to have been in his mid-50s when he was killed. Despite the identification, the murder remains unsolved, and authorities have appealed to the public for information that could help solve the case. Police said they had found no evidence directly linking the killing to organized crime in nearby Las Vegas, despite longstanding speculation. However, they have not ruled out that possibility. An expert on the city's mob history said the case bears the "hallmarks" of a Mafia hit, although many questions remain unanswered.
US news report on the mystery of the barrel murder victim
(Video: 13News Now)
The victim was identified using a bone sample submitted for genealogical DNA profiling, along with three views of a facial reconstruction and a description of the clothing he was wearing when he died. The discovery of the barrel by boaters in May 2022 revived memories of Las Vegas' mob era, which stretched from the 1940s to the mid-1980s. 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.
Jackson, who investigators believe lived in Hot Springs, Arkansas, had a brief criminal history in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the early 1980s. His record included one charge of aggravated arson and conspiracy to commit fraud. His family told investigators that he enjoyed traveling, and detectives found records placing him in California, where he lived with his wife in the early 1970s. It remains unclear why he was in Las Vegas.
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. They never reported him missing. Authorities said he had been shot and believe he was murdered in the early 1980s. Robert Price of the Las Vegas Police Department's homicide unit said investigators would continue working to determine what happened to him. "It's an unsolved case. It will never be closed until we solve it," he said.
Geoff Schumacher of the Mob Museum in Las Vegas said the discovery of Jackson's remains in a barrel recalled a 1976 case in which Italian mobster John Roselli was murdered, placed inside a barrel and dumped in a bay off Miami Beach.
Las Vegas historian Michael Green said whoever committed the crime probably believed the body would "never come near the surface." He noted that Lake Mead's water level was extremely high in the early 1980s, whereas today it is at historic lows following years of excessive water use, prolonged drought and rising temperatures.
The falling water levels have already exposed other human remains. In 2022, authorities identified a person who had drowned 20 years earlier, a Las Vegas resident who disappeared in 1988 and a man who drowned in 1974. Additional human remains were discovered in August this year.
Lake Mead and Lake Powell are the two largest artificial reservoirs in the United States. They are part of a system that supplies Colorado River water to communities across the southwestern United States and Mexico.
In 2022, Lake Mead's declining water level exposed Las Vegas' uppermost drinking-water intake. That forced authorities to switch to a deeper intake to maintain the water supply for the city's 2.4 million residents.