After a four-year investigation, law enforcement officials in Nevada have formally identified human remains found inside a deteriorating steel barrel at Lake Mead in May 2022. The victim is Edward Lelburian Jackson, who also went by the name “Buddy,” according to announcements made by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner during a press conference on Thursday.
The grim discovery was initially made on May 1, 2022, when boaters navigating near Hemenway Harbor spotted a corroded, partially buried barrel resting in mudflats. The container had been exposed due to severe drought and historic drops in water levels at the nation’s largest human-made reservoir. Upon opening the barrel, forensic examiners discovered human remains and determined the cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the head.
The Breakthrough via DNA Genealogy
Investigating the case presented major hurdles due to decades of underwater submersion, mineral corrosion, and sediment encrustation that severely degraded biological material. Initial attempts to extract a clean genetic profile produced incomplete markers. However, a breakthrough arrived when coroner personnel and contracted private genomic laboratories utilized advanced single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sequencing and genealogical mapping.
Forensics teams from Oklahoma State University successfully matched DNA extracted from Jackson’s remains with living relatives. Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse confirmed the identity during the Thursday briefing, noting that family members last saw Jackson in the early 1980s.
Background and Movement Across the West
Authorities believe Jackson was in his mid-to-late 50s at the time of his death. Originally from Arkansas, where his last known permanent residence was in Hot Springs, Jackson traveled frequently across the American West. Investigators established that he lived briefly in the Los Angeles area with his wife in the early 1970s and maintained a brief criminal history in Salt Lake City, Utah, involving aggravated arson and a conspiracy fraud case.
Despite public speculation linking the discovery to Southern Nevada’s mid-1970s and early-1980s organized crime era-when mob factions exerted substantial control over Strip resort operations-Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Robert Price stated that detectives have found no evidence supporting those theories.
“At this point of our investigation, we don’t have any information to support those theories,” Price told reporters, adding that Jackson had no known ties to Las Vegas, was not a known gambler, and had never been reported missing.
Shifting Focus to an Active Homicide Probe
With Jackson’s identity finally resolved, Metro homicide detectives are shifting their focus toward building an active murder investigation. Authorities hope to track his final movements across the region and speak with any surviving acquaintances or relatives who remember his travels.
The discovery of Jackson’s remains was the first of several stark finds exposed by receding shorelines during the 2022 drought at Lake Mead. While subsequent discoveries in other sections of the reservoir were ultimately determined to be non-sus**cious drownings, Jackson’s case remains a focused homicide investigation.
Investigators urge anyone with historical information regarding missing-person events or disappearances from that timeframe to contact the LVMPD Homicide Section at (702) 828-3521 or Crime Stoppers of Nevada at (702) 385-5555.
