Las Vegas police identify man found in Lake Mead barrel four years after discovery
Police in Las Vegas have identified the man whose remains were found in a barrel in Lake Mead in May 2022, and believe he was shot in the 1980s. Investigators say they have no evidence linking his death to organized crime.
Identification after four years
On Thursday, 15 October, officials from Las Vegas and Clark County announced who the homicide victim was, four years after his remains were found. The body was inside a corroded barrel that surfaced in Lake Mead in May 2022, when drought lowered the reservoir enough to expose it. Boaters spotted the barrel in shallow water near Hemenway Harbor, in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. At the news conference, the Clark County commissioner, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the county coroner's office each spoke, and coroner Melanie Rouse gave the name. The announcement credited four years of collaboration between the agencies and the forensic science department at Oklahoma State University.
At this point in our investigation, we don't have information to support those theories.
How investigators reached a match
For years, investigators searched crime databases for a DNA match and uploaded a description of the man into a national missing persons database. Bone samples were also sent to a laboratory to build a genealogy profile. The breakthrough came only this year, when a forensics team at Oklahoma State University, working with investigators, received a strong lead. A DNA sample from the man and one from a believed family member allowed them to confirm the identification. Dutch broadcaster NOS reports that a relative had uploaded a DNA profile to a public database, which made the match possible. Police had earlier released composite images and a 3D reconstruction of the skull in an effort to identify him.
- Barrel with human remains surfaces in Lake Mead as drought lowers the water level
- Forensics team at Oklahoma State University receives a strong lead in the case
- Officials announce the victim's identity at a news conference
What investigators know about the man
Investigators believe the man was in his mid to late 50s when he died, and that he was killed by a single gunshot to the head. Price said he was probably shot in the 1980s, while investigators had earlier estimated from his clothing that the killing took place between the mid-1970s and early 1980s. Most reports give Arkansas as his home state, although NOS names Arizona. Price said he was last seen in the early 1980s during a family visit in Arkansas. The Guardian reports that he had lived in California and Utah, where he was charged with aggravated arson and a conspiracy fraud case. Police said he had no known ties to Las Vegas and had never been reported missing. His relatives told police he moved around frequently and could turn up without warning.
Mob speculation and open questions
Soon after the 2022 discovery, speculation grew that the killing was linked to organized crime, given Las Vegas's history of mob control in the decades before the 1980s. Price has now dismissed that idea for the time being, saying the man had no connection to Las Vegas and that the investigation has found nothing to support it. Police also said he was not known to be a gambler. Detectives still do not know how he came to be in Nevada, what the motive was, or who shot him. The bullet has not been recovered, and the barrel held nothing besides the clothing he was wearing. Police are still working to track down any living associates, which Price said could be difficult.
Lake Mead supplies drinking water to 20 million people from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, and police had warned that more bodies could surface as the water level drops. Three other people have been found inside the lake and identified by authorities. Two are believed to have drowned, while the third death remains unexplained. The investigation into the man's death is continuing.