Lake Mead barrel victim identified as Edward Lelburian Jackson
Four years after remains were found in a barrel at the drought-hit reservoir, Las Vegas investigators have named the man and say no evidence supports theories of organized crime involvement.
At a glance
- Clark County coroner Melanie Rouse identified the Lake Mead barrel victim as Edward Lelburian Jackson, known as "Buddy".
- He was killed by a single gunshot to the head, likely in the mid-1970s to early 1980s, based on his clothing style.
- DNA work by an Oklahoma State University forensics team confirmed his identity; police say no evidence links the killing to organized crime.
Edward Lelburian Jackson, a man from Arkansas who went by the name "Buddy", has been identified as the homicide victim found inside a barrel in the shallow waters of Lake Mead in 2022, the Clark county coroner, Melanie Rouse, announced on Thursday. Investigators believe he was in his mid to late 50s.
The remains were discovered by boaters that year near Hemenway Harbor at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and the case drew nationwide attention. An initial autopsy found Jackson had been killed by a single shot to the head. Based on the style of his clothing, investigators determined he was likely killed between the mid-1970s and early 1980s — an era when organized crime ran rampant in Las Vegas.
A four-year search for a name
Police said they were searching not for his killer but for his identity. Authorities released details of what he had been wearing — a button-down short-sleeve shirt, light blue jeans, a silver wristwatch and blue-and-white tennis shoes — along with composite renderings of how he may have looked, hoping someone would come forward.
Detectives also searched crime databases for his DNA, entered his description into a national missing persons database and sent bone samples to a laboratory to obtain a genealogy profile.
DNA lead confirms identity
The break came this year, when a forensics team at Oklahoma State University, which had partnered with investigators, received a strong lead. Rouse said a DNA sample from Jackson and one from a believed family member allowed them to confirm the remains were his.
Jackson was from Arkansas, said Lt Robert Price of the Las Vegas Metropolitan police department, adding that detectives had not yet found anything tying him to the Las Vegas area. His family last saw him in the early 1980s, and there are records of him in California, where he briefly lived with his wife, and in Utah, where he was charged with aggravated arson and a conspiracy fraud case.
Price said there had been speculation that the homicide was linked to an organized criminal group, but that "at this point of our investigation, we don't have any information to support those theories". He said the investigation into what happened, and who was responsible, can now continue.
Other remains as water levels fell
Jackson's remains were not the only ones uncovered at Lake Mead in recent years, as water levels reached historic lows amid years of overuse, longstanding drought and increasingly hot temperatures. A few days after the barrel was found, a television news crew discovered a second barrel nearby; it was empty. Paddleboarders later found human remains on a newly surfaced sand bar, and more remains were found in August — in both cases, officials found no evidence of foul play.
Lake Mead and the upstream Lake Powell are the largest human-made reservoirs in the US, part of a system that supplies Colorado River water to more than 40 million people, tribes, agriculture and industry across seven states and Mexico.
Source: The Guardian World.
Questions and answers
- Who was the man found in the barrel at Lake Mead?
- He was Edward Lelburian Jackson, known as "Buddy", from Arkansas and believed to be in his mid to late 50s. His remains were found by boaters in 2022 near Hemenway Harbor at Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
- How was the Lake Mead barrel victim identified?
- A forensics team at Oklahoma State University, which had partnered with investigators, received a strong lead this year. Clark county coroner Melanie Rouse said DNA samples from Jackson and a believed family member confirmed the remains were his.
- Is the Lake Mead barrel killing linked to organized crime?
- Lt Robert Price of the Las Vegas Metropolitan police department said there has been speculation about ties to an organized criminal group, but that investigators have no information to support those theories.
