Las Vegas investigators say they've identified shooting victim's body found in Lake Mead barrel

Las Vegas authorities say they've identified a suspected murder victim whose remains were found in a barrel in Lake Mead four years ago.

Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse said at a news conference on Thursday that the victim was identified as Edward Jackson, who was believed to be in his mid- to late 50s when he died. He had a gunshot wound and is believed to have been killed in the early 1980s.

Las Vegas Police Lt. Robert Price said Jackson was from Arkansas and had traveled to various parts of the country, though he had no known ties to Las Vegas. He had spent time living in California and had a brief criminal record in Utah, related to aggravated arson and conspiracy to commit fraud, Price said.

There has been speculation that the killing might have been a mob hit, but Price said investigators have no information to support that theory.

Lake Mead Sept. 3, 2026, in Boulder City, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Receding water levels helped expose the barrel and have been credited for the discovery of other human remains in the lake, including those of suspected drowning victims and missing persons.

"The bad old days always resurface, don’t they?" said Randy Sutton, a retired Las Vegas police lieutenant who has been monitoring the case.

He and other experts had previously said the victim may have been killed in a mob hit.

"Two in the back of the head," he said, describing mob-style murders of the era. "Bury them in the desert or Lake Mead if they didn’t want them found or leave them where they lay to make a statement."

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A rusted metal barrel near the location of where a different barrel was found containing a human body sits exposed on shore during low water levels due to the western drought at the Lake Mead Marina on the Colorado River in Boulder City, Nev., May 5, 2022.  (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

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A group of boaters first discovered the barrel at Lake Mead's Hemenway Harbor May 1, 2022, according to the Clark County Coroner and Medical Examiner's office.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department headquarters in Las Vegas Oct. 4, 2025. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Authorities immediately suspected foul play when they found a gunshot wound to the man's body.

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At the time, police told reporters they believed the victim had been killed sometime between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s, based on his clothing.

The construction of new housing developments has also unearthed human remains buried in areas that were previously outside town, Sutton said.

Fox News' Louis Casiano contributed to this report.