More than four years after a barrel containing human remains was discovered along the receding shoreline of Lake Mead, investigators have identified the man inside, bringing new answers to a decades-old murder mystery.
As AccuWeather reports, the barrel was discovered on May 1, 2022, near Hemenway Harbor, Nevada, as prolonged drought and declining water levels exposed areas that had been submerged for decades.
Edward Jackson Had Been Missing and Presumed Dead Since 1980’s
“We were able to confirm that the remains are in fact Edward Jackson,” Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse said in a news conference last week. “We believe he was in his mid- to late 50s at the time of his death.”
Jackson, whose full name was Edward Lelburian Jackson, was originally from Arkansas. Investigators used DNA from a bone sample and genetic genealogy to help confirm his identity. Officials said Jackson had been shot once in the head, and his death was ruled a homicide. Investigators believe he was killed in the early 1980s, but the circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear.
Discovery Came During One of Worst Drought Periods in Lake Mead History
The discovery came during one of the worst periods of drought in the history of Lake Mead, which supplies water to millions of people across the Southwest.
In July 2022, the reservoir dropped to its lowest level since it began filling in the 1930s. The historically low water levels are a dramatic contrast to the early 1980s, around the time Jackson is believed to have been killed.
In July 1983, Lake Mead reached its highest level on record following a period of heavy mountain snow and abundant runoff across the Colorado River Basin. The exceptionally wet period coincided with a powerful El Niño that developed in 1982. By the summer of 2022, Lake Mead’s water level had fallen over 180 feet from its historic peak, exposing previously submerged sections of the shoreline. The water level dropped even lower in autumn of 2026 ahead of the impending wet season.
Jackson’s remains were among at least five sets of human remains discovered around Lake Mead in 2022. Investigators are asking anyone with information to come forward to help solve the case.
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