Another piece of a mystery found in the Nevada desert has come to light.
Four years after human remains were found in a barrel in drought-stricken Lake Mead, investigators have identified the man as a murder victim from the 1980s who lived in California for a time with his wife.
The remains were one of several found that summerat Lake Mead, where water levels have been declining for decades, but his identity remained a mystery. The man was murdered through a single gunshot wound in his head, according to police.
On Thursday, Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse identified the remains as Edward Lelburian “Buddy” Jackson, a man in his mid- to late 50s at the time of his death.
Robert Price, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department homicide lieutenant, said during a Thursday news conference that Jackson was from Arkansas and lived in California during the early 1970s with his wife. He also lived in Utah, where he had a criminal history in the early 1980s.
“With these new developments, homicide detectives will continue to work diligently to solve his crime,” Price said. “I’d like to take a moment to thank the coroner’s office and the science professionals who brought a name to this victim.”
Jackson was married for a period of time with no known children, Price said. There was also speculation that Jackson’s death was linked to an organized crime group, but there hasn’t been any evidence so far to support that, he added.
Detectives have spoken to Jackson’s relatives, who confirmed he was last seen visiting them in Arkansas in the early 1980s, Price said. So far, Jackson has no known ties to the Las Vegas area.
Jackson’s remains were found on May 1, 2022, in a barrel near Hemenway Harbor. Homicide detectives took over the investigation and determined he had been murdered right around the time when mob organization was dying out in Sin City.
Jackson’s remains were found with clothing and shoes that were in fashion during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Price said. The investigation then ran cold when authorities couldn’t determine his identity.
According to Rouse, the FBI lab in Virginia created three angles of Jackson’s composite face and released it to the public in late 2023. Those images and the clothing he was wearing at the time of his death were uploaded to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons database. In early 2024, a bone sample was sent to DNA Labs International for genealogy profiling.
A possible match was sent to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, but it wasn’t considered close enough to be a compelling match, Rouse said.
The forensic department at Oklahoma State University then took over genealogy profiling, according to Rouse. In late 2025, a possible match was made. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reviewed the case and a DNA packet was sent to Jackson’s family and then returned. Oklahoma State determined that it was a compelling match and identified the remains as Jackson.
At the time when Jackson’s remains were found, the West was gripped in severe drought. Las Vegas police Lt. Ray Spencer told The Times in 2022 that the shoreline would have been under 100 feet of water about 40 years ago.
Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has plummeted to its lowest water level since it was filled some 90 years ago.
In September, the water level at Lake Mead hit 1,037.8 feet above sea level, according to federal data.
The record follows a winter that produced the worst snowpack on record in the Colorado River Basin. Melting snow provides water for the river, which is relied upon by more than 40 million people across seven U.S. states, tribal nations and Mexico.
In August, human remains, including a jawbone with teeth and dental fillings and rib bones, were discovered at Boulder Beach in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
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