Bone DNA, Genealogy and a Family Social Media Post Helped Identify the Man Found in a Lake Mead Barrel

What happened

Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse announced Thursday that the man whose remains were found in a barrel at Lake Mead was Edward Lelburian Jackson, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Jackson went by the nickname "Buddy" and was believed to be in his 50s when he died. On Friday, a scientist from Oklahoma State University described to the Review-Journal how his lab helped confirm the identity.

According to Lt. Robert Price, a Metropolitan Police Department homicide investigator, Jackson was likely killed in the early 1980s. Authorities have said someone shot him in the head, sealed him in a barrel and dumped it in the lake. Readers can find earlier coverage in our brief on the Lake Mead barrel identification press conference.

A discovery made by falling water

The barrel stayed in the reservoir for decades until May 2022, when receding water levels at Hemenway Harbor exposed it, the Review-Journal reported. That discovery started a search for the man's identity that lasted more than three years. Lake levels are a recurring topic in our water coverage.

Clark County Commission Chair Michael Naft credited cooperation among agencies at Thursday's press conference. He said it takes the coroner's office "working hand in glove with our police department and the scientific community" to reach a result like this one.

How investigators worked the case

DNA with no match

Rouse said authorities obtained a DNA sample from the body early in the case. "While we had his DNA, there was nothing to test it against, meaning that his DNA was not in the system," she said, according to the Review-Journal.

Composite faces and a national database

In September 2022, investigators asked the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, to create a composite face from three angles, Rouse said. Those images were released to the public in late 2023. The composites and photos of the clothing Jackson wore when he died were uploaded to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons database.

Genealogy profiling

In early 2024, a bone sample went to DNA International for genealogy profiling, and authorities received some information about a possible match. The coroner's office then asked the Forensic Sciences Department at Oklahoma State University to take over that work, and the department agreed.

Inside the Oklahoma State lab

Jason Beaman, chair of the School of Forensic Sciences at Oklahoma State, told the Review-Journal the school runs a Human Identity Testing Lab that partners with law enforcement and coroners across the country to identify unknown people. His team reviewed the DNA International findings but also requested its own bone sample to build a separate profile.

Beaman said the lab uses a whole-genome sequencer to turn DNA from a bone into a computer file. That file is uploaded to a genealogy website and compared against possible relatives. In this case, scientists traced family members on both Jackson's mother's and father's sides.

The social media post and final confirmation

Authorities then found a social media post about Jackson's disappearance that a family member had once shared, which supported the scientists' theory. Beaman said the team tried to poke holes in its conclusion and could not. "We said we think this is your guy, but this is not perfect science," he said, adding that the lab asked for DNA from a first-degree relative for standard testing, which was then done.

What to watch next

• The Review-Journal's reporting does not describe any arrest or named suspect in the killing, which Metro police believe happened in the early 1980s.
• Metro homicide investigators, including Lt. Robert Price, have been involved in the case, but the source did not detail the next steps in the investigation.
• Oklahoma State's Human Identity Testing Lab continues to partner with coroners and law enforcement nationwide on identifying unknown people, Beaman said.