Las Vegas police identify a man found in a barrel in Lake Mead in 2022, closing in on a decades-old investigation. Authorities say the victim was shot once in the head in the early 1980s and that his remains were later linked to a cold case through identification work.
The identification is tied to information provided by family members from Arkansas, who were able to provide DNA for comparison, according to reporting. While some outlets note that police do not see an immediate connection to organized crime, investigators say the case remains active and they continue looking for leads. The 2022 discovery of the barrel prompted the ongoing investigation, and the new identification is presented as a step toward determining who was responsible and what happened to the victim decades ago.
