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Las Vegas authorities say they’ve identified a suspected murder victim whose remains were found in a barrel in Lake Mead four years ago and are expected to publicly announce it later today.
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.
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Lake Mead Sept. 3, 2026, in Boulder City, Nev. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
He and other experts have said the victim may have been killed in a mob hit.
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“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 on May 1, 2022, according to the Clark County coroner and medical examiner’s office.
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Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department headquarters in Las Vegas Oct. 4, 2025. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
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Authorities immediately suspected foul play when they found a gunshot wound on the man’s body inside.
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At the time, police told reporters that they believed the victim had been killed sometime between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s, based on his clothing.
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The construction of new housing developments has also unearthed human remains buried in areas that were previously outside town, Sutton said.
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Las Vegas authorities said they would hold a news briefing with more details at 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m. ET.
‘ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
