When Lake Mead’s water levels dropped, they revealed more than abandoned boats and buried history—they revealed a body sealed inside a barrel. Who was this person, and why has no one ever identified them? In this the premier episode of Vegas Crime Files, host Heidi Harris explores the mystery alongside a cold case detective and a veteran journalist, uncovering the investigative dead ends, the unanswered questions, and the quiet human tragedy behind one of Las Vegas’s most unsettling discoveries.

Body https://news3lv.com/news/local/body-found-in-barrel-at-lake-mead-remains-unidentified-after-three-years

Shoes and clothing https://www.8newsnow.com/investigators/clothing-shoes-could-help-id-man-found-dead-in-barrel-at-lake-mead-outside-las-vegas/

What did he look like? https://www.crimeonline.com/2023/11/30/fbi-provides-composites-of-man-found-shot-dead-in-barrel-in-lake-mead-last-year/

Son of drowning victim recently discovered speaks out https://news3lv.com/news/local/son-of-identified-lake-mead-victim-remembers-father-thomas-erndt-clark-county-southern-nevada-las-vegas-skeletal-remains-20-years-later-2002-drowning

Clothing https://www.8newsnow.com/investigators/clothing-shoes-could-help-id-man-found-dead-in-barrel-at-lake-mead-outside-las-vegas/

Mob Museum story on bodies in barrels https://themobmuseum.org/blog/stuffing-murder-victims-in-barrels-a-common-practice-since-mid-19th-century/

Vegas cold case recently solved https://dnasolves.com/articles/stephanie-isaacson-murder/

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