LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Las Vegas Metro police are exploring several dozen tips about the identity of the murder victim found in a barrel at Lake Mead.
Boaters discovered the body in the first barrel around 3 p.m. Sunday. The 8 News Now I-Team first reported the discovery Sunday afternoon and new details about the discovery Monday. The I-Team also located a second barrel nearby, but investigators determined Tuesday it was empty.
The department has received numerous tips since Sunday’s discovery. A spokesperson did not release the exact number, only saying it was “several dozen.”
The person, believed to be a man, is suspected to have been murdered in the late-1970s or 1980s, investigators said.
“The victim’s clothes and shoes were sold at Kmart in the mid-to-late 1970s,” Metro police homicide Lt. Ray Spencer said Tuesday.
Police believe the barrel was fully intact when it was dropped into the lake.
The area where the barrel was discovered is near the Hemenway Harbor boat ramp. Crews have had to extend the ramp a half-mile over the past decades to get it closer to the water.
The Clark County coroner’s office is working to identify the remains.
Tips can be submitted anonymously through Crime Stoppers by calling 702-385-5555 or at crimestoppersofnv.com/report-a-crime. Information can also be sent via text by sending “CRIMENV” and then your message to “CRIMES” (274637). Crime Stoppers offers a reward for information that leads to an arrest.
