Do you know who murdered Benjamin Ernest Parker Jr? On a late autumn afternoon, the quiet expanse of the desert near Lake Mead was disturbed by a grim discovery. On November 20, 1995, a couple out for a hike happened upon the body of a young Caucasian male, later identified as 21-year-old Benjamin Ernest Parker Jr. The discovery, made around 3:30 p.m., prompted the couple to immediately drive to the Henderson Police Department to report their findings.
The subsequent investigation into the death of the Las Vegas resident revealed a story
that hinted at a troubled life. Parker was last seen by a friend two days prior, on November 18, 1995, at the friend's home. As detectives delved into his background, interviews with his wife and friends began to paint a picture of a young man possibly entangled in the dangerous worlds of street gangs and illicit drugs. The evidence at the scene was stark; Parker had been shot and killed at the very location where his body was found, a remote spot near the 10.5-mile marker of Lake Shore Drive within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
Despite the efforts of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Section, the person or persons responsible for Benjamin Parker's murder have never been publicly identified. The case remains an open wound for his family and a cold file in the archives of Las Vegas crime. The identity of the suspect remains unknown, and no arrests have been announced in connection with the shooting death of the young man whose life was cut short in the vast Nevada desert.
