Summary
In December 1992, the body of 31-year old Lori Ann Perera was found in the desert area, east of the Montgomery Wards retail store, located at 2875 East Charleston Boulevard, in Las Vegas, NV, by a Las Vegas resident who was out walking his dog. Perera was found nude with apparent ligature marks on both ankles and both wrists and it appeared tape had been placed over her mouth. The Clark County Medical Examiner ruled Perera’s cause of death asphyxia due to manual strangulation with blunt force trauma to the head and her manner of death a homicide, after a complete autopsy of her body.
In January 1994, the body of 35 year old Pearl Wilson Ingram was found in the trash dumpster behind the Von’s Grocery Store, located at 4440 East Charleston Boulevard, in Las Vegas, NV, by an employee of Silver State Disposal, while on his normal trash collection route. Ingram was found nude from the waist down and trash debris had been placed over her body in an effort to conceal her. After a complete autopsy of her body, Clark County Medical Examiner ruled Ingram’s cause of death was manual strangulation and the manner of death a homicide. During the autopsy it was noted several of the victim’s teeth were missing and she had abrasions on the bridge of her nose and above her eye.
Throughout the past three decades, these two cases have been reviewed by numerous LVMPD Detectives, in hopes of developing new evidence.
In March 2007, during a cold case review of the 1992 murder, Homicide Detectives identified evidence, a sperm fraction from a rectal swab recovered at the time of autopsy and requested further forensic DNA work be conducted. An unknown DNA profile was identified and entered into CODIS. In July 2012, during a cold case review of the 1994 murder, Homicide Detectives identified evidence, a skin swab from victim Ingram’s body from the original sexual assault kit, recovered at the time of autopsy. The DNA evidence was again entered into CODIS and on that same date, LVMPD Homicide was notified of a CODIS hit linking DNA from an unknown contributor from the two homicides, which confirmed the same person committed both murders. This was a huge breakthrough, connecting these two cases that otherwise would not have been connected.
Last summer, in June 2022, LVMPD Cold Case Investigators requested a genealogical investigation be performed by Othram. Based on research from Othram's in-house genetic genealogy team, a preliminary suspect was identifed as Eddie George Snowden Jr, born in January 1937.
Records checks conducted on Snowden revealed Snowden had listed his address in the 2800 block of East Charleston, Las Vegas, NV 89104. Victim Lori Ann Perera’s body was recovered at 2700 block of East Charleston Boulevard in December 1992 and 1.9 miles away from where Victim Pearl Ingram’s body was recovered in January 1994. Additionally, Snowden’s criminal history revealed he was living in the Las Vegas area at the time of both murders. It also appears from Snowden’s criminal history he lived from 1956 to 1979 in the Fresno, CA area as well as several surrounding cities, to include Sacramento, Santa Cruz, Madera, Merced, Woodland, Watsonville areas.
LVMPD Cold Case Investigators were able to obtain familial reference DNA from one of Snowden’s biological family members to confirm he was indeed the person who sexually assaulted, beat, strangled and murdered both Lori Ann Perera and Pearl Ingram. No arrests will be made in these two cases due to the fact Eddie George Snowden died in Las Vegas, NV on February 2017.
Las Vegas Police Department Homicide section wishes to thank the Fresno CA Police Department, Othram and the Vegas Justice League for their continued support in their endeavor to find justice to all victim’s of homicide, as well as some form of resolution to their families, friends and our community.
The below press conference has been made available, featuring representation from law enforcement and the family of one of the victims.
Michael Vogen
Director of Case Management
Michael works with law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and Canada on “unsolvable“ cases that can benefit from advanced DNA testing methods. He helps these agencies use cutting edge DNA sequencing and new forensic techniques to develop investigative leads for their cases.