Credit: FBI Poster
A body found wrapped in tire chains at the bottom of a lake in Kentucky in 1999 has now been identified as a man wanted by the FBI after an arrest for the alleged rape of a minor child one year earlier.
On May 6, 1999, two fishermen found the body of a man in Lake Barkley, Lyon County, Kentucky, wrapped in heavy tire chains and anchored with a hydraulic jack. The autopsy report described the man as a brunette between 35 and 50 years old, and between 5-foot-6 and 6-foot-1 at 235 to 255 pounds. He had gold crowns and a permanent bridge, wore an extra-large T-shirt with a “No Fear Sports Bar” logo, a Dallas Cowboys’ windbreaker and 10 1/2 wide Voit tennis shoes.
Despite the physical description, investigators at the time were unable to identify the victim using traditional investigative techniques.
In 2016, his body was exhumed in hopes that further examinations would help make an identification. Despite extensive efforts using DNA technology, dental examinations, forensic pathology, and other advanced forensic testing, the victim remained unidentified.
Then, in 2023, Kentucky State Police enlisted Othram to see if forensic genetic genealogy could provide a lead. The private lab succeeded in identifying a close relative of the victim. Ultimately, the family tree led investigations to identify the human remains as Roger Dale Parham.
But when investigators went to follow up on the lead, they were surprised to find Parham listed as wanted by the FBI for a crime committed 25 years earlier.
According to the FBI, Parham was arrested on Nov. 21, 1998, for rape involving a minor. He was subsequently released on bond with conditions. However, his bond was revoked after he failed to appear on the charge of rape.
On June 3, 1999, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. Then, a federal arrest warrant was issued by the United States District Court, Western District of Arkansas, about three months later after Parham was charged federally with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
“Parham is believed to have fled the state of Arkansas. He may have traveled to Mexico,” reads the Wanted by the FBI poster from the Little Rock Field Office.
Parham may have fled—or been forced to flee—Arkansas but he certainly didn’t get as far as Mexico. In fact, by time the bench warrant was issued in June 1999, Parham had already been murdered and found at the bottom of a Kentucky lake.
The cause of Parham's death is still undetermined, but Kentucky State Police said his case is being investigated as a homicide “due to the suspicious circumstances in which the remains were located.”