Vincent Tyrone Tatum was 25 and a sergeant with the Nevada Department of Corrections when he disappeared after his shift on September 2, 1982, in Las Vegas. He had worked four years at Southern Desert Correctional Center and was married with one child. In the months before his disappearance he was reportedly conducting an internal inquiry into contraband smuggling that allegedly involved prison employees.

About a month after he vanished, Tatum’s body was found in a remote desert area east of Las Vegas. He had been abducted, severely beaten, and shot multiple times in the head. Investigators linked the killing to his prison work and viewed it as retaliation for the investigation. For many years the case remained cold with no arrests or publicly named suspects.

Decades later attention focused on three fellow corrections officers identified as possible suspects: Lieutenant Lovell Gaines, Officer Clyde Johnson, and Donna Smith. No charges are reported; it is reported that Gaines and Johnson are believed to have died and that Johnson allegedly made a deathbed confession that could not be substantiated, and that Smith was not believed to have knowingly taken part in a plot. Does anyone have verifiable information that could help explain what happened to Sergeant Tatum?