Shocking update on Peggy Sweeten’s mysterious disappearance after police search a barrel found in the lake

Missing Peggy Sweeten’s husband killed himself after police made a major breakthrough in the investigation into her disappearance.

Jim Sweeten, 79, was found dead Wednesday from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home at an RV park in Welasco, Texas.

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He was the prime suspect in his wife’s mysterious disappearance in 1998, though he claimed she eloped with a lover she met online.

The former headmaster shockingly called the police on Wednesday and said he was going to kill himself.

Authorities announced that Sweeten was found dead at the scene, adding another layer of mystery to the decades-old unsolved case.

Just two days before he took his own life, police officers revealed they discovered a 55-gallon metal drum in a lake near the Oklahoma home where the couple lived before Peggy’s disappearance.

Investigators said the couple’s son, Patrick, told investigators the barrel suddenly disappeared after his mother’s disappearance.

He is said to have questioned his father about the whereabouts, but Sweeten was dismissive, saying he knew nothing about it.

Unsolved cases detective Mark Wall said: “We were going back through the old police reports and investigative reports and a statement from Patrick Sweeten, Peggy’s son, caught my eye.”

Police launched an underwater search on Monday, using an underwater drone and magnetic tracking device to try to find the metal drum.

Eventually they located the mud-covered barrel and used mesh buckets to scoop some of its contents over the surface.

Authorities said no human remains were found in the barrel but they still had to return with more advanced equipment to retrieve it safely without losing any possible evidence.

Commenting on the search, the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office said: “Police returned to Sweeten’s former home this week to conduct an underwater search and recover a metal barrel discovered a few weeks ago that may have been an incendiary barrel may have acted that was discovered.” goes missing around the same time as Peggy’s disappearance.

Sweeten’s suicide has fueled further speculation about his alleged involvement in Peggy’s disappearance.

The 52-year-old special education teacher was last seen on January 17, 1998, and her husband suspected she eloped with a lover she met online.

But her son Patrick insisted his mother didn’t use email – and that none of her personal belongings, including her car, were missing.

Sweeten stopped working with investigators and reportedly quickly married his mistress soon after Peggy went missing.

He filed for divorce the missing Three weeks into her move, the teacher granted to her in April 1998 disappeared and later moved to Texas.

The warrant said Sweeten told his son that he had received a call from Peggy saying she wasn’t coming back.

He also declined a lie detector test and a home search, with one detective noting that he was “obviously fraudulent and evasive.”

Sweeten was identified as a “person of interest” on a 2011 arrest warrant when officers searched a tool shed on the property, which was constructed shortly after Peggy’s disappearance.

But the two-day hunt turned up nothing.

Police had long assumed Peggy was dead after all leads got out of hand.

However, her son and numerous other relatives have voiced suspicions that Sweeten was involved in her disappearance.