Solving dead eagle mystery sparks new questions by Bryan Hendricks | Today at 2:14 a.m. Because all things in the outdoors are connected, let's revisit an old story that's new again about bald eagles mysteriously dying in Southwest Arkansas. In 1996, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service were mystified at the deaths of 29 bald eagles at DeGray Lake. Necropsies revealed that the eagles all suffered from an undiagnosed ailment that dramatically deteriorated their brains. Eventually, the problem departed the public consciousness. Did eagles just as mysteriously stop dying, or did the media abandon the story?