As the water level in the country’s largest artificial reservoir continues to decline due to drought, human bodies continue to appear.
For the second time in seven days, human remains were found in Lake Mead near Las Vegas.
U.S. National Park Service rangers said human skeletal remains were found at about 2 p.m. on Lake Mead near Calville Bay. The Clark County Medical Examiner collected the remains and is working to identify the person and determine the cause of death.
The discovery came a week after a man’s decomposed body was found crammed into a steel barrel near the Hemenway Fishing Reservoir, more than 20 miles from Calville, according to the Las Vegas Police Department.
A rusty metal pipe near the site of a various barrel containing a human body was discovered ashore during low water levels due to a western drought at Lake Mead Harbor on the Colorado River in Boulder City, Nevada on May 5, 2022 d.
“We believe this was a gunshot wound,” Lt. Ray Spencer, head of the LVMPD’s homicide unit, told the body, which was found on May 1.
Spencer said the Clark County Medical Examiner was trying to identify the body. He said detectives believe the man was killed in the mid-1970s to early 1980s based on his clothing and footwear.
Regarding the second body found on Saturday, LVMPD officials said Monday they found no evidence to suggest bad games.
Saturday’s discovery of skeletal remains was made by two sisters, Lindsay and Lynette Melvin, who said they paddled on the lake because the water was too shallow to snorkel.
The nurses told ABC’s KTNV branch in Las Vegas that they found the skeletal remains when they stopped exploring a sandy strip they said was under water before a prolonged drought brought the water level to record lows.
At first the nurse thought it was the remains of a large sheep from a horn. They then found a human jaw with teeth still attached and reported them to the National Park rangers.
“We really hope that this man’s family finally gets answers, and we hope that their souls will be laid to rest in peace,” said Lynette Melvin.
People are having fun on the beach during low water levels due to the western drought in the port of Lake Mead on the Colorado River in Boulder City, Nevada on May 5, 2022.
The nurses said they grew up in Las Vegas and have heard rumors of mafia killers dumping bodies in the lake.
Jeff Schumacher, a mafia historian and vice president of exhibits and programs at the Las Vegas Mafia Museum, told ABC News on Monday that the findings of the bodies, especially of the man found in the barrel, have fueled rumors.
“Of course, Las Vegas has a history of the mafia, and there have been people who have disappeared in the area over the years who may have been victims of mafia violence. But I don’t remember a case where we had something like that where we found a body in a barrel that jumped into Lake Mead, “Schumacher said.
Schumacher said throwing a body in a barrel is a classic mafia technique dating back to the 1880s.
He said a notorious case was that of Chicago gangster John “Beautiful Johnny” Roselli, who helped the mob control the Hollywood and Las Vegas Strip. Roselli disappeared after testifying before the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee in 1975 about an alleged plot to assassinate President John F. Kennedy.
Roselle’s decaying remains were discovered in 1976, crammed into a 55-gallon steel barrel found by a fisherman sailing in Dumfoundling Bay near Miami. An autopsy revealed that Roselli had died of suffocation.
Noting that police suspect the man killed in a barrel in Lake Mead this month may have been killed in the 1970s or 1980s based on his clothes and shoes, Schumacher said the crowd was was famous in Las Vegas during this time.
“There have been many conflicts and I would not be surprised to find that he has been the victim of mob violence,” Schumacher said.
He said that as the reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River continues to recede, more shocking discoveries are likely to emerge, including the remains of a B-29 bomber that crashed into the lake in 1947.
“There are probably a bunch of sunken boats there, too,” Schumacher said. “Who knows what other things people have thrown into the water over the years, physical objects, and bodies.”
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