Lake Mead, a large lake east of Las Vegas on the border of Nevada and Arizona, is experiencing low water levels amid a historic drought. A body with human remains was found on the shoreline of the lake amid the drought in the West that has dropped the lake to some of it’s lowest levels in history.
Boaters discovered the barrel on Sunday and told the National Park Service. In a statement, rangers said they searched the area and found the barrel with skeletal remains. They are examining them in conjunction with Las Vegas police and the Clark County Coroner’s office is working to determine the person’s identity.
According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, the man was shot and was killed between 1975 and the early 1980s. Lt. Ray Spencer said that this is based on the type of shoes the victim was wearing.
In a statement to 8 News Now, Spencer said that more bodies are expected to be found in the lake.
“It’s going to be very difficult case,” Spencer said. “I would say there is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains.”
A witness to the finding of the body in the barrel, Shawna Hollister, told KLAS-TV in Las Vegas that her husband and her were docking their boat and then heard a scream. They saw the barrel partially lodged in the mud and it had a belt and shirt visible.
A massive drought has choked the reservoir on the Colorado River. To respond, Las Vegas is pumping water from farther in Lake Mead where other states don’t have water access. The receding shoreline on the lake is one of the results of this.
The water has gotten so low that even a pumping station intake that supplies water to the city has been exposed. Stopping the transporting high-quality water to Southern Nevada.
