Human remains that surfaced in the drought-stricken Lake Mead earlier this year have been identified as a man believed to have drowned 20 years ago.
The Clark County coroner on Wednesday said the remains, one of several sets recently discovered in the reservoir’s receding waters, belong to Thomas Erndt, a 42-year-old man from Las Vegas. He reportedly drowned on Aug. 2, 2002, but his official cause and manner of death are undetermined, officials said.
His remains were found in Callville Bay, on the Nevada side of the lake on May 7. They were identified based on “investigative information, DNA analysis and reports from the original incident,” Clark County spokesperson Dan Kulin said in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
A death notice published by the newspaper on Aug. 8, 2002, says that Erndt jumped from a boat, was missing and presumed drowned. His memorial service was held the following day.
Erndt’s remains were the second since May to be uncovered by receding waters at Lake Mead, where levels have been plummeting to unprecedented lows amid a drought crisis that continues to wreak havoc in the West. The first set, found inside a barrel on May 1, had a gunshot wound and is being investigated as a homicide, officials said. They likely belonged to someone who died in the mid-1970s to early ‘80s based on his apparel, according to authorities.
After Erdnt was found just days later, officials uncovered partial remains on July 25 near Swim Beach on the Nevada side of the lake’s west end, according to a statement from the National Park Service. On Aug. 7, yet another set of of partial remains were uncovered in the same area.
Authorities are still working to determine whether the latter two cases are connected.
The most recent discovery was made on Aug. 15, again by Swim Beach.
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