Human remains found in Nevada’s Lake Mead may belong to an Army veteran who drowned two decades ago saving his wife’s life, says his family.
Kenneth Funk died in June 2004 when he suffered a heart attack while saving his wife Annette but his body was never found.
The boat he was on hit a wave and threw his wife into the water, so Funk jumped in and gave her his life jacket before slipping under the water.
Now his family says that remains discovered near Swim Beach at Lake Mead could be his, according to KLAS.
They are the fourth set of human remains to be discovered in the receding waters of the reservoir, which was formed by the construction n of the Hoover Dam.
Officials say that last month the lake was only filled to 27 per cent of its capacity.
“(The torso is) built like my dad, the stomach, the chest, the back,” Funk’s daughter, Jessica Condon, told the news station.
“The fact that these remains are coming up, if it is him, I want to do the right thing and take care of him.”
She told the news outlet how her 56-year-old father had lost his life.
“He gave her the life jacket, and they were in the water together, as close as me and you are right now, and he treaded water as long as he could,” she said,
“He put his head back, he closed his eyes, and he went under. My dad knew, he knew there was no way out for him, and he knew that if she held on to him, she would go down with him.”
In May a barrel containing human remains was found near Hemenway Harbor. Officials believe the remains were that of a man who died from a gunshot wound and the body was likely dumped in the mid-1970s to early 1980s.
Less than a week later more human skeletal remains were found at Calville Bay. More recently, partial human remains were found in the Boulder Beach area on July 25.
