A fourth set of human remains have surfaced at Lake Mead, which straddles the Arizona and Nevada border, as its waters continue to recede.
The National Park Service said Saturday that the remains, the fourth such discovery since May, were found at the Swim Beach area, CNN reported. NPS did not immediately return a request for comment on Sunday from The Independent.
Surfacing bodies have created a massive buzz in the region since the first remains were found May 1 in the drought-depleted lake.
Boaters enjoying Lake Mead first discovered human remains in a barrel on 1 May near Hemenway Harbor at the reservoir on the Colorado River.
Water levels had dropped so much that the uppermost water intake at Lake Mead became visible at the end of April as the American West continued suffering from a two-decade megadrought that is being exacerbated by the climate crisis.
The reservoir on the Colorado River behind Hoover Dam became so depleted that Las Vegas started pumping water from deeper within Lake Mead, which also stretches into Arizona.
As the lake disappears, some of its secrets have been surfacing – literally. Some of those could possibly solve longtime mob mysteries, according to many knowledgeable about organised crime believe.
“This topic is on the lips of everybody in this town,” Geoffrey Schumacher, vice president of exhibits and programs at Las Vegas’ Mob Museum, told The Independent earlier this year. “Anywhere I go – especially me – people want to talk about it and speculate about it.
“There’s something about solving an old mystery that appeals to people. And it hearkens back to what some people look back at as a golden era for Las Vegas: ‘When the mob ran it,’ that’s the way they say it ... It combines nostalgia with wanting to solve a mystery, and it’s on everybody’s minds here,” he says.
The body in the barrel, which police have ruled a victim of homicide, bears hallmarks of a mob hit, the museum vice president said.
Two other sets of remains, not counting this month’s discovery, have also been discovered.
The Park Service told CNN that rangers have set up a perimeter at the current site to recover remains with the help from divers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and a coroner was working to determine the cause of death.
