How Many Bodies Have Been Found in Lake Mead? Hundreds Waiting To Be Discovered As Water Level Continues To Drop

As its water level drops, multiple human remains have already been found in Lake Mead. Many believe that more are waiting to be discovered.

Lake Mead Nevada Dead Bodies

In October 2022, another set of human remains were found in the receding waters of Lake Mead. It was the sixth time they found dead bodies in the vanishing water.

The National Park Service verified that a diver's discovery of a human bone led a dive team from the park to the location of the skeletal remains. The Clark County Coroner's Office looked into previously discovered fragmentary sets of remains to establish how many persons have been rescued from the depths this year. Whether the bone and the remains are from the same person is unknown.

Officials didn't suspect foul play, unlike other finds like the first body, discovered in a barrel in May 2022 and thought to be connected to a mafia killing in the 1970s.

Medical examiners later determined that one set of bones found in the Callville Bay region belonged to father Thomas Erndt, 42, who drowned in 2002. This year has seen the discovery of several additional historical artifacts, including a sunken ship from the Second World War built to transport troops into beachfront combat during deployment at Normandy. A B-29 aircraft obscured by the depths emerged for the first time in decades. As water levels drop, more artifacts and bones are anticipated to be found.

Things can be found in the water. Michael Green, an associate professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, noted last summer that the region flooded by the artificial lake was rich in archeological sites.

Lake Mead's Receding Waters Explained

Although the remains have generated a lot of attention, authorities claim that the actual scandal is the water level decline brought on by the climate crisis.

Green stressed that while organized crime is an interesting and significant topic anywhere, it is even more fascinating in Las Vegas because of the city's association with the issue. When you add the idea of discovering human remains to the mix, too, people start to take notice. The fact that this signifies the lake has plummeted dangerously and rapidly is not considered enough.

Since the water system is in danger, the lake is anticipated to continue to drop, bringing more finds to the surface. Hundreds of bodies are believed to be waiting to be unearthed in Lake Mead as its water lines continue to recede. Those closely following Lake Mead anticipate a greater emphasis on the crisis that led to the discovery.

According to Jennifer Byrnes, a forensic anthropologist, and professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who has collaborated with the coroner's office, she wouldn't be shocked to see more bodies. She remarked that Lake Mead is a sizable body of water that's going quickly, and, strangely, most people concentrating on the bodies individually rather than the entire planet is a crisis.

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