Mysteries of Lake Mead: As Nation's Largest Reservoir Dries Up, Human Remains Are Found 5 Times in 4 Months

Mar. 15, 2025

Lake Mead.Photo: Shawna Hollister

Hemenway Harbor: May 1, 2022 Hemingway launch ramp We were loading our boat at the launch ramp and my husband had walked over to look at the barrel and confirmed there were human remains inside. We then called a ranger over and told them and they took over from there. It is estimated the person found with gunshot wounds died between 1970s and 1980s.

Lynette and Lindsey Melvin headed to Lake Mead on May 7, hoping for a quiet day of paddleboarding. The sisters from Henderson, Nev., hoped to see some natural beauty as they relaxed on the water of the nation’s largest reservoir.

“We were looking for a beaver dam,” Lindsey tells PEOPLE in its latest issue. “We had seen one before.”

What they ended up finding was much more macabre: the skeletal remains of a man who had been missing for decades and was presumed to have drowned.

“We saw a bone,” says Lynette. “So we started digging until we found the skull. And then we knew it was definitely human.”

For more on the mysteries of Lake Mead,subscribe now to PEOPLEor pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands Friday.

Courtesy Tina Bushman

thomas Erndt and family: Erndt was identified as one of the person whose remains were found at Lake Mead on May 7, 2022 on Callville Bay.

The sisters had discovered the remains of Thomas Erndt, who had drowned in the lake on August 2, 2002 while on a boating excursion with his family. The discovery has opened up old wounds for the Erndt family, but has brought much-needed closure.

“I mean of course it is going to close a big chapter just knowing he is at peace now after so long,” his son, Tom,told Fox 5 Vegas. “But it is definitely big news and I don’t know if I was ready for it.”

As the waters of Lake Mead have receded during an unprecedented drought, human remains have been found on at least five occasions since May — including the remains of a man who had been stuffed into a barrel in a case believed to be connected to mob activity.

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Google Earth

Map of Lake Mead

“Lake Mead is a spot people go to and disappear,” says David Kohlmeier, a former Henderson police officer who now hosts a local podcast. “Over the years, a lot of people vanished there. If they were involved in criminal activity or suicidal, police might find their car, but not the person.”

source: people.com

Mysteries of Lake Mead: As Nation's Largest Reservoir Dries Up, Human Remains Are Found 5 Times in 4 Months

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