Thomas Erndt: Human remains found in Lake Mead identified, as daughter remembers dad who drowned in 2002
LAKE MEAD, NEVADA: The 42-year-old man whose skeleton was discovered in Lake Mead in May has been identified as having drowned there almost twenty years ago. According to a statement from the Clark County Office of Communications & Strategy, the man has been identified as Thomas Erndt of Las Vegas.
"The identification was based on investigative information, DNA analysis and reports from the original incident," the statement reads. "The cause and manner of Mr Erndt's death is undetermined." According to Dan Kulin from the Office of Communications & Strategy, Erndt was reported to have drowned on August 2, 2002, and according to an obituary that appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer on August 13, 2002, he passed away as the result of a "drowning accident in Lake Mead."
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Additionally, Kulin provided an update on the other remains discovered in Lake Mead. "On Aug. 16, partial skeletal remains were discovered in the Boulder Beach area. The remains were found by a park visitor in the water. No additional information about these remains is available at this time," he said.
"On Aug. 6, visitors to the Boulder Beach area discovered partial skeletal remains near the shoreline. These were located in the same area as partial remains that were discovered on July 25," he added. "At this time, the investigation into these remains includes working to determine whether the two sets of remains are from the same person or not."
Another set of remains had been discovered on May 1 in a barrel at Hemenway Harbor. According to Kulin, this was a male who was shot to death. In addition to the skeletal remains, a watercraft from World War II was also discovered from the lake in July.
According to Thomas Erndt's daughter Tina Bushman, her father died in the lake 20 years ago while going for a late-night swim. She said that on August 8, 2002, the 42-year-old plunged off the boat into the lake with his kids Tommy and Tina, then 11 and 15 respectively, and other pals.
"I remember he took off his shirt and the waves were big," Tina Bushman told DailyMail.com. "He was the first one in. He was being silly."
"He yelled help like three times," she added. "We couldn't get the boat started."
Based on the location of the bones in connection to the first event report, a Las Vegas investigator had called Bushman a few months ago to let her know they could have possibly discovered Erndt's remains.
"She said it could be him, but said they needed DNA," Bushman told Dailymail.
She was now faced with the possibility of discovering her father's remains and remembered the helicopters and police officials searching for him all those years ago. "We always kind of wondered," she told DailyMail.com. "It was his favorite place. It was where he would have wanted to be."
Soon after his passing, the family had come there to place flowers in the bay, but she was unable to return in full for many years. "I still didn't get in the water," Bushman said. "I still haven't gone swimming there."
"He was the best dad. He always took care of us," she added. "I was so lucky for the 15 years I got. I'm so grateful."