HOME / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

The Lake Mead GRAVEYARD: Fourth set of human remains found since May as water levels plunge

The National Park Service reported that the most recent remains were discovered at Swim Beach in Nevada and are currently being inspected

SWIM BEACH, NEVADA: As water levels in Lake Mead hit record lows due to a severe drought, more human remains have been found there, bringing the total to four since May. The National Park Service reported that the most recent skeletal remains were discovered at Swim Beach in Nevada on Saturday, July 30, and are currently being inspected by the Clark County Coroner's office. The identity of the remains and the cause of death is not presently known.

In the wake of the recent discovery, a person named Todd Kolod reportedly told the Daily Mail that he thought the second set of remains belonged to his father. Kolod was 3 years old in 1958 when his father Daniel Kolod drowned in Callville Bay at age 22 while on a speed boat with a friend, the report said. Both men were thrown overboard when the vessel hit a wake. The friend survived while Kolod’s father’s body was never found. 

RELATED ARTICLES 

'Creepy' boat full of artifacts surfaces as water levels drop at Lake Mead during drought

How severe is the US water crisis? First federal water cuts hit Arizona farmers amid drought

However, Kolod feels the skeleton might belong to his father because it is missing teeth and has a partial denture, which his father wore after losing his front teeth in a car accident. The coroner's determination that the deceased was between the ages of 23 and 28 at the time of death seems to have confirmed Kolod's suspicions. While DNA samples from the Callville Bay remains have been collected, Kolod claims he is eager to provide a DNA sample of his own to determine whether his theory is correct.

According to Daily Mail, Kolod said, “The pace of being contacted about a DNA sample – I’m starting to lose hope a little bit. Maybe this new finding lights something up.” Earlier, three bodies were found, the first on May 1, the second on May 7, and the third on July 26. The identities of all remains are still pending. The largest reservoir in the nation, Lake Mead, was created in the 1930s when the Hoover Dam was built between Nevada and Arizona on the Colorado River. 25 million people use the water supply in cities including Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson, and Las Vegas.

But in the midst of a mega-drought in the western US that has been made worse by climate change, the lake has shrunk to its lowest levels ever, plunging more than 170 feet since 1983. In addition to human remains, the lake's diminishing depths also revealed a sunken World War II ship.

Oscar Goodman, a former mayor of Las Vegas, has predicted that bodies of victims of mob violence may one day come up in the lake, which is only 30 minutes away from the Strip, which was built on organized crime. Goodman, a lawyer who has represented mafiosos including Anthony ‘Tony the Ant’ Spilotro, said in May, “There’s no telling what we’ll find in Lake Mead. It’s not a bad place to dump a body.”