The bones of a 42-year-old father who had gone missing after he jumped in for a swim at night while boating on Lake Mead in 2002 have been identified, the first identification of remains found since the lake’s water level started dramatically receding, the Associated Press reports.
Thomas Erndt, of Las Vegas, jumped in the water as a boatful of family floated in the middle of the lake, recalled his son, also named Tom Erndt. His father started struggling in the water before disappearing, the son who was 10-years-old at the time, said. Erndt’s bones were found near a since-shuttered marina on May 7th. The Clark County coroner used DNA to identify the remains, as well as description of the victim provided by family.
A number of full sets of remains, as well as individual bones, have been found since Lake Mead’s water level started dramatically lowering. One of the most intriguing was found May 1st: a man, dressed in clothing from the late 1970s or early 1980s, shot and stuffed in a rusty barrel.