More human remains discovered in Nevada’s Lake Mead as water levels continue to drop

More human remains were found in the country’s largest reservoir, park officials said.

A park visitor reported discovering human remains in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on Monday, July 25, according to the National Park Service. The human remains were found at Swim Beach, a popular location in Boulder City, Nevada.

“Park rangers are on scene and have set a perimeter to recover the remains,” the National Park Service said in a news release. “The Clark County Medical Examiner has been contacted to determine the cause of death.”

The human remains are the most recent of several to be uncovered as water levels continue to drop. Several people have also drowned at Lake Mead this summer.

In May, boaters discovered a body in a barrel at Lake Mead after hearing a woman scream from the side of the beach, McClatchy News reported. The body was found in an area that would’ve been about 100 feet underwater and hundreds of yards from shore decades ago.

Days later, a second set of human remains was discovered at Lake Mead.

“I think anybody can understand there are probably more bodies that have been dumped in Lake Mead,” Las Vegas police Lt. Ray Spencer told KLAS. “It’s just a matter of, are we able to recover those?”

Park officials did not say how long the human remains found July 25 appeared to be in Lake Mead.

Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the U.S., according to the National Park Service. It encompasses more than 750 miles of shoreline. In 2021, more than 7.6 million people visited the recreation area.

This story was originally published July 26, 2022 at 8:58 AM with the headline "More human remains discovered in Nevada’s Lake Mead as water levels continue to drop."