One of the skeletons discovered in Lake Mead, in the United States, has been identified by the authorities.
For several months and the intense drought affecting the American West, Lake Mead, located between Nevada and Arizona, has released several corpses. A total of five remains – complete or not – have been brought to the surface since last May. One of these skeletons has been officially identified by authorities. Last week, the Clark County Office of Communications and Strategy announced that one of the bodies discovered in May was that of a 42-year-old Thomas Erndt from Las Vegas. “The identification is based on investigative information, DNA analysis and initial incident reports,” People said in a statement. “The cause and circumstances of Mr. Erndt’s death are undetermined.”
At the time of his disappearance in August 2002, it was said that Thomas Erndt had died of accidental drowning in the lake. His son, Tom Erndt, who was 10 at the time of the tragedy, reacted to the announcement of his identification. Asked by Fox5 Vegas, he said, “It’s going to take me a long time to move on. My father and I were closer than ever. I did everything with him”. He and his family used to go sailing on Lake Mead. “It was what we called a midnight cruise, so basically we were all going in the boat, going out in the middle of the lake and jumping overboard, swimming and having fun,” he recalled. . It was in front of her eyes that her father drowned. “He started screaming, screaming. My dad had a really bad car accident a long time ago and hurt his shoulder badly, so we thought it was his shoulder that had failed. Plus, my dad was diabetic, so we also figured he just forgot to take his insulin or something.” “It has been 20 really difficult years, I celebrate his birthday every year, and that of his death too,” he added.
Other mysteries to solve
If this death is therefore resolved, others among the discovered corpses remain more mysterious. 1er May, a metal barrel in which was a corpse with a bullet wound, resurfaced on the edge of the bank. The investigation revealed that this crime, which could be linked to the mafia, probably dates back to the 70s or 80s. speculations”. He added, however, “Any time you have a body in a barrel, it’s obvious that someone else is involved.” “The underworld had a tendency to put people in canisters, whether to put them in the lake or throw them in a field,” Geoff Schumacher, vice-president of the Mob Museum, the “Museum of the underworld” , from Las Vegas. Oscar Goodman, mob lawyer and eccentric former mayor of Las Vegas, told CBS that some of his former clients — he defended Anthony “Tony the Ant” Spilotro — were particularly invested in “climate control,” particularly in order to keep the water level of the lake at a high level. “Not a bad place to dump a body,” he commented.
Water levels in Lake Mead – the nation’s largest reservoir – hit historic lows in the spring, and have fallen below the limit to supply Nevada residents since 1971. Lake Mead and Lake Powell in upstream are the largest man-made reservoirs in the United States, part of a system that provides water to more than 40 million people, tribes, agricultural and industrial areas in Arizona, California, in Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming and across the southern border in Mexico.