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image source, Getty Images
A rusty barrel located near where the first human remains were found in Lake Mead.
Lake Mead is the largest reservoir of water in the United States, whose level has been falling in recent years exposing something macabre: the existence of human remains.
On May 1, authorities discovered the body of a possible murder victim inside a metal barrel.
Investigators said the body, found by people boating on the lake, likely belongs to someone who was fatally shot in the 1970s or 1980s.
Las Vegas Police Detective Ray Spencer told local media that the time of death was determined by the victim’s clothing and shoes, as they were models sold at the well-known Kmart chain of stores at the time.
Authorities are now investigating the corroded metal of the barrel for further evidence.
“It’s going to be a very difficult case,” Spencer told CBS News following that discovery. “I would say that it is very likely that as the water level falls we will find other human remains“, he added.
His words seem to have been prescient.
The National Park Service, which patrols Lake Mead, announced last weekend the discovery of other human remains.
The discovery was made on Saturday by two sisters who, local media reported, initially thought they had found a large rock.
“At first I thought it was a bighorn sheep and then we started digging a little bit and when we uncovered the jawbone we realized it was human remains,” Lindsey Melvin told CBS.
“For a long time I didn’t believe it. As if I didn’t think we really found human remains,” added his sister Lynette Melvin.
On Monday, Las Vegas police said so far This second discovery is not suspected of being a murderbut they affirmed that they will continue the investigations until determining if it might be a homicide or a suspicious death.
A reserve in decline
Lake Mead is located on the border between the states of Nevada and Arizona.
image source, Getty Images
Created in the 1930s, it provides drinking water to 20 million people who live in an area that stretches from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.
Its reserves have been declining since 2000 due to the numerous droughts that have affected the area.something that, according to scientists, has worsened due to climate change.
The recent macabre discoveries come as the lake falls once once more to its lowest level since it was first filled.
Last month, water levels in Lake Mead dropped enough to expose an inlet valve that began supplying water to customers in the region in 1971.
In February, researchers concluded that the drought in the southwestern US is the worst in at least a millennium.
Not all droughts are due to climate change, but excess heat in the atmosphere is drawing more moisture from the land and making droughts worse.
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