More human remains were found at a lake near Las Vegas, officials said, months after the rapidly receding waters of drought-stricken Lake Mead revealed the body of a long-buried mob victim.
Park rangers responded to a witness report of a body at Swim Beach Monday afternoon and have begun efforts to recover the remains, the National Park Service said.
No details were immediately released about the age or identity of the latest discovery, and the local county coroner was scheduled to perform an autopsy.
The huge man-made reservoir drew global attention in May when the decades-old skeleton of a man shot to the head was found in a barrel that had been dumped into the lake.
Police believe the murder took place in the late 1970s or early 1980s, when the Las Vegas criminal underworld was particularly active in the gambling capital of the desert.
Another body was found days later, with no sign of foul play, and authorities had predicted more bodies would be found as water levels in the country’s largest reservoir drop.
A historic drought sweeping through much of the western United States is straining water sources as reservoirs and lakes fall to unprecedentedly low levels.
Lake Mead was once 1,200 feet above sea level. But after more than two decades of drought, it was just 1,040 feet above sea level on Tuesday — the lowest level since fill-up in the 1930s.
It is currently falling about 12 inches every week.
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