90°F
weather icon Clear

Body found in barrel at Lake Mead

The human remains found in a barrel at Lake Mead this past weekend are being investigated as a decades-old homicide.

“We believe this is a homicide as a result of a gunshot wound,” said Lt. Ray Spencer of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. “Detectives believe the victim was killed sometime in the mid ‘70s to early ‘80s, based on clothing and footwear the victim was found with.”

According to a press release from the Lake Mead National Recreation Public Affairs office, National Park Service rangers searched an area near Hemenway Harbor on the afternoon of Sunday, May 1, after a witness reported finding a barrel containing human remains. The police were then called to the scene.

Spencer said the first step in the investigation is to determine who the victim is, and unfortunately they have “no clue” who it could be.

“It’s an extremely difficult situation,” he said.

Spencer said they will be looking at missing persons reports as well as running DNA tests. They will also be working with corrosion experts to help figure out a more specific timeframe of the crime.

Originally, the victim was thought to have been in the barrel since the 1980s, but Spencer said they had expanded the timeline because they found out the victim’s shoes were sold at Kmart and manufactured in the middle and late 1970s.

The find was only made possible by Lake Mead’s rapidly declining lake levels, and Spencer said it is possible the barrel was dumped in the lake from a boat.

“The water level has dropped so much over the last 30 to 40 years that, where the person was located, if a person were to drop the barrel in the water and it sinks, you are never going to find it unless the water level drops,” Spencer said. “The water level has dropped and made the barrel visible. The barrel did not move. … It was not like the barrel washed up.”

Lake Mead reached its high-water mark in July 1983, at 1,225 feet above sea level. On Friday, the level was 1,055 feet — about 30 percent full. Some of the steepest cliffs bordering the lake show 170 feet of white mineral “bathtub ring.”

The barrel was seen by Shawna Hollister, who was boating on the lake.

“We were loading up the boat and a woman actually saw it first and screamed,” Hollister said in a message to a reporter. “So my husband went to check it out and he confirmed it was a body.”

Spencer said anyone who may have information about the crime to contact Metro’s homicide department at (702) 828-3521 or Homicide@lvmpd.com.

To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 702-385-5555, or at crimestoppersofnv.com.

Las Vegas Review-Journal reporters Glenn Puit and Sabrina Schnur contributed to this report.

Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.

MOST READ
THE LATEST
Toll Brothers gets split decision

The development of the area near Boulder Creek Golf Course known as Tract 350 (the sale of which is slated to pay for the majority of the planned replacement for the aging municipal pool) may have hit a snag last week as the planning commission voted 5-1 to deny the developers’ request to build houses closer to the street than is allowed under current law.

Council gives nod to 185 new hangars

There is at least one part of Boulder City that is set to see growth in the coming years. A lot of growth.

Boulder City ready to celebrate America

Boulder City resident James Cracolici may have put it best when he called the annual July 4 Damboree, “The crown jewel of all events held in Boulder City.”

BC can ban backyard breeders

Although there is nothing on any city agenda yet, the resolution of the issue of whether pet breeding will be allowed in Boulder City took a huge step forward last week as Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford released an official opinion on the intent and limitations of state law that had been requested by city staff last year.

Completion dates for two road projects pushed back

Mayor Joe Hardy tacitly acknowledged that Boulder City gets, perhaps, more than its fair share of funding from the Regional Transportation Commission, given the city’s size.

Businesses recognized at Chamber awards night

The Boulder City Chamber of Commerce’s annual installation and awards night featured many business owners in town and even had an appearance, albeit an A.I.-generated one, by Audrey Hepburn.

Parallel parking approved

Like so many other things in the world of Boulder City government, the issue of reconfiguring parking in the historic downtown area along Nevada Way, which generated enough heat to cause council members to delay a decision up until the last possible moment, ended with more of a whimper than a bang.

Ways to reduce summer power bills

Now that the thermometer is on the rise outdoors, the cost to cool homes and businesses on the inside is doing the same.