Investigators work to ID 2nd set of remains from Lake Mead

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A week after a decades-old body was found in receding Lake Mead, authorities in Las Vegas are working to identify a second set of newly discovered human remains.

Two sisters from Henderson were paddle boarding on the drought-stricken Colorado River reservoir when they spotted bones Saturday in the Callville Bay area.

Lindsey Melvin told KLAS-TV that they thought it was a bighorn sheep. But when they noticed a human jaw, the women called park rangers.

The National Park Service confirmed in a press release the bones are human.

Las Vegas police say they are not treating the find as a homicide. The remains are currently with the Clark County Coroner’s Office.

The discovery comes after a body in a barrel was found in the lake formed by Hoover Dam between Nevada and Arizona.

In that case, police say the body was a man who had been shot, probably between the mid-1970s and the early 1980s because he was wearing shoes manufactured during that period.

Drought has dropped the Lake Mead water level so much that Las Vegas’ uppermost water intake became visible two weeks ago.

Police have speculated that receding water lines could lead to more bodies being discovered.