Skeletal remains found at the bottom of Lake Mead in Nevada belong to a College Hill native who went missing near Las Vegas more than two decades ago.
On May 7, National Park Service rangers found human skeletal remains in the Swim Beach area of Lake Mead National Recreation Area at approximately 8 p.m.
The coroner later identified the remains as Thomas Erndt, who was a resident of Las Vegas at the time but was originally from College Hill.
An obituary published earlier this month links Erndt to the Tri-State.
"Mr. Erndt was 42 years old at the time of his reported drowning on Aug. 2, 2002," Clark County PIO Dan Kulin said in a press release.
Investigators said he likely drowned but the official cause of death hasn't been determined.
Erndt's family said he jumped off the back of a boat in 2002 to go for a swim, called for help and then disappeared. His son was just 10 years old when his father went missing.
"It's just been a thought for the last 21 years just in the back of my head thinking maybe he's still out there... because I've never had my closure until two days ago," said Tom Erndt in an interview with CNN.
Erndt's remains are one of three sets of human remains found in the lake since May. They were all discovered due to extremely low water levels after a prolonged drought attributed to climate change.
Of the three sets of remains discovered, only one is currently deemed a homicide investigation. According to police, one body was found inside a barrel with a gunshot wound. The FBI's Las Vegas field office is assisting local law enforcement as they investigate the murder, our Scrips sister station in Las Vegas, KTNV, reported.
Homicide detectives initially estimated the person found in the barrel was killed sometime in the mid-'70s to early 1980s, based on clothes and shoes the victim was wearing. The clothing was so well-preserved that investigators were still able to read the labels, Lt. Jason Johansson with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's homicide unit told CNN.
It was also immediately obvious that the person's death was the result of a homicide, Johansson told CNN.
"Anytime you have a body in a barrel, clearly there was somebody else involved," he said.
KTNV and CNN contributed to this article
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