Lake Mead Latest—Everything We Know So Far

By

Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property insurance market, local and national politics. She has previously extensively covered U.S. and European politics. Giulia joined Newsweek in 2022 from CGTN Europe and had previously worked at the European Central Bank. She is a graduate in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy. She speaks English, Italian, and a little French and Spanish. You can get in touch with Giulia by emailing: g.carbonaro@newsweek.com.

Writers Page
US News Reporter
Trust Project Icon Newsweek Is A Trust Project Member

🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.

Another set of human remains has been found in the receding waters of Lake Mead in Nevada, authorities announced on Saturday—the fourth such discovery since May.

The lake —the country's largest reservoir— is continuing to shrink amid the worst drought in decades, revealing long-hidden secrets no longer covered by its waters.

According to the National Park Service (NPS), someone discovered human skeletal remains at Swim Beach, in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, at around 11:15 a.m. on August 6.

Lake Mead
Buoys that read 'No Boats' lay on cracked dry earth where water once was at Lake Mead, Nevada, on July 23, 2022. Yet another set of remains has been found on the shrinking shoreline of... FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

With help from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's dive team, park rangers called to the scene set a perimeter to retrieve the remains. A coroner was also called to determine the cause of death, which is still unknown.

It's not yet clear how long the remains have been in the lake, but an investigation is ongoing. Newsweek has contacted NPS and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police for comment.

Three other sets of human remains have been found in the lake since May, amid the drought.

On May 1, a body was found in a corroding steel barrel at the lake's Hemenway Harbor with an obvious gunshot wound, which led the homicide division of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police to take over the investigation into the case.

The body, according to police, belongs to someone who died in the mid-1970s to early '80s. Some have speculated that the man might have been victim of a mob hit.

A week later, on May 7, two sisters paddleboarding found some skeletal remains near Lake Mead's Callville Bay, more than 20 miles from the location where the first body was discovered, according to NPS.

It isn't yet known how this second person died, or how long they had been in the lake.

A third set of remains was found on July 25 at Swim Beach, the same place where the latest remains were found. This set of remains is only partial and is still being examined.

These grim discoveries were only made possible by the shrinking shore line of Lake Mead, whose water levels have plummeted this year.

The lake's water levels are at their lowest since April 1937, when the reservoir was being filled for the first time, according to NASA.

Images taken by the agency shows that, as of July 18, Lake Mead was filled to just 27 percent capacity.

Lake Mead
These images taken by NASA Earth Observatory show how Lake Mead's water levels have plunged in the past 20 years, amid an ongoing mega-drought. A fourth set of human remains has been found in the... NASA Earth Observatory
Request Reprint & Licensing Submit Correction View Editorial & AI Guidelines

Top stories

About the writer

Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property insurance market, local and national politics. She has previously extensively covered U.S. and European politics. Giulia joined Newsweek in 2022 from CGTN Europe and had previously worked at the European Central Bank. She is a graduate in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University and holds a Bachelor's degree in Politics and International Relations from Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy. She speaks English, Italian, and a little French and Spanish. You can get in touch with Giulia by emailing: g.carbonaro@newsweek.com.

Writers Page

Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property ... Read more