According to the daughter of the first person whose remains were recovered from Lake Mead and identified, her father perished there 20 years ago while going for a late-night swim.
The Nevada lake, which is at its lowest level in more than 80 years owing to the drought, has five sets of human remains that have been discovered.
The first person to appear was a shot-in-the-head skeleton that had been buried in a barrel and thought to have been a victim of Los Angeles mob violence in the 1970s.
On Wednesday, it was revealed that the second set of remains were those of 42-year-old Thomas Erndt.
On May 7, his remains were found in Callville Bay.
A man in Spain was certain the bones belonged to his father, who had perished in the region in 1958 in a motorboat accident.
However, Waco, Texas resident Tina Bushman, 34, told DailyMail.com on Wednesday afternoon that she had been assured it was her father.
She said that on August 8, 2002, the 42-year-old got into the sea with his kids Tommy and Tina—then 11 and 15, respectively—and pals for a midnight swim.
She said, “I remember he pulled off his shirt and the waves were tremendous.”
He entered first, as they say. He was doing foolishly.
He didn’t start shouting for the others to start the boat and come retrieve him until just after he leapt into Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir in the United States.
They heard Erndt struggle, but couldn’t start it right away.
According to Bushman, “He shouted assistance like three times.” “We couldn’t start the boat.”
They were unable to locate him by the time they were able to start the boat and turn it around.
Erndt was not officially pronounced dead until Tuesday, according to Bushman, despite the fact that the family was very certain the airline mechanic had drowned.
Based on the location of the bones in connection to the first event report, a Las Vegas investigator had called Bushman a few months before to let her know they could have potentially discovered Erndt’s remains.
Bushman told DailyMail.com, “She acknowledged it may be him, but stated they required DNA.”
The investigator also warned her that since the bones were flooded, the findings may not be available for a while.
“I believe we were all a little taken aback. It came as a huge shock.
She was now faced with the potential of discovering her father’s remains and recalled the helicopters and police officials searching for him all those years ago.
We have sometimes thought about it, she told DailyMail.com.
After providing DNA tests, Californians Bushman and her brother, who is now 31 years old, learned on Tuesday that the bones belonged to their father.
His daughter described the event as “bittersweet,” saying that the siblings had “relief and closure” after learning the news.
It was his preferred location. He would have preferred to be there, she said, according to DailyMail.com.
Prior to the sad event, the Erndt family had been going to Lake Mead almost every weekend. It took Bushman over two years to be able to go back.
Soon after his passing, the family had come there to place flowers in the bay, but she was unable to return in full for many years.
Bushman said to DailyMail.com, “I still didn’t go in the water.” “I haven’t gone swimming there yet,” you say.
The mother of four said that she had been afraid of swimming for years.
Looking back, she recalls how her father often brought his kids to work with him and worked late into the night.
Their mother had gone shortly after their divorce, leaving Erndt to care for his two kids by himself.
According to Bushman for DailyMail.com, “He was the finest parent.” He always looked out for us.
Despite the fact that Lake Mead was a tragic location for the family, Bushman claimed some of her best memories of her father were made there.
She recalled the several times the family cooked outside and ate hot dogs. The family often went tubing and camped there.
She added, “I felt extremely blessed for the 15 years I was given.” “I’m really appreciative,”
Bushman and her brother relocated to California with their aunt and uncle, who raised them, soon after the disaster.
After that, as Erndt had not yet been formally pronounced dead, their family members had to get legal counsel to handle issues like custody.
She said that when it comes to dealing, her brother “isn’t doing as well as me.” Bushman had sought therapy in order to cope with the loss of her father.
She told DailyMail.com, “He’s still processing everything.” “Our dad and we were incredibly close,”
Secrets revealed by Lake Mead over many years
MAY 1:
A corpse in a barrel is the first set of human remains to be discovered. Investigators concluded that the deceased was the victim of a mafia hit since the person’s skull had a gunshot wound in the head and the clothing were from the 1970s or 1980s. A murder investigation has been launched.
MAY 7:
The location of the second set is Callville Bay. A Spaniard thinks it may be his father, who perished in a speed boat accident nearby in 1958. However, on August 23, it was determined that the corpse belonged to Thomas Erndt, 42, who had passed away on August 8, 2002, while swimming in the lake. They are happy with the resolution, according to his daughter.
JULY 25:
At Swim Beach, a third set of human remains was discovered.
6 AUGUST:
At Swim Beach, a fourth set of remains were discovered. The coroner then declares that they think the third and fourth sets of remains may belong to the same individual.
15 AUGUST:
At Swim Beach, a fifth set of bones were discovered.
Given that DNA sampling is a relatively recent innovation, some of the people who died in the lake could be impossible to find.
In an effort to find answers, Las Vegas police are searching through their files on unresolved missing person cases and have collected DNA from a number of families.
The fifth set of bones, which were the most recent to be found, was discovered on August 15 at Swim Beach.
At Swim Beach, the third and fourth sets of remains were also discovered.
The coroner said last week that those two sets of bones could belong to the same individual.
If the fifth set is the same individual as the third and fourth set, it is not yet known.
The findings have sparked discussion regarding decades-old murder and missing persons cases, as well as organised crime and the founding of Las Vegas, which is just a 30-minute drive from the lake.
While the great majority of peer-reviewed research asserts that the planet is warming, mostly due to growing amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the lake level is dropping at the same time.
In the last 30 years, the U.S. West, particularly the Colorado River basin, has allegedly become warmer and drier, according to scientists.
The Colorado River provides water to around 40 million people, with Lake Mead and Lake Powell acting as the region’s main reservoirs.
The water levels in Lake Mead are at their lowest point since 1937, according to NASA. The lake was at 27 percent capacity on July 18, 2022.
In June, Ann Willis of the Center for Watershed Science told the Washington Post, “We haven’t experienced a period as dry as this one in the previous 1,200 years.”
We are really seeing new lows in terms of the severity of the weather.
Previously, Lake Mead was 1,200 feet above sea level.
It was at its lowest elevation since filling in the 1930s in July, however, at only 1,040 feet above sea level following more than two decades of drought.
Currently, it is dropping weekly by roughly 12 inches.