As Lake Mead’s water levels continue to drop to their lowest point in more than 80 years, long-kept mysteries are being revealed, including the discovery of a fourth set of human remains.
The discovery of the fourth set of bones, which were discovered on Saturday at Swim Beach and are currently being examined by the Clark County Coroner, occurred as a man who lives in Spain expressed growing certainty that the second set of remains were those of his father.
When Todd Kolod’s father Daniel perished at Callville Bay in 1958 at the age of 22, he was three years old.
When he and a friend hit a wake, they were both ejected off the speed boat, and only one of them survived.
The corpse was never found.
On May 7, a set of remains were discovered near Callville Bay, and DNA samples were collected.
Kolod believes it is almost certainly his father because the coroner’s statement on Wednesday that the person’s age at the time of death is thought to have been between 23 and 38 years old.
‘With each clue, I always anticipate in my head that it would put us further from our goal, but continuously each clue is getting us closer, and this is like a bullseye,’ he said to 8 News Now.
Kolod believed his father could be recognised by his teeth.
Daniel lost his front teeth in a vehicle accident a few years before he drowned, so he wore dentures.
The owner and dentist of Desert Hills Dental, Dr. Deborah Staten, who is certified in assisting with the identification of remains from dental records, received images of the remains from journalists from 8 News Now.
She claimed that while it is obvious that the skeleton is lacking its front teeth, she thinks the deceased was missing other teeth prior to their death and speculates that some may have been extracted recently.
In the last 60 years, dental records have probably been lost.
Kolod expressed his desire to provide a DNA sample as soon as possible in order to solve the mystery but expressed frustration with the lengthy process.
I’m beginning to lose a little bit of optimism, he added, referring to how quickly he was being contacted regarding a DNA sample.
Maybe this new discovery clarifies something.
The identities of the four sets of remains are still unknown.
The first was discovered on May 1 in the vicinity of Hemenway Harbor when a man’s body was discovered inside a rusting barrel.
The man was shot, according to the police, and his attire was from the middle of the 1970s to the beginning of the 1980s. Therefore, the case is being looked into as a homicide.
The lake has substantially emptied during the last 15 years, according to Lt. Ray Spencer of the homicide unit of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, who made this statement in May.
We’re sure to discover more bodies that have been discarded in Lake Mead.
The second pair, which Todd Kolod thinks might be his father, was found six days later.
On July 26, a third set of human remains was discovered.
Since the 1930s, some 300 people have drowned in Lake Mead, but that number does not include those whose bodies were never found, like Daniel Kolod.
As the lake’s water level drops in the summer, people’s bodies, sunken vessels, including a World War II landing craft, and other objects have been found there.
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 only a 30-minute drive from the lake.
While the vast majority of peer-reviewed science asserts that the planet is warming, primarily 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 grown warmer and drier, according to scientists.
The Colorado River provides water to about 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 last 1,200 years.”
With regard to how severe the conditions are, we’re actually sinking to new lows.