Authorities in Las Vegas said they have identified human remains found last October at Lake Mead as a North Las Vegas man who drowned in April 1974.
The Clark County coroner’s office said Tuesday that Donald P. Smith was 39 when he was reported missing in the waters of the Colorado River reservoir behind Hoover Dam.
His death has been ruled accidental.
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Coroner’s investigators are still trying to identify other remains discovered by boaters, divers and swimmers last year as the lake recedes because of drought.
That includes those of a man who Las Vegas police say was shot in the head and stuffed into a barrel, maybe in the 1970s or 1980s.
Here is the latest on the other remains, according to Clark County spokesperson Stacey Welling:
- On Aug. 16, 2022, skeletal remains were discovered by park visitors near the shoreline of Boulder Beach at Lake Mead. The Clark County Office of Coroner/Medical Examiner has confirmed that the remains found on Aug. 16 and the remains found in the same area of Boulder Beach on Aug. 6 and July 25 belong to the same person. The Clark County Office of Coroner/Medical Examiner is working to determine the identity of the decedent.
- On May 7, 2022, skeletal remains were discovered in the Callville Bay area. Those remains have been identified by the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner as Thomas Erndt of Las Vegas. Mr. Erndt was 42 years old at the time of his reported drowning on Aug. 2, 2002. The identification was based on investigative information, DNA analysis and reports from the original incident. The cause and manner of Mr. Erndt’s death is undetermined.
- On May 1, 2022, remains were discovered in a barrel at Hemenway Harbor. The decedent was a male who died from a gunshot would. The manner of his death was homicide. The decedent is unidentified at this time.
