Lake Mead: low water levels revealed man's long-lost father

Over the course of 2022, as Lake Mead receded, Nevada residents were disturbed by the discovery of human remains in the popular lake. However, for one family, these grisly discoveries have brought closure more than twenty years after their beloved father went missing.

According to a news release by the Clark County Office of Communications & Strategy, the human remains found on May 7, 2022 in the Callville Bay area were identified through DNA analysis as Thomas Erndt (pictured).

Photo: Instagram@taxitom_is300

Thomas Erndt, aged 42 at the time of his disappearance on August 2, 2002, drowned after jumping into the Colorado River Reservoir while on a boat trip.

SFGATE newspaper spoke to the identified man's son, Tom Erndt (pictured here with his dad), who was only ten years old when his father went missing.

Photo: Instagram@taxitom_is300

Tom Erndt explained that in 2002 he went on a family boat trip on the Colorado River reservoir at night. His father, Thomas Erndt, was known for goofing around and jumped into the water; however, he then began to struggle.

Tom Erndt told KSNV he thought his dad was playing a joke on the family, saying, "At first it was like, 'Oh, I'm drowning hahaha,' kind of thing, right?"

Sadly, it quickly became clear that young Tom's father was indeed in real trouble: "And it turned into screaming and yelling, and 'I need help!'"

However, per SFGATE, the Erndt family had no coverage on their cell phone, and by the time they were able to contact authorities, no trace of their beloved father could be found.

Thomas Erndt's body had been missing for twenty years, and the family had given up hope of ever finding the remains. However, over the summer, Tom Erndt shared a post on Instagram about being contacted by the Clark County coroner's office.

After discovering the remains in May, investigators looked into reports of deaths near the lake where the body was never recovered. Both Tom and his sister were asked to give a DNA sample, and on August 24, 2022, the coroner's office informed them that it was a match.

Photo: Instagram@taxitom_is300

Tom shared the news on his Instagram account, writing, "They found my dad....I am still in awe and don't know how to feel. It's all not real to me, and I need to have it sink in. I am grateful for the news, and it's still not my closure, but it will come, and I am glad he is at peace. Dad I love you with all my heart, and you will always be by my side."

Photo: Instagram@taxitom_is300

The remains of Thomas Erndt are among at least six sets of human remains that have been discovered since the water levels began to plummet in Lake Mead the spring of 2022.

The Clark County coroner continues to investigate the origins of the other bodies, including a body found in a corroding barrel.

The investigators working to identify the sets of human remains found in Lake Mead certainly don't have an easy task.

The bodies most likely have been hidden deep under the water for decades, leaving them in advanced stages of decomposition, which makes extracting DNA very difficult. Pictured: Lake Mead in 1983

Nonetheless, CNN reported that officials obtained new details about the bodies towards the end of the summer, which include the confirmation of homicide for the body found with a gunshot wound.

The first set of remains was found in a barrel that was revealed by the declining water levels due to the severe drought affecting Lake Mead in Nevada.

Naturally, they treated the case as a homicide because, as Lt. Jason Johansson of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police homicide unit told CNN, "Anytime you have a body in a barrel, clearly there was somebody else involved."

Photo: Fox5News

Since then, CNN reports that "Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse has preliminarily ruled the cause and manner of death was homicide by gunshot."

The Clark County Coroner's office will also send off specimens from the remains in an attempt to extract DNA in the hopes of identifying the victim.

Not knowing the victim's identity makes investigating the crime next to impossible, and with so many years gone by (around four decades), witnesses and suspects are hard to come by.

CNN reported that in regards to the second set of human remains found at the lake, Ms. Rouse had preliminary determined that the individual was between 23 and 37 years old.

The manner of death remains unclear, and the coroner's office has yet to determine the cause; however, there are no obvious signs of foul play.

As in the first case of human remains, the coroner's office is also sending off samples in the hopes of extracting DNA.

Ms. Rouse of the coroner's office told CNN that these are only partial remains, so there is less to work with.

A cause and manner of death have yet to be determined.

Lt. Johansson told CNN that the police are not investigating the most recent remains discovered as there are no signs of "suspicious circumstances of death."

Many have speculated that the remains found in Lake Mead may be related to mobsters, and in the case of the body found in the barrel, police are not ruling the theory out.

However, as for the other sets of human remains, there is a good chance the individuals may have simply drowned when water levels were much higher many years ago.

CNN reported that a National Parks Service spokesperson told the media outlet that drowning is a realistic possibility.

Since recovery divers can only dive so deep, often drowning victims' bodies are never recovered.

If the water levels continue to drop at Lake Mead, police are confident more bodies will be discovered.

"The lake has drained dramatically over the last 15 years...It's likely that we will find additional bodies that have been dumped in Lake Mead" as the water level drops further," Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Homicide Lt. Ray Spencer told the media in May.