The FBI has prepared “facial approximation images” from human remains found in a barrel in Nevada’s Lake Mead last year and hope the images can help identify the man, who died from a gunshot wound.
As CrimeOnline reported, investigators believe the man may have been killed decades earlier and the barrel revealed as a historic drought dropped levels of the lake.
As water levels continued to drop in 2022, three more sets of remains were uncovered. The other three sets have been identified, KVVU reported:
- Park visitors discovered the remains of Claude Russell Pensinger on three separate dates in the summer of 2022. Pensinger was 52 when he disappeared in July 1998, and the cause and manner of his death is undetermined.
- The remains of Donald P. Smith, 39, were found in October. The Clark County Coroner determined that he died from an accidental drowning in April 1974.
- The remains of Thomas Erndt, 42, were discovered on May 7, 2022, a week after the unidentified remains found in the barrel. Erndt disappeared and was believed to have accidentally drowned on August 2, 2002, but the coroner was unable to determine a cause and manner of death.
The unidentified man in a barrel was found on May 1, 2022. While DNA was used successfully to identify the other four bodies, the first man remains unidentified.
“Our hopes is to put the composite out there and see if we can get any good matches,” said Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse. “As a good as a DNA profile is, it’s only as good as what you have to compare it to. so obviously the next steps would be to get it out to the community in hopes that we have some good links to individuals that could be considered for testing.”
Anyone with information is asked to email coroner@clarkcountynv.gov. The case number is: 2022-02725.
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[Featured image: FBI via KVVU]
