More human remains found at Lake Mead days after body found in barrel, rangers say

A second set of skeletal human remains has been discovered at Lake Mead, just a few days after visitors found a body in a barrel at the rapidly shrinking Nevada reservoir, rangers reported.

The remains were reported at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 7, at Callville Bay in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, National Park Service rangers said in a news release.

Rangers recovered the remains, which will be examined by the Clark County Medical Examiner, the release said. No further information was released.

Sisters Lindsey and Lynette Melvin discovered the remains buried in sand while paddleboarding, KLAS reported.

“At first I thought it was a bighorn sheep and then we started digging around a little bit and as we discovered the jaw, we realized it was human remains and that’s when we contacted park rangers to come and investigate,” Lindsey Melvin told the station.

A body in a barrel was found in Lake Mead, behind Hoover Dam, on Sunday, May 1, according to the National Park Service.

Boaters discovered the crumbling barrel at about 3 p.m. after hearing a woman scream from the side of the beach, according to KLAS. They realized a body was inside.

Police suspect the body had been dumped in the lake in the 1970s or 1980s and was only uncovered by drought.

The body had a gunshot wound, and authorities believe the death could have been a homicide, according to the National Park Service.

It was found in an area that would have been about 100 feet underwater and hundreds of yards from shore decades ago, FOX 5 reported.

It could be the first of many human remains the drought uncovers, officials told the station.

This story was originally published May 8, 2022 at 10:02 AM with the headline "More human remains found at Lake Mead days after body found in barrel, rangers say."