Body found in barrel at Lake Mead was of man who was shot, police say

Barrel containing human remains discovered in Lake Mead

A woman said that she and her husband were docking their boat when they heard a woman scream. They then saw the body, which also had a shirt and belt visible.

LAS VEGAS - The body found inside a barrel in the newly exposed bottom of Lake Mead after the lake’s level was depleted amid drought is that of a man who was shot, police said on May 3.

The killing probably happened between the mid-1970s and the early 1980s because the victim was wearing shoes that were manufactured during that period, said homicide Lt. Ray Spencer, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

The barrel was found Sunday in the Lake Mead National Recreational Area by boaters who informed authorities.

Drought has dropped the water level of Lake Mead on the Colorado River in southern Nevada and northern Arizona so much that Las Vegas’ uppermost water intake became visible last week.

Lake Mead and Lake Powell upstream are the largest human-made reservoirs in the U.S., part of a system that provides water to more than 40 million people, tribes, agriculture and industry in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and across the southern border in Mexico.

The Clark County coroner’s office will try to determine the man’s identity.

Lake Mead water levels plummet

A massive drought-starved reservoir on the Colorado River has become so depleted that Las Vegas now is pumping water from deeper within Lake Mead where other states downstream don’t have access.