Visitors found a jawbone and other human remains on a beach at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, uncovered due to record-low water levels.
“We just went to the lake to, you know, have fun for a little bit. My friend was playing with the rocks in the lake, and then he grabbed the jaw. And when he looked, he saw the teeth and everything,” Dianelis Molina Cruz told Las Vegas’ KLAS-TV.
Mario Lecano, the man who picked up the jawbone, told another local station, KVVU-TV, that “my daughter went straight to the water. I ran after her because she didn’t have her life jacket, and as soon as I grabbed her, I saw, like, down by her legs that there was, like, what appears to be, like, some bones and some teeth.”
After making the discovery, the group reported the remains, which appeared to include dental filings.
In a statement, according to ABC News, the National Park Service said that “the Lake Mead Interagency Communications Center received a report of potential human remains at Boulder Beach. National Park Service rangers and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department responded to the scene. The incident remains under investigation, and no additional information is available at this time.”
Las Vegas police said Monday that they are no longer involved, describing the remains found as “non-criminal,” according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The remains were discovered amid the lowest Lake Mead water levels since it was filled by the creation of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s, according to the Review-Journal.
In 2022, also at Lake Mead, the remains of four dead people were found. One was of a man killed by a gunshot wound whose remains were found in a barrel.
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