Composite images of the Lake Mead homicide victim found on May 1, 2022.Photo:Department of Justice

Police Release Composite Image of Human Remains Found at Lake Mead

Department of Justice

Officials in Las Vegas have released composite images of ahomicide victimwhose remains were found last year in Nevada’sLake Meadin hopes of identifying him.

On Wednesday, the Clark County’s Office of Coroner/Medical Examiner and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in anews releasethat the remains of the man — who investigators believe died from a gunshot wound — were found in a barrel at Hemenway Harbor in Lake Mead on May 1, 2022.

Officials said the FBI’s lab in Quantico, Va., created three simulated images of the man’s face based on his remains, and they hope that revealing them to the public may help identify him.

Thomas Erndt, of Las Vegas, was reported to have drowned on Aug. 2, 2002 at the age of 42. His remains were recovered on May 7, 2022, in the Callville Bay area. The cause and manner of Erndt’s death is undetermined.

Lake Mead.John Locher/AP/Shutterstock

Now, authorities hope to give the fourth victim a name.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department detectivesbelievethe man shown in the composite images was killed some time in the mid-1970s to early ’80s, based on the clothing and footwear he was found with, according toa news releaseshared last year.

The decades-old barrel is also believed to have originally been about 100 feet underwater and “several hundred” yards from shore, Lt. Spencer toldFox5 Las Vegasin 2022.

“The water level has dropped so much over the last 30 to 40 years that, where the person was located, if a person were to drop the barrel in the water and it sinks, you are never going to find it unless the water level drops,” Lt. Spencer previously said, according to theLas Vegas Review-Journal.

Lake Mead.George Rose/Getty

BOULDER CITY, NV - JULY 12: The Lake Mead 2021 watermark, the country’s largest man-made water reservoir, formed by Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the Southwestern United States, which has dropped 2 inches every day since February (26 feet in one year), is viewed as the lake is at approximately 25% capacity is viewed on July 12, 2022 near Boulder City, Nevada. The lake, a national recreation area, located within the states of Nevada and Arizona 24 miles east of the Las Vegas Strip, serves water to the states of Arizona, California, Utah, Colorado, and Nevada, as well as parts of Mexico, providing fresh water to nearly 20 million people and large swaths of farmland. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)

George Rose/Getty

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PEOPLE has reached out to the Clark County’s Office of Coroner/Medical Examiner and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for comment, but did not immediately hear back.

Anyone with any information about the man’s identity is urged to contact the LVMPD Homicide Section at 702-828-3521 or at homicide@lvmpd.com. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at (702) 385-5555 or atcrimestoppersofnv.com.

source: people.com