Grown kids recall Vegas dad whose bones ID'd from Lake Mead
The identification of bones found in May on the receding shoreline of Lake Mead has resurfaced family memories of a 42-year-old Las Vegas father believed to have drowned 20 years ago
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The identification of bones found in May on the receding shoreline of Lake Mead has resurfaced family memories of a 42-year-old Las Vegas father believed to have drowned 20 years ago.
Thomas Erndt’s son, also named Tom Erndt, told KSNV-TV in Las Vegas that his father began to struggle after jumping into the water during a nighttime family boat outing late Aug. 2, 2002. The younger Tom Erndt said he was 10 at the time.
“It is going to take a lot of time for me to move forward and remember this,” he told KVVU-TV, recalling that he spent a lot of time with his father, an aircraft mechanic, at his job.
Family members did not immediately respond Friday to email messages from The Associated Press.
The Clark County coroner’s office said Wednesday that Thomas Erndt’s bones were the ones found May 7 near a former marina at the shrinking Colorado River reservoir behind Hoover Dam.
A statement from Coroner Melanie Rouse said investigators used DNA and reports of Erndt’s disappearance for the identification. An official cause and manner of death were not determined.
Coroner’s investigators still are working to identify a man who was killed by a gunshot after his body was found May 1 in a rusted barrel. His clothing suggested his death dated from the 1970s or 1980s, and authorities said it was being investigated as a homicide.
That discovery prompted speculation about watery graves and renewed interest in the lore of organized crime in early years of casino development on the Las Vegas Strip — about a 30-minute drive from the lake.
Several more sets of partial human skeletal remains have been found since then — including on July 25, Aug. 6 and Aug. 16 — generally near a swimming area at the lake. They were not in barrels.
The water level at Lake Mead has dropped more than 170 feet (52 meters) since it was full in 1983, putting the reservoir today at less than 30% of capacity.
Tom Erndt, of South San Francisco, California, told KSNV-TV he wants his father to be remembered as a person, not bones found at the lake.
His aunt, Julie Erndt, now living in Kentucky, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal she was thankful that her brother’s remains were finally identified.
Bushman told the Times the family wants to return her father’s remains to Lake Mead, where he used to take his children nearly every other weekend.
“He wanted to be cremated and thrown into the lake,” she told the newspaper, “so I think that’s what we’ll do.”