LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Clark County and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department are asking for the public's help to identify a homicide victim, whose remains were found at Lake Mead in 2022.
Last year, four sets of human remains were found at the lake and were exposed due to falling water levels. According to the Clark County's Office of Coroner/Medical Examiner, they have identified three of those four sets of remains.
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The remains that were found on July 25, Aug. 6 and Aug. 16, 2022 were found by visitors near the shoreline of Boulder Beach. Those three sets all belonged to Claude Russell Pensinger from Las Vegas. Authorities said he disappeared on July 14, 1998 and was 52 years old at the time of his disappearance. The cause and manner of his death is undetermined.
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Another set of remains was found on Oct. 17, 2022 in the Callville Bay area at Lake Mead by contractors who were doing work near the marina. Additional remains were found on Oct. 19 and determined to have belonged to the same person, who was identified as Donald P. Smith of North Las Vegas. He was 39 years old when he reportedly drowned in April 1974.
On May 7, remains were found in the Callville Bay area and identified as 42-year-old Thomas Erndt of Las Vegas. He reportedly drowned on Aug. 2, 2022.
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The last victim was a man whose remains were found in a barrel at Hemenway Harbor on May 1, 2022. Investigators determined he died from a gunshot wound and it was ruled a homicide. Police previously told Channel 13 they believe the man was killed sometime in the mid-1970s or early 1980s, based on clothing and footwear found in the barrel.
He is unidentified and now authorities have released facial approximation images of the man.
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The images were created by the Federal Bureau of Investigations office in Quantico, Virginia and have also be shared with the National Missing and Unidentified Person's System in the hopes of identifying the man.
Anyone with information that may help identify the victim can email coroner@clarkcountynv.gov. The case numbers is 2022-02725. If you have any information about the possible incident that led to the man being shot, you can contact LVMPD's Homicide Section at 702-828-3521 or by email at homicide@lvmpd.com. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 702-385-5555 or at crimestoppersofnv.com.
