US state of Nevada
After body was found in barrel: investigators discover gun in Lake Mead
Human bones were discovered in this barrel in Lake Mead in early May. Police found a gun nearby.
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The falling water levels of Lake Mead near Las Vegas have unearthed another find of interest to police. A gun was found near the spot where a barrel containing a body was discovered in early May.
Months after discovering a decades-old body in a barrel in a dry patch of Lake Mead, investigators have found a firearm nearby. However, it is still too early to say whether there is a connection between the two finds in the lake near Las Vegas, which is suffering from the drought in the western United States, said the police in the US gambling city on Thursday (local time).
Five bodies have been found in Lake Mead so far
After the body was found in early May, there was speculation that the human remains could be a victim of the gambling mafia. So far, police have released few details since the discovery of the skeletonized body. The murder victim, however, died from a headshot, was placed in a metal barrel, and then was believed to have been thrown overboard from a boat — a typical practice of hit men active in Las Vegas in the 1970s and 1980s.
Since the bodies were found in May, four more skeletons had been discovered in the increasingly drying up lake. The most recent finds were made just a few days ago near a bathing beach. Unlike the barrel body, the homicide squad of the responsible Las Vegas Metropolitan Police does not investigate in all cases. According to the US National Parks Administration, it is also possible that the other people drowned in the lake when the water was higher and have just been discovered.
Created in the 1930s as part of the Hoover Dam project, Lake Mead is the largest drinking water reservoir in the United States. Because of the prolonged drought in the western United States in recent years, its water level has dropped to its lowest level since 1937. According to scientists, man-made climate change is contributing to the drought.