Lake Mead’s Grisly Body in a Barrel Was Gunshot Victim From 1970s

Nevada authorities have used the clothes on the decomposing body discovered in the receding waters of Nevada’s Lake Mead to date the remains to the 1970s, when it is believed the victim was murdered. Las Vegas police said Tuesday that the body, found in a muck-coated barrel on Sunday, is believed to be a man who died from a gunshot wound. “Detectives believe the victim was killed some time in the mid-’70s to early ’80s,” Lt. Ray Spencer said, “based on clothing and footwear the victim was found with.” Spencer said that the garments were the type found at Kmart in “the mid-to-late 1970s.” Forensic experts were still attempting to identify the body on Tuesday. Rising temperatures, slighter snowpacks, and an ongoing drought have caused Lake Mead to shrink by one or two feet every year, according to a Monday statement from Spencer, who added that he expected further grisly discoveries to soon be pulled from the lake’s former depths.