May 2 (UPI) — Las Vegas police and National Park Service authorities have discovered human remains in a barrel at Lake Mead, in a case suspected to be a homicide.
Responding to a witness report of a dead body spotted in the barrel, park rangers on Sunday afternoon searched an area near Hemenway Harbor, which lies to the east of Boulder City, Nev.
“Homicide is responding to an event near the main marina launch ramp where there (sic) we believe a dead body has been found,” wrote a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson in an email, according to NBC affiliate station KSNV News 3.
Las Vegas resident Shawna Hollister, who provided images of the discovery, told the news station that she and her husband heard a woman’s scream.
Upon following the sound of the woman’s voice, her husband spotted what she described as a “very deteriorated” 50-gallon drum that contained the body of a male that had decomposed to mostly bones, KSNV News 3 reported.
The National Park Service’s Investigative Service Branch are working with local police authorities on the investigation, described in the email as still in its infancy stages.
The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the male’s identity and cause of death, and release the information pending notification of the deceased man’s relatives.
