Authorities in Las Vegas have identified human remains found last October on the shoreline of Lake Mead as those of a man who went missing in 1974.
The Clark County coroner’s office announced on Tuesday 28th March 2023 that the remains belonged to Donald P. Smith, who was 39 years old when he went missing in the waters of the Colorado River reservoir behind Hoover Dam.
Smith’s death has been ruled accidental, and his identification was made possible through DNA testing.
As Lake Mead continues to shrink due to drought, coroner’s investigators are still working to identify other remains found along the shoreline in 2022, including those of a man who was shot in the head and discovered in a barrel near a popular swimming and boating area.
Authorities are also attempting to link a name to the skeletal remains discovered in late July and early August at the Boulder Beach swimming area.
Despite Smith being the last of several sets of remains found at the lake in recent times, neither the Las Vegas nor North Las Vegas police departments nor city officials in North Las Vegas, have provided any information regarding a missing person or drowning report related to Smith or his family.
