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1of5FILE - A formerly sunken boat sits upright into the air with its stern stuck in the mud along the shoreline of Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, on June 10, 2022, near Boulder City, Nev. Authorities in Las Vegas have identified bones found in May along newly exposed Lake Mead shoreline as the remains of a 42-year-old Las Vegas man who is believed to have drowned 20 years ago. The Clark County coroner's office said Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, that Thomas Erndt was reported missing in August 2002.John Locher/AP
2of5FILE - A formerly sunken boat sits upright into the air with its stern stuck in the mud along the shoreline of Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Friday, June 10, 2022, near Boulder City, Nev. The identification of bones found in May on the receding shoreline of Lake Mead has resurfaced family memories of a 42-year-old Las Vegas father believed to have drowned 20 years ago.John Locher/AP
4of5A WWII-era landing craft used to transport troops or tanks was revealed on the shoreline near the Lake Mead Marina as the waterline continues to lower at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on Thursday, June 30, 2022, in Boulder City. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
L.E. Baskow/Associated PressThe long-missing father of a South San Francisco man has been identified as one of the bodies that emerged from Lake Mead as the drought-stricken reservoir shrinks.
Tom Erndt, then 10 years old, was on a nighttime family boating excursion on the Colorado River reservoir on Aug. 2, 2002 when his father, Thomas Erndt, playfully jumped into the water. Known by his loved ones for being a jokester, the family first thought he was playing a prank when he began to struggle to stay afloat.
"At first it was like, 'Oh, I'm drowning hahaha,' kind of thing, right?" Tom Erndt told KSNV. "And it turned into screaming and yelling, and 'I need help!'"
By the time the Erndt family was back in cell phone range and in touch with 911, Thomas Erndt had disappeared below the surface. Despite efforts to locate him, he wasn't found, and he was declared dead at 42.
For 20 years, the body of the Las Vegas father remained hidden from view. But in early May, as the waters of Lake Mead receded from the shoreline, a set of bones were discovered. According to a post on Tom Erndt's Instagram, several weeks ago he was contacted by the Clark County coroner's office. Investigators had been combing through reports of deaths at the lake where the body never surfaced, and Tom's father was on their list. They asked Tom for a DNA sample, which he and his sister provided. On Wednesday, the coroner's office announced it was a match.
"They found my dad," Tom posted on Instagram. "I am still in awe and don’t know how to feel. It’s all not real to me and I need to have it sink in. I am grateful for the news and it’s still not my closure but it will come and I am glad he is at peace. Dad I love you with all my heart and you will always be by my side."
Coroner’s investigators still are working to identify a man who was killed by a gunshot after his body was found May 1 in a rusted barrel. His clothing suggested his death dated from the 1970s or 1980s, and authorities said it was being investigated as a homicide. That discovery prompted speculation about watery graves and renewed interest in the lore of organized crime in early years of casino development on the Las Vegas Strip — about a 30-minute drive from the lake.
"I don't want my dad affiliated with any of that. And it's hard just seeing on the news," Tom Erndt told KSNV.
Several more sets of partial human skeletal remains have been found since then — including on July 25, Aug. 6 and Aug. 16 — generally near a swimming area at the lake. They were not in barrels. The water level at Lake Mead has dropped more than 170 feet since it was full in 1983, putting the reservoir today at less than 30% of capacity.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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