Enlarge image
Lake Mead reservoir: More bodies found "probably"
Photo: John Locher/AP
A week after a decades-old body was found in Lake Mead, Las Vegas authorities are trying to identify more human remains.
Two sisters from the Las Vegas suburbs were paddling on the drought-hit reservoir on Saturday.
In a bay they discovered the bones.
Lindsey Melvin told KLAS-TV that they saw a human jaw and called park rangers.
The National Park Service confirmed that the find is human bones.
The Las Vegas police said it is not currently believed to be a murder.
The remains are for further examination by the coroner.
Barely a week earlier, boaters had discovered a barrel with a corpse in the mud of the reservoir.
According to police, the dead man was shot and killed between the mid-1970s and early 1980s.
Related to organized crime?
"This looks like a very difficult case," police officer Ray Spencer told news site 8newsnow.com about the first find.
It is also likely that more bodies will be found as the water levels drop.
The nearby casino stronghold of Las Vegas was known as a hotbed of organized crime in the 1980s.
Mafia killers are believed to have dumped their victims in Lake Mead.
Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States.
It was built in the 1930s as part of the Hoover Dam project and provides drinking water to millions of people.
jpz/AP
