Human remains found in Lake Mead are finally identified as a Las Vegas man who went missing in 1998 

Human remains discovered in Lake Mead last summer after the reservoir was hit with a drought have been identified as a Las Vegas man missing for almost 25 years. 

Claude Russell Pensinger, 52 at the time of his death in 1998, joined an eerie list of remains that were found in the West Coast lake after new sections were exposed by historically low water levels. 

Pensinger's bones were found over a three-week span last July and August, however his cause of death could not be determined by a coroner. 

According to documents obtained by 8 News Now, Pensinger disappeared on a fishing trip with his brother, who was on a separate boat, when they failed to meet at a location on the lake later in the day. His brother described Claude as a 'good swimmer' who was a Navy and Coast Guard veteran, according to the documents. 

The remains were among at least three other grisly discoveries in Lake Mead last year, which also included the bodies of Thomas Erndt, 42, and at least two others that have not been definitively identified. 

Human remains, believed to be those belonging to Pensinger, were first found on July 26 

Pensinger's remains, found on a swimming beach in Lake Mead, were the third set of human remains to have been discovered at Lake Mead last summer

Teams of divers scoured the lake as at least bodies were found due to falling water levels

Last summer, water levels on Lake Mead dropped to their lowest levels since 1937, with the reservoir falling to well below 30 percent capacity. 

The drought has led to a series of grisly discoveries, raising questions over whether the lake was used as a watery grave for mob victims from previous decades.

And in the latest discovery, Pensinger's remains were finally identified a quarter century after he went missing on an ill-fated fishing trip with his brother. 

The first remnants of his remains were found July 26, before further body parts were discovered on August 6 and August 16. 

The discovery of his body joined at least four others who were also found in the dried-up lake since May last year. It is now believed several of the sets of remains may have been Pensinger. 

The first discovery saw a still-unidentified man's remains found inside a barrel. A homicide investigation was opened after it was determined that the man, who had been killed in the 1970s or 80s, had been shot in the head. 

Daniel Kolod, left, drowned in Callville Bay in 1958 at the age of 22

Remains believed to belong to Daniel Kolod were found on May 7, six decades after he died 

Teeth his remains were discovered in drought-hit Lake Meadjust a week after another body turned up in the reservoir 

The second set of human remains, pictured, were followed by further discoveries during a summer drought 

The first body found in the grisly spree was discovered in a barrel in May 2022 (pictured)

Soon after, another set of remains were found on May 7, who was believed to have been killed decades prior aged between 23 and 38. 

The find led Todd Kolod, a man living in Spain, to claim the body may have been his father Daniel, who was killed in a speedboat accident on the lake in 1958, aged 22, and whose body was never recovered.

A third body found in May 2022 was later determined to be Thomas Erndt, a 42-year-old Las Vegas father who drowned in 2002 while in the Callville Bay area. 

Further remains, now believed to be those belonging to Pensinger, were found on July 26, at Swim Beach, before other discoveries later linked to him were found on August 6 and August 16 at a nearby location.

'At this time, the investigation into these remains includes working to determine whether the two sets of remains are from the same person or not,' the coroner's office said in a statement on August 10. 

Lake Mead's water level dropped to its lowest point in over 85 years last summer

The man who discovered the remains now believed to have belonged to Pensinger, Christopher Orozco, told Fox 4 at the time that he and his family were visiting the lake to go for a swim, when they found the bones sticking out of the sand under shallow water. 

He said he took photos and videos of the bones before reporting them to the National Park Service.

'We went in the water, one of my daughters said she saw something in the water she thought it was a bone,' said Orozco.

'I said okay let me go see. As I got closer I picked it up I noticed it was a bone like this big.'

Pensinger's identification came a month after another Las Vegas resident, Donald P Smith, was named as another of the bodies who washed up in the diminished body of water. He was found further up the reservoir near the Hoover Dam, almost fifty years after he drowned in 1974. 

Since the 1930s, over 300 people have reportedly drowned in Lake Mead, leading to fears at the time that the lake was drying up there could be numerous other bodies on the floor. 

Intake towers stand exposed in Lake Mead, where the reservoir's water levels dried up on the Arizona side of the Hoover Dam

The numerous discoveries raised hope for many families of missing people, amid speculation the bodies could be linked to organized crime from Las Vegas, which is a 30-minute drive from the lake. 

After a body was found inside a barrel in what may have been a mob-style hit, numerous other long-lost remains and items were found on the dried-up lake floor. 

A Native American 'lost city', a crashed World War II B-29 Superfortress bomber and the buried loot of a notorious gangster were all also reportedly found in the reservoir. 

Authorities said at the time that the bodies were being discovered they expected numerous other criminal items, including guns and knives, to also wash up.