Secrets of the Lake (Rebroadcast)

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Secrets of the Lake" (20/20)

Podcast: 20/20 by ABC News
Episode: "Secrets of the Lake" (Rebroadcast)
Date: April 25, 2026

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Overview

This episode of 20/20 delves deep into the chilling mysteries revealed by the receding waters of Lake Mead, Nevada. As drought and climate change shrink the lake, long-buried secrets—including bodies and artifacts—emerge, igniting investigations, family heartache, and rampant speculation about Las Vegas' criminal past. Through first-hand accounts, expert commentary, and true crime storytelling, the episode explores the intersection of history, organized crime, forensic science, and the desperate hope for closure among families of the missing.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Lake Mead: From Oasis to True Crime Vault

• Introduction to Lake Mead’s Infamy

  • The lake is notorious for its connection to organized crime, with locals jokingly calling it "Lake Mafia" ([01:51]).
  • "You just go out in the middle of the lake and toss it." – Local Resident/Commentator ([01:24]).

• Climate Crisis Uncovers Hidden Truths

  • Dramatic drops in water levels (>150 feet since 2000) have shifted the shoreline, exposing what was once hidden beneath the surface ([06:08], [06:18]).
  • “The bodies haven’t come to the surface. The surface has come to the bodies.” – Detective Phil Ramos ([02:16], [07:38]).

• Notorious Discoveries

  • Since May 2022, multiple sets of human remains have been found, raising questions about decades of unresolved disappearances ([01:38], [07:24]).
  • The discovery of a body in a corroded barrel with a gunshot wound sparks immediate speculation of a mob hit ([01:47], [04:07], [04:47], [14:34]).

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The Barrel Victim: Mob Mystery or Local Tragedy?

• Forensic Hunt for Identity

  • Forensic teams use preserved bone, teeth, and even adipocere (body fat turned waxy) to extract DNA ([09:09], [09:21], [09:35], [13:21]).
  • Clothes, a belt, sneakers, and a wristwatch suggest the victim died between 1975 and 1985 ([13:53] – [14:15]).
  • “There’s a belt, there’s pants and shirts so you can tell the person was not a small person.” – Lt. Jason Johansen ([13:44]).

• Mob Connections Explored

  • Experts link the barrel method and.22 caliber bullet rumors to classic mob hits, referencing notorious Vegas mobsters like Tony Spilotro and Frank Rosenthal, as well as missing casino insiders ([14:34], [15:41], [16:06], [19:09]).
  • “When I first heard that the body in the barrel had been found, my first thought was, that sounds like a mob hit.” – Investigator/Expert ([14:34])
  • “Everybody says Tony did it… he was the guy.” – Local Resident/Commentator ([19:29]).

• Family Hope for Answers

  • Patricia Haas, niece of missing casino manager Johnny Pappas (disappeared 1976), remains hopeful the discovery will finally lead to closure after decades of not knowing ([08:10], [17:28], [18:26], [23:23]).

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The Science of Solving Cold Cases

• DNA Analysis & Limitations

  • Coroner and police stress the challenges of matching decades-old remains to missing persons, requiring careful use of taxpayer-funded resources ([13:13]).
  • Family members like Patricia volunteer DNA in hopes of a match ([36:53]).

• 90% Cold Case Solve Rate

  • Las Vegas Metro PD pride themselves on a high closure rate, encouraging families to keep hope alive ([08:28], [41:09]).
  • “Just because a case is 30 years old and there’s little evidence doesn’t mean we’re not going to be able to solve it.” – Detective Phil Ramos ([40:22]).

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The Ripple Effects: Stigma, Sensation, and Hope

• Public Fascination & Dark Humor

  • Social media buzzes with speculation as more remains are discovered; local businesses even create satirical “Lake Mead Corpse Water” souvenirs ([21:25], [23:11]).
  • Treasure hunters, influencers, and curious visitors flock to the shrinking lake, some even offering rewards for new discoveries ([22:29]).

• Treasure, Tragedy, and History

  • In addition to bodies, the drought exposes artifacts: sunken boats, relics from the Hoover Dam’s construction, and even a submerged WWII B-29 bomber ([25:11], [26:04]).

• Legacy of Lost Communities

  • The town of St. Thomas, once under Lake Mead, resurfaces as a ghostly reminder of the lake’s origins and the cost of progress ([28:17], [29:47]).

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Stories of Loss and Reconciliation

• Modern-Day Resolutions

  • Technological advances in genealogical and DNA testing now allow for identification and closure, as with the case of Tina Bushman, who learned her father’s remains had been found two decades after his tragic drowning ([33:09], [38:18], [39:34]).
  • “I’m sad for me… but just to know that he was there, gives me so much peace.” – Tina Bushman ([39:42]).

• The Ongoing Toll

  • Many families still wait; some have accepted their loved ones may never be found, while others continue to pursue all leads ([43:03], [43:18]).

• Community Reflections

  • The receding lake is a stark visual marker of both natural and human history—a site of loss, memory, and the enduring pull of hope ([44:50], [45:27]).
  • “Tell people… don’t give up hope. You don’t know if they’ll be found, but… don’t give up because you never know.” – Tina Bushman ([45:27]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The bodies haven’t come to the surface. The surface has come to the bodies.” – Detective Phil Ramos ([02:16], [07:38])
• “Some friends of mine actually call Lake Mead, Lake Mafia.” – Local Business Owner/Commentator ([01:51], [16:03])
• “When I heard about body in a barrel being found in Lake Mead, my first thought was that it more than likely was done by Tony Spilotro.” – Local Resident/Commentator ([19:09])
• “If he could have died anywhere, he would’ve chosen that because, I mean, that was his happy place.” – Tina Bushman ([40:10])
• “Don’t give up hope… you never know.” – Tina Bushman ([45:27])
• “We have a 90% solve rate for a reason.” – Lt. Jason Johansen ([41:09])

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Segment/Topic | |---------------|------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:15 | Introduction of Lake Mead’s reputation for hiding bodies | | 04:07 | Discovery of the barrel and body at Lake Mead | | 06:18 | Effects of drought and receding water on revealing the remains | | 08:10 | Patricia Haas begins quest for missing uncle, Johnny Pappas | | 13:21 | Forensic anthropologist explains identifying radiological sex | | 14:34 | Discussion of mob tactics, links to organized crime | | 22:04 | Social media and treasure hunter rush at Lake Mead | | 25:12 | Treasure hunter DJ Jenner describes uncovered artifacts | | 28:17 | St. Thomas ghost town resurfaces | | 33:09 | Tina Bushman recounts losing her father at Lake Mead | | 36:53 | Patricia Haas offers her DNA in hope of identifying remains | | 39:34 | DNA match brings closure for Tina Bushman | | 41:09 | Police and forensic experts on solving cold cases | | 43:54 | Recent coroner’s office identifications | | 45:27 | Tina Bushman: advice to families awaiting answers |

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Episode Takeaways

• The retreating waters of Lake Mead are bringing decades-old secrets and tragedies to light, changing lives and histories.
• Scientific advancements, public engagement, and the relentless pursuit of answers fuel a wave of closure—sometimes peace, sometimes new grief—for families.
• Amid dark humor, speculation, and morbid intrigue, the stories behind each set of remains are ultimately about people: lost, remembered, and finally, possibly, found.

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For listeners seeking a gripping blend of true crime, history, environmental change, and heartfelt human stories, "Secrets of the Lake" is an unforgettable journey down the dark depths and echoing shores of Lake Mead.

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

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[Narrator]

My, oh, my. Wow. It's bad luck for the bride to see the roommate before the wedding. Yeah, you're fine. Is Dr. Wilson single, or did she just say that Because I was dying? She said that.

[Medical Professional]

Don't you think it's inappropriate to tell a patient that you're single?

[Narrator]

Either of you ever seen an abdominal aortic aneurysm?

[Medical Professional]

I'm sorry, doctor, we can't do this today.

[Narrator]

What are we supposed to do now?

[Investigator/Expert]

Run after him.

[Local Resident/Commentator]

My, oh, my.

[Narrator]

My, oh, my.

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

My, oh, my.

[Narrator]

A mystery when this glitz and glamour playground is the likely first stop before a watery grave.

[Local Resident/Commentator]

Lake Mead was famous for wanting to get rid of bodies or guns. You just go out in the middle of the lake and toss it.

[Narrator]

Vegas of old. And the dead body is being revealed.

[News Reporter]

Now authorities are trying to identify a fifth set of skeletal remains.

[Narrator]

Where was the body in the barrel found?

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

I thought, maybe it's my uncle.

[Investigator/Expert]

That sounds like a mob hit.

[Local Business Owner/Commentator]

Friends of mine actually call Lake Mead Lake mafia.

[Narrator]

The body was found in a corroded barrel.

[Witness/Local Resident]

The people are just all talking about this.

[Narrator]

It's all over TikTok.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

We believe it's a murder investigation. At this point in time, people started

[Local Business Owner/Commentator]

realizing, oh, they're going to start finding more stuff in the lake as it

[Narrator]

gets lower and lower. What happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas, stay secret. But nobody counted on the lake giving up those secrets.

[Detective Phil Ramos]

The bodies haven't come to the surface. The surface has come to the bodies.

[Narrator]

Maybe giving answers to a young girl who saw her father disappear.

[Tina Bushman]

We could hear him say, help. You better hurry. That was it.

[Detective Phil Ramos]

Somebody out there is sweating because they know that we've got the body, we've got the evidence. Then it's only a matter of time before we find out who it is.

[Narrator]

Beautiful, isn't it? Welcome to one of the deadliest lakes in America. Lake Mead, the vast reservoir and national recreation area created not by nature but by engineers. The Turban Colorado river has been harnessed. All that remains now his additional finishing touches. Who decades ago tamed the Colorado river and built the Hoover Dam, just a ricochet from the Las Vegas Strip. For Mark Hamill in 1978's Corvette Summer, it was a cautionary tale. You ought to be careful. You run up against a car thief, and you're liable to wind up at the bottom of Lake Mead.

[Detective Phil Ramos]

The infamous Tommy Lee and Pam Anderson videos were shot on those lakes right there.

[Narrator]

For Pamela Anderson and Tommy lee in their 90s video stolen honeymoon, it was a watery playground.

[Detective Phil Ramos]

That's where they were carrying on.

[Narrator]

There must be a million stories about Lake Mead. This one begins with a scream. It was a scream from the shoreline overheard by a couple tying up their boat. May 1, 2020.

[Medical Professional]

They raced to the site to discover a 55 gallon oil drum. It was eroded by the elements, but inside they found a body. A dead body.

[News Reporter]

A shocking discovery at Lake Mead. A barrel onshore containing a body.

[Narrator]

Since the 1930s, according to Park Service officials, more than 300 people have drowned in Lake Mead.

[Investigator/Expert]

In fact, it is considered consistently the deadliest recreation area in the whole national park system.

[Narrator]

But the body in the barrel did not drown. Perhaps the bullet in the front of his skull was a giveaway.

[Coroner/Forensic Expert]

That decedent was determined to be a male who died from a gunshot wound, and his manner of death was determined to be homicide.

[Narrator]

If only there was a bullet in that barrel.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

There is no bullet found in the barrel. No, there is items of evidence that we collected for the barrel, but not specifically a bullet.

[Narrator]

Enter Lieutenant Jason Johansen. He's the head of Las Vegas Metro's Homicide division leading the investigation.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

The barrel would have been located right in this general area, right over this way, between where we are and where the pier is. This would have been the middle of the water.

[Narrator]

And from Johansen's cold case Unit, Detective Phil Ramos is among those investigating the body in the barrel.

[Detective Phil Ramos]

When we have a murder victim left in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, it's usually in a gully or a ravine. It's not very often that you find a murder victim actually in the lake itself.

[Narrator]

That's just it. See, the victim hadn't been found in the lake, and that barrel hadn't washed up on shore either because the hundred feet of water that once covered it, gone. So right there, there was an oil drum that was all of a sudden revealed just because the water had gone down.

[Environmental Expert]

Right.

[Detective Phil Ramos]

And all this was underwater.

[Narrator]

Not anymore. As water levels at Lake Mead have plummeted more than an astonishing 150ft since the year 2000.

[Climate Scientist]

Large parts of the Southwest have been getting warmer for quite a long time. And over the last couple of decades have also had a number of years with lower than normal rain and snow. And so as a result, those reservoir levels have been dropping slowly over time.

[Narrator]

So here, dry, empty shells now litter the arid shore where creatures once thrived beneath the depths. Marinas have pulled up stakes to chase the ever lowering lakefront. We have to adjust our thinking. You know, when we talk about the body and the barrel, it didn't wash up on shore.

[Detective Phil Ramos]

No, it stayed where it had been for years and years. Just the water receded and revealed some of the secrets of the lake.

[Narrator]

The bathtub ring around the lake's walls tells the story. But there are other tales too.

[Local Resident/Commentator]

Breaking news. A second set of skeletal remains have been found.

[DJ Jenner (Boat Captain/Diver)]

This is the third body uncovered, the

[Local Resident/Commentator]

fourth set of human remains.

[Narrator]

Now, with the lake receding, other bodies have been appearing, each with its own untold story. Now, one of the aspects of this water disappearing is that mysteries that this lake held for many decades revealed to the world for the first time.

[Detective Phil Ramos]

Well, the bodies haven't come to the surface. The surface has come to the bodies.

[Local Business Owner/Commentator]

It was about that time that people started realizing, oh, they're going to start finding more stuff in the lake as

[Narrator]

it gets lower and lower. Leaving some families hoping for the answers they've waited decades for.

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

And then they find a body in a barrel with a hole in his head. I thought, maybe it's my uncle.

[Historian/Local Expert]

One day in 1976, he disappeared and it became a mystery. His car was found on the Strip, but he was never found.

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

And I made a promise that I would do whatever I could do and I would find him.

[Medical Professional]

You know, it's pretty unusual for law enforcement to talk about active investigations, but Las Vegas Police, they have a 90% solve rate on cold cases. In this case, they gave us access. They wanted to talk about the priority they place on cold cases. And honestly, with a case this old, they wanted the public's help.

[Narrator]

And when it comes to the case of the body in the barrel, it isn't just a who done it, but equally important, who is it? The coroner's office, along with Metro, have been searching for answers through the use of DNA. How much organic material do you need to be able to perform some sort of DNA assessment In the different remains,

[Coroner/Forensic Expert]

obviously blood would be the most ideal specimen, but in most of these cases, we may not have that. So then we're looking at doing other specimens, such as bone and teeth.

[Forensic Anthropologist]

When we're looking at bone for DNA preservation compared to soft tissue, you can look at bone as a little package. So when you're doing DNA extraction, you want to get once living cells and that's where the DNA is encased.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

One of the things that we noticed right away at autopsy was the body was slightly preserved because of the wet conditions that it was in. And what we call adipocere, which is a waxy tissue that occurs during the breakdown of the body and during decomposition,

[Medical Professional]

which can also be a source for DNA. But in this case, it might answer

[Detective Phil Ramos]

who killed this man, where they put him. It was pretty deep. It's a good 100, 120ft under the water level. So they thought, man, this will never be found.

[Narrator]

And yet he was. As probing into that investigation continues, somebody

[Detective Phil Ramos]

out there is sweating because they know that we've got the body, we've got the evidence, and it's only a matter of time before we find out who it is. And once we find out who it is, it'll kick into high gear.

[Podcast Host]

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[Narrator]

A long hidden secret emerging from the lake. A body in a barrel. And immediately everyone wants to know, who is this person?

[Forensic Anthropologist]

When we're looking at a skeletal model of a male, we're going to look for the different indicators that are secondary sex characteristics. The pelvis is the most reliable indicator for determining assigned sex at birth.

[Narrator]

So with DNA still pending, Las Vegas Metro is able to glean a little more about that mysterious body discovered at Lake Mead.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

The clothing is able to give you a size. There's a belt, there's pants and shirts so you can tell the person was not a small person.

[Narrator]

Inside that rusty barrel, there's a forensic time capsule of well preserved clues. There's a watch, Kmart clothes and sneakers. You know, it turns out you can learn a lot from an old pair of kicks.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

We can determine that this person likely became a victim somewhere in the area between 1975 and 1985.

[Narrator]

Mysteries abound here, and so do theories. That guy in the oil drum who Was he? How did he wind up 100ft below the water here at Lake Mead? And who wanted him dead decades ago? An enemy? A gang? Or the mob?

[Investigator/Expert]

When I first heard that the body in the barrel had been found, my first thought was, that sounds like a mob hit.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

When you're investigating cold cases, especially the really old cases, it's almost like going back in time.

[Narrator]

Las Vegas, 1970. With a simple, scuse me while I disappear. Frank Sinatra begins the decade in retirement. So now Elvis is on top instead of the Rat Pack. But with the Mafia on the big screen and in the back room, wise guys on the wrong side of the law didn't just go to the tables to get even, just like it had always been in Las Vegas.

[Investigator/Expert]

We would not have the Las Vegas Strip if it was not for organized crime.

[Vegas Historian/Commentator]

They were sort of the quiet operators and owners of the casinos.

[Historian/Local Expert]

They're considered the founding fathers of Las Vegas.

[Narrator]

They'd be popularized in films like the Godfather. Its fictional character, Mo Green, inspired by the Vegas pioneer Bugsy Siegel. Do you know who I am? I'm Mo Green. I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders.

[Local Resident/Commentator]

I was the mayor for 12 years. And I would go to every groundbreaking, and I'd start sweating. I'm scared there's gonna be an arm coming out of the desert.

[Narrator]

And so if a leaky pipe needed to be tightened permanently, just 30 miles away was Lake Mead, which could make things disappear even more efficiently than David Copperfield.

[Local Business Owner/Commentator]

Some friends of mine actually call Lake Mead Lake mafia.

[Investigator/Expert]

The.22 shot in the back of the head and placed into an oil drum is definitely all signatures of the mob.

[Narrator]

So who was the vic? Well, mob savvy citizens of Speculation Nation have their own ideas. Could it be the long gone Jay Vandermark, alleged to have skimmed from the Stardust Casino slots? Or Vegas businessman Frank Rosano, who mysteriously vanished in 1988? Or was it this dapper gent standing next to Liberace?

[Vegas Historian/Commentator]

The most likely person is a man named Johnny Pappas.

[Narrator]

What did you know about your uncle?

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

He was bigger than life. He did a lot of working with stars, and he was one of those people that everybody just loved.

[Narrator]

Patricia Haas grew up hearing that her charming Uncle Johnny, her mother's brother from Youngstown, Ohio, had moved to Nevada and was rubbing elbows with the Vegas showbiz elite. Oh, that's Sinatra and Dean Martin. And that's Sammy Davis, Jr. Sammy Davis, Jr. But Patricia didn't know what a big shot Johnny Pappas really was until she Visited Vegas in the mid-70s. Like the Copacabana scene in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, where Ray Liotta's Henry Hill gets respect from all who encounter him. Patricia saw that everyone was eager to treat Johnny just right.

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

He was just that kind of uncle, you know, he'd take you around, show you things. Everybody was, you know, hi, Johnny. Hi, Johnny. Hi, Johnny. You could just feel that everybody, you know, really respected him.

[Vegas Historian/Commentator]

By 1976, he was working out at Echo Bay Marina and Pappas was in charge of that operation.

[Local Resident/Commentator]

It was known that organized crime people would associate with that marina.

[Narrator]

Before the retreating waters forced its closure, Echo Bay was the gem of Lake Mead, and Margaret was said to have been a regular there. After finding the marina during the filming of Viva Las Vegas and during the Ballad of Cable Ho. It housed stars Jason Robards and Stella Stevens, who in the film would be called upon to portray a very different body in a very different barrel. Now, Patricia says her entire family was actually planning to move to Vegas and work for Johnny at the Echo Bay, but it was not to be. So what happened then?

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

We got a phone call on my birthday that he was missing.

[Narrator]

His wife Cheryl told you that they tried to force him off the road as he drove back from Lake Mead.

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

Yeah. And they didn't hear from him again. And all they knew was that there was a boat involved, which it turned out to be my uncle's boat.

[Vegas Historian/Commentator]

At the time of his disappearance, he was contemplating becoming a government witness.

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

And that was just. You don't do that.

[Narrator]

That's like signing a death pen warrant in 1970s Las Vegas.

[Local Resident/Commentator]

When I heard about body in a barrel being found in Lake Mead, my first thought was that it more than likely was done by Tony Spilotro, the

[Narrator]

reputed hot headed hitman. Tony Spilotro, along with his La Cosa Nostra connected frenemy Frank Rosenthal, were the ever so slightly fictionalized lead characters in Scorsese's Vegas epic Casino. And the film's mercurial Nicky Santoro was inspired by Spilotro. You only exist out here because of me.

[Local Resident/Commentator]

Tony Spilotro was an enforcer and a murderer. And if they wanted somebody killed or murdered, he was the guy.

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

He was a part of everything at that time that my uncle was a part of. And his job was to eliminate.

[Local Resident/Commentator]

Everybody says Tony did it, referring to Mr. Spilotro. I think we're trying a case in Milwaukee or something. At the time it took place

[Narrator]

in 1986, Anthony Spilotro met his demise buried in an Indiana cornfield Tony Spilotro, as you know, wound up in a ditch.

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

Yes, he did.

[Narrator]

You seem pretty busted up about that.

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

You know what, I'm just heartbroken over here over that.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

Organized crime of the mob are so much in the folklore of Vegas. The minute you hear body of the barrel, your mind instantly goes to wow. I wonder if this is connected to any type of organized crime or mobile. The fact of the matter is we're not going to know until the day that the remains are identified.

[Narrator]

And in recent days, new clues have emerged from Lake Mead that could alter the course of the case.

[Treasure Hunter/Explorer]

Suddenly, in the sand we saw this gun. Was this in fact the murder weapon? Could this solve this crime?

[Narrator]

This is where I'll sink the boat. They'll search and search for us for months, but they'll never find us. Val Kilmer's character in the 1989 film Noir Kill Me Again figured that Lake Mead's then unfathomable depths were just the thing for a cover up.

[Social Media Influencer/Explorer]

I think people have this illusion that when things sink into a lake, it evaporates into the universe and it's just gone forever.

[Narrator]

Whoever dropped that body in the barrel into Lake Mead must have thought exactly that. The subsequent discovery of a nearby gun on the shore, that got pulses racing.

[Forensic Anthropologist]

Metro Police saying tonight that a journalist found the gun near the area where a body inside a barrel was found.

[Medical Professional]

But cops don't believe the two are connected.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

Right now, the gun doesn't appear to be from the proper time period.

[Medical Professional]

Investigators were also able to rule out rumors that a.22 caliber handgun had been used in the homicide. That rumor had been fueling speculation that this was a mob. But officials familiar with the case tell ABC News that a.22 was not used in the case.

[Narrator]

Yet all the talk of murder and mobsters has fueled the fervor of others.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

After the body in the barrel was recovered, it immediately prompted many people to go out to the lake because they all wanted to see if there's other human remains they could find.

[Social Media Influencer/Explorer]

One of my subscribers messaged me on social media and said, you got to go to Lake Mead. We could find some pretty crazy stuff. Who knows what we're going to find, but it's going to be an adventure.

[Witness/Local Resident]

Some people even have the belief that there may be money buried in some of these barrels. It looks like that's an empty barrel.

[Narrator]

Thankfully, the body was found in a corroded barrel.

[Witness/Local Resident]

The people are just all talking about this. It's all over TikTok today.

[Narrator]

We want to talk about what's going on in Lake Mead. Didn't they find the second barrel? It was stuck in a mud. The barrel looked the same as the other barrel. Retired cops turned podcasters David Kohlmeyer and Danny Miner are even offering a reward for the discovery of new remains at Lake Mead. Specifically, if we can get some closure for people and get some justice. We're not telling people to touch anything. It's identify the location, notify the police. Or you could tell this guy a Vegas attorney soliciting business by asking injured while searching for dead bodies at Lake Mead. Also making no bones about it, this local shop owner selling a semi macabre tchotchka spoofing the body parts tourist market.

[Local Business Owner/Commentator]

I thought that with the lake having corpses in it that it might be some dark humor. To make Lake Mead corpse water, I developed a little mixture that looked great in a bottle. I developed the label which has two skeletons dancing around a barrel. It was just a dark joke that

[Tina Bushman]

has now gone viral.

[Local Business Owner/Commentator]

My hope is that it garners attention so more people will know about what's going on with our lake.

[Narrator]

Apart from the human remains of the day, drought and climate change have left much of this oasis with an unmade lake bed, revealing long lost artifacts, attracting treasure hunters and social media stars.

[DJ Jenner (Boat Captain/Diver)]

You get to do things that a lot of people either watch in the movies or they can only dream about.

[Narrator]

And we get to do that right

[Medical Professional]

here in Lake Mead.

[Social Media Influencer/Explorer]

Look at that piece of history.

[DJ Jenner (Boat Captain/Diver)]

That is a perfect anchor.

[Social Media Influencer/Explorer]

I spent two full days out on Lake Mead. We found a lot of stuff. Lots and lots of boat wrecks.

[Narrator]

Oh, it's a boat. Just a everywhere.

[Social Media Influencer/Explorer]

It was like a post apocalyptic scene from some sci fi movie. The button still pushes. Look at this. Ready to see the craziest boat we've seen all day. Man, it's a cigarette boat. That thing can go so fast. It was eerie. Very eerie to look around and see

[Narrator]

that these days no one knows this lake like DJ Jenner, a boat captain and pro diver. My personal lake tour features a relic newly unveiled by Receding Waters.

[DJ Jenner (Boat Captain/Diver)]

First place we're going to stop is the houseboat that everybody's talking about.

[Narrator]

This stuff is extraordinary. Like what is this over here? Just a sense of huge devastation amid it all too total ruin. Because this was underwater for decades probably, right?

[Advertiser/Voiceover]

Yeah.

[DJ Jenner (Boat Captain/Diver)]

This was somebody's boat they probably loved at one point and then just sank.

[Narrator]

DJ If I saw Gilligan and Mary Ann coming over the horizon right now, it wouldn't surprise me. Relics like this ruined houseboat draw treasure hunters from far and near. But the National Park's rules and regulations will tell you you can look, but you better not take.

[Social Media Influencer/Explorer]

Let's see what else we can find up here, guys, just to make sure that we're not going to be taking anything away from. There are opportunities to close cases and find important artifacts.

[Narrator]

One of these artifacts isn't resting on Lake Mead's dry shore. It's still submerged and frozen in time.

[Investigator/Expert]

The one that I find the most fascinating is that there's a 1948 bomber, a military plane that sunk in the lake.

[Narrator]

They carry more bombs farther and faster than any other plane in the world. How did a B29 bomber wind up in Lake Mead?

[DJ Jenner (Boat Captain/Diver)]

They just got too low and then hit the water, skipped across. There was five guys in it. Everybody got out.

[Narrator]

What's it like to see a bomber underwater?

[DJ Jenner (Boat Captain/Diver)]

It's amazing. It's so big. It's really super cool. It's a bucket list dive for a lot of people that love diving.

[Narrator]

What other kinds of things have you discovered or that you were aware of underwater that might attract our interest?

[DJ Jenner (Boat Captain/Diver)]

There's a big historical site. It's just relics from the Hoover Dam build construction materials and such. If the water level keeps going down, more barrels are going to just start popping up.

[Narrator]

Do you expect that we're going to find a guy with a bullet hole somewhere in one of those drums?

[DJ Jenner (Boat Captain/Diver)]

They found one already, so who knows?

[Narrator]

But at the lake these days, inside a barrel isn't the only place you can find a body.

[Treasure Hunter/Explorer]

The first thing that caught my eye was a very stark white rock that looks abnormal from the other rocks that we typically find out here. A big part of me did think, what if this is a human How?

[Narrator]

A shocking find brings a stunning revelation.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

In the early 70s and early 80s, the docks for the marinas were actually anchored using barrels similar to what would be the barrel that the human remains were found in.

[Vegas Historian/Commentator]

Johnny Roselli, the guy, the Chicago's representative in Las Vegas before Spilotro was killed, put into a barrel and dumped into the Atlantic Ocean. And in his case, the barrel bobbed back to the surface outside of Miami. And this was a memo that was used. It stands to reason that maybe this was catching on. And let's do the same thing here in Las Vegas.

[Narrator]

Here the barrel didn't bob up because the water it had been under wasn't there anymore. Environmental crises like drought, the warming temperatures and pressure on water supplies because of population growth, they've all shrunk. A man made lake so mighty it once made an Entire town vanish.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

I knew as a little kid there was an old town that kind of got covered up by the lake. And so growing up, you were always interested in like, would that town ever kind of come back up?

[Narrator]

The town of St. Thomas, Nevada. Wiped from the map in the 1930s by the very creation of the lake. And now taking a kind of revenge, reemerging as Mead recedes.

[Local Historian]

These shells indicate that there used to be a lot of water here. A lot of water Life.

[Narrator]

For all the frolicsome fun taking place across its 2,300 square miles, Lake Mead was designed to be a crucial water source for citizens of the soon to boom Las Vegas and the surrounding Mojave Desert areas.

[Investigator/Expert]

So when St. Thomas was officially established in 1865, there's no lake at all. It was just a few dozen families.

[Local Historian]

Right over there was the school. And it doesn't look like it now, of course, but it used to be a thriving community.

[Investigator/Expert]

The Hotel Gentry was a pretty stately building. It held some, some pretty interesting guests, including President Calvin Coolidge.

[Local Historian]

Right now we're at the Hannig Ice cream parlor in St. Thomas. Built by my great grandfather, Reinhold Hannig.

[Investigator/Expert]

This is a town with no electricity, with no running water. And so you need to find your good clean family fun. And you did that in the ice cream parlor.

[Local Historian]

Ice cream was a real luxury for any city. But to make it out here in the desert would be especially wonderful and nice.

[Narrator]

But the town's innocent existence would not last much longer.

[Investigator/Expert]

In 1928, the federal government signs the Boulder Canyon Project Act. President Calvin Coolidge is the man who signed the act. So that then seals the fate for what later happens. I'm sure the residents afterwards were like, why did we let that guy stay in our nice hotel?

[Local Historian]

The dam was built and the waters were rising. It wasn't negotiable. There was no workaround.

[Investigator/Expert]

People are leaving. But then this man, Hugh Lord, one morning in 1938 wakes up. There's a. There's water at his front door, there's water underneath his bed. And so he gets in his rowboat, he sets fire to his house, and he literally rows off into the sunset in this blaze of glory.

[Narrator]

But the ghosts of St. Thomas are not the only ones coming back.

[Local Resident/Commentator]

Breaking news. A second set of skeletal remains have been found at Lake Mead.

[Medical Professional]

Less than a week after the body in the barrel's appearance in May 2020, two sisters Lynette and Lindsey Melvin went out to the lake to paddle board. And they stumbled on something in the sand.

[Treasure Hunter/Explorer]

So Right over here, Just probably right there next to the water. We stumble upon the white rock that appeared to be like bone. Actually I think that's a scapula.

[Tina Bushman]

I just can't believe that giraffe.

[Treasure Hunter/Explorer]

And after kind of investigating a little further, moving the sand around to see where what it was, we could tell that this was absolutely remains.

[DJ Jenner (Boat Captain/Diver)]

Another body being found at Lake Mead.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

This one at Boulder beach in July,

[Narrator]

another discovery, this time made by a man swimming with his 11 year old daughter.

[Witness/Local Resident]

She came to me and said, dad, there's something in the water, floating. It looks like a body. When I went, I saw that yes, it was a torso, it was a body that was floating. I called 911 and the Rangers came.

[Local Resident/Commentator]

The fourth set of human remains have been found at Lake Mead today.

[Narrator]

A little over a week after Jesus Catalan's first discovery, he says he felt the lake calling him back. So right back to Boulder beach is where he went.

[Witness/Local Resident]

When I'm going to take a video of what I found, I crouched down. It was a femur. It was such a huge bone.

[Medical Professional]

Oh my goodness.

[Narrator]

They go, wow.

[Coroner/Forensic Expert]

Finding and discovering remains that have been there for several years is not an uncommon situation for us. As the climate changes and areas become more active with human population responding to those areas, you're going to come across remains that haven't been seen or recovered in many years. We're talking about the 1970s and on.

[Investigator/Expert]

This is the third time in just two months that remains have been found

[Climate Scientist]

here at Lake Mead. Discoveries like these becoming more and more common.

[Narrator]

By October 19, 2022, the tally of human remains found at Lake Mead has risen to seven sets in just six months.

[Historian/Local Expert]

No one expected that Lake Mead would recede the way it has. Almost as revealing ghosts of the past, not all of them victims of foul play.

[Narrator]

As a kid, Tina Bushman spent idyllic days on the water here on the family boat with her beloved father, Tom Ernt, before tragedy struck.

[Tina Bushman]

For a long time I was just angry. I was like, why my dad? Like how come you couldn't find him?

[Narrator]

How big a role did Lake Mead play in your life when you were growing up like that with your dad and your brother?

[Tina Bushman]

I think we spent every weekend that we could there. So it was my dad's favorite place ever.

[Narrator]

What do you remember about that day in 2002?

[Tina Bushman]

We called it a midnight jump, even though it wasn't really midnight, but it was really dark at the lake. And so we used to take our boat kind of in that middle of Paulville Bay and We used to jump off of it because it's really cool to jump into water that's totally dark, you know. And my dad just thought it was fun and silly. That's what we did this night. For some reason, the waves were a little bit choppier than they usually were. And so my dad was saying, you know, nobody, nobody jump in. The next thing we know, he jumps in the water and we're like, what the heck? And he's messing around, like splashing, you know, and he's like joking around, just kind of laughing. And as he was trying to swim back to the boat, he was like, hey, the boat's moving too fast.

[Narrator]

You could see his hand on the ladder.

[Tina Bushman]

I remember his like hand hitting it, like barely hitting the ladder. That was like one of my biggest memories that I like was so sad about for a long time. Was that like he barely, barely made

[Narrator]

it just that close. Yeah.

[Tina Bushman]

Yeah. We could hear him say help. We could hear him say help. And then we heard him say help. You better hurry. That was, was. That was it.

[Narrator]

Until years after her father's disappearance when Tina got a phone call. What emotions come over you as you deal with news like this?

[Tina Bushman]

We were all in shock. It had been 20 years.

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[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

My uncle was Johnny Pappas. One of those people that everybody just loved. My mom spent the rest of her life wondering what happened to him. She would never even change her phone number so that just in case he could ever call, he would have the number. And then they find a body in a barrel. Oh, my gosh. Talk about hitting somebody across the head. You know, that's such a shock.

[Narrator]

So Patricia even reached out to the Clark County Coroner's office, eager to provide her own DNA to see if it might help to ID that mysterious body in the barrel. You were ready to give your DNA to see if there was a man.

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

I didn't have anything I could do.

[Narrator]

What did they tell you when you offered to give your DNA?

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

Oh, they said they put the notes down and that was it.

[Coroner/Forensic Expert]

So, because we have to always be mindful of the fact that our budget does come from our taxpayers, if we have a good, solid link between the remains that we've recovered to the missing person's reported information at that time, then we would certainly ask for a submission.

[Narrator]

And they certainly know how to ask. Last year, near Waco, Texas, in the house where she lives with her three lively daughters and her attorney husband, Drew, Tina Buschman got a phone call that instantly took her back more than 20 years to a previous life.

[Tina Bushman]

The coroner called me and was like, are you Tina Ernt? And I was like, I haven't heard that name in a really long time.

[Narrator]

After their father disappeared into the waters here on that tragic night in 2002, his body unrecovered, Tina and her brother's lives were turned upside down, sent to live with relatives in another state. But they still imagined that someday their father would come home again.

[Tina Bushman]

I really did think, like, maybe he hit his head and doesn't remember who we are, and that's why he hasn't come. I knew that was crazy, but I guess it was like, hopefully for years.

[Narrator]

The scars of that night, the uncertainty surrounding their father's final resting place, it gnawed at Tina and her younger brother, Tom, who has a passion for mechanics just like his dad.

[Tina Bushman]

He never got to the point where he felt like he got any closure.

[Narrator]

I looked at one of his Facebook postings, and he said, I just wish I knew where you were.

[Tina Bushman]

I think maybe he just always had hoped maybe that he was still out there.

[Narrator]

Then that phone call asking for a sample of their DNA, it was so weird.

[Tina Bushman]

She was like, two, you know, ladies there on the beach and stumbled upon some remains. We think that this could be your father.

[Coroner/Forensic Expert]

We were able to narrow down to an Individual that we suspected would be good fit. From that, we were able to collect a DNA specimen from the remains that we had, as well as a person that was a direct blood relative to the decedent.

[Narrator]

What happened next?

[Tina Bushman]

She calls me and she's like, tina, it's a match. We were all in shock.

[Narrator]

What emotions come over you as you deal with news like this?

[Tina Bushman]

I'm sad for me, you know, that, like, man, this really. This really happened. Like, he's really gone, and that's really hard. But just to know that he was there, like, gives me so much peace. If he could have died anywhere, he would have chosen that because, I mean, that was his happy place.

[Narrator]

There are a lot of families out there who are desperate to know what happened to my. Yeah, relative in the 70s, what happened to this guy I knew in the 80s. Are they reaching out to you and saying, can't you take another look?

[Detective Phil Ramos]

Right. Yeah, they absolutely do. Just because a case is 30 years old and there's little evidence doesn't mean we're not going to be able to solve it.

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

That's Uncle John. It was probably the last time that we got to see him.

[Narrator]

It's been nearly half a century since alleged mob whistleblower Johnny Pappas vanished, and his niece Patricia is still troubled by her uncle's unresolved case.

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

You don't want to actually find out that your uncle is dead, but just to know that maybe there's a chance, just a chance, that I could get his remains and be able to have him cremated and put next to my mother. At least I fulfilled the promise that I made to her before she died, that I would continue to try to find out whatever happened.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

One of the most important things to me, ultimately, is that we solve our investigations. If there's a way for us to forensically solve that investigation using the DNA lab, we will do it. You have a 90% solve rate for a reason.

[Medical Professional]

So far, investigators have been able to determine that there are four separate victims from the seven sets of remains that have been found. And that's bringing to people like Tina Bushman and her brother.

[Investigator/Expert]

History has really come to life. And I think that's one thing that we need to keep in mind with everything that's recovered from the lake, is these are stories. These are human stories.

[Narrator]

The mysterious man in the barrel. His story has yet to be written, but there are major developments in two of Lake Mead's most recent discoveries. We now know the identity of a

[Patricia Haas (Niece of Johnny Pappas)]

body found at Lake Mead.

[Narrator]

And will it bring renewed hope to

[Family Member of Missing Person]

Other families, they were in the water being pounded by the wind and the waves. One of them was not going to make it.

[Narrator]

So as much of an absolute wonder as this region is, especially when it's seen from overhead, it was human need, not nature's grace, that created Lake Mead 90 years ago. Where today there's a cross to honor a missing man named Kenneth Funk, who dove in to save his wife's life on a Day in 2004.

[Family Member of Missing Person]

He knew without a doubt that one of them was not going to make it. He treaded water for as long as he could, but he knew. He even told her, honey, do not hold on to me. You hold on to me. I'm just gonna drag you down with me.

[Narrator]

When three sets of remains from the same decedent were found in 2022, Jessica Condon hoped it was her late father and gave a DNA sample to the coroner.

[Coroner/Forensic Expert]

So we did do a evaluation and determined that an individual that we were following up on as a potential lead was not a blood relative to Artisanat.

[Family Member of Missing Person]

What we have found out is so far, none of the remains are coming up as my father. If the lake doesn't give up his body, we're still okay with that.

[Narrator]

That cross paying him tribute at the site of his passing 19 years ago,

[Family Member of Missing Person]

this was our way of giving us a place to go and have him remembered.

[Lieutenant Jason Johansen]

Ultimate success ends when we're able to put clothes on that case and solve it. It would be very big deal for anybody's family if that was their loved one.

[Narrator]

The Clark county coroner's office able to put a name to two more deceased people announcing that the remains which Jesus Catalan found at Boulder beach have been identified as 52 year old Claude Russell Penzinger, who disappeared in July of 1998. Another body found at Calville Bay, determined by the coroner's office in late March to be a man who had last been seen more than 50 years ago.

[Coroner/Forensic Expert]

This individual was reported as a drowning and it was a witnessed event that was very well documented. Donald Smith, and he was 39 years of age at the time of his disappearance.

[Climate Scientist]

I think looking at Lake Mead now definitely should cause people some concern and should cause them to think about how we should be using water effectively in a very dry part of the country.

[Narrator]

The transformation of this lake allowing Tina Buschman the chance to say a final farewell to her father. Tom.

[Tina Bushman]

I hope that he's proud when he looks down. It was really hard, but I've learned a lot and I've grown a lot and we're doing Great. I remember the lake being full 20 years ago, and as we drove down, there was no water. And now you look at the lake and you don't even recognize it.

[Narrator]

Tina able to have a family ceremony here to celebrate his life at the waters he loved so much.

[Tina Bushman]

Tell people. I'm like, don't give up. Don't give up hope. You know, like, we. You don't know if they'll be found, but if they are, that'll be really nice. But until then, you know, don't give up hope, because you never know.

[News Reporter]

Well, as you just saw tonight, the lake continues to give up its secrets. And with that resolution for some, families will continue to follow developments in this investigation. In the meantime, that is our program for tonight. Thank you for watching. I'm David Muir. And from all of us here at 2020 in ABC News, good night.

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[Narrator]

Com.