Coroner: Lake Mead body found in 2022 was 1974 drowning

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Human remains found last October on the shoreline of shrinking Lake Mead were from a North Las Vegas man who drowned in April 1974, authorities in Las Vegas said Tuesday.

Donald P. Smith was 39 when he was reported missing in the waters of the Colorado River reservoir behind Hoover Dam, the Clark County coroner’s office said in a statement. The identification was made through DNA, and his death has been ruled accidental.