SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The father of a South San Francisco man who has been missing for 20 years was identified on Wednesday as one of the bodies exposed in Lake Mead.
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Tom Erndt was 10 years old when his father, Thomas Erndt, drowned in Lake Mead in 2002 — a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, SFGATE reported.
Erndt's family attempted to get in touch with emergency services, but their father had already slipped below the surface. A collective effort was put together to find Thomas, but his body was never recovered, the newspaper said. He was declared dead at 42.
In early May of 2022, skeletal remains were found on the shoreline of Lake Mead as the reservoir receded from the worsening drought. The South San Francisco local reached out to the coroner's office, sending in a DNA sample from him and his sister. On Wednesday, the coroner's office confirmed it was a match, the bones belonged to Thomas Erndt.
"Today august 23 my sister messaged me and said it was a match and they found my dad," Tom Erndt wrote in an Instagram post. "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 great full 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."
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