A third body was found in a dry lake near Las Vegas

The National Park Service said in a statement that authorities were alerted by a witness who made the gruesome discovery at the swimming beach site on Monday afternoon.

According to images broadcast by local TV station Fox 5, the human remains were near the shore, just above the surface of the water.

Rangers went to the scene and extricated the body, leaving it to the Clark County Medical Examiner to determine the cause of death, the agency said, without providing further details on the body’s condition.

Two bodies have already been removed since May, which recently fell to a historic low.

One of these bodies in particular caught the attention of police and the public: the skeleton of a man who had been shot in the head, stuffed in a barrel, and dumped at the bottom of the lake about 40 years ago.

Based on the personal effects found on the body, Las Vegas police estimated the murder to be in the late 1970s or early 1980s, a period when the underworld was especially active in the sports capital.

The victim has not yet been officially identified.

At the time of the discovery, police predicted more bodies would be exposed as the level of Lake Mead dropped.

Built along the course of the Colorado River, the largest reservoir in the United States, Lake Mead reached an elevation of 365 meters above sea level. Its lowest level since it was filled in the 1930s.

The lake is currently receding one foot per week.