Photo: John Locher/AP/Shutterstock

Human remains discovered last summer at Lake Mead near Las Vegas have been identified as a 52-year-old man missing since the late 1990s.

The Clark County Coroner’s Office said the skeletal remains of Claude Russell Pensinger of Las Vegas were found in pieces on July 25, Aug. 6 and then Aug. 16 near the shoreline of Boulder Beach at Lake Mead.

The coroner could not determine a cause or manner of death.

According to theLasVegasReview-Journal, Pensinger was fishing around the Boulder Beach area at the time of his July 14, 1998, disappearance.

As the waters of Lake Mead have receded during an unprecedented drought, human remains have been found on at least six occasions since May 2022.

Mark Henle/The Republic/USA TODAY NETWORK

Officials investigate human skeletal remains found at Swim Beach, Aug. 6, 2022, on Lake Mead, Nevada. It’s the fourth time remains have been found at the lake since May.

On May 7, 2022, two sisters, Lynette and Lindsey Melvin, discovered the remains of 42-year-old Thomas Erndt, who had reportedly drowned in the lake on Aug. 2, 2002 while on a boating excursion with his family.

Six days earlier, on May 1, boaters found the remains of a man who had been stuffed into a barrel in a case believed to be connected to mob activity. His cause of death was a gunshot wound.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department detectivesbelievethe victim was killed some time in the mid-1970s to early ’80s, based on the clothing and footwear the victim was found with.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

In addition to the skeletal remains found at Lake Mead, aWorld War II-era boatwas also spotted halfway out of the water in July.

source: people.com