The Mohave County Sheriff’s office has identified remains found by hikers almost 50 years ago near a lake on the border of Arizona and Nevada.
The man was determined to be Luis Alonso Paredes from El Salvador, who was likely working in the Las Vegas area at the time of his death.
The remains were found on Nov. 23, 1976, in a desert area just east of Lake Mohave in Arizona.
While fingerprints were collected during the initial autopsy, the case shortly went cold. It was revived in October by comparing the fingerprints to all available records, which lead to the identification.
Authorities have not been able to locate any relatives of Paredes, who may have been employed by the Coast Guard and Navy before his death. The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office asked the public to contact them with any possible information about the case.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, an autopsy at the time revealed that the victim was likely in his early to mid-30s and had been shot in the head at close range.
