Remains of man shot in the head at close range near Lake Mojave 47 years ago are identified as El Salvadorian who was working in Las Vegas
- Remains of a man shot in the head at close range were found near Mojave Lake in 1976
- Officials identified the victim Tuesday as Luis Alonso Paredes of El Salvador
- Detectives are looking for more information about the victim or any family members
Human remains found near a lake on the border of Arizona and Nevada have been identified, 47 years after hikers discovered the body in a shallow grave.
The man was identified as Luis Alonso Paredes, who was from El Salvador but may have been living or working in the Las Vegas area at the time of his death, the Mohave County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday.
The remains were discovered on November 23, 1976, in a remote desert area of northwestern Arizona, about six miles east of the Katherine Landing area of Lake Mohave.
According to the sheriff's office, an autopsy at the time showed the victim was likely in his early 30s and had been shot in the head at close range.
But despite authorities collecting fingerprints during the autopsy, the case quickly fell apart and the victim remained nameless for almost five decades.
A sketch shows the victim whose remains were found 47 years ago near Lake Mojave, now identified as Luis Alonso Paredes of El Salvador
Lake Mojave (above) is a reservoir on the Colorado River between the Hoover Dam and the Davis Dam
A composite of the victim's likely likeness was developed by the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, but did not lead to identification.
The sheriff's office said in a news release Tuesday that it revived its investigation in October by comparing the fingerprints to all available fingerprint data, leading to the identification.
The national fingerprint database that identified Paredes was not available at the time his body was discovered, the agency said.
But authorities say they have been unable to locate any relatives of Paredes, who may have served in the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy in the San Francisco area for about a decade before his death.
The sheriff's office asked the public to contact them with any information about the case or that could help them locate relatives of Paredes.
Lake Mojave is a reservoir on the Colorado River between the Hoover Dam and the Davis Dam.
The lake is part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and Katherine Landing is one of three resort areas on the lake.