CENTRAL TEXAS — In a 25 News Exclusive, months after a Central Texas woman got the call she never thought would come, her family's tragedy has come full circle.
In October 2022, 25 News reported how the major drought out West caused the water level at Lake Mead to drop to a historic low.
Paddleboarders stumbled upon what they thought was a rock, but to their surprise, it ended up being a skeleton.
A DNA match would later confirm, they found the remains of Thomas Erndt.
He drowned in the lake in 2002.
Erndt's teenage daughter was there when he went under.
Fast forward two decades and Tina Bushman now lives in Lorena, right outside Waco.
Bushman told 25 News in an exclusive interview, her dad's final wishes were to be cremated and "thrown in the lake, which is kind of ironic," Bushman said.
And that's exactly what they did.
On February 11, the family got together at Lake Mead outside Las Vegas for a memorial, to spread Erndt's ashes on what would have been his 64th birthday.
Bushman describes the lake as her father's happy place.
"Brings me a lot of peace," Bushman told 25 News.
"Because that's where my dad loved to be and so it reminds me of him and how happy he was there."
Erndt's bones were the fifth set of human remains found in the lake in 2022.
Experts believe more bodies could turn up if the water keeps drying up.
The Erndt family's personal tragedy made national headlines.
25 News was the first to report the Central Texas connection.
To watch our original coverage of the discovery of Erndt's bones, click here.
