The bodies of almost three dozen people have been dragged from bayous around Houston this year, with a shocking moment before Christmas once again sparking concerns that a serial killer walks among us.
Three more corpses were discovered in a matter of days, with Texas police recovering bodies from the Buffalo and Brays Bayous surrounding the city between December 22 and 24. Almost immediately, social media connected the grim finds to a purported repeat killer.
But officials have done their best to squash these rumours, despite 34 people having been found dead in the bodies of water in the past 12 months alone.
Speaking to local media, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said: “There is nothing, nothing, and I want to be crystal clear, to indicate that there is someone operating here as a serial killer,” in a one-on-one interview with KPRC 2. “There are many reasons for these deaths. None of them are a serial killer.”
Teare pointed to three major issues that the state is increasingly grappling with as a source of the bodies, while shooting down further hypotheticals about a potential Houston serial killer.
The Harris County prosecutor said that bodies end up in the bayous as a result of poor mental health, homelessness, and substance misuse, with people more likely to end up in the water as a result of their precarious living situations rather than foul play.
“We have a massive homeless problem. We have massive mental health and addiction problem. All of those things are contributing to a lot of the bodies that we’re discovering,” he said.
But local resident Erick Cortez spoke to ABC to share his concerns about a killer on the loose after the discovery of a 34th corpse, saying: “There must be someone out there, no?
“Because it’s ridiculous that so many people are dying in the bayou, I think it’s unfortunate that they haven’t found the person.”
However, despite the number of people being found in the bayous, the police’s total is actually one less than the number found in 2024. According to city data, around 200 bodies have been recovered over the past nine years, with this year having the second-highest total.
Around half of this number are believed to have drowned, while 40 percent were categorized as suicides, homicides, and deaths by blunt force injury. Many of those later identified came from the city’s homeless community.
The Harris County DA’s woes echoed Houston’s Mayor Whitmire’s comments in September after the number of bodies reached two dozen, when he stated: “We do not have any evidence that there is a serial killer loose.
“What do you think happens when a homeless person dies from an illness, diabetes or cancer? What do you think his friends and associates do? They do not take him to a funeral home.
“Unfortunately, the homeless, when they pass, often end up in the bayou.”