Metropolis of Houston
Houston Mayor John Whitmire stated there isn’t any proof of a serial killer working in Houston, shutting down a conspiracy principle propagated on social media, within the wake of a number of useless our bodies being pulled from native bayous within the final week.
“There is no such thing as a proof that there’s a serial killer free on the streets in Houston, Texas,” Whitmire stated in a Tuesday afternoon press convention. “If there was, you’d hear it from me first.”
Whitmire’s feedback on Tuesday, which he made standing alongside members of the Houston Police Division, together with Chief J. Noe Diaz, Jr., refuted social media hypothesis surrounding the deaths. He attributed the hypothesis to sensationalism.
“We do have challenges with public security, it is one of many causes I ran for mayor, however a serial killer on the free shouldn’t be one among our challenges in the present day because it pertains to public security,” Whitmire stated.
Between Sept. 15 and 20, authorities discovered 5 useless our bodies in several bayous round Houston, together with Buffalo and Brays Bayou. Just one has been publicly recognized as 20-year-old Jade McKissic, a College of Houston scholar, and police stated they don’t suspect foul play.
RELATED: Foul play not suspected in demise of College of Houston scholar present in Brays Bayou, police say
On Tuesday, Houston Police, too, refuted the serial killer principle, noting that, whereas they’re awaiting medical examinations and identification of the useless our bodies, they don’t consider any of the deaths have been related.
“There’s no proof, and I repeat, no proof, to recommend that any of those incidents are related,” Chief Diaz stated. “For us as an company, rumors stir worry and nervousness in our communities. It’s necessary to depend on verified data and investigations.”
Houston Police Captain Salam Zia stated the person who drowned on Saturday, the newest demise, has been recognized, however {that a} next-of-kin has not been notified. Apart from that particular person and McKissic, not one of the different our bodies have been recognized by authorities.
Chief Diaz confirmed that 14 our bodies have been recovered from native bayous in 2025, to date.
That has not stopped some social media customers from speculating on the circumstances, together with some who cite misinformation and speculate that there’s a serial killer in Houston.
“Serial killers are very uncommon,” Kim Rossmo, a prison justice professor at Texas State College, instructed Houston Public Media. “We additionally know that drowning homicides are additionally extremely uncommon … drowning has occurred greater than folks understand. You get good climate, you get entry to water, and there’s going to be extra exercise like that.”
A analysis examine from Texas State College, which Rossmo collaborated on, analyzed 20 years’ price of information on drownings in Woman Chicken Lake in Austin. The same spike in publicized circumstances of drownings there led to a social media conspiracy principle of a so-called “Rainey Avenue Ripper,” named for a standard location of the drownings.
That analysis examine discovered no proof of a serial killer working in Austin. Though the data coming from police on the Houston bayou drownings is preliminary, and Rossmo had not particularly analyzed the latest Houston knowledge, he solid doubt on the concept of a serial killer.
“A number of that is social media,” he stated. “Social media shouldn’t be concerning the reality. It’s about incentivizing clicks, consideration, generally cash, publicity, even fame.”
On Tuesday, Chief Diaz didn’t instantly reply whether or not cameras would or could possibly be put in alongside the greenways surrounding the bayous, as an alternative urging a message of warning when touring across the bayous.
Mayor Whitmire was additionally requested about security options probably being added to the bayous and indicated that whereas some bayous have barricades, he did not “know of a failsafe approach, when bayous are such part of our life-style, in the environment, apart from everybody must be sensible, we should always look out for one another.”
