Tag: serial killers

Staggering data reveals almost 200 bodies have been pulled from Houston bayous – as officials insist there is no serial killer

Bone-chilling data has revealed nearly 200 corpses have been pulled from Houston’s bayous in the last eight years prompting terrified locals to demand answers.

Officials continue to insist that the alarmingly high figure is not the work of a serial killer.

But since 2017, 189 dead bodies have been found in the Texas city’s swampy waters according to Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office records obtained by KPRC 2. 

Of these deaths, 17 were classified as murders with 75 deaths marked as ‘unexplained’. 

‘That’s definitely worthy of further investigation,’ Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and criminal justice professor at Penn State Lehigh Valley, told the Daily Mail. 

Fears of a serial killer were ignited in late September after officials announced that five dead bodies had been recovered over the course of just five days.

On Friday The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences said that the causes of all but one of deaths still remain undetermined, per CW39. The death of Arnulfo Alvarado was ruled an accidental drowning mixed with the effects of methamphetamine.

Since the start of the year, the death toll has risen to 27 according to the data obtained by KPRC 2.

The new figures also indicate that the most common age of decedents was 30-39, with a quarter of the bodies pulled matching this demographic. 

 ‘Just the sheer number of cases, the fact that a few of them could be connected, I think that the percentage of something being connected – at least one or two of them – is pretty high,’ Giacalone said.

He urged Houston investigators to explore the possibility of ‘companion cases, or dare I say, patterns,’ among the deaths. 

Although he added that he wouldn’t want to ‘go out and over-speculate on anything’.

Among the unexplained deaths is that of Jade Elise McKissic, 20, who was a student at the University of Houston.

McKissic was last seen alive leaving a bar to get a drink at a gas station. She left her phone behind, the Houston Police homicide division said.

Her body was found in Brays Bayou on September 15, four days later, at around 10am. Police said there were no signs of trauma or foul play.

Of all the deaths, 39 percent have undetermined causes, while 24 percent were attributed to accidental drowning. 

Thirteen percent of them have been ruled suicides, nine percent were deemed homicides and sic percent were reportedly caused by accidents other than drowning.

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Murder suspect who killed himself in jail, linked to disappearance of TV anchor, was ‘possible serial killer’: sheriff

An EMT who died by suicide in his jail cell and was named a person of interest in the disappearance of a TV anchor was found responsible for the 2006 killing of a Wisconsin woman, according to authorities, who suspect he may have been a serial killer.

Christopher Revak, who killed himself in 2009 inside a Missouri jail cell, would be charged with the murder of 21-year-old Deidre Harm if he were still alive, according to a letter posted on Facebook from Wood County District Attorney Jonathan Barnett.

“I consider this case closed,” Barnett wrote.

“I believe I had enough to charge and, if Mr. Revak were still alive, win at trial,” he said in the memorandum.

Harm, a single mother in Wisconsin Rapids, disappeared on June 10, 2006, after going out to a bar with her friends.

Revak, a former EMT and Wisconsin native, had been visiting family in the area when the young mother vanished, authorities said.

Her remains were found five months later in a wooded area five miles away from the bars downtown.

“This may provide some closure for many, but won’t bring Deidre back,” the Wood County Sheriff’s Office and Wisconsin Rapids Police said in a joint statement.

“Our thoughts and prayers will always be with Deidre’s family.”

Revak died by suicide in his jail cell in July 2009, only one day after being charged with second-degree murder for the death of mom of three Rene Williams.

Williams, 26, was last seen in a Missouri watering hole where she worked as a bartender. Revak had also been in the bar that evening, FOX 9 reported.

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Democrat mayor accused of ‘gaslighting’ entire city after dismissing claims serial killer is behind dozens of bodies pulled from bayous

The family of a man found dead in the Houston bayous has accused the city’s mayor of ‘gaslighting’ after the Democrat dismissed almost 50 bodies pulled from the waters in 21 months as a symptom of ‘homelessness‘.

John Whitmire rejected growing fears of a serial killer dumping bodies in the Texas waterways after dozens were found dead over the past two years.

One death that has baffled investigators is Kenneth Cutting Jr, 22, who disappeared after a night out in downtown Houston in June last year. 

Cousin Lauren Freedman said his body was found by police in the Buffalo Bayou a few days later, about a mile and a half upstream from where his roommates last saw him alive. 

The cause and manner of the young man’s death were undetermined by the autopsy which found no traces of physical injury or drug use. 

Cutting is just one of dozens of people that have been found dead in the waterways over the past few years. 

So far in 2025, police have confirmed 16 were pulled from Houston’s bayous, but records from the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences indicate that number is even higher, at 24. 

Six of those were found over the course of just two weeks in September.  

Police have also confirmed that throughout 2024, there was a total of 24 bodies recovered from the waterways. 

All of these deaths have caused Houston residents to speculate that there may be a serial killer on the loose, but mayor Whitmire has publicly disputed those fears. 

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The Freeway Phantom murdered six girls and was never caught….so why did the case barely make headlines?

He was the faceless predator who hunted children on the streets of Washington D.C., snatching, raping, and strangling at least six little girls during his 17-month reign of terror.

The serial killer, who called himself the Freeway Phantom, tortured and murdered his young victims – one just ten years old – before dumping their bodies on the side of the freeway. 

From April 1971 to September 1972, he terrorized the nation’s capital and to this day has never been identified. His heinous crimes should place him among America’s most notorious serial murderers: Son of Sam, the Zodiac killer, the Boston Strangler or now the Gilgo Beach killer. 

Yet outside of D.C., very few people have even heard of the mystery murderer or his killing spree.  

The reason, investigators now admit, is as disturbing as the murders themselves: the killer’s victims were poor black girls from neglected neighborhoods, and didn’t matter to law enforcement at the time. 

‘Those black girls didn’t mean anything to anybody – I’m talking about on the police department,’ Tommy Musgrove, who had once headed the D.C. homicide unit, told the Washington Post in 2018.

‘If those girls had been white, they would have put more manpower on it, there’s no doubt about that.’

Now more than half a century after the murders America chose to forget, the case has been dragged into the spotlight thanks to a podcast, Monster: Freeway Phantom, which explores the shocking failures of the investigation.

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Residents take matters into own hands and launch ‘Scooby-Doo’ hunt for ‘serial killer’ after 22 bodies found

Houston residents launched their own ‘Scooby-Doo’ style investigations to find an unconfirmed ‘serial killer’ after the discovery of six bodies since September 15 bringing the total found in the city’s bayous area to 22 this year.

Rumors of a mystery mass murderer came to a peak in the community in late September after officials announced that five dead bodies had been found over a five-day period.

Police said that had brought Houston’s total for the year to 14, but KPRC-TV reported using medical examiner records that the real number for 2025 was actually 22. 

Various bayous scattered around the city were listed as their places of death.

This latest development came as Houston locals launched their own far-fetched efforts to track down the supposed serial killer.

TikTok user Darius Stcyr said: ‘Let’s set up a trap. As you know, we have a serial killer on the loose.’

He continued: ‘Just the thought that could possibly be my baby girl one day [who] gets snatched up and found in a bayou. That really bothers me, you know? 

‘The police is clearly having a problem doing their job. I’m not understanding after the first body. Why aren’t there people staking out and watching?’ 

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Killer’s Death A Cover-Up? Investigators Reopen Cold Case…

Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison is questioning whether notorious serial killer Herb Baumeister’s 1996 death was actually suicide, reopening one of America’s most disturbing cold cases that authorities prematurely closed nearly three decades ago.

Coroner Challenges Decades-Old Death Ruling

Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison has publicly questioned the circumstances surrounding Herb Baumeister’s 1996 death in Canada, which was officially ruled a suicide. Jellison’s renewed investigation focuses on whether law enforcement adequately examined all aspects of Baumeister’s death before declaring the case closed. The coroner’s skepticism stems from the abrupt halt of the investigation immediately following Baumeister’s death, despite thousands of unidentified human remains at Fox Hollow Farm. This represents a concerning pattern where justice is denied simply because a suspect dies before trial.

Massive Crime Scene Reveals Investigation Failures

Fox Hollow Farm in Westfield, Indiana, contains the second-largest collection of unidentified human remains in the United States, exceeded only by the World Trade Center site. Baumeister allegedly killed numerous men throughout the 1990s, with only eight victims officially identified before the investigation ceased. The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office now uses advanced forensic genealogy through GenGenies to match DNA from bone fragments to living relatives across the nation. This technological breakthrough exposes how poorly the original investigation served victims’ families, who deserved thorough identification efforts regardless of the suspect’s fate.

Modern Technology Delivers Overdue Justice

Jellison’s office has successfully identified two additional victims using DNA analysis and genealogy techniques unavailable in the 1990s, with three more identifications pending verification. GenGenies provides these specialized forensic services at no cost, demonstrating the private sector’s commitment to solving cold cases abandoned by government agencies. The renewed investigation leverages cutting-edge technology to provide closure for families who waited nearly thirty years for answers. This progress highlights how institutional accountability and modern forensic methods can resurrect cases that bureaucratic inertia left to gather dust.

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Sixth body found in Houston bayou leaving Texas city on edge

Fears that a serial killer is on the loose in Houston were raised after a sixth body was pulled from a bayou in a little over a week. 

A staggering 15 bodies have been found in the Buffalo Bayou throughout this year, five of which were discovered in the last 10 days in the Texas city. 

The sixth body was found Thursday night near the University of Houston, when several people riding scooters reported seeing the body floating under a bridge. 

The corpse has not been identified, but the Houston Police Department confirmed that the body was determined to be female. 

Lieutenant A. Khan told Fox26Houston that an investigation into the death is still ongoing, and said it is unclear how the woman ended up in the water. 

Khan also noted that there are several homeless encampments in the area near to where the body was found which is prone to flooding, and said homeless people near the water often end up in bayous when they pass away. 

The chilling discoveries sparked a social media frenzy as locals feared a serial killer may be at large, but Texas authorities have attempted to downplay the repeat instances. 

Officials have not yet identified all those found in recent days, but named Jade ‘Sage’ McKissic, 20, as one of the bodies found in the bayou in the last week.  

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Austin, Texas: Over Three Dozen Bodies Found in Lake Since 2022, Prompting Fears of Serial Killer

Suicides, simple accidents, a deadly combination of alcohol and deep water — or a clever serial killer on the loose in the Texas state capitol?

That’s the question haunting Austin, Texas locals after the dead body count in a reservoir named Lady Bird Lake climbed to 38 recovered corpses since 2022 when another man’s body was pulled from its waters last month.

The Austin Police Department (APD) told Fox News Digital that detectives don’t suspect foul play, and the department is working to determine whether the body recovered is a 17-year-old kayaker reported missing.

But the discovery of yet another dead body has reignited fears that a serial killer is hunting male victims in Austin and disposing their bodies in or around the lake. The reservoir was first created in the 1960s as a cooling pond for a power plant but is now used primarily for recreation and flood control.

Local authorities downplay the possibility of foul play.

However, Dr. Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychiatrist and expert trial witness, told Fox News Digital that the theory can’t be so easily dismissed.

“The denials by law enforcement and other authorities that these cases are murders or the work of a serial killer are premature,” she said. “They don’t want the public to panic about a possible serial killer, so they are making light of all the deaths.”

According to data obtained by Fox 7, of the nearly three dozen bodies found, 30 have reportedly been men, with approximately 60 percent between 30 and 49 years old. Fox 7 reported:

“In the past three years, the causes of death have been mainly attributed to accidental drownings. Second is suicide, as well as drug overdoses, and natural causes. Only one case has been ruled a murder; about half a dozen of these cases remain unknown.”

Lieberman said such statistics often don’t tell the whole story:

One cannot rule out that a so-called ‘accidental’ drowning isn’t the result of a murderer unless there were witnesses. Murderers can use drowning as their [modus operandi]. Similarly, suicides must be proven, not just assumed if someone has been depressed.

The psychiatrist added that date rape drugs can render even a man easy prey for a thief or a killer, citing water as an attractive way to dispose of a body:

Water can cause decomposition of the body and can wash away evidence, from fingerprints to DNA. If the water has movement, such as a river or stream, it can propel the body far from the actual scene of the crime, making it more complicated to find the killer. Some killers choose water-based crime scenes with the hopes that their murder will be misconstrued as drowning, which can make it harder, because it can be difficult to differentiate drowning from murder.

In a 2023 statement, Fox Digital reported, APD tried to dispense of public fears that a serial killer was targeting men in the area. The department cited alcohol mixed with a large body of water as the culprit, with the majority of deaths occurring after the surrounding park’s closing time.

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Florida serial killer praises Trump in final words before execution

A suspected serial killer once scrutinized for a possible link to the O.J. Simpson case that riveted the nation in the 1990s was executed Thursday in Florida for the murder of a woman found dead in a Tampa motel room.

Glen Rogers, 62, received a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke and was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m., authorities said. He was convicted in Florida of the 1995 murder of Tina Marie Cribbs, a 34-year-old mother of two he had met at a bar.

He also had drawn a separate death sentence in California for the 1995 strangulation killing of Sandra Gallagher, a mother of three whom he had met at a bar in Van Nuys in that state. That killing came weeks before the Cribbs murder. Rogers was stopped after a highway chase in Kentucky while driving Cribbs’ car soon after her death.

In a final statement, Rogers thanked his wife, who visited him earlier in the day at the prison, according to visitor logs. He also somewhat cryptically said that “in the near future, your questions will be answered” without going into detail. He also said, “President Trump, keep making America great. I’m ready to go.” Then the lethal injection began, and he lay quietly through the procedure.

The entire execution took just 16 minutes. Once it began, Rogers hardly moved, only lying still with his mouth slightly open. At one point, a staff member grasped him by the shoulders, shook him and yelled, “Rogers, Rogers” to see if he was conscious. No family members of the Florida victim spoke to the press afterwards.

Rogers was named as a suspect but never convicted in several other slayings around the country, once telling police he had killed about 70 people. He later recanted that statement, but had been the subject of documentaries, including one from 2012 called “My Brother the Serial Killer” that featured his brother Clay and a criminal profiler who had corresponded extensively with Rogers.

The documentary raised questions about whether Rogers could have been responsible for the 1994 stabbing deaths of Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.

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Fears of New US Serial Killer After Eighth Death in String of Peaceful Towns

Social media users fear that a serial killer is on the loose in New England after police pronounced a woman dead in Massachusetts on Tuesday.

Between March and April, three Northeastern states have reported the discovery of human remains, most of them belonging to women, according to Fox News.

This latest incident in Springfield, Massachusetts, where police responded to a call about an unresponsive woman found near a bike path, marked the eighth death that internet sleuths have attributed to a supposed killer.

It is unclear if the woman died before police arrived, but the Springfield Police Department revealed that she was dead shortly after they arrived on the scene.

While SPD has not yet determined a cause of death, the woman’s demise has fanned the flames of the ongoing rumors.

The rumors reportedly originated on a Facebook group called “New England Serial Killer,” which is changing its name due to Facebook policy. The group has more than 66,000 members.

Before this incident, four sets of remains — in different stages of decomposition — were reported in Connecticut, one in Rhode Island, and now three in Massachusetts, according to Fox News.

“The first thing that strikes me as curious is the fact that seven sets of remains have been found over the span of two months,” Peter Valentin, chair of the Forensic Science Department at the University of New Haven, told Fox News. “That in and of itself is rather curious. It’s certainly a lot to find in a little. It’s a large number of human remains to find in a short period of time.”

While the bodies were discovered over two months, each had decomposed to different degrees of severity, indicating the deaths had happened much further apart.

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