Another Body Pulled from Texas Bayou as Serial Killer Fears Intensify

Houston is on edge again. Another body. has been pulled from one of the city's. bayou, sparking new fears online of a. so-called bayou killer. Police say there. is no serial offender at large, but with. social media buzzing and multiple deaths. this year, questions are just mounting. We are going to get to the bottom of. what is happening in Houston's waterways. with a former FBI and CIA agent. Welcome. to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. [Music].

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gambling industry to seek justice and. potential compensation. So, if you or a. loved one has struggled with addiction. or financial hardship or mental health. issues due to sports betting apps, then. visit gambling lawsuits.com/sidebar. to take a short quiz and check your. eligibility to file a claim. We're back. on Sidebar asking the same chilling. question that we faced the last time. this story made headlines. Is there a. serial killer in Houston? Social media. is buzzing again after yet another body. was discovered in a local waterway this.

week. Police maintain there is no. evidence of a serial killer on the. loose, but speculation online. It shows. no sign of slowing. And can you blame. them? Some have already dubbed the. mysterious figure the Bayou Killer. Honestly, it reads like the opening. scene of a true crime documentary. But I. will tell you, for Houston residents, it's a frightening reality. Maybe not of. a serial killer per se, but it's a scary. thought about what may be happening. here. Just when the rumors seem to be. quieting down a little bit, what. happens? Another body turns up. This is.

reignited fear and speculation across. this city. That's right. this week, for. at least the 16th time this year. And. just weeks after a cluster of. discoveries sparked a city-wide panic, Houston police pulled another body from. the waters of White Oak Bayou. This is a. chilling development that has everyone. asking the same question all over again. What is happening? What is really. happening in Houston? What is happening.

in these bayus? Now, here's a situation. that set the internet on fire. Okay. In. less than two weeks last month, six. bodies were pulled from different bayou. around Houston. The timeline was very. tight. The numbers really alarming that. it was almost impossible not to try to. connect the dots here. Social media did. just that. There were viral Tik Toks and. Instagram posts speculating about a. serial killer on the loose. But from day. one, city leaders and police, they've. been adamant that there is no evidence.

of a serial killer. But I want to. rewind. I want to break down exactly how. we got here to try to make sense. It all. started in midepptember when the first. body was found on the morning of. September 15th in Brazou. She was. identified as 21-year-old Jade McKis, a. University of Houston student who had. gone missing after leaving a Midtown. bar. Now, investigators said. preliminarily, there were no signs of. foul play. But then, just hours later. that same day, another body was. recovered from Green's Bayou. He was.

identified as 43-year-old Rodney Ricardo. Chapman. The very next day, September. 16th, a third person, 24y old Seth. Joseph Hansen, was found in White Oak. Bayou. Two days after that, on September. 18th, a fourth body was discovered in. Buffalo Bayou. He was 63-year-old Arnulo. Alvarado. And then on September 20th, a. fifth body was pulled from Buffalo. Bayou. That victim was 66-year-old. Michael Andrea Rice. The sixth body. found on September 26th in Buffalo Bayou. downtown, initially unidentified. And at.

the time, the medical examiner asked for. the public's help in identifying her, describing her as a black woman, under. 30 years old, about 5 foot three, 120. lbs, short black hair, widow's peak. She. was found wearing a black and beautiful. t-shirt and jeans, had a distinctive 888. tattoo on her wrist. According to the. Houston Chronicle, this body has now. been identified as Michaela Miller, though her age remains unknown at this. point. So, five bodies, five days, and a.

sixth just days later. So, obviously, it. was reported that the city was buzzing. with both fear and speculation. And what. happened in response? Mayor John. Whitmire and Police Chief No Diaz held a. press conference to address the rumors. headon. That was back on September 23rd. >> We do not have any evidence that there. is a serial. killer loose in Houston, Texas. Let me. say that again. There is no evidence. that there is a serial killer loose on.

the streets of Houston. If there was, you would hear it from me first. >> He called the social media speculation. false and frustrating. Chief Diaz and. homicide captain Salam Zia then walked. through the facts. Their dive team had. recovered the bodies, but they double. down on the mayor's claims that these. cases are not connected. There's no. evidence, and I repeat, no evidence to. suggest that any of these incidents are. connected.

In all of the five incidents, the. medical examiner's office will determine. the cause of death. The investigation. into these incidents is pending the. determination of the ME's office. For us. as an agency, rumors. uh stir fear and anxiety in our. communities. It's important to rely on verified. information and investigations. >> And Captain Zia emphasized that their. job was to follow the science and the. evidence and not social media theories.

So to help us understand the psychology. behind this panic, we actually spoke. with criminologist Dr. Debbie Goodman on. a previous episode of Sidebar, and she. explained why these theories spread so. quickly. First and foremost, the topic. in and of itself of murder is so. mysterious to people, right? As we know, it it becomes very intriguing, very. fascinating. So, as soon as somebody. thinks that there's any category of. murder, whether a double homicide,

quadruple, serial murder, mass murder, family based, school-based, workplacebased, it really captures the. attention. Now in terms of the. investigators themselves, they're really. looking for fact patterns first. They. need to identify who are these victims. Is there any commonality? Are they of a. similar demographic? Right? So we would. start there. And then the victimology is. so important because we also want to. look at the fact patterns. When we say.

fact patterns, when it comes to. investigations, we're really just. talking about the five W's and the H. the who, what, when, where, why, and. how. So, we always start there with any. type of murder case. But this whole idea. of fascination and people really. gravitating toward this type of case. where we have bodies in a river and. immediately people think, well, clearly. it's got to be serial murder. But Jesse, part of what I do is I look at data.

analytics as a criminologist and serial. murders in our modern-day society is. really not as common as let's say. decades ago. So the real concern today. is actually mass murders. Social media. really drives people's perspective now. Is it fact or is it fiction? That's. really up to the individual to. determine. But again, because we know. that any category of murder is so. fascinating that people in 60 seconds or.

less will read the post, see the. headline, listen to, you know, a blog, a. podcast, and make a determination. Now, they're looking for how many likes, how. many reposts, and all of a sudden, in a. 60-second window, a decision has been. made. >> Now, she urged caution, trusting the. investigators to do their work. noted. that in the modern age with surveillance. and technology, it is incredibly. difficult for a serial offender to.

operate without leaving a digital trail. So, with the official word from the city. essentially being this is tragic but. unconnected, this is when the story. began to kind of fade from the. headlines. But the bayou have spoken. again. This past Wednesday on October. 8th, the pattern repeated. Just after 8. am, callers reported a body in White Oak. Bayou. Houston police, their dive team, they responded, recovering the body of a. male. And police reported there were no. obvious signs of foul play. And and as.

with all the others, the final word on. how this person died rests with the. Harris County Institute of Forensic. Sciences. Mayor Whitmer was again quick. to comment, stating, "We have 2500 miles. of bayus. Like I said, they're not. related. It's been politicized by. candidates and others, which is. unfortunate. Probably not paying proper. respect to the families." Now, that. could be a fair point. He went on to. attribute many of these tragedies to. personal decisions, the harsh realities.

faced by the city's homeless population, and said, "When it comes to these serial. killer theories, enough is enough.". quote, "I do say enough is enough on. speculation out of respect for the. families and also the 2.3 million. Houstononians in our region. We have. challenges. We're meeting those. challenges, but a serial killer loose in. Houston is not one of our challenges.". So, to break all this down, I want to. bring on former FBI and CIA agent and. adjunct professor of criminal justice, Tracy Walder, also a NewsNation.

contributor. Tracy, thank you so much. for coming on. It's great to see you. From your perspective, how would law. enforcement initially determine whether. you have a series of deaths, whether. they are connected or whether they are. completely random? >> Well, thank you so much for having me. I. think obviously the first thing they're. going to utilize is autopsies, right? What were the cause of death? Uh was it. deemed to be a homicide, an accidental. drowning, all of those things? And then. if they are deemed to be homicides, are.

they similar in terms of, you know, how. they were killed? I think the other. thing they're probably going to do is if. they have any digital devices that are. salvageable, obviously these bodies have. been in water uh for some period of time. as well as any social media that they. can get on. Uh they might be looking in. terms of whether or not any of these. individuals, you know, retraced similar. steps uh came from similar locations. just prior to their deaths. If you're.

talking though multiple bodies. discovered in these different bayus over. a short period of time, what would be the patterns you would be. looking for? I mean, your perspective of. this kind of case are are there any red. flags that would suggest to you there. might be a connection? Is there any red. flags that would suggest to you there. could be a serial killer? And I I had. talked earlier about, you know, when we. previously covered this, the how serial. killers are there's a rarity about them. right now. It's not so easy uh.

particularly in today's day and age. given technology for there to be a. serial killer. But are there things that. stand out to you about this that give. you pause? >> Listen, I think it's a lot of bodies. I. hate to be so blunt, Jesse, I understand, you know, uh. Houston, there are bios, right? This is. very common. There are waterways in. these areas. That part's not unusual. But in my opinion, the volume, right? the volume over you know a sevenmonth. period or to me uh is.

piques my curiosity I guess that is what. would start to get you know I hate to I. don't mean to sound flippant or minimize. a death but one body or a few bodies I I. understand these things happen. unfortunately but when you have in my. opinion 25 at one point 20 at some point. you know I think that's when we get into. issues here uh in terms of really. needing need to investigate these. further uh and ensure that this isn't. some kind of a targeted situation.

>> If if it was if you're dealing with one. person or or two people or group that. that are committing multiple killings, would it be strange to you to leave. digital evidence or footprints um or or. any kind of I mean again I go back to. the idea of this is a day and age where. almost everybody has a social media. footprint, a digital footprint. There's. surveillance all over the place. Would. it be strange to you to see some sort of.

uh if someone were committing this. evidence behind? >> So, interestingly, by putting the bodies. in water, you are really destroying a. lot of the evidence. And so, part of me. wonders if that is very convenient um. for them to be able to do, right? you. don't have to necessarily clean um you. know a crime scene or clean a body and. make sure that you haven't left any. kinds of forensic evidence behind. Also, throwing a phone in water is really. going to make a phone very difficult. Um.

I don't know if phones were on their. bodies when when they were found that. that I wouldn't know. Um but let's just. say they were everyone's attached to. their phone in this day and age. It will. make it very difficult and time. consuming to try to obtain any kind of. data from that. So, in all honesty, putting a body in water um is actually a. great way to hide evidence. >> Now, police, the city officials, they. insist adamantly there's no evidence of. a serial killer. When you hear that, in. your experience, how often does social.

media, the speculation that you see on. social media, um and what the commentary. online, does that conflict with the. investigation or does it help it? because sometimes the public may know. certain details that law enforcement. doesn't or they be may be able to. provide more information or clues or or. look into things. Um but how much does. it conflict with an investigation? >> Sometimes it can conflict in terms of. just if it isn't true, right? Um the.

just the sheer volume, right, of calls. and leads that they would have to. investigate. And then what that can do. is actually stifle legitimate. investigations that these departments. are conducting, right? Because they have. this sheer volume of of accusations that. if it's an open crime, they have to. investigate. That's that's something. they have to do. Um, so that can hurt. obviously uh investigators, but it. sounds to me that if they are very. quickly saying none of this is. nefarious, they're not necessarily in my.

opinion then open to taking leads in. investigations, which is also. problematic on the flip side, right? Um. to quickly call something not a homicide. and then not be open to other. investigations around it, that's. problematic, too. Now, there have been. some key updates that we want to talk. about, particularly from the Harris. County Medical Examiner's Office, and. this adds new layers to the story. because three new identities from that. September cluster that we mentioned. earlier, um, we want to identify them.

specifically here about what we're. talking about. So, the victim found in. the White Oak Bayou on September 16th. has now officially been identified as. 24-year-old Joseph Hansen. The man. recovered from Buffalo Bayou on. September 18th is 63-year-old Arnufo. Alvarado. And the final bayou death from. September, the one from the 26th, has. been identified as Michaela Miller. Now, here's a crucial piece of new evidence. While the causes for Hansen, Alvarado,

and Miller are still pending, the. medical examiner has confirmed one cause. of death. 33-year-old Anthony Azoua, whose body was recovered back in March, died from drowning. Now, this is. significant because it is one of the. very few cases this year to get an. official cause of death. For context, the medical examiner has now confirmed. at least 22 bodies found in the bayus. through September. And with this week's. discovery, that number is now 23. So, for the vast majority, we still don't. know how they died. Tracy, how does this.

change the context? Has this changed the. analysis? To me, it changes the analysis. in that I don't think police should be. so quick as to say um that there's not a. potential. spree killer um on the loose. I. understand why police want to be. careful, right? We don't want to create. public panic. That's that's not our job. Um and that's very irresponsible to do. But it's also irresponsible to say, you. know, there are no links between any of. these and not investigate all of that.

thoroughly. Now, clearly, it's going to. take time. don't know how long these. bodies had been submerged um in water uh. to determine whether or not they died by. drowning, other purposes, those kinds of. things. But also, they have to wait for. toxicology reports to come back as well. And that takes a long time, too. And so, I'd be interested to know potentially in. the one that's been determined as as. drowning, if there were drugs um in. their system, what got them into the. water in the first place. All of that is. going to help in this investigation. How. common is it for a cluster of bodies to.

remain undetermined for months? What are. the challenges when they're trying to. determine if there is foul play here? >> Again, length of body and water, right? Especially, and I don't mean to get into. too many specifics, but it is Texas. It's very hot. It's very humid here, and. that is going to decompose a body pretty. >> quickly, especially in water. And so, it's going to make it very, very. difficult that just sheer passage of. time. um and and where they were found.

>> If the FBI joins an investigation like. this, when you're dealing with multiple. bodies, what resources, what tools can they bring to an. investigation? >> So, my guess is because obviously it's. Houston, Harris County, I don't feel. confident that they will be called in. because it is a large county with lots. of um resources. But typically in an. investigation, if they are called in, they have to be asked. This is not a. federal investigation. um they aren't. particularly there for investigative.

purposes. They are there for manpower. purposes. So they are helping because. they have that ability to go through. evidence a lot more quickly um than a. local police department can particularly. digital evidence, also forensic. evidence. They can expedite that a bit. more quickly, but they're not handling. things that a medical examiner would be. handling. Now, going back to something. we mentioned before, while city. officials insist there's no serial. killer, there are residents who have. taken to social media to conduct their. own investigations and post warnings.

online. For example, you have Tik Tok. user Darius Sticker said this. >> So, as you know, we have a serial killer. on the loose of, you know, that could. possibly be my baby girl or my Kayla out. there one day and get snatched up and. get found in a bayou. That just really. like bothers me, you know, and the. police is clearly having a problem doing. their job, right? Because I'm not. understanding after the first body, why. weren't there why like aren't there. people staking out and watching? And. then there were five bodies. >> Another user identified as Dre promised. payback on the supposed mass murderer.

>> to the Buffalo Bayou killer. I'mma be in. your hood. Feel me? I'm going to take a. small little slow walk through the. nighttime. If you real. If you're real, you just pull up with. your hands. >> Tracy, back to you. You talk about, we talked about before. about the role that the community can. have, those on law enforcement, public. fear, public statements like this, how. does it complicate the case?

>> We have to be really careful about. especially statements when we're saying, you know, retaliation against the person. responsible for this because, you know, even when we saw in the Idaho case, which I know you and I have talked about. before, um people are singled out who. have nothing to do with any of this. And. if you are talking about retaliation, which I'm assuming is violent, innocent. people really could be heard. And that. is where social media, social media can. be a great tool in terms of solving some. of these investigations. But I do think. it can be a pretty horrific tool as.

well. And I think that's exactly where. we need to be careful. >> Let me before we wrap things up, let me. just ask you, I asked this about I think. to my last guest as well. I'm going to. ask you serial killers today. How common. is it? I think it's more common uh than. we would think simply because there are. so many places that people can go on the. internet and places like Discord, those. kinds of things to talk about these. fantasies that they have and it empowers. them to act out those fantasies. These. ideas are not occurring in a vacuum like.

they were maybe in the 80s and the 70s. They are occurring with people. essentially egging them on uh in these. digital spaces. >> Here's the bottom line. official. investigation has not found a link. between any of these deaths this year, at least hasn't been publicly made. Um, but for a public watching, body after. body after body being pulled from these. areas, pulled from the water, the facts. from the medical examiner, they can't. come soon enough. We need answers. Uh, Tracy Walder, thank you so much for. taking the time. It was great seeing.

you. >> Thank you so much, Jesse. >> And that is all we have for you right. now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank. you so much for joining us. And as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get. your podcasts. You can follow me on X or. Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll see you. next time. [Music].