Another Major City ROCKED by Serial Killer Claims

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. Rumors have been. spreading across Tik Tok and Instagram. about a so-called bayou killer in. Houston. Six bodies have been pulled. from the city's bayus in less than two. weeks, and the speculation is rampant. right now. We're going to break down.

what may really be happening, the facts, the fears, what investigators are. saying, and we're going to do it with. criminologist Dr. Debbie Goodman. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Is there a serial killer in Houston? It's a pretty scary thing to be thinking. about, right? Because people have been. talking about this all over social. media. On Tik Tok, videos warning about. a so-called Bayou killer. They are. racking up hundreds of thousands of.

views right now on Instagram. The rumors. have turned even darker with one popular. account posting this. Somebody's going. around smashing girls, men. and they leaving them in the different. braves by you. Uh it's a bunch of man. Hey, check for your family man. Everybody look out for their family. It's a it's a somebody's going around. killing people all this week. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. >> Now, posts like this went absolutely.

viral after six bodies six bodies were. pulled from Houston's bayus within just. days of each other. To some, it felt. like, you know, the plot of a true crime. documentary, right? But when city. leaders, they stepped up to the. microphone during a press conference, they were crystal clear. >> We do not have any evidence that there. is a serial. killer loose in Houston, Texas. Let me. say it 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. But here's. the thing. When you hear something like. six bodies were found in bayus, it is. easy to see why people think something. more sinister might be going on, right? It sounds like the start of a crime. series. You have one body after another. after another pulled from the water. Each discovery just adds fuel to this. theory. So, what is really happening? Well, let's try to break it down.

Between September 15th and September. 20th, Houston police say that they. recovered five bodies from bayus around. the city. On the morning of September. 15th, police found 20-year-old Jade. Elise Mckis in Braze Bayou. She had gone. missing 4 days earlier after leaving a. Midtown bar and walking toward the. water. Investigators said there were no. signs of foul play in her death. But. just hours later, that same morning, another body was pulled from hunting. Bayou near East Freeway. Police later.

identified this person as 55-year-old. Rodney Ricardo Chapman. The very next. day, September 16th, a third person, 37year-old Seth Joseph Hansen, was. recovered from White Oak Bayou. September 18th, a fourth body was found. in Buffalo Bayou at Jensen Drive. That. man was later identified as 51-year-old. Arnufo Alvarado. Then September 20th, police pulled a fifth body from Buffalo.

Bayou at North York Street. That victim. was 54y old Michael Andrea Rice. And. then finally on September 26th, a six. body was spotted floating in Buffalo. Bayou downtown near Commerce and Milum. Streets. Police haven't released a name. yet, pending family notification, but a. spokesperson for Houston police told. Houston Public Media that it is believed. that the body could belong to a girl or. a woman. And that is six bodies in just. 11 days. Pretty chilling to say the.

least. But actually, just so you know, that raises the total to 15 deaths so. far this year, according to Houston. police. For comparison, 24 bodies were. recovered from Houston's bayus in all of. 2024. And those are the raw facts. But. after the social media frenzy, Houston. city leaders, they basically had no. choice. They stepped up to try to clear. the air, try to calm the community. Mayor John Whitmire opened the press. conference with a blunt message. 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. These five tragic drownings. discovered over a 5-day period. is alarming. One is too many. It's very frustrating to me to be at. home. and watch the news or social media and. see people spread what I know to be. false. Unfortunately, drowning in our.

bays is not a new phenomenon. It's an alarming. discovery. We have 2500 miles of bayus. or waterways in Houston, Texas. >> Now, you might think by watching Sidebar. that you've seen everything. You've seen. it all. I will tell you, think again. 50. ways to catch a killer. This brings you. real cases where detectives had to flip. the script to take down coldblooded. killers. Hosted by 50 Cent. This isn't.

your typical crime show, okay? It is a. highstakes, twistfilled ride into the. minds of investigators who think outside. the badge to break the case. From. unforgettable setups to shocking. reveals, every episode proves when. killers think they got away with murder, think again. Watch 50 ways to catch a. killer with 50 Cent exclusively on Fox. Nation. So then, Chief Jay Noey Diaz. outline the investigation so far, explaining that HPD's dive team had. recovered the bodies, but there was no. evidence connecting them to each other.

Our dive team has recovered five bodies. from bayus across the city of Houston. between September 15th and 20th. 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. >> Then you had Captain Salam Zia who. walked reporters through each of these. cases, noting that the cause of death. for all of these incidents was still. pending. So I just want to reiterate. that in all these uh in all five. instances um the ruling uh in regards to. the manner and cause of death are still.

pending. So the first uh incident was. September 15th. Um a body was recovered. in Brazou at 4998 Spurifi Freeway. Um as. Brazou uh before 10:00 p.m. I'm sorry, 10:00 a.m. The Emy's office identified. the deceased as Jade El McKisik, 20. years old. uh preliminary exa uh. investigation indicates that there were. no signs of trauma or foul play. But. again, I reiterate that uh we have to. wait until the the actual uh autopsy.

results uh come out. Another body was. recovered on the same day was located in. Hunting Hunting Bayou at 13,400 East. Freeway at about 11:15 11:50 a.m. Um the. Emy's office has not identified the. deceas deceased individual in that. incident. The next one was September. 16th. body was located White Oak Bayou. at 2200 White Oak Drive at about 1:25. p.m. Again, AM's office has not. identified the deceased individual. Uh. there was one on September 18th, body.

was located in Buffalo Bayou at 400. Jensen Drive at about 2 p.m. AM has not. identified the deceased in that incident. as well. September 20th was the last. incident. body was located in Buffalo. Bayou at 900 North York Street at about. 8:25 a.m. U the Emmy's office has. identified the deceased in that. individual, but because we don't know. whether the next have been notified, uh. it would be um u it wouldn't be right. for us to to identify that individual at. this time. And I I just want to.

reiterate that I understand social media. is is the medium of communication uh in. today's age, but a lot of times there's. a lot of uh unverified information that. circulates. Um and our job as as. detectives and as investigative body is. to follow the science and the evidence. and that's what allows us to be able to. do our job and that's what we're focused. on. >> Now I think Captain Z's explanation. highlights the challenge here. Right. Until the medical examiner completes. autopsies and identifications and until. all the testing can be done, this.

investigation remains preliminary. But. even at this early stage, police are. coming out and saying there's no. pattern, there's no connection between. the victims, there's no signature, there's no evidence pointing necessarily. to foul play. Yet, with even all of the. information laid out, the social media. speculation, the theories, they are. continuing. They're thriving. And I want. to break it down. I want to get to the. bottom of this. So to help me analyze. all this, I want to bring on. criminologist Dr. Debbie Goodman. Doctor, so good to see you. Thanks for.

taking the time to come here on Sidebar. I'm curious your perspective. So police. have said there's no evidence, right, linking these deaths, right? That right. now there's no pattern. There's no. signature. A, let's start here. Can you. explain what investigators what. detectives usually look for when they. suspect there is a con a connection? when they suspect there is a serial. killer. Let's start there actually. >> Absolutely. Well, good morning Jesse. Pleasure to join you. You know, 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 modernday society is. really not as common as let's say. decades ago. So, the real concern today. is actually mass murders. And just this.

morning, checking the data, thus far. from January through September, almost. um nearing the end of the month, there. have been 377. mass murders in the United States thus. far. >> Well, that is a frightening statistic to. say the least. It's interesting. I was. going to ask you before and I'm going to. ask you your opinion about what you. think might be happening in this case. Put that to the side. Put to the side. the social media u you know interest in. this. Put that to the side. The reason.

we have less serial killers is that. because it has become increasingly more. difficult to comm not commit but to. actually you know commit a crime and. cover it up or you know technology has. changed surveillance footage. Um your. your everybody carries a cell phone you. have a geo marker locator. um text. messages, emails. Is it just become. increasingly more difficult to commit a. series of crimes and not be caught in.

2025 in our current day and age than it. was 20 years ago, 30 years ago? >> Absolutely, 100%. You've you've hit the. nail on the head and you've literally. gone across the board with all of the. exact elements of why it is so hard to. get away with it. But yet, here's the. interesting piece. When we look at. forensic psychology, and again, when we. look at any of the high-profile cases. that you cover on your show, what's very. intriguing to me as a criminologist is. that most murderers, Jesse, again,

whether they're committing the single. homicide, double, triple, quadruple, serial, mass, school-based, and such, they think they're getting away with it. And isn't that intriguing? How and why. in this modern day would anybody think. they're getting away with it with. cameras rolling, cell phones ready to. take video, surveillance? It's. unbelievable. >> All right, so Dr. Goodman, now let me. ask you the million-dollar question. You've heard what authorities have said. here. Do you agree? Do you agree that.

there's no connection at this point? Do. you agree that there doesn't appear to. be a serial killer, one or two or. several people that are all part of this. together? Um, or do you think that there. might be something here? I mean, it is. strange. It is unusual. Where do you. stand on it? >> Absolutely, Jesse. It's strange. It's. unusual, but I do trust the law. enforcement experts and their ability to. ascertain the information and to group.

the victimology. You see, at the moment, again, we don't really know um of of. whom are we we looking here among this. pattern. Are they all women? Are they. men of a certain age? See, that's going. to matter. You know, more modern day, let's call it, although we just said. earlier, we haven't really looked at the. the full crime of of serial murders, maybe throughout the decades, but not so. much in our modern times. Maybe the most.

recent of which might be the Gilgo. Beach. But see, when we look at that and. compare and contrast what's happening. now with the Bayou River issue, we we. know the victimology pattern. We're. looking at all young women who are of a. particular uh genre of of the sex trade. industry. So, right now, I would I would. simply say that yes, it's unusual. Yes, it's strange, but nothing yet leading me. to believe that we have a serial.

murderer. It is quite possible that we. just have different people of different. backgrounds. Possibly somebody who may. have committed suicide, possibly. somebody who drowned, another individual. might be a homeless citizen. So, we need. a little bit more to really make a. actual fact-based decision. >> Can you explain something to me? Police, the medical examiner, they're still. investigating these deaths. Um, can you. explain why it takes time to determine. cause of death, to make connections,

manner of death? It it does take a. period of time. I mean, we're also. covering the um D4VD, the David uh. investigation out in Los Angeles. regarding uh Celeste Rivas Hernandez. You know, that cause of death is. deferred. That's going to take some. time. Why does it take a bit of time to. to get to a conclusion? >> Right. It's a great question and like. anything else, if we really look at all. that investigators have to do, just. starting with the basic criteria of the.

five W's and the H, the who, the what, the when, the where, the why, and the. how, that alone, it seems simplistic, but yet it's actually very complicated. And they don't want to reveal any false. information to the public so that there. would be alarm. And I think that's. what's happening here as well, that law. enforcement is trying to contain any. type of drama or alarming thinking that. we know mushrooms throughout the social.

media platforms. Is it a serial killer? Is it a mass murder? All of the online. posts and discussions and blogs. Many. people are moving in that direction. But. I always like to stay calm and and just. let the experts do what they do and. unravel the facts. You know, even. recently we spoke before we went on. about the the Coberger case, right? Technically mass murder case, but it. took time to determine who's the. perpetrator, but we look at the.

victimology to also determine who is the. defendant. >> And yes, it takes time to do increased. testing and toxicology tests and things. of that nature. Um, just to be clear. though, just to be clear, through. testing, through more analysis, through. more of an investigation, there is the. possibility that there could be a serial. killer here, right? In other words, we. people may have a misconception about. what serial killers do and and and don't. do. But having said that, it wouldn't be.

inconsistent to have this number of. bodies in these locations and it be. linked to one or two people, right? I. mean, there is some sort of consistency. here. It wouldn't be outside the realm. of possibility based on your study of. serial killers and how they develop and. how they change over time and how there. might be a pattern. There is a. possibility there could be a connection. down the road. Right. >> Right. Yes, I agree, Jesse. And even if. we look at serial killers that your.

viewers would readily recognize their. names, right? the Jeffrey Dawnmers, Ted. Bundy, uh Dennis Rder, BTK, John Gayy, David Burkowitz. You see, each of whom. has committed at least three, four or. more murders over a period of time. And. each of whom has their what we call. methodology of death. You know, how did. they participate in the murders? Was it. a stabbing? Was it a gun? Was it. strangulation? Drowning. So, all of that.

becomes very important. And I do not. disagree with you. I think there's. definitely a possibility that it could. be in that realm of of a serial killing. >> And by the way, talking about the. difference between crimes 25, 30 years. ago, and now we have seen Tik Tok, we've. seen Instagram posts going viral right. now warning about a so-called by you. killer. Why do theories like this spread. so quickly online even when there may.

not be established evidence? Is it a. distrust in law enforcement? Is there. something, you know, that that people. online and maybe people in that. community that they're seeing? They're. making connections that law. enforcement's not. And again, it's. strange when you have multiple bodies. found in a short period, but it seems. that there is this this drive for people. to make a connection and suspect there. might be a serial killer. So, why from. your perspective when you're seeing this.

conversation happening online, how does. social media play a role here um in in. getting information out and whether or. not, you know, it's verified or. unverified information, >> right? Well, 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. I think also. another reason why people are moving in. this direction is there's escapism. You. see, everybody has an issue in life, has. a problem. But you know what? When we.

now all of a sudden want to pay. attention to a potential high-profile. crime. Wow. All of a sudden we put our. own problems and issues aside and now we. have the online sleuths who want to get. involved with the theories and trying to. figure out who did what to whom and when. and where and why. So it really is. probably one of the most fascinating. topics of our modern day probably next. to you know how to lose weight and how.

to make money. Next would be how to. solve a crime. >> but also it impacts the community. If. you're seeing this conversation does it. build up fear in the community? Is that. a problem? How does law enforcement. navigate that? >> Right. Well, certainly it's always a. concern if and when we have any type of. murder, but I think from the law. enforcement law enforcement perspective, they don't want things to mushroom too. quickly and then all of a sudden it's. like weeds in the garden. It it becomes,

you know, an infestation when it may not. be fact-based. So that's why it's really. important for them and also for the. public to monitor what really is being. revealed and what are the patterns and. what are the facts really staying there. rather than right away moving into the. fantasy andor fiction of what possibly. could be rather than what is. >> And as we're talking about this I I. would be remiss if I didn't call out. something else. You know, the first.

Texas, okay, Houston, it's not the first. place in Texas where multiple deaths in. waterways have raised serial killer. fears because if you've been following. us here on Sidebar, you know about. Austin. You know about Ladybird Lake. made headlines after at least what 14. deaths since 2022. It sparked similar. rumors of a serial killer. Authorities. though, they have consistently. emphasized there was no evidence of a. serial killer, that the deaths were. mostly accidental, often linked to maybe. a combination of alcohol, easy access to.

the lake. But remember, back in February. of 2023, 30-year-old Jason John, who was. found dead in Ladybird Lake after. reportedly falling while walking along a. trail, the Travis County Medical. Examiner ruled the death accidental. Just a couple months later, April, Christopher Hayes Clark's body was. pulled from the same lake. And while. police and family interviews suggested. that there was no foul play involved, loved ones, they raised questions about. the circumstances surrounding this. death. Going further back to 2022, one.

case at the lake, you had a 45-year-old. who was shot while driving. Authorities. later arrested, convicted the murderer. Austin police held press conferences, issued statements to reassure the. public, highlighting that while the. deaths occurred in the same area, the. circumstances were different. They. varied widely. The autopsies showed no. trauma, no foul play in most of these. cases. And the city also took some. preventive action, improving lighting, fencing, safety programs along the. trails. So, Dr. Goodman, looking at both.

the Houston uh bayou deaths and the. Ladybird Lake cases, what can you tell. us about this? I mean, what's your. opinion about that one, too? and how you. know investigators they differentiate. between coincidence and accident actual. patterns of criminal activity maybe not. a serial killer but there was illegal. activity just not connected to the other. deaths. >> right well that's why I think Jesse as. well verssed as we are in all of these.

cases but every case really deserves its. own spotlight its own attention and its. fact-based patterns now yes part of what. I do certainly as a professor is compare. and contrast cases and killers and. victims and a lot of times we have as we. know the copycat killers but I am still. of the belief that I don't want to. necessarily jump on the bandwagon of. something being a serial crime a mass. murder until we really know with a level.

of specificity who are the victims what. is the nature of their death and hence. that is so important Now, the ME rules, you know, remember among both. categories, serial killers and mass. murderers, they're very consistent with. how they do what they do. If they decide. they're using a knife, then they're. going to use a knife on the cases that. they will continue to follow through on. If it's a gun, there's levels of.

consistency. If it's drowning, if it's. poisoning, if it's strangulation. So. that's why I think we just need to kind. of be in a bit of a holding pattern. But. I appreciate your point about public. awareness and safety and that is always. paramount. Every day I tell my family, my friends, my students that the top. priority every day is safety, security, survival. So we all must practice that. And if something simply doesn't look. right, sound right, feel right, we have.

to take precautionary measure. By the. way, looking at most of these Ladybird. late cases, most of the victims uh I. believe were men. Um yeah, the. circumstances were different. So from a. criminologist's perspective, is that a. pattern? Does that pattern maybe lack. thereof of a pattern? Does it tell us. anything about whether these death. deaths could be connected? >> Right? When we see consistency and. continuity, I would say yes. When we. look at somebody like a Jeffrey Dmer, who was his fact pattern? Who were his.

victims? Primarily young men with whom. he interacted at the bars. You know, we. look at somebody like a John Wayne. Gasey, same thing. Who were his 30 plus. victims? Young men. So, there tends to. be not so much a deviation from the. pattern, but rather the consistency and. continuity. even alleged Gilgo Beach Rex. Humeman who were his victims, young. women in their 20s to early 30s. Um,

interestingly though, when we look at. somebody like a BTK, right, a a Dennis. Raider, Vine torture kill, his fact. patterns were a little bit more. scattered. By that I mean we had an. entire family, the Otero family. We had. children, we had a mother and a father, we also had women. So that's why that. case was a little harder, let's call it, to solve. So I I understand all of the. um all of the talking points and the.

issues that certainly the public is very. concerned about, but I would just. caution about not becoming yet too. overzealous in putting a label or a. category on a circumstance or crimes. until we really know. Maybe they're. accidents, maybe they're drownings, you. know, there could be other circumstances. other than serial or mass murder. >> And while I have you, I got to ask you. about New England. This is something. that we covered uh here on Sidebar, too. So, you have at least 11 people who have.

been found dead across New England over. the past several months. So, you've. reports coming out of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts. Social. media, I mean, jumped on this. They. latched onto the idea. There were users. who latched on to the idea of a serial. killer. Um there were repeated. reassurances from law enforcement that. the cases are not connected but again. strange circumstances. Authorities in. multiple jurisdictions they have. investigated these deaths. They found. little evidence to suggest a pattern. which we've been talking about. But in.

some instances police have identified, you know, a clear explanation. For. example, in Grten, Connecticut, you had. 58-year-old Suzanne Worms who was found. dismembered and stuffed into a suitcase. But police, they traced her death back. to her roommate, Donald Cafel, who. admitted to killing her over $200 worth. of missing crack cocaine. He's now. facing multiple charges, including. murder, tampering with evidence. But. other recent deaths, well, they remain. under investigation. They don't. currently show signs of being connected. to a larger criminal pattern. I will.

tell you though, yet despite the lack of. evidence of a serial killer, online. speculation, it reached a fever pitch. when you had a Facebook group originally. named New England serial killer claimed. that the bodies were buried at Scarboro. Beach in Rhode Island. So police, they. conducted searches with cadaavver dogs. to follow up on the tips. They. highlighted the tension between social. mediadriven theories and real. investigative work. So Dr. Goodman, you. have a situation here where.

investigators are not only looking into. all of these cases, but they also have. to try to calm the public a bit. Um, now. that could change again, something could. change. What was your opinion about. what's going on in New England? >> Yeah, I would say it's still very. similar, Jesse, to what's going on with. the Bayou Rivers. I want to follow these. cases but from the standpoint of. removing the alarm, removing the drama. and really focusing on the facts because.

that's why we have law enforcement. investigators. You know, we have local, state and federal officers and agents. who are well-versed, well trained. I. know it's easy for some to sit back and, you know, point fingers and criticize. and what's taking so long. Didn't we see. that with Coberger? We've been talking. about that case almost three years and. six weeks in people were saying, "Well, where's the guy? Who's the guy? Are we. looking at multiple people?" I could. tell you also, by the way, just in terms.

of data analytics, when we look at. serial murderers, when we look at mass. murderers, we're really not with. multiple defendants. You see a lot of. people and I understand why think that. oh clearly how could it be one person. killing 11 people or 33 people and the. logical mind thinks there's got to be. multiple uh killers out there. But once. again if we just look at data analytics. in both categories we are looking in.

most instances the majority of which. with singular killers who are able to. perpetrate these types of crimes. You. know, again, just to make sure that the. um the viewers know and understand the. semantics here, when we're talking about. a serial murder or serial crime, we're. talking about three, four, or more. murders that have taken place at. different locations over a period of. time. However, it's the modern-day. concern that I'm really concerned about.

as a criminologist with the 377. mass murderers that we've already seen. from January to present September. But. the the mass murderer is is the. individual who was committing the three, four or more deaths at the one time, one. location. >> All right, Dr. Debbie Goodman, thanks. for setting the record straight. We'll. uh keep our eyes on it, but right now. doesn't appear to be any concrete. connections uh at least by investigators.

take. So if something should change, we'll make sure to cover it here on. Sidebar. Thank you so much for taking. the time. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. 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 podcast. You can. follow me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse. Weber. I'll see you next time. [Music].