More Bodies Pulled from Texas Bayou as Serial Killer Fears Ignite

Three more bodies have been pulled from. one of Houston's bayou, reigniting. online fears once again of the so-called. infamous Bayou killer. Police insist. there is no serial offender at large. But with bodies continuing to pile up. and social media buzzing, the questions. are just getting louder. We are going to. dig into what's really happening in. Houston's waterways, all with a former. FBI and CIA agent. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber.

So, we've been on this story, by the. way, since I think the beginning. We've. been trying to cover every single. development that we can. And the reason. that we can do that is because of the. amazing support that we get from our. sponsor, Morgan and Morgan, America's. largest personal injury law firm, a firm. with over a thousand attorneys who have. recovered $25 billion for more than. 500,000 clients. In fact, in the past. few months alone, a client in Florida. received $12 million when insurance. offered just $350,000. Out in. Pennsylvania, another client was awarded.

$26 million. That is 40 times the. insurers offer. And Morgan andorggan, they make it easy to fight for what you. deserve. You can even start a claim from. your phone. So, if you're injured, you. can start a claim at. forthepeople.com/lcsidebar. You can click the link below or you can. scan the QR code on screen. Is a serial killer dumping bodies in. Houston? That is the terrifying. question, the theory that has exploded. all over social media for quite some.

time now. We have talked about it. before. Given what has just happened, what we're going to talk about, this. conversation naturally is continuing. Why? Because three more bodies have been. pulled from areas near the bayou just. last week. So, it's bringing this year's. total to 34. The rumors of a bayou. killer, they are just getting louder. than ever before. Tik Tok, Instagram. from users and commenters who are just. posting things and trying to connect the. dots, convinced that something sinister. is stalking the city's waterways. And.

now you have a DA, arguably Houston's. top prosecutor, who's shutting it all. down. Maybe I should say trying to shut. it down pretty hard. In an exclusive. interview with NBC affiliate KPRC, Harris County District Attorney Shawn. Tier made his position brutally clear, saying, quote, "There is nothing, nothing, and I want to be crystal clear, to indicate that there is someone. operating here as a serial killer. It is. the official on there denial. So, if. it's not a predator, right, if it's not.

a series of predators, not a serial. killer, several people acting in. concert, what is causing this grim. pattern of bodies just washing ashore? Authorities point to what they say is a. heartbreaking combination of Houston's. homelessness crisis, mental health. struggles, the danger of the this. environment. You're talking about over. 2500 miles of waterways. But here's a. fact that just keeps the rumor mill. churning. It is spurning a lot of.

questions. It's what can leave families. without answers. According to data that. was obtained by KPRC2 from the Harris. County Medical Examiner's Office, nearly. 40% of the roughly 200 bodies that have. been recovered from Houston area bayus. since 2017 have at one point in time an. officially undetermined cause of death. So that means that after autopsies and. investigations, forensic experts. seemingly can't conclusively say whether.

it was an accident or a homicide or a. case of self harm. So is this a tragic. series of unrelated incidents or is the. truth hiding in that large stack of. undetermined cases? We are looking at. the data behind the drama, the official. push back against the panic, trying to. make sense of it once again. Now, if. you're unfamiliar with Houston, by the. way, it is a massive city that's. crisscrossed by these slowmoving, often. murky waterways called bayus. They're. part of the landscape. For years, bodies.

have unfortunately been found in them. But something changed in the public's. mind recently. The real spark for the. current fear and all the online rumors. seemingly happened back in September of. last year. Because in just one week, so. from September 15th to the 20th, 2025, five bodies were pulled from different. bayou around the city and a six was. found on September 26. We're talking. about Buffalo Bayou, Braze Bayou, Greens. Bayou, so different individuals,

different locations, all within days. The stories were tragic. You had a. university student last seen leaving a. bar, a man who was reportedly afraid of. water, another seen apparently jumping. in. the rapidfire pace of these. discoveries, one after another. It was. chilling. It didn't feel like a. coincidence to a lot of people watching. the news or scrolling online. And it. arguably started on the morning of. September 15th in Brazou with a woman. identified as 20-year-old Jade McKisac, a University of Houston student who had.

gone missing after leaving a bar. Now, we're going off of the reporting from. the Houston Chronicle when it comes to. their ages, but investigators said that. preliminarily there was no obvious signs. of foul play. Then just what a few hours. later that same day, another body was. recovered from Greens Bayou, identified. as 43-year-old Rodney Chapman. The very. next day, September 16th, a third. person, 24-year-old Seth Hansen, was. found in White Oak Bayou. The very next. day, September 16th, a third person,

24-year-old Seth Hansen, was found in. White Oak Bayou. 2 days after that, September 18th, a fourth body was. discovered in Buffalo Bayou. He was. 63-year-old Arnufo Alvarado. And though. his cause of death was later determined. to be from methamphetamine toxicity and. drowning, the manner of death was ruled. accidental. But you go to September. 20th. Okay. Fifth body was pulled from. Buffalo Bayou. That victim was. 67year-old Michael Rice. And then. finally on September 26th, as I. mentioned, a sixth body was found in. Buffalo Bayou downtown. The victim was.

initially a Jane Doe, described as a. young woman with a distinctive 888. tattoo on her wrist, was later. identified as Michaela Miller. So, you. have five bodies in five days, a six. just days later. It was that terrifying. rapid cluster, right? Different people, different waterways, all within a. brutally short time frame. That's what. broke the pattern of these being seen as. isolated tragedies. That's what made the. city's nerves snap. That's what launched.

this bayou killer theory into the. mainstream. In direct response, you had. Houston Mayor John Whitmire and police. chief no Diaz who held a press. conference. They were adamant the mayor. looked into the cameras and stated this. >> 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. Now officially the explanation. has consistently pointed to broader.

heartbreaking social issues. Houston's. significant homeless population, mental. health problems, substance abuse issues, the simple dangerous geography of the. bayus themselves. And that is the tense. backdrop that has been building for. months. You have public fear of a. pattern versus official insistence that. there are unrelated if alarmingly. frequent tragedies. And that was the. uneasy status quo until just last week. when there were three more bodies that. were found. So this is renewing this.

conversation, this debate all over. again. And this is why you're seeing a. new response from authorities. So to. help break all this down, I want to. bring on a special guest. We got former. FBI special agent, CIA special. operations officer, NewsNation legal. contributor, author of The Unexpected. Spy. What a resume. Tracy Walder. Thank. you so much for coming on. Always. appreciate it. You and I have been. talking about this for I I mean I think. since September uh when we got into all. these bodies uh piling up. And before we.

even get into the new bodies that have. been discovered, I just have to start. with this. Okay. The official stance. versus public perception, right? So. police, the mayor, they have repeatedly. said essentially there's no evidence of. a serial killer. that these are tragic. but isolated incidents that are driven. by a variety of social issues. Now, from. your investigative perspective, from. your lens, when you hear a phrase. there's no evidence, does what does that. actually mean in a situation like this?

What would investigators need to see to. even begin considering a serial predator. theory? I think one of the biggest things that. they would need to see Jesse is the same. manner of death, the same way in which. an individual was killed sort of across. the board. Typically, serial killers. tend to murder individuals in the same. manner or leave calling cards, those. kinds of things, or take things. Um, I.

think that would probably be the biggest. thing that law enforcement would need to. see. >> because people will look at this and. say, "Oh, well, well then how do you. characterize Gilgo, right? The suspected. killer killer there." That was a killing. that was categorized and identified by. the area in which the bodies were found. >> I think the thing with with the Gilgo. Beach is that they ultimately were able. to tie obviously her men's DNA um to. these individuals. And so if they can. find that, which I have to be completely.

honest, I don't think is going to happen. in a situation like this, in the case of. Gilgo Beach, uh the women were not. submerged. Um I think in a case where. you've got water individuals found in. bodies of water, a lot of evidence, forensic evidence, it goes to the. wayside as a result of that and it's. contaminated. So, I think for them, um, especially when you've got multiple. bodies in water, it's going to be about. how they were killed and less about the. DNA that could potentially tie them all. together. >> There there's I mentioned at the top.

that initially a lot of those deaths. were undetermined. That's not the case. uh, you know, for all of them still. There have been some explanations, but. is it surprising to you that you would. see a number of deaths maybe in this. manner that are undetermined? You. mentioned the water, you mentioned maybe. some of the certain characteristics. Were you surprised when you were reading. about this and you look at these. clusters that a lot of these deaths. initially uh were undetermined or even. for a period of time undetermined? >> Per my calculations, just the data. that's out there, 19 are undetermined.

One is still pending. So if you've got. 33 total now, obviously the it's pretty. heavy right in the undetermined area. But a couple of things about that. I. think one of the things that's getting. people concerned and they're less likely. to believe, you know, the mayor, law. enforcement, whoever is making the. statements is just the sheer volume. The. amount of people that have been pulled. out of by you since 2019 has has. tripled. And so I think that's what. concerns um a lot of individuals. Now, in terms of the undetermined,

I think it depends, and I don't want to. be too specific about when these. individuals went into the bayou, what. time of year they went into the bayou. All of those things are going to matter. And honestly, their remains may make it. really really difficult uh to determine. how they were killed, particularly if it. wasn't uh a beating or a gunshot wound, anything that's going to leave anything. on the bones. If it was an overdose kind. of situation, that may be degraded and. they may not be able to tell. >> And when you look at that September. cluster, right, so you have people of.

different ages, genders, from different. social circles, they're found in. different waterway waterways across this. sprawling city. on its face, right, that. lacks a classic serial killer signature. But is it possible? Is it possible, Tracy, right, that you have an offender. who is creating this deliberate. variation to deliberately throw. investigators off? >> In my opinion, 100%. I mean, Buffalo. Bayou is encompasses about 500 miles.

just in general, right? Like not in. Houston proper. Buffalo Bayou and. Brazio, those are the two that I would. say the majority have probably been. found. Of course, there's other ones, but raised bayou is about 31 miles, right? And so when you're looking at. something like that, that is a huge. span, right? So putting a body in at a. different location would obviously be. very easy, but obviously there's. currents that move bodies as well. So. yes, I think anything is possible. You. don't want to ever discount something um. completely, but that may account just.

the sheer size um for why we are seeing. so many. But it's hard to tell us is a. little different than Austin and. Ladybird Lake, which is only 10 miles. I want to get into this uh new. development that's reignited this. conversation. Okay. Because just last. week, as we moved into the new year, you. had three more bodies that were. recovered from Houston Bay in a matter. of days. December 22nd, one body was. pulled from the Buffalo Bayou in. downtown Houston. Another was recovered. from the Braves Bayou in the Pine Valley.

neighborhood. Christmas Eve, December. 24th, a third body was found in the. Buffalo Bayou near the Rice Military. neighborhood. Now, at last checked, the. autopsy results remain pending. That's. not necessarily unsurprising given how. recent this is, but if my calculations. are correct, that brings the total. number of bodies recovered from Houston. area bayus in 2025 alone to 34. So. nearly matching last year's entire. count, right? So the year before's. entire count. Now Tracy, this is a.

pattern, right, that keeps people up. that you're talking about sudden. clustered spike in discoveries. We don't. know exactly when one body was uh. deposited in that location or if they're. dealing with a issue where somebody did. something to themselves, when they did. something to themselves in that area. But three new bodies in just a matter of. days as an investigator. What does that. tell you? I I think you know what that tells me is. that you know I don't want to say. there's a full cause of concern but at.

the same time as I mentioned before when. you have the amount of bodies increasing. three times what it was in 2019. to me I would be concerned if I was a. resident only because I'd be concerned. are these being patrolled properly now I. get it this hundred hundreds and. hundreds of swats right of of miles of. land I understand that but are these. being patrolled properly? Is there a. nefarious individual at hand? Right? Like that raises all those questions in.

terms of public safety as a whole, not. even just a serial killer being on the. loose. So, I can understand from a. public safety perspective, people being. concerned, especially when you got three. bodies essentially almost three days in. a row, right, being pulled out. And. honestly, when you look at the who these. individuals are, I understand their ages. kind of are across the spectrum, but. really only three of them are women, the. rest are men. And so I think people are. seeing patterns and that does concern.

them. And to be clear, if somebody's not. familiar with the geography there, if. you're listening to this and saying, "Well, if law enforcement and the mayor, right, are having to address this and. there's such an outpouring of interest. on on social media and speculation, why. not just dedicate resources to. surrounding the bayus to make sure that. no one goes near them or to make sure to. to have a careful eye on what's going on. or to install a plethora of surveillance. cameras. It's not so simple even if that.

was authorized, right? >> 100%. You hit the nail on the head. I'm. a Texan. Obviously, I live here. Um, the. buyers are very, very different. Yes, they do patrol them on horseback. They. have squads and units who are dedicated. to doing that. They patrol them on. horseback. They patrol them on bike. These are not areas that you can patrol, you know, via car, those kinds of. things. Certainly they can use drones if. they want to be a little bit more. effective in terms of the amount of land. that they are covering, but this is. different again than what we see in. maybe Chicago around the lakes or in in.

Austin, right, where you it's it's a. contained body, so it's a lot easier to. put security cameras and those kinds of. things. These are really really um. difficult to patrol and have an insane. amount of manpower that's needed to do. that. >> And now I want to ask about this. response. Okay. So, in direct response. to these three new discoveries, you had. Harris County District Attorney. Shantier, who gave an exclusive. interview this week to NBC affiliate uh. KPRC, and his message was a forceful.

echo of what we heard back in September. Now, I want to be clear about what he. said because he stated, quote, "There is. nothing nothing, and I want to be. crystal clear to indicate that there is. someone operating here as a serial. killer. There are many reasons for these. deaths. None of them are a serial. killer." and he directly attributed the. tragedies to what he called Houston's. quote massive homeless problem combined. with widespread mental health and. substance abuse issues. He gave a. specific physical explanation noting. quote it's kind of a little known fact.

but when you get into the bayus it is. very difficult to get out when you. combine that with someone that is high. on some substance someone that is. intoxicated somehow it makes it even. more difficult and he did acknowledge. that yes there are times where we. recover bodies that were placed in the. bayou criminally no question but that is. not something that is a regular. occurrence now Tracy what do you make of. that explanation and how does he know. that. >> I think that's to answer the latter part. first, Jesse. I think that's the problem.

and I think that might be why so much. speculation is running rampant on social. media and just amongst Houstononians um. and Texans as well because I think the. the issue is is when you have 19 20 of. these that are attributed to either. being undetermined and then on top of. that about three or four being homicide. You only know really what happened to. maybe seven of these individuals, right, per autopsies and those kinds of things.

And so I feel for him to sort of make. this blanket statement that we know how. all of these individuals died all of. those things when you they are. undetermined. The what twothirds of them. are undetermined is somewhat. irresponsible um to do. But again. clearly they're not observing you know. the similar patterns and how these. people died. And I do think that some of. them are absolutely attributed to. horrible homeless problem mental health. and drug addiction issues. However, the. ones that are undetermined, you don't. know why because you're not able to get.

toxicology and those kinds of things on. them. And so, I think had he kind of. caveed it that way, I think it may have. landed a bit better. >> Okay, I I I have to be clear about. something. Okay, I'm going to be very. clear. This could all be very true what. he just said. 100% could be very true. But, and I'm not saying he's lying. I'm. not saying he's misrepresenting, but I. have to ask this question. Is it. possible that during the course of an. investigation, law enforcement.

or you know the DA or authorities may. not be so transparent about what they. know what really is happening and. because there's a fear of inciting the. public. There's a fear of what the this. information would do. Maybe it would. taint an investigation. They don't want. to alert anybody that they have. Maybe. they have somebody in mind. Is it. possible in your career? Have you ever. seen it before? Where there is a. statement, a conclusion that's said to. the public and yet what is happening. behind the scenes is a complete 180.

>> I've definitely seen that before. obviously because if you're getting. close to capture I mean we the we most. recently saw this actually in uh the. Brown University shooting, right? They. they knew figured out who the suspect. was and then wouldn't release anything. until obviously he was already deceased. And so listen, it it's act it's it's. absolutely something that happens, but. but I think in a case like this where. you have a bit more of a volume of of. individuals over these large swaths of. land, it would probably be very.

irresponsible for public safety and. public safety purposes to. not put out all of the cards that you. have, right? Because the the mayor, the. police chief, they do have a. responsibility to keep Houstononians and. members of Harris County safe, right? That's their number one job. And so if. there is a public safety issue, if there. is a serial killer on the loose or they. have any kind of inkling, that is. something that they have to say um and. that they have to let residents prepare.

themselves for. >> But also because the public can help in. something like this, right? >> 100%. Well, I mean, the public has. helped in my opinion in so many crimes. um recently and I think they are a very. critical and effective tool uh in terms. of catching perpetrators. I think. they're very helpful in solving crimes. >> You know, another key to really. understanding this is we have to ask. this underlying question, right? Why. does Houston keep finding bodies in its. bayus at such an alarming rate? Well,

well, there was this major investigative. analysis by the Houston Chronicle that. recently dug into nearly a decade of. data and it paints a stark complex. picture that goes way beyond any single. theory. Because first, you talk about. the sheer scale. Houston is built on a. network of over 2500 miles of these. waterways. They're everywhere. They're. often without barriers. And as the DA. noted, they're notoriously difficult to. get out of once you're in it. But the. Chronicles data reveals some very. important patterns here that the victims. are overwhelmingly adult men. They are.

disproportionately black men over the. age of 35. Geographically, the deaths. are heavily concentrated in just a few. zip codes in downtown Houston and the. second ward, areas where notably, you. know, black residents are not the. majority of the population. So, this. points to a tragedy that is deeply tied. to his to his essentially most. vulnerable and and this is an important. issue. Now, I will say this, when causes. can be determined, the data shows a mix. So drowning is the most common known. cause, but the records also show self.

harm, homicides, drug overdoses, deaths, deaths that are linked to heart issues. or traffic accidents where bodies ended. up in the water. And this brings us to. the factor that officials emphasize the. most, profound social vulnerability. The. data underscores that these deaths are. heavily linked to the city's. homelessness crisis, mental health. struggles, substance abuse issues. You. have victims that maybe are on the. outskirts. So you have these bayus, these banks that are part of their. environment. You have a combination.

potentially of intoxication, despair, maybe a simple misstep, an accident can. turn something fatal. Tracy, when you. look at that data and you're trying to. trying to understand it and trying to. make sense of it, um, and thinking about. we're talking about these groups of. individuals, what stands out to you? I. think just that it's incredibly sad and. I think part of what might be deter um. contributing excuse me to uh not knowing. a cause of death or these individuals. not being reported missing um in the.

first place and family members not. stepping forward is the fact that many. of them as you pointed out are homeless. are transient and I do think it does. speak to sort of um this this broader. picture because throughout Houston I. mean bayus are truly everywhere um and I. do think what is happening is members of. these populations are not able to get. the assistance that they need and as a. result because of intoxication whatever. those kinds of things they are falling. into these bios and not able to get out. and I think it does speak to a bigger.

social issue at hand. >> I know you have to get going but I have. to ask you this final part about this. So there's just one more crucial piece. of context that we can't ignore and it's. the sheer increase in these deaths over. time because this isn't just a sudden. panic. The numbers show a disturbing. upward trend. According to reports from. Houston Public Media, which reviewed. data from the Harris County Institute of. Forensic Sciences Sciences, more than. 200 bodies have been pulled from local. bayou since 2017. Here is what's. critical. The last two years, they.

account for the highest number on. record. 2024, 35 bodies were recovered. And with last week's discoveries, 2025. has nearly reached 34. So nearly. matching that grim record with the year. that just ended. Now to put that in. perspective, in 2017 there were 20 such. deaths. That number fluctuated in the. intervening years, but it began a. significant climb around 2020. The trend. is clear. Bayou deaths have risen. sharply during the past decade or at.

least Bayou connected deaths in some. way. Recent years, we're hitting peak. levels and this isn't just a spike in. social media attention. It is a spike. seemingly in the actual data. This. rising baseline of tragedy. It is. obviously the fuel that is turning every. new discovery into what is a citywide. attention, a response theories. Tracy, before I let you go, why are we seeing. something like this? >> I think that's that's my biggest issue, right? And I think again that's why the. public is scared is just sheer volume.

Um, I think part of it is that perhaps. patrols have been stepped up and so more. people are being found. I think it. depends on rainfall that year as well. How many people uh they ultimately find. like that's that is definitely a. contributing factor. But then I would. also be interested in knowing how. homeless rates increased um within. Houston. I actually don't know the. answer to that, but I think that that's. something um that is is worth looking. at. Um and so I also think in the kind.

of shadow of the pandemic um has left a. lot of people uh disenfranchised as. well. And so I think that's sort of this. perfect storm of seeing this this. tripling essentially of individuals. >> Tracy Walder, thank you so much. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, Jesse. >> And that's 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 should. get your podcasts. You can follow me on. X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time.