New Grim Bayou Discovery Fires Up Serial Killer Concerns

Another body, the first of 2026, has. [music] been recovered from a Houston. waterway. Once again, sparking the. conversation on why so many people are. being found [music] dead in the bayus. And yes, could there be a serial killer. despite the [music] adamant denials and. warnings from authorities? We're going. to talk about what we know of this. [music] new death and more. And this. time, we're bringing on a criminologist. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. [music] I'm Jesse Weber.

>> [music]. >> You know, if you think the crime stories. that I cover on Sidebar every day are. scary, wait until you hear what's. happening with your personal data. online. Yeah, your name, your phone. number, your address. It's all out. there. It's easy for anybody to find. The good news, our sponsor, Incogn, they. help you disappear online. They track. down where your personal information is. being exposed, like on search sites or. old forum posts, and they demand its. removal. When I signed up, they found. over 50 databases with my information. and within days, it all started coming. down. Setup takes minutes. You create an.

account, you authorize Incogn to do the. rest. And with their new unlimited plans. custom removals feature, you can submit. specific links and a team of privacy. experts will personally remove them. So, if you care about protecting yourself. online, and I hope that you do, take. your privacy back with incognar. for 60% off an annual plan. We are. literally just days from our last. update, our last sidebar on this. alarming amount of deaths in Houston. All these bodies that are being found in. the bayus, which has ignited a.

conversation about a potential serial. killer in the area. And what just. happened? What just happened? The first. body of 2026 has been pulled out of a. Houston river. I hope it's the only one. But after over 30 bodies were found in. the Bayus last year, and you hear rumors. of a bayou killer that authorities have. been trying every which way to deny, we. have this new body this year. What do we. make of this? Now, according to the. Independent, a man's body was located in.

the Buffalo Bayou at around 2 p.m. on. Tuesday, January 6th. By the way, Buffalo Bayou bodies have been found. there. Last year, September 18th, a body. was discovered in Buffalo Bayou. was. 63-year-old Arnufo Alvarado. His cause. of death was determined to be from. methamphetamine toxicity and drowning. The manner of death was ruled. accidental. But then you go to September. 20th and the body of 67year-old Michael. Rice was pulled from Buffalo Bayou. September 26th, Michaela Miller was. found in Buffalo Bayou. And by the way,

bodies were found in other bayus as well. like Greens and Brays. But just kind of. give you a little context here. But. going back to 2026, what do we know. about this latest body? his latest. death. And to be clear, this is. reportedly the fourth body recovered. from a Houston waterway within 15 days. Now, you have Lieutenant Larry Croen. with the Houston Police Department who. revealed that a maintenance crew in the. area was the one that found the body of. this adult male fully clothed, possibly.

wearing a gray jacket. KOU1 reporting. authorities say there's no obvious signs. of foul play, that the body didn't. appear to be in the water for that long. of a time. Lieutenant Croen adding, "As. always with these cases, we have our. homicide investigators here and they'll. be conducting a follow-up investigation. The medical examiner will come here and. they'll do an autopsy to determine the. man's cause of death. To be clear, the. identity and cause and matter of death. have not been revealed at the time of. this broadcast. But I mentioned that. authorities are trying to shut down this.

idea of a serial killer. Right? So, for. example, and we talked about this in our. previous sidebar, you have Harris County. District Attorney Shawn Tier, who did an. interview with NBC affiliate KPRC said, "There is nothing, nothing, and I want. to be crystal clear to indicate that. there is someone operating here as a. serial killer last year." Okay? After. five bodies were recovered in just five. days and a six just days later, you had. this terrifying rapid cluster. You have. different victims, different waterways.

Obviously, it is leading to questions. a. lot of online speculation that something. was going on. So, you had Houston Mayor. John Whitmire, you had Houston Police. Chief Noah Diaz. They held a press. conference to try to downplay people's. fears. >> 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. >> And police chief Diaz said, "For us as. an agency, rumors stir fear and anxiety.

in our communities. But maybe all of. that hasn't worked because according to. ABC13 late last month after three bodies. were found in bayou in a week's time. People seem to be skeptical. A man named. Juan Sandoval who was visiting Houston. told the outlet, "The math isn't. mathing. I think there's a serial. killer. I get Nevada's for you page now. And even in Nevada, they're talking. about Buffalo Bayou." So it's that bad. It's reaching another state across state.

lines. Houston resident Eric Cortez said. there must be someone out there. No, because it's ridiculous that so many. people are dying in the bayou. I think. it's unfortunate that they haven't found. the person. According to KOU1, resident. Juan Martinez said, "Come on, there must. be a serial killer. Over 30ome bodies. No way." And this doesn't even take into. account the amount of posts and comments. on social media regarding the potential. of a serial killer, too. Now officially, even though you're seeing this many. bodies, to give you an idea, reportedly.

35 bodies found in 2024, 34 last year, the explanation has consistently po. pointed to broader heartbreaking social. issues. Houston's significant homeless. population, mental health problems, uh. substance abuse issues, the simple. dangerous geography of the bayou. themselves, they are dangerous. And. according to Kron, former Houston City. Council member at large, Leticia. Plameumber has addressed by you safety, saying, "Everyone in my mind should have. a part in this. All of us need to come.

together at a table and figure out what. can be done." She added, "In a lot of. areas where there's a lot of jogging and. walking, there should be emergency. phones that someone could call. immediately. Lighting should be a big. conversation. And as we extend toward. the east end, those were recommendations. my office made last year. The Bayou. Partnership has been open to those. conversations. Now, she indicated this. requires coordination between parties. like the city, the Harris County Flood. Control District, the Houston Parks. Board, Buffalo Bayou Partnership. And.

before I even go further into this, before I bring an expert, a. criminologist to talk about all this, here's another fact I got to mention. According to data that was obtained by. KPRC2 from the Harris County Medical. Examiner's Office, nearly 40% of the. roughly 200 bodies that were recovered. from Houston area bayus since 2017 have. an officially undetermined cause of. death. So that means seemingly that. after investigations and autopsies, forensic experts, authorities can't. conclusively say whether this was an.

accident, whether this was a homicide, whether this was a case of self harm. And to be clear, according to KOU1, with. respect to the 34 bodies found last year. in Houston in the Bayus, only one was. ruled a homicide. Nine were accidental, so drowning, toxic exposures, 19 remain. undetermined deaths, two self harm, and. three still pending. So, I want to bring. on criminologist Dr. Debbie Goodman. She. is the director and associate professor. of the criminal justice degree program.

at St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida. She is a nationally recognized. and accomplished author of academic. crime books that are used worldwide. And. she is our guest right now. So happy to. have you, doctor. Thanks for taking the. time. Okay, so I want to start with this. new one. What do you make of the finding. of this new body in 2026? >> Right. Well, as always, Jesse, thank you. so much for having me on this case. Really, I think we would have to use. terms like crazy, wild, shocking. But.

here again lies the hesitation with the. word or term serial killer because Jesse. when we look back at the data analytics. when we last spoke 2024. 30s something deaths 2025 another 30. plus and here we are with a death in. 2026. But the question is, of all of these. circumstances, which ones potentially of the nearly 70.

are actually murder? So, at the moment, we know of one, right? We know of Mr. John Morgan, 44 years old. The medical. examiner did the report and the findings. indicated blunt force trauma and. internal bleeding. But when we look at. the other circumstances, Jesse, so many. of whom have been in the category of. undetermined, they can't decide. So, as terrible as. all this is, and I think those are are.

are some of those uh talking points, right? It's terrible and it's tragic. But when we really narrow in on this and. and the levels of specificity, is it. criminal? because that would mean we. have unlawful deaths. Now, I would still. maintain that some of these other. factors are at play here. Sociological. issues, psychological issues, it is. quite likely that among the nearly 70.

victims, many of whom may have been in. vulnerable positions. What does that. mean? perhaps the homeless citizens, the. individuals who may have mental health. uh difficulties and those potentially. with drug and alcohol issues and and so. some of these deaths may be accidental, some may be as a result of self-induced. harm and others, of course, as we know. have been declared as undetermined. But. can we really say they're criminal and.

unlawful death? Questionable. 100% right. I want to get to that a. little bit more. Um, just focusing since. all eyes now are on this new death, right? And I say new, look, the body was. found in 2026, we don't know. Although, this is interesting. Um, so there's a. couple of things we do seem to know. about this body, right? They said. authorities that it's possible the body. was not in the water long. The body was. fully clothed, found by a maintenance. crew. By the way, let's start right.

there. What does that tell you about the. circumstances of this death? or at least. how the body was found in that water. I. don't know if deposited by someone else. or was a result of something else but. somehow was found in that area. Tells us. something, right? >> Sure. Well, again, if we really look at. the geography, um Jesse, that equates to. 2500. miles of waterways. So, what do we know. about water and body submersion? Well, again, it's difficult to really.

ascertain at [clears throat] what point. or or part of the geography did the body. enter the water. Again, was it a slip. and fall? Was somebody swimming and. drowned? Were they intoxicated or with. some type of narcotic in the system and. didn't know what they were doing? But I. do think what this speaks to in this. totality of the Bayou area is really all. eyes are on this case. So for the. maintenance workers to have found the. body, they did the right thing, they.

reported it, that's very important. Fully clothed, potentially more or less. a body intact would suggest the. submersion in the water would not have. been as lengthy as potentially the other. 60 plus um victims here. So we are still. awaiting autopsy on on the cause of. death. Now, if and when, Jesse, we would. have something along the lines that an. medical examiner would point to uh blunt. force trauma, strangulation, gunshot, a.

knife wound, then I would definitely be. moving in a different direction and. think, wow, we do have murders and we do. have these unlawful deaths. But at the. moment, with the exception of the one. individual, Mr. Morgan, so much of this. is undeterred. When when they say that. this new body in 2026 showed no signs of. foul play, is that because how do they. know that? Is that because on the on the. surface there are no clear signs of like.

let's let's say you said blunt force. trauma, gunshot wound, but you're saying. that could potentially change, right? >> Correct. That could potentially change. But you're 100% correct because we all. know about the true crime community. So. this is not fiction. This is fact. We. are talking about fact-based. circumstances of deaths. Yes, it's. terrible. Yes, it's tragic. But the key. finding here is the word criminal. Do we.

have a crime? I know that in our earlier. conversations, you know, someone want to hit the panic. button and and say it's a serial murder, three, four or more deaths at different. locations. But when we have the serial. killings, Jesse, we just look back at at. history. names that your viewers know. Dmer, Bundy, Dennis Rider, Gayy, Ridgeway. You see, law enforcement was. quick to tell us that we have to be on.

high alert now because there is a serial. killer. We have not been told that. So, I still maintain we must trust the. experts. They know what they're doing. Right. findings as you suggest at the. moment are not pointing to bruising, blunt force trauma, internal bleeding, gunshot, stabbing, strangulation. If. those are the findings, I promise you I. will say something differently. >> Sure. And and how long till a cause and. manner of death is determined by the. medical examiner? And and I guess the.

second part to that is given what you're. saying, how long till those results are. released to the public? And do they have. to be careful about how they release it. to the public given all of the attention. and speculation that is happening right. now with respect to this new body I'm. talking. >> Oh yes indeed that's an excellent. consideration. Why? Because law. enforcement it's really not their job. right Jesse to to tip the hat to the. public and give you know a toz all of. the details. Why? because if we do.

potentially have a serial killer, they. cannot afford to compromise the. investigation. But to the other question. about how long, it's generally a lengthy. process. You know, the Em's office, these are the credentialed medical. doctors who have the scientific. background to make these determinations, but generally speaking, we could still. be waiting a couple of weeks on this. one. I would imagine the fasttrack. nature because all of this the value.

deaths have been in the spotlight now. we're going on year two. c. >> how can we be sure when authorities have. determined that there was only one. homicide? I mean is there any reason to. question those results? Any reason to. say um and look some are still pending. some are undetermined but is there any. reason to question um that there was. only one official determination of. homicide? You know, in my opinion, Jesse, working. through the years also with local, state, and federal authorities, I I. truly regard them as the experts. I.

think they're very careful, considerate, methodical, the eyes dotted, the tees. crossed, and so I believe them. I. believe if of the near 70 potential. victims they are telling us that one is. with certainty um a a murder then I. believe them. But again, if we may give. potential consideration to just other. sociological, psychological factors that.

that I do think are relevant to this, the homeless citizens, the those with. mental health compromise and drug andor. alcohol uh related issues that too. becomes a deadly cocktail, especially. surrounded by this 2500 miles of. waterway. So, if I'm understanding you. correctly, you don't seem to believe. that there is evidence right now of one. single person perpetrating all of these. killings across Houston. Um, and the and.

this is interesting because according to. Kron, uh, Andy Cahan, who's the director. of victim services and advocacy for. Crimestoppers Houston, said, quote, "The. booming true crime genre has played a. tremendous role, particularly on social. media. Rumors get driven by clicks, not. evidence. a serial killer in a bayou. gets more traction than saying none of. these cases are related. And he added, and I thought this is really. interesting, and I wanted your. perspective, that basically in today's. day and age with technology, it is.

incredibly difficult for a ser serial. killer to go on a crime spree the way. that someone could have gone have done. this years ago. Surveillance footage, cell phone data. You agree with that? >> Oh, 100% I agree. I echo that sentiment. Why? Because when we go back the decades. of the 80s, the '9s and the Dmers and. the Bundy's and Gayy and BTK and all of. these names, we did not have, you know, the cell phone in hand. We did not have.

the street cameras recording every move, the computers with the searches. So. today we and I can assure you of this. because I check the crime data as a. criminologist every single day to see. where are we seeing the upticks where we. seeing the declines and serial murder. really as we spoke last in our modern. day times it's it's almost you know a. non-issue right are there exceptions of. course there are but the the greater. concern unfortunately would be the mass.

murderers those who were participating. in three or more killings at one time, one location. It's different than the. serial killer. Three or more deaths over. time, different locations. >> Yeah. And to add to that, I mean, our. understanding is from one of these. cases, drowning seems to be the most. common cause. The records also show, like you said, you know, there is self. harm, there was a homicide, you might. have uh substance abuse, you know, overdoses, deaths that are linked to. heart issues, maybe accidents where the. bodies end up in the water. The thing.

about it is according to reports from uh. Houston public media which reviewed data. from the Harris County Institute of. Forensic Sciences more than 200 bodies. have been pulled from local bayou since. 2017. And it was the last 2 years that. account for the highest number on. record. So 2024 35 bodies were. recovered. Last week's discoveries you. had 2025 has reached 34. So it nearly. matched the record with the year before. And to put that in perspective, so in. 2017 there were 20 deaths. The number.

fluctuated in the intervening years, began a significant climb around 2020. You're seeing a trend. Um, but it's. reaching these kind of levels. So it's. not just a spike uh Dr. Goodman in. social media attention. It's a spike in. the actual data. So people will look at. this and say, "Yeah, I understand you're. talking about different socioeconomic. factors. You're talking about uh the. dangerousness of these bayus, but at the. same time, why the uptick in just the. last couple of years, and now you just.

find a body in 2026. What what's. happened in the last couple of years? Yeah, I think the the uptick. unfortunately in the mental health. status of individuals perhaps wanting to. self-medicate through narcotic uses. through, you know, the abuse of alcohol, through sheer depression and and wanting. to participate in self harm. Now, is it. possible again with the social media.

aspect to all of this? Again, we don't. want the panic. We don't want the. pandemonium. But could this area now become almost a. magnet, let's say, for those who are. potentially thinking about self for. those um homeless residents who may be. living at or near these waterways. You. know, Jesse, when all of this was going. on, I was actually reminded about a. case, and I I know you covered it on Law. and Crime, but a young man who was a.

spring breaker. He went to um he went to. Tennessee with his fraternity friends. for spring break for what was supposed. to be a celebratory occasion, and the. young man died. Now, the conversation, his name, by the way, Riley Strain. What. happened to young Riley Strain, a 20some. year old? Well, what ended up being the. finding was that there was alcohol. ingestion in this part of Tennessee. where he was um you know residing for.

the spring break, a lot of water and. sadly tragically he drowned. So I do. think that among these near 70 deaths, many of which are drownings that may. purely be accidental. And by the way, something else I should. mention. Um, according to Click to. Houston, Tim Miller of Texas, uh, EUARCA, I might be Equaarch, I might be. mispronouncing it. This is a volunteer. search organization. He's come out and. said that he thinks it's possible there. may be more bodies in vehicles that are.

underneath the water in the bayus. So, it seems like the city of Houston's. working on recovering these cars that. may be at the bottom of the waterways. And, you know, I don't know how. difficult it will be, Dr. Goodman to not. only recover the bodies but also. determine cause, manner of death. But if. they start finding more bodies in. vehicles that are submerged, I mean, I. guess one uh unless there's some. evidence from the car to suggest foul. play, it goes back to another idea, you. might be dealing with accidents, right,

or floods or something of that nature. where someone gets submerged. But if you. start recovering more bodies from these. cars, what are you going to be on the. lookout for? >> Right. Well, what I think is always. important, you know, we don't want to. necessarily. um look at these things collectively, meaning the totality of the deaths. Each. one truly as we understand in the true. crime space has to be investigated. individually because whether it's 60. deaths, 70 or you go back to the uh 2017.

data of potentially 200, you know, each. one still is deserving of its own. independent individual review. But I. understand your point and I agree that. if there are to be more bodies found, I. still don't think we're hitting that. panic button yet until law enforcement. officials tell us otherwise. And why? Because Jesse, we know how important in. our field, we must have the evidence. We. must have the data that supports the.

finding. You see, that's why we're. hearing about these undetermined deaths. We don't have the evidence. We don't. have the data to support a serial killer. finding. A. >> and and before I let you go, I just am. curious about your reaction to. authorities, what they have been saying. I I mentioned it before um you know, Harris County DA Shir saying there's no. evidence of a serial killer. He added. 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. He did acknowledge, yes, there are times where we recovered. bodies that were placed in the bayou. criminally, no question, but that is not. something that is a regular occurrence. So you couple that with what the mayor. said, what the police chief's comments. have been, what authorities have said in. general trying to downplay the fear, trying to say uh, you know, combat.

against this because speculation and. rumors can have an adverse effect. What. are your thoughts on how authorities. have been handling this? Well, based on. what we know, we we've read the reports, we've heard the um the press conferences. and such, and I do believe that our law. enforcement representatives want the. public to be safe, to be secure, to have. the information necessary to make good, prudent decisions about where they go,

with whom they interact. You see, again, looking back to our historical framework. of these other serial killers, law. enforcement officials did share with the. public how and why they feel that it's. in a different caliber and a different. classification and they would have a due. diligence to let the public know that. because again, the preservation of. safety and security is so important. But. that has to be balanced with the whole. social media ideology of like we spoke.

last time in 60 seconds or less people. would read the headline, you know, read. the post, see the repost and the likes, and now a decision is made that truly. may not be fact-based. So I think law. enforcement is doing their best. I. believe them. I still want to, you know, very closely and carefully analyze what. will be further shared. >> Dr. Debbie Goodman, thank you so much. Appreciate it as always. >> Thank you, Jesse. My pleasure.

>> 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 [music] on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get. your podcasts. You can follow me on X or. Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak. to you next time.