Teen's Body Found in Texas Reservoir Under Strange Circumstances

A search for a missing teen near a Texas. reservoir just hit a tragic turn as this. young man's body [music] was found. But. what isn't clear is what happened to. him. We are going [music] through what. we know and what unfolded and what we. can expect with a former [music] CIA and. FBI agent. Welcome to Sidebar presented. by Law on Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. By the way, this is a story that we. wanted to get out to you really, really. quickly. And if you're putting things up. on social media, if you're into content.

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courtroom updates instantly. This is the. most powerful tool there is to help you. share ideas and edit like a pro. So go. to opus.pro/sidebar. to create your videos today. Tragic. development in a new mystery case that. we want to talk about. 18-year-old. Kenley Bomearo. When this case first. broke, the Georgetown, Texas Police. Department said at the time that Kenley. disappeared from a campsite at Sawyer. Park near Lake Georgetown at 1000 p.m. on November 28th, 2025. Fox 7 reported.

that this is an area that you can only. get to by hiking or by boat, so limited. access. Now, Lake Georgetown is this. large reservoir on the North Fork of the. San Gabriel River. And according to CBS. Austin, he was reported missing the. following morning. And residents say. that this is unusual. It is unusual for. someone to just disappear near Lake. Georgetown. Police said at the time, quote, "All evidence indicates that. Kenley has not left the area of the.

lake, but we are not ruling out. anything." Authorities have been. searching on land and in the water since. last night and will continue searching. Now, according to the Austin American. Statesman, on Monday, December 1st, police chief Corey Tashida said that. Kenley had left behind his car and his. cell phone. His family and friends they. had reportedly been actively searching. for him. Coming from his hometown of San. Angelo, his mother, Deanna Morris,

telling CBS Austin that her son. disappeared while camping with a friend, that it was that friend who reported him. missing. Quote, "We just want him home. We don't want him to be out here. We. thought maybe he was lost, but it's a. little more than that apparently. So, we. just want to find him. We want to get. him home. And whatever condition he's. in, that's all we want. Now, to be. clear, the search efforts at the. beginning of this week were very. intense. We're talking canines, boats. using sonar, dive teams, a helicopter.

using thermal devices, trained. volunteers from Texas Search and Rescue. And here's something to note what police. said Monday evening. quote, "We. appreciate all the assistance that has. been offered by the public, but because. this is an active search and. investigation, and any type of foul play. has not been ruled out, we must be. cautious and allowing assistance outside. of trained professionals." So, what does. that mean? I'm going to talk about that. in a little bit, but also foul play, not. ruling it out at the time. By the way,

there were even people commenting on. this Facebook post from the Georgetown. Police Department and you saw the. massive interest in this and people. invested in this. There was one. interesting. user comment. It was seemingly seemingly. from someone claiming to be Kenley's. father, a user known as Tom English. There's been a little bit of back and. forth online about whether or not this. is true, but Tom English apparently. says, "I am Kenley's father. He is still.

missing and we are not sure if he walked. off to another park or up river or he's. in the water. Any volunteers that would. like to come out and walk the woods in. Cedar Hollow, Sawyer Park, and beyond up. river would be welcomed and greatly. appreciated." He could have went towards. Garden Falls, too. I say all of that. because now I have to talk about what. happened. We go to the latest. development from the police department. update on Tuesday. Quote, "The. Georgetown Police Department is deeply. saddened to report that we have. recovered the body of Kenley Bomerito.

from Lake Georgetown after being located. by underwater sonar. We extend our. deepest condolences to Kenley's family. and friends as they endure this. unimaginable loss." and they added, "This is still an active investigation. to identify the exact cause and manner. of death and the circumstances. Because. of the active nature of this. investigation, we will not be making. further comment at this time. And we ask. for your continued cooperation while we. work through the investigation." So,

here's now the question. What happened. to Kenley? And will we know what. happened to Kenley? All right. I want to. bring in Tracy Walder, former CIA. special operations officer, FBI special. agent, NewsNation contributor, author of. The Unexpected Spy. Uh Tracy, thanks so. much for coming on. This is a weird one. We don't have a lot of information about. this. There is kind of a strange aspect. to this. From what you've read, from. what you've seen so far, what stood out. to you?

I think the biggest thing that stood out. to me, Jesse, was the fact that his. phone um and vehicle were left behind. You know, this is an 18-year-old young. man. I think most teens or young adults. typically have their phones on them. really at all times. And so, I think. that was probably the most surprising. part. If he was camping, hiking, whatever the nature of his visit to that. campsite was, I would have suspected. that he had his phone on him even if it.

wasn't working or or was dead. >> Yeah, that is a weird aspect to this and. and you know, there's a lot of different. theories about what could have happened. here. Do you find it strange that it. took that many days to find him? Or if. you say, "Hey, listen. If you're talking. about a body being found in this. reservoir, it's not unusual that it. would take this this many days and. therefore to be that it was sonar that. was used to find him because you do. wonder if the lake was the primary. location to focus on.

>> Yeah, it's that's the part that's hard. to say. This is an area this this area. in Georgetown actually doesn't have um a. history like of other areas we've talked. about in Texas, right? in the bay and um. in Austin actually really doesn't have a. history of too many uh bodies being. found there. It's not a transient area. It's a camping area. Um so the fact that. it was even found is obviously highly. unusual. Just the fact that there was. even a body in there is high highly. unusual. Um it really depends on the.

area how much rain um the area received. uh how much how fast the currents were. going in and out of that reservoir and. out of the lake. And so I think that. sort of muddies the waters, if you will, in terms of how long it would have taken. them. I also don't know how clear um. that water is. We have had a lot of rain. um here in Texas and so it probably. would have been difficult to identify a. body in there quickly. >> And what depth the body was found at to.

be able to use sonar to to to you locate. the body using sonar is interesting. >> Honestly, that's typical. Um, you know, just in terms of obviously I'm going. back to what the devastation that. happened over the past summer at Camp. Mystic, um, in Texas, they did use sonar. and they still are using sonar um, to. find individuals. Um, it's it's safer to. be completely honest. Obviously, you're. not having to put people in the water. um, where things can happen there. And. also it's a larger swath of area and.

it's better in terms of directing. resources and being good stewards of. those resources to those specific areas. >> How do they identify now cause and. manner of death? >> Yeah, that's going to be the difficult. part. And even in um the Austin cases in. at Lady Bird Lake um and in some of the. Bayou cases, we don't have uh manner and. causes of death. And so what that tells. me is initially when they found him, there was probably no obvious uh signs.

of why he he died. You know, no. gunshots, no stab wounds, those kinds of. things. And so now they're going to have. to probably go to uh toxicology, which I. think is going to take obviously weeks. um if not months. Um if they can't in an. autopsy see that he has a a broken hyoid. bone, um which would obviously point to. a potential strangulation. Um, and then. obviously drowning. So, I think that's. what's going to be difficult. Maybe. they're not able to determine drowning.

and remove that right off the bat in. terms of a cause of death. >> That could be difficult to know whether. or not somebody accidentally drowned or. whether or not um they were forcibly. drowned unless there was some sort of. trauma. But um if I'm understanding. correctly, it might not be evident from. immediate first look. this may take. further examination and maybe even that. wouldn't determine what actually. happened. >> Yeah. Because I think again to me it.

sounds like there's no obvious to your. point earlier signs of trauma, right? It. sounds like um they are not able to. determine whether he ended up in this. area willingly or or unwillingly. And so. I think that's the piece that's going to. be be difficult. Surely I think they. know uh you know that there could be. water in his lungs. I I don't know. Um. but I think that's that's the difficult. part. >> Let me just backtrack to something that. you said. If there was an obvious sign. of trauma, if you're dealing with a.

victim who was shot or stabbed or or or. there was blunt force trauma that was. evident, would law enforcement, would. authorities release that information. immediately or would they say, "Listen, this is an active investigation. Uh. we're not going to say anything at this. point. we will wait for the cause and. manner of death. Um, what do you think? >> I think the answer to that is it. depends. I I'm sorry to be a bit. wishy-washy. I think that. because of a lot of what's going on in.

Texas and a lot of the speculation, right, surrounding again the bayou um. and and Lady Bird Lake. I would hope if. there was an obvious sign of trauma that. the police would say, "Hey, look, um. this. this caused we know that there was a a. manner of death uh in terms of a. shooting, violent death, all of those. things. Um but this is still an active. investigation because we're trying to. determine whether or not this was a. homicide or, you know, was this a. suicide." I would hope that they would.

come forward with that information. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. >> Yeah. and they say this is an active uh. investigation. They're not going to be. making further comment. Um they're. asking for continued cooperation while. they work through the investigation. There is something about the isolated. nature of this area where it doesn't. seem based on their prior comments that. they believe, let's say, he was taken by. someone somewhere else and then. deposited back in that location. And.

this is a place that is just not easily. accessible, right? And I think that may. be adding to or limiting what the. different uh theories are that could. have happened to him or what could have. happened to him. >> I also don't believe that he was, you. know, kidnapped and taken uh to that. location simply because it seems like he. has family and friends who are in. contact with him. Again, they went out. looking for him essentially the next. day. Um, and so I believe had he been.

taken, uh, they would have been on to. that sooner as well. I think this is a. person who, in my opinion, probably. chose to go to this area, was familiar. with this area. Again, it is a. campground. So, I wouldn't say it's. completely isolated, but it's an area. where people do know of to go and camp. And so, my gut is just saying he wasn't. essentially kidnapped and taken to this. area. >> What about this friend? this friend that. he apparently went with, this friend who. reported him missing. Um, I'm imagining.

he was interviewed. >> I I would imagine he was the first. person um that was interviewed. There's. no question. Um, and that's partially. why this is still an active. investigation and why they do need to. determine the manner of death obviously. to completely clear the friend because. the friend doesn't have an alibi of not. being there. The friend was there. And. so that to me also points to the fact. that I don't believe he was taken. against his will. I think he had gone. there um with his friend. But now is.

this a question of an accident? Did he. slip and fall and drown um in this. location or did somebody spare the. friend but take him which is also. unusual? >> What is an investigation like this look. like? You know they say an active. investigation. What does that encompass? Obviously, you said they're, you know, cause, manner of death, toxicology. reports, but what other um what other. pieces of evidence can they analyze now. um in order to determine what exactly. happened? And again, given the remote. area here, it's not like it's in the.

middle of a metropolitan city on a a. corner where there's cameras everywhere. What What is an investigation look like? >> I think phones I think phones in the. vehicle, in my opinion, are going to be. two things in this investigation. And I. think first, listen, cell phone service. is not great out there. I understand. that. I'm not talking about real time, you know, phone and text. But I think. any messages even leading up to the days. uh prior to all of this, prior to him. even being at that campsite, are going. to be important in terms of getting into.

his head, getting into his mental state, and understanding what was going on. I. also think they've absolutely taken the. phone that of his friend. There's no. question um that they have taken that. and are looking through that. But I also. think his vehicle too, they are going to. look at the GPS uh within that vehicle, determine where it had had been um in. the I guess hours leading up to all of. this. I think that's going to be. important, too, as well as processing. the vehicle. >> I I was really taken back by the massive. search efforts, right? Obviously, it's.

one thing from the family and the f uh. family friends to come uh from, you. know, a different area to come search. and that's incredible. And you know, my. heart goes out to the family who now. have a reality. I mean, this is their. worst case. This is a nightmare. They. now have to live. Um, but you're talking. about canines uh on foot, boats using. sonar, dive teams, there was a. helicopter using thermal devices, there. were trained volunteers from the Texas. Search and Rescue. That's a massive,

massive search effort. What do you make. of that? >> So, it isn't. It isn't. Again, I. obviously I live here and so um water. searches in Texas because we have the. Guadalupe River which is obviously flood. alley and because it is so devastating. um Texas is I know it might surprise. people is actually very well equipped um. to conduct these kinds of searches. So. I'm actually not surprised to be. completely honest by the scope of this. investigation. also because it is remote.

um they are going to be using that type. of resources to do this. So I know it. might sound strange to some but I'm not. necessarily surprised given the. resources I know that we have here for. water searches. >> and that statement from law enforcement. that while they essentially appreciate. the public's help um in searches that it. could hamper the investigation. It can. hamper a search. What why is that? Why. would they say that? >> Yeah. So that actually goes back to. again the devastation that we had uh.

this past summer on the Guadalupe at. Camp Mystic and some of the other camps. in that area. What had happened in that. case was civilians were out of the. kindness of their own hearts trying to. volunteer and help. Unfortunately, they. then would become victims and had to be. rescued um because they didn't have uh. that experience in terms of proper. search and rescued. And so then it. really stymies their efforts in terms of. preserving evidence if they have to go. out and rescue um other individuals, particularly in water searches. So I I.

believe I don't obviously know for. certain, but based on what I've seen in. the past, that's probably why they're. asking the public to sort of stay put. >> Tracy, before I let you go, um when do. you think we'll get more answers from. law enforcement um about what happened. to him? I think because they're probably waiting. on toxicology reports, it's. unfortunately going to be two to three. weeks. I know people want answers. sooner. I'm sure his family wants. answers sooner, but that's that's what I. think. >> Will the family know before the public.

and the media? >> I would hope so. Um, they should know. before the public and the media. Yes. >> Tracy Walder, thank you for taking the. time. Uh, I really, really appreciate. it. Uh, our hearts and our thoughts and. our prayers are with this family. this. is incredibly fresh and devastating news. that again this is their new reality. that they have to grapple with. Um but. we'll keep a careful eye on it. Thank. you so much Tracy. Really 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.

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