{"id":180023,"date":"2026-02-25T19:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T19:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/180023\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T19:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T19:04:10","slug":"why-does-the-houston-bayou-body-count-start-in-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/180023\/","title":{"rendered":"Why does the Houston bayou body count start in 2017?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since 2017, more than 200 people<\/a> have been found in Houston\u2019s 2,500 miles of bayous. The KPRC 2 Originals docuseries \u2018Bodies in the Bayou\u2019 addresses<\/a> the rumors of a serial killer in Houston.<\/p>\n

We are answering some of your questions from the episode of \u2018Bodies in the Bayou.\u2019 <\/p>\n

‘Bodies in Bayou’ docuseries FAQ (Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)Why does the Houston bayou body count start in 2017?<\/p>\n

That date is important \u2014 it\u2019s when the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences first started formally tracking bodies recovered from the bayous in a consistent way. You may remember, this was the year Hurricane Harvey hit Houston. Before 2017, those deaths weren\u2019t logged in the same system, so when we talk about the number of people found, we\u2019re using the most reliable, complete data available.<\/p>\n

Those numbers have fueled intense speculation online. <\/p>\n

Viewers ask us the same questions over and over: How did these people die? Is someone targeting them? If there is a killer, what are police doing to stop them?<\/p>\n

In the docuseries \u201cBodies in the Bayou,\u201d KPRC 2 spent two months digging into those questions. <\/p>\n

We spoke with the families, including the relatives of Kenneth Cutting Jr., whose body was found in a bayou east of downtown Houston in June 2024. <\/p>\n

The data adds to the confusion: Since 2017, about 40 percent of the people found in Houston bayous have deaths ruled \u201cundetermined\u201d by the Harris County Medical Examiner. <\/p>\n

How can a homicide investigation happen and be complete if there\u2019s a death being ruled as undetermined? How can it be determined or not with that? <\/p>\n

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare addressed this question. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe medical examiner\u2019s findings are not the end of a case. We are not going to just go by that and say we don\u2019t know. We are looking at phones, we are talking to family members, people they knew. We are going to keep going down until we have exhausted every avenue of investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teare also says there is no serial killer dumping victims into Houston\u2019s waterways. <\/p>\n

At the same time, Teare points out that the bayous are part of Houston\u2019s identity as the Bayou City \u2014 something to be respected, not feared. <\/p>\n

How many were homeless and how many were not? The first one of 2026 was not homeless. Where is the investigation? <\/p>\n

We don\u2019t know how many of the deaths were people who might be living along the bayou area. <\/p>\n

On Jan. 6, the body of 40-year-old Keyo Kingsley was recovered from the water, marking the first reported case of 2026 involving a body found in a Houston area bayou.<\/p>\n

Kingsley\u2019s mother, Mildred Amos, talked with KPRC\u2019s Gage Goulding about her son and her frustration with his case.<\/a><\/p>\n

According to Amos, investigators told the family there was no visible trauma to Kingsley\u2019s body when he was found.<\/p>\n

However, nearly two months later, the Medical Examiner\u2019s Office still lists his cause and manner of death as pending. KPRC 2 requested toxicology results, among other items, but we were directed to a public database of information instead.<\/p>\n

Kingsley\u2019s death is not an isolated case.<\/p>\n

Medical examiner records show<\/a> at least three additional people have been found dead in Houston area bayous since January, adding to a growing number of similar cases in recent years that remain undetermined or pending.<\/p>\n

Families like Kingsley\u2019s and community advocates such as Grizzy of Grizzy\u2019s Hood News<\/a>, are demanding answers, accountability and clarity about what\u2019s happening in these waterways.<\/p>\n

Contact KPRC 2 News about Houston bayou deaths<\/p>\n

KPRC 2 News is digging into the unsolved deaths in the Houston bayous. Fill out this short form<\/a> to send us your comments and contact information.<\/p>\n

You can also contact Producer\/photojournalist Beth Peak at BPeak@kprc.com<\/a> or Producer Andrea Slaydon at ASlaydon@kprc.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Watch the \u2018Bodies in the Bayou\u2019 documentary<\/a> on YouTube now.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since 2017, more than 200 people have been found in Houston\u2019s 2,500 miles of bayous. The KPRC 2…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[24181,56,72216,58,57,71882],"class_list":["post-180023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-bodies-in-the-bayou","tag-houston","tag-houston-bayou-deaths","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-houston-serial-killer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}