It would probably be quicker to list what we didn\u2019t find strewn along the McCommas Bluff on Wednesday, above a raging, rain-swollen Trinity River. Like, there wasn\u2019t a body. But there was plenty of drywall, clothes, bricks, tires, stuffed animals, two-by-fours, plastic wrapping for stone countertops, shingles, DVDs, nails, empty bags of concrete, football card wrappers. There was even a sink buried beneath the charred, rank ruins spread across the landscape, covering the white limestone cliffs, spilling into the river. A recreational vehicle, too.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There were men out there from Dallas Water Utilities when a photographer and I pulled into the mist and muck of the Great Trinity Forest. They were searching for an illegal tap into the city\u2019s water lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cEver see anything like this?\u201d I said to one, waving at the endless vista of\u00a0godawful. He laughed.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the time,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the Trinity.\u201d He shrugged. Which is what most people do whenever they catch wind and whiff of garbage consuming the shoreline of the river without which there would be no Dallas.<\/p>\n
\u201cMcCommas Bluff is the only place in Dallas where you can stand on an 80-million-year-old limestone bluff and look at the 100-year-old dream of a navigable river,\u201d Ben Sandifer told me this week. He\u2019s the accountant and naturalist who has long served as the river and forest\u2019s guardian and poet laureate.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Trash and debris, some of it recently set ablaze, spills into the Trinity River off the McCommas Bluff. Local, state and federal authorities have been investigating this site since at least January.<\/p>\n
Angela Piazza\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Sandifer first brought me to this spot in 2019<\/a>, to see the Lock and Dam No. 1 in the Trinity River and the Lock Keeper\u2019s house<\/a>, each built more than a century ago. As far as I can tell, he was also the first person to notify City Hall that someone had bespoiled this landscape, when he complained to 311 on Jan. 16 about illegal dumping. At the time, he was told that his \u201ccode concern has been closed\u201d because inspectors\u00a0\u2014 somehow\u00a0\u2014 could find no violations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I go down there and see the sheer volume of debris, I realize: This isn\u2019t an accident,\u201d Sandifer said. \u201cThis is an economy of convenience built on the destruction of one of the most unique wild places we have in Dallas. This is a cathedral of our history. But now, instead of it being a place we should be celebrating, tying old Dallas into the new, we treat it as a landfill. And it\u2019s awful to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n Within the span of three years, this majestic overlook became a crime scene. This is not hyperbole.<\/p>\n Wednesday afternoon I began calling the cell phone belonging to the man who, according to a Dallas County judge, forged a deed to steal much of this land, including the remnants of the Lock Keeper\u2019s Victorian manse mysteriously burned to the ground in the summer of 2023. The man I was calling, 59-year-old Kyle Boyd, did not pick up.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Shortly thereafter, I discovered why: He had been booked into the Dallas County jail at 3:20 p.m. Wednesday on three state jail felony charges of illegal commercial dumping. Each charge involves the dumping of more than 200 pounds or 200 cubic feet of garbage, and carries a potential sentence of up to two years in jail and a fine up to $10,000.<\/p>\n When I called\u00a0Sandifer later that evening to tell him the news, he said he was \u201cshocked, absolutely stunned, blown away.\u201d He long ago lost count of the times he\u2019s complained about the messes left in the forest, the garbage drowned in the river; he\u2019s lost count, too, of all the times he\u2019s been ignored. He could not believe that maybe, just maybe, someone will be held to account this time.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is where the land gets a fair shake for the transgressions brought upon it,\u201d he said before we hung up. \u201cThe river, too.\u201d<\/p>\n An illegal dump has been growing for three years\u00a0along the McCommas Bluff overlooking the Trinity River, seen here on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Riverwood Road is a mile-long stretch of countryside 11 miles southeast of downtown, off C.F. Hawn Freeway. There are still horses out here, behind barbed wire, alongside tumbledown homes more rural than just rustic. Until a year or so ago, Riverwood wasn\u2019t even much of a road; more of a desiccated asphalt slab that dead-ended into dirt trails leading into the Great Trinity Forest.<\/p>\n But in the last year or so, new homes have started to take root in this verdant nowhere. They\u2019re sleek,\u00a0modern<\/a>, small, affordable<\/a>. A neighborhood sprung from nowhere, thanks to people like Jackie Davila, who bought land here last year to give homebuilding a shot, and just finished construction on the house closest to the forest.<\/p>\n I stopped her as she backed out of a recently poured driveway and asked if she knew about the dump on the cliff, overflowing with the vestiges of old homes and the remnants of materials used to build new ones. She said she didn\u2019t even know it was there, just around the corner, but that she had doorbell camera footage \u201cof trucks constantly going into the forest.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a mess,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s gotten better since some of the houses have sold. But it was bad.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n As recently as the spring of 2023, the\u00a0McCommas Bluff was as scenic a spot as it had been in the late 1800s, when the steamboat Harvey ferried downtown dwellers to the Trinity\u2019s bend for afternoon lunches<\/a>. The beginning of the end appears to have been April 13, 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n Court records show that on that day, quitclaim deeds were filed with the Dallas County clerk purporting that William Wesley Thompson, the owner and resident of the old Lock Keeper\u2019s House adjacent to the dump site, had conveyed his interest in the house and the surrounding 11 acres to something called the 1201\u00a0Riverwood Trust, with Kyle Scott Boyd listed as the trustee.\u00a0<\/p>\n Seventeen days later, Thompson died in a nursing home after a stroke, unaware that the land along the Trinity was no longer his.\u00a0<\/p>\n At 1:08 a.m. on July 15, Dallas firefighters were dispatched to a fire in the forest. According to the original statement issued by Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesperson Jason Evans, firefighters arrived to find the Lock Keeper\u2019s House engulfed in flames. But they couldn\u2019t reach it. \u201cThere were concrete barriers blocking access to the location, which slowed DFR\u2019s response.\u201d And so the house collapsed. The only thing left standing was the chimney, the sole proof the house ever stood atop the McCommas Bluff.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Dallas Water Utility workers searched Wednesday for an illegal tap in the vestiges of the Lock Keeper’s House, which survived for more than a century before catching fire and collapsing in July 2023.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n In his report, Evans noted that \u201chomeless individuals were known to reside in the house.\u201d But firefighters saw no one when they arrived. And without any witnesses, Dallas Fire-Rescue investigators were unable to determine what caused the fire.<\/p>\n Google Earth maps show<\/a> that shortly thereafter,\u00a0McCommas Bluff\u2019s landscape began evolving. Turns out, it was being carved up with bulldozers. Trash begins appearing, too, spread across previously unspoiled land.\u00a0<\/p>\n In June 2024, Thompson\u2019s granddaughter and the administrator of his estate, Shannon Mitchell\u00a0Bleau, sued Boyd, alleging he had forged the three deeds that gave him this land. Last March, Judge Brenda Hull Thompson, presiding judge of the county\u2019s probate court, concurred. As a result, the land would be returned to Thompson\u2019s estate, which hasn\u2019t yet happened, and Boyd owes $20,000 in attorney\u2019s fees, which haven\u2019t been paid.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Earlier this month,\u00a0Bleau and her lawyers finally went to visit the property for the first time. And they weren\u2019t alone. Attorney James Zoys said they were accompanied by community prosecutors, Dallas marshals, DFR employees and code enforcement officers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing we saw was all that trash,\u201d\u00a0Zoys said. \u201cIt was unbelievable. And while we were out there, two commercial dump trucks showed up! Police held them for questioning. Meanwhile we were just looking at this mess, and it was just a shock. It was horrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n City officials will not talk about the damage done to the\u00a0McCommas Bluff, except to say the locals are working with state and federal agencies to deal with the mess.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Laura Lopez, a spokesperson for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, told me this week that the agency received \u201ca complaint alleging the dumping of unauthorized waste for profit at a property\u201d on March 16. She said\u00a0TCEQ referred it to the Environmental Crimes Unit in the city Marshal\u2019s Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees the Trinity, its tributaries and the floodplain, had far more to say on the subject. Chad Eller, a spokesperson in the Corps’ Fort Worth District, said canoeists tipped off the Corps about trash spilling into the river in January 2026. Eventually, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and the Environmental Protection Agency got involved, as the dumping likely violated numerous federal laws, including the Clean Water Act.<\/p>\n Sure enough, Eller said, \u201cOur regulatory division has noted this as a violation, involving debris or sediment put into the waterway, and they are currently working with the EPA\u2019s criminal investigator on this dump.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Calls to the EPA weren\u2019t returned. But\u00a0Eller said \u201cwhoever is responsible will be required to remove the material and restore the area to its original state.\u201d<\/p>\n Though if there\u2019s a happy ending, it\u2019s buried somewhere deep, deep beneath all this garbage.<\/p>\n It’s unclear how long this illegal dump will remain on the McCommas Bluff overlooking the Trinity River, because it’s unclear who will be held responsible for remediating the land and making it disappear.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n According to the arrest warrant affidavits obtained by\u00a0The Dallas Morning News, Boyd is accused of allowing commercial dumping on the property\u00a0\u2014 and of burning and disposing of that waste in the river. One affidavit says an investigating officer \u201creceived photographs of a large pile of construction wood debris that had been pushed over the bank into the Trinity River.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n According to one affidavit, marshals encountered several truck drivers who entered the property with trailers full of trash, only to exit with empty trucks. The affidavit says drivers paid Boyd via\u00a0Venmo\u00a0\u2014 between $10 and $40 per load, according to one driver. At least one driver was arrested, and according to the affidavit, word about the dumpsite had spread \u201cthrough various truck drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n Boyd bonded out of jail by Thursday morning\u00a0\u2014 for $3,000, total\u00a0\u2014 and he couldn\u2019t be reached. It\u2019s not clear if he has an attorney, as he represented himself in the deed dispute.<\/p>\n Even if he\u2019s found culpable, though, the land will soon be back in the hands of Thompson\u2019s estate.\u00a0Zoys said they\u2019re already getting notices of code violations from City Hall, accompanied by threats of possible lawsuits.\u00a0<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Zoys said this land is all the estate has\u00a0\u2014 this foul, fetid land. I asked the attorney what happens when the city tries to make his client remediate it.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0gonna be a total s\u2014show,\u201d Zoys said.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s the Trinity River, and it always is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It would probably be quicker to list what we didn\u2019t find strewn along the McCommas Bluff on Wednesday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,95705,88952,98930],"class_list":{"0":"post-264199","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news","11":"tag-tp-southern-dallas","12":"tag-tp-dallas-city-hall","13":"tag-tp-environment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264199","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=264199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775016909_917_rawImage.jpg\" "\\"#\\"")
<\/p>\n