\u201cThat was probably the biggest deal\u2026that\u2019s when college students started getting really worried,\u201d Houston Council Member Letitia Plummer said.<\/p>\n
Alarmed by the chain of bodies pulled out of bayous, some Houston residents took to social media to try to make sense of the deaths, with posts pushing theories of a serial killer garnering thousands of likes. Family members of some of those found in the waterways have also shown skepticism over the death investigations and called for more answers.<\/p>\n
Last week, the father of Kenneth Cutting Jr., a 22-year-old found dead in Buffalo Bayou last year, expressed frustration with authorities after the medical examiner listed his son\u2019s cause of death as undetermined.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did not fall in that bayou,\u201d the father Kenneth Cutting Sr. told CNN affiliate KHOU<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a serial killer but the way that they\u2019re dealing with these bodies is ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, local officials like Plummer and Council Member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz advised community members to be vigilant and walk in pairs along the bayous as they pressed for answers to quell unease and pondered a task force that could be formed to investigate the deaths.<\/p>\n But the Houston Police Department and Mayor Whitmire have vehemently refuted the serial killer conspiracy theories and insist the deaths aren\u2019t connected. None of the fatalities have been ruled homicides.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, drowning in our bayous is not a new phenomenon,\u201d the mayor said at the news conference. \u201cThere are 2,500 miles of bayous, and people are exposed to them, sometimes foul play \u2013 often not.\u201d<\/p>\n Adding to the anxiety is the fact that reported bayou deaths in the Houston area have more than doubled compared to 2023, with at least 25 deaths being confirmed so far this year by Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, the medical examiner. By comparison, at least 14 bayou deaths were confirmed by this time in 2024 and a total of 20 the whole year.<\/p>\n The cause of death was undetermined or pending in 16 of this year\u2019s cases, according to the medical examiner\u2019s office.<\/p>\n Criminal justice and conspiracy theory experts CNN spoke with agree there\u2019s no indication that a serial killer is dumping bodies into Houston\u2019s 22 bayous and waterways, but they say it\u2019s natural for people to look for these types of patterns.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a typical human response to this sort of kind of incident,\u201d said Robert Spicer, a communications professor at Millersville University who has researched conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n A variety of factors could have contributed to the deaths \u2013 and the rumors enveloping the lack of answers, experts say.<\/p>\n Why officials say there\u2019s no serial killer<\/p>\n Authorities and experts say there are no connections between the victims that would lead them to believe a serial killer was involved.<\/p>\n \u201cWe weren\u2019t able to find any kind of typical pattern,\u201d said Houston Police Captain Salam Zia at the September news conference. \u201cIt runs the gamut \u2013 genders, ethnicities, age range.\u201d<\/p>\n Demographic data provided to CNN by the medical examiner\u2019s office shows 15 of the people found dead in the bayous were Black, three were Hispanic and six were White. They ranged in age from 14 to 69 years old, and the vast majority were men.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not one specific type of person. It\u2019s really sort of a bunch of different people that are unfortunately losing their life related to these bodies of water,\u201d said Krista Gehring, a criminal justice professor at the University of Houston.<\/p>\n All but one of the deaths happened within the city of Houston. At least five of the deaths were confirmed in Brays Bayou, where McKissic was found. Three others were in Buffalo Bayou and one was in White Oak Bayou.<\/p>\n The cause and manner of death in the cases included accidental drownings, a suicide, drug toxicity, blunt force trauma and cardiovascular disease, according to the medical examiner data.<\/p>\n First responders search in the water at White Oak Bayou in Houston on October 8 – Jill Karnicki\/Houston Chronicle\/Getty Images<\/p>\n For eight of the deaths, the cause was undetermined, meaning \u201cit is impossible to establish, with reasonable medical certainty, the circumstances of death after thorough investigation,\u201d according to the medical examiner. <\/a>The cause of death is pending in another eight cases, meaning they need further information.<\/p>\n Multiple of the deaths reported in the bayous last year are still listed as undetermined as well, according to medical examiner data.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of bodies found,\u201d Kenneth Cutting Sr. told KHOU<\/a>, highlighting that like his son, multiple have undetermined as a cause of death.<\/p>\n It\u2019s common for the cause of death to be undetermined when people die in waterways, says Jay Coons, a criminal justice professor at Sam Houston State University who served with the Harris County Sheriff\u2019s Office for over three decades.<\/p>\n \u201cThe putrefaction process of the human body and water is just horribly destructive,\u201d Coons said. \u201cWhen you put a body in the water\u2026evidence can be washed away, but also with our hot, humid environment, pretty quickly the body can putrify to the extent that you\u2019re left with very little.\u201d<\/p>\n The only evidence left would be obvious injuries inflicted from a stabbing, strangulation or shooting, he said. Medical examiners would also conduct a chemical analysis during an autopsy to test for poisons and medical conditions.<\/p>\n To determine the presence of a serial killer, investigators would have to take two steps: First, the medical examiner would have to rule the death a homicide. Second, they would have to find commonalities between those cases, such as gender, profession or the type of injuries they sustained.<\/p>\n Neither of those scenarios has happened in Houston.<\/p>\n Drownings are also uncommon in serial killer cases. \u201cTypically serial killers tend to kill their victims with very sort of intimate, close-up ways, whether it\u2019s strangulation or bludgeoning or stabbing,\u201d Gehring said.<\/p>\n Even if there was a serial killer disposing of bodies in the bayous, that would be highly unusual, she added. \u201cYou\u2019re risking carrying a body and dumping it into water and people in the public seeing you do it.\u201d<\/p>\n While there are no indications that a serial killer is behind the deaths, that doesn\u2019t rule out the possibility entirely, Coons said. Seeing any evidence of ritualistic activity would be of particular concern, and in that case, investigators would reach out to other homicide units to check if they\u2019ve seen similar crimes, he added.<\/p>\n Council members call for more transparency<\/p>\n Concerns among the community about the bayou deaths heightened when McKissic and others were unexplainably found dead within weeks of each other.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s really when people started wondering what was going on,\u201d Plummer said.<\/p>\n Plummer, who lives off of a bayou, said she started getting calls from community leaders asking for more information about the deaths. That\u2019s when Plummer said she asked Mayor Whitmire and Houston Police Chief J. Noe Diaz to provide details on the deaths.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a misstep to not\u2026take the fear, take the comments of our community to heart and act on it with more decisive information and in a more timely manner,\u201d Plummer said.<\/p>\n City Council Members Letitia Plummer, left, and Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, get ready for a news conference discussing bayou safety on September 30. – Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle\/Getty Images<\/p>\n But the news conference held by Whitmire and Diaz just \u201ccaused more confusion\u201d because the mayor without evidence linked the deaths to homelessness, Plummer said, though many of the deaths are still under investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have homeless living underneath the bridge,\u201d Whitmire said at the September 23 news conference. \u201cUnfortunately, the homeless, when they pass, often end up in the bayou.\u201d<\/p>\n Experts say there may be some truth to that theory. A movement within Houston to relocate a lot of the homeless population from downtown could lead them to set up camp along bayous, according to Gehring and Coons. Other factors may be substance abuse, mental health issues and unstable bayous causing falls, they said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have a body of water, you\u2019re going to have deaths that are related to that body of water,\u201d Gehring said.<\/p>\n Plummer and Evans-Shabazz held a news conference on September 30 with faith leaders, community leaders and students to push authorities to provide timely information on the bayou deaths and address the community\u2019s safety concerns.<\/p>\n \u201cThe less information you give to people, the more people make assumptions,\u201d Plummer said. \u201cPeople start creating their own ideas of what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Having the demographic data, like gender and race, helped alleviate some of the unease residents were feeling and dispel some of the conspiracy theories, Plummer said.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil I am given different rationale or reason behind these bodies, I\u2019m going to try to just keep people from panicking,\u201d Evans-Shabazz said.<\/p>\n CNN has reached out to the Houston Police Department and the mayor\u2019s office for comment.<\/p>\n What\u2019s fueling conspiracy theories<\/p>\n A growing obsession with true crime in the media, a mistrust of authorities in the US and a history of conspiracy theories in American culture likely contributed to rumors and misinformation about the bayou deaths, Spicer said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a serial killer in Houston, Texas,\u201d one TikTok user said in a late September video with over 3,000 likes.<\/p>\n Another video on YouTube took it further: \u201cWhoever is committing these murders know that once a body is in a bayou, most evidence will be destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n The Lone Star State is no stranger to conspiracy theories \u2013 from baseless claims that cloud seeding<\/a> caused deadly floods last July to unfounded fears that a routine military training exercise<\/a> in 2015 was a secret plot to impose martial law in Texas and confiscate firearms.<\/p>\n The increased attention to the bayou deaths may also be fueling much of the fear that residents are feeling, according to the experts.<\/p>\n A cyclist rides alongside Brays Bayou near the Texas Medical Center in Houston on September 30. – Brett Coomer\/Houston Chronicle\/Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cSomething can fly pretty much under the radar until it\u2019s publicized somehow or it catches the public\u2019s interest and all of a sudden it just explodes,\u201d said Coons, comparing the speculation to a game of telephone.<\/p>\n The deaths could also indicate a need to confront deeper societal issues.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s easier to sort of attribute these deaths to a boogeyman serial killer as opposed to confronting the real possible reasons that these deaths are happening,\u201d she said, pointing to mental health, substance abuse and housing issues.<\/p>\n A search for solutions<\/p>\n Whitmire said there\u2019s no \u201cfail-safe way\u201d to prevent deaths in Houston\u2019s bayous.<\/p>\n But Plummer said she\u2019s working on putting additional safety measures in place along the bayous that could help, including improved lighting, rain signage, call boxes and increased security. Evans-Shabazz says it would be difficult to install cameras along the bayous, but urged residents to check their camera footage for unusual activities.<\/p>\n A task force may also be formed to investigate the deaths once the medical examiner\u2019s findings on manner and cause of death are available, Plummer said.<\/p>\n But it may take several weeks to months for a final report to be issued on each death following an autopsy, according to the medical examiner\u2019s office<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s still work that detectives can do while that ruling is coming forth: interview witnesses, document what the scene looked like, try to recover some surveillance footage, any digital evidence that we can find,\u201d Zia, the police captain, said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been over a month since McKissic died, leaving loved ones hurting and waiting for answers about why they lost her.<\/p>\n Community members streamed to vigils honoring the student, who was described <\/a>by the university as \u201ca friend to many in our community.\u201d Others paid tribute to her in her obituary<\/a>, remembering her \u201cintelligence and humor.\u201d<\/p>\n Another victim, Rodney Chatman, was found dead in a bayou the same day that McKissic was. The cause and manner of his death remain pending, according to the medical examiner.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething has to be done,\u201d his sister Xzaviere Chatman told KHOU<\/a>. \u201cWe will never see our loved ones again.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"First](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/3a7982a349071169bdff4bcc16b212ef.jpeg\"\/)
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