Austin PD debunks rumors of Rainey Street serial killer
Last week, the body of a 33-year-old man named Jonathan Honey was found in Lady Bird Lake. Following the February drowning of 30-year-old Jason John and the five other bodies found in the Colorado River reservoir that cuts through downtown Austin in recent months, it only fanned the flames that the deaths were in some way connected.
On Monday, April 3, Austin Police Department released a statement regarding speculation that there was a serial killer on the loose near Lady Bird Lake, indicating that it did not believe the explanation to be truthful.
“Although these cases are still under investigation and evidence is being analyzed, at this time, there is no evidence in any of these cases to support allegations of foul play.”
The statement goes on to note that though the location is the same in a few of the recent drownings, “the circumstances, exact locations, and demographics surrounding these cases vary.”
APD also says that the department is working with the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office, which performs autopsies “in each of these types of death investigations.” The department says that the results have not yet shown foul play or trauma to the bodies.
And yet, this explanation has had the opposite of its intended effect on a small but growing community of those who believe a serial killer is the only plausible explanation.
A Facebook group called “Lady Bird Lake Serial Killer/ Rainey St Killer,” has almost 41,000 members, almost double the amount it had this morning, per a report in San Antonio Current.
Posts abound about APD debunking the serial killer theory to either save face, keep the public calm, or some combination of the two. There are theories on who the killer might be, ranging from a pedicab driver to a rich doctor with access to pharmaceuticals to the police themselves. There doesn’t appear to be a unifying motive. What binds these deaths together, in the eyes of those who believe them to be connected, is a list of people found in Lady Bird Lake dating back to 2008, all of whom are young men.
An overwhelmingly popular hypothesis is that, while some of the victims in question have been seen drinking at Rainey Street bars, some intoxicated just before disappearing, someone had slipped something into their drinks before they were found in the lake.
On Twitter and TikTok as well, the true crime sleuths have decided not that there might be a serial killer hunting young men on Rainey Street, but that there definitely is, and that the police aren’t doing enough about it.
Advocates have called for better safety around the downtown area, including security cameras, and many in the group and elsewhere online have urged those traveling to Rainey Street at night to be careful and to not drink alone.
The APD statement concludes by noting a “theme” between the drownings this year in Austin: “a combination of alcohol and easy access to Lady Bird Lake, which has numerous access points.”
