The Houston Police Department is investigating the death of a Black man found in the water near a local bar. The young man had been missing for almost two weeks, and authorities are trying to figure out if his death was a tragic accident or a result of foul play.
On Friday, Nov. 25, Delano Burkes’ body was found floating in the Houston Ship Channel near 9601 High Level Road. The 26-year-old’s family had been looking for him since he went missing on Nov. 13, and he was last seen alive exiting a bar in the Heights early that morning, according to KHOU.
After he went missing, his family members formed a search party to find him, passing out flyers and his picture in the area where he was last seen.
During a press conference, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee asked for the community to come together to help find this young man, partnering with Crime Stoppers to offer a $5,000 reward for information that helps lead investigators to his whereabouts.
At the time, the representative said, “We want to find Mr. Burkes. No family should have to experience this.”
An HPD dive team and Texas EquuSearch, a search and recovery nonprofit, canvassed the water looking for Burkes for days, but the effort came to a halt after a person in a tugboat discovered a human body floating in the waterway close to 15 miles away from the bar.
HPD Protocol requires the body to be sent over to the medical examiners and other authorities in the HPD’s Homicide Unit, where his death would be treated as a homicide. However, at the time, no one is a suspect. Officials aren’t ruling out the possibility of Burkes falling into the water after a night of drinking.
On Tuesday HPD spokesperson Jodi Silva said at first examination it “did not show any signs of foul play.”
Tim Miller, the founder of the Texas EquuSearch, said his company and crew were particularly invested in finding Burkes and said he knew it was Burkes’ body when it was pulled out.
He said, “We put a lot of effort in that search. We knew that it was him but of course, we had to wait for positive ID.”
“Hopefully the investigation will put our speculations behind us and hopefully come out with the truth,” Miller added.
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