Is there a Serial Killer in Austin?! Another Body is Recovered from the City Lake

According to the Austin Police Department, officers responded to calls regarding a deceased body in Lady Bird Lake on Saturday. Although the police officials continue to say they don’t suspect anything criminal, it is the fifth dead person found in the lake since last year, which has locals constructing their own theories. Let’s get to it:

Theory #1: There’s a serial killer on the loose.

Let’s back up to last year. On Feb. 13, 2023, the body of 30-year-old Jason John was found dead in Lady Bird Lake after he went missing for a week. The Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death as a drowning, per FOX 7 Austin. Then, the body of 40-year-old Clifton Axtell was found washed up near the lake on March 5, 2023, police say. He vanished from his wife and two children just days prior but the medical examiner said his cause of death was “undetermined.”

Then, 33-year-old Jonathan Honey was found dead on April 1, 2023 just a day after he was last seen in public. The medical examiner said he drowned.

The last body to be recovered from the lake last year was that of Jonathan Clark, a Black father. Police say the 30-year-old man was found in a similar area where the others were found. At the time, the police suspected no foul play, per FOX’s report.

Now, after almost a year since the string of Lady-Bird-deaths ended, a fifth body has been recovered from the lake this past weekend. Police are still investigating who the person is, how long they were in the water and how they died. But in a press conference, police echoed the same assertions from last year that there’s no reason to jump to serial killer or loch ness monster conclusions.

“The results of these autopsies have not revealed any trauma to the bodies nor indication of foul play,” the APD said in a statement last year. In a press conference this week, Officer Michael Bullock said “nothing criminal has been seen” at this point in the investigation.

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