Houston’s top prosecutor has refuted online rumors that a serial killer is to blame for a string of bodies that have washed up in Houston’s waterways in recent weeks.
Three bodies were recovered near a Houston-area bay last week, according to the Houston Police Department.
in one Interview with NBC affiliate KPRC 2 in Houston on Monday, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare dismissed online speculation that the three bodies were linked to a major crime scheme.
“There is nothing, nothing, and I want to be absolutely clear, to indicate that there is anyone here operating as a serial killer,” he told the outlet. “There are many reasons for these deaths. None of them are serial killers.”
On December 22, a body was recovered from Buffalo Bayou in downtown Houston and another body was recovered from Brays Bayou in Houston’s Pine Valley neighborhood, a police spokesperson confirmed in a phone call.
A body was also found in Buffalo Bayou near Houston’s Rice Military neighborhood on December 24, according to police. All three autopsy results are pending, the spokesperson said.
When asked for further comment, the spokesperson referred NBC News to a news conference held in October by Houston Mayor John Whitmire and Police Chief Noah Diaz. Both men also rejected speculation that another group of recovered bodies was linked.
“There is no evidence that there is a serial killer on the loose on the streets of Houston, Texas,” Whitmire said at the time. “If that were the case, you would have heard it from me first.”
Mary Benton, a spokeswoman for the mayor’s office, said in a statement that “the mayor believes one body is too many.”
“The city extends its condolences to the families whose loved ones were found in the bay,” he said. “Houston Police are doing their part in patrolling around the bay, but the city has more than 2,500 miles of waterways and bays.”
According to NBC affiliate KPRC 2, the three bodies recovered were among more than 30 found in the city’s waterways in 2025.
Teare blamed the city’s “huge homeless problem”, mental health and substance abuse issues for many of the deaths.
“It’s a little known fact, but when you get into the bay, it’s very difficult to get out,” Teare explained. “When you combine it with someone who is a substance abuser, someone who is intoxicated in some way, it makes it even more difficult.”
Teare acknowledged that individual crimes did occur, but reiterated that the bodies recovered were not part of any broader conspiracy.
“Yes, at times we recover bodies that were criminally dumped in the bay, there is no question about that, but it is not a regular occurrence,” he said.
Similarly in Austin, local officials have had to dispute online rumors in recent years that bodies found in the city’s Lady Bird Lake were somehow linked.
