With nearly 40 bodies recovered from Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas since 2022, rumors are rife of a serial killer on the loose

Local Authorities said the top cause is accidental drowning by revelers in the bar district next to the lake, as well as suicides and drug abuse

Of the dozens bodies recovered from Lady Bird Lake in the past three years, 30 out of 38, are males

With only one incidence out of 38 recorded as murder, Austin Police has reiterated that there is no reason for them to believe these deaths are connected

APD said they have not found reason to suspect foul play, and there were no trauma wounds on the corpses 

Jeff Jones seen [photo in hospital with his sister Amy], plummeted 25 feet off a bridge in Austin, who was drugged before the fall and narrowly missing certain drowning, believes he could have been targeted by the ‘Rainey Street ripper’

38-year-old Jeff Jones flew into Austin last year for what he assumed would be a wild bachelor party.
The Boston native went to dinner with his friends before moving onto bars on the notoriously rowdy West 6th Street.
An hour past midnight, Jones got separated from his friends. Two weeks later he woke up in hospital with metal rods supporting his back and he didn’t remember a thing. 
Doctors found the date-rape drug Rohypnol in his system and told him he had been found in water after falling 25ft off a bridge.
Jones believes he had been drugged and pushed by a potential serial killer that many believed was roaming the streets of the Texas city.
As Austin police insist a mass murderer is not on the loose in the city, the grim harvest from the depths of the Lady Bird Lake, a waterway running through the center of Austin has done little to quell these rumors. 
More than three dozens bodies have been pulled from the Lake in the last three years, it was revealed on Wednesday.
While police say only one case was a homicide, shutting down suggestions of a hunt for the ‘Rainy Street Ripper’, cause of death in half a dozen cases remain unknown.

Since since 2022, at least 38 bodies have been pulled from Lady Bird Lake, a central water way running through the entertainment district in Austin, Texas, the latest on Tuesday

With many of the fatalities still shrouded in mystery, most have been attributed to accidental drowning, followed by suicides, drug overdoses, and natural causes. Only one case has been ruled a murder; while cause of death in half a dozen of these cases remain unknown.
Authorities have offered the theory that the party scene in downtown Austin, a favorite destination for bachelorette and bachelor parties, has exacerbated the situation. 
On record many of those who have ended up in Lady Bird Lake had been partying hard at Rainey Street, a popular bar scene, just feet away from the river.  
Proactively city officials have increased safety measures, including lighting and fencing around the lake.
Ambulances are also parked at the end of the areas party central, Rainey Street, to treat those who have either had too much fun, or turn those walking towards the water away.

Four bodies were found in Austin’s Lady Bird Lake in 2023 including 33-year-old Jonathan Honey [photo], who was found dead on April 1

The latest remains found on Tuesday law enforcement believe, belong to a teen who went missing on Sunday. 
The 17-year-old black male who was paddle boarding with his family went missing around 7pm.
While cops await a positive identification from the medical examiner’s office, it was revealed that a body with clothes matching the description of the unidentified youngster was pulled from the water on Tuesday. His kayak was later recovered with his life jacket and backpack still on it.
Investigators have said there are no signs of foul play in this case, which has been classified as a drowning, police said.
‘The teenager got off his kayak to stand in shallow water. He was not wearing a life jacket at the time. Investigators have determined that he was unknowingly standing near an underwater shelf, which is a sudden drop-off in the lake, when he stepped or slipped off and did not resurface’, the Austin Police Department explained.
Like Jeff Jones, most of people who have been found dead in the water, 30 out of 38, are are males. 

The death of dad Christopher Hays-Clark, 30, seen [photo with son], was found dead on April 15, 2023. His death was not deemed to be suspicious

Over three dozen bodies recovered from Lady Bird Lake in the past three years, 30 out of 38, are males.
Although drowning has been the top ’cause of death’, the number of unresolved cases has led to the rampant serial killer speculation, which the Austin Police Department has shot down multiple times, same as the theory that gay men were being targeted. 
The first of the most recent bodies was found under South 1st Street Bridge on April 9 and was described as a ‘cardiac-arrest’ style event even as police continue to probe the death.
Five days later, a fisherman reported another body near 515 S. Pleasant Valley Road – that death is not being investigated as a homicide as well.
Similarly Austin police ruled out foul play in some of the deaths connected to the reservoir, believing those are likely, accidental drownings due to the lake’s proximity to popular nightlife spots.
These include that of Ricky Parks, 59, whose body was found first in July 2022 and who is thought to have drowned.

Cause of death for Cliff Axtell, [photo], 40, has been ruled ‘undetermined. His body was recovered from Lady Bird Lake on March 5 after he went missing near Stubb’s in downtown Austin on February 25

Jason John, [photo], 30, was found on February 13, 2023 after he was last seen on Rainey Street a week earlier. Cause of death was ruled accidental drowning, but nis parents believe there is more to the his disappearance

The deaths of Christopher Gutierrez, Kyle Thornton, 56, and Christopher Hays-Clark 30, were also not deemed suspicious.
Two of the deceased, Jason John, 30, and Jonathan Honey, 33, were deemed to have drowned accidentally. Both men were last seen on Rainey Street.
The majority of the recovered remains, 60 percent, were between the ages of 30 and 49. Two were teenagers, including the person recovered Tuesday.
‘The things that lead to it being a serial killer is that it’s a very specific type of victim, which I fit, they don’t have anything stolen from them, they drown in the water, and they disappear in the middle of the night,’ Jeff Jones who survived his ordeal, said in a 2024 interview. ‘I match all of this, I just luckily didn’t end up dead.’

he popular bar district in Austin, Rainey Street, is located next to Lady Bird Lake, where dozens have drowned since 2022. Those have been accidental drownings, according to the Austin Police Dept

However, police have chalked up the growing number of fatalities to a growing party scene near the water. 
With only one incidence out of 38 recorded as murder by the Austin Police, the department has reiterated that there is no reason for them to believe these deaths are connected, adding that they have not found reason to suspect foul play, and there were no trauma wounds on the corpse of the most recent body.