{"id":195199,"date":"2025-12-31T11:53:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T11:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/after-3-bodies-are-recovered-from-houston-bayous-officials-dispute-serial-killer-rumors-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T11:53:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T11:53:18","slug":"after-3-bodies-are-recovered-from-houston-bayous-officials-dispute-serial-killer-rumors-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/after-3-bodies-are-recovered-from-houston-bayous-officials-dispute-serial-killer-rumors-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"After 3 bodies are recovered from Houston bayous, officials dispute serial killer rumors &#8211; NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> news Alerts<br \/>There are no new alerts at this time<br \/>Houston&#8217;s top prosecutor is disputing online rumors that a serial killer is to blame for bodies that have washed ashore in the city&#8217;s waterways in recent weeks.<br \/>Just last week, three bodies were recovered near Houston-area bayous, according to the Houston Police Department. <br \/>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/news\/local\/2025\/12\/29\/there-is-not-a-serial-killer-harris-county-da-disputes-rumors-after-more-bodies-found-in-bayous\/\" target=\"_blank\">interview with NBC affiliate KPRC on Monday,<\/a> Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare shot down speculation that the three bodies were connected to a larger crime scheme.<br \/>&#8220;There is nothing, nothing, and I want to be crystal clear, to indicate that there is someone operating here as a serial killer,&#8221; he told the outlet. &#8220;There are many reasons for these deaths. None of them are a serial killer.&#8221;<br \/>On Dec. 22, a body was recovered from the Buffalo Bayou in Downtown Houston and another was recovered from the Brays Bayou in the Pine Valley neighborhood, a police spokesperson confirmed in a phone call.<br \/>A body was also found in the Buffalo Bayou near the Rice Military neighborhood on Dec. 24, according to police. The spokesperson said that all three autopsy results remain pending. <br \/>When asked for further comment, the spokesperson referred NBC News to a press conference Houston Mayor John Whitmire and Police Chief Noe Diaz held in October. Both men also shot down speculation that another slew of recovered bodies were connected. <br \/>&#8220;There is no evidence that there is a serial killer loose on the streets in Houston, Texas,\u201d Whitmire said at the time. &#8220;If there was, you would hear it from me first.&#8221;<br \/>Mary Benton, a spokesperson for the mayor&#8217;s office, said in a statement that &#8220;the mayor believes one body is one too many.&#8221;<br \/>&#8220;The city extends condolences to families whose loved ones were found in a bayou,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Houston police are doing their part to patrol around bayous, but the city has more than 2500 miles of waterways and bayous.&#8221;<br \/>The three bodies recovered were among the more than 30 found in the city\u2019s waterways in 2025, according to KPRC. <br \/>Teare, the Harris County DA, attributed many of the deaths to the city&#8217;s &#8220;massive homeless problem,&#8221; mental health and substance abuse issues. <br \/>&#8220;It\u2019s kind of a little-known fact, but when you get into the bayous, it is very difficult to get out,&#8221; Teare explained. &#8220;When you combine that with someone that is high on some substance, someone that is intoxicated somehow, it makes it even more difficult.&#8221;<br \/>Teare acknowledged that individual crimes do occur but again reiterated that the recovered bodies are not part of a wide conspiracy.<br \/>&#8220;Yes, there are times where we recover bodies that were placed in the bayou criminally, no question, but that is not something that is a regular occurrence,&#8221; he said.<br \/>Similarly, in Austin, local officials have had to dispute online rumors in recent years that bodies found in the city&#8217;s Lady Bird Lake are somehow connected to one another. <br \/>Matt Lavietes is a reporter for NBC News.<br \/>&copy;&nbsp;2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMiugFBVV95cUxOQXZrTUsyOGpXcG1VNVNncFcxU3ZNTjh3M0dBMW01NVpkT3pVS2s2Y2tDdURJaTNNWE1qckF4WjYxLXpkdHhCZXFLMG1KSmQwUmdhTWZlTzZfZHg5aDQ4QjVOdWc4bFVnM01JQXRKY0J6aHA0V3h5U04xY3VSazM2T0Z5M2V1a2FnOHR2QzQ4TnZOeEZzaGJHbTlBdG42bUg1WW8xNTZpYm8yUlBiMDlzRzFxMEw0XzJGWmfSAVZBVV95cUxPNFdFaFNnTHdvaGJHdmNEb1cxMVFLNlczVEFMWTZLWkVDc3NTckNNQjlUR3kwNXFRWXdJcGJCZU82aDBZaDZuMW9QRjduVGpjanFtcE9NZw?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeHouston&#8217;s top prosecutor is disputing online rumors that a serial killer is to blame for bodies that have washed ashore in the city&#8217;s waterways in recent weeks.Just last week, three bodies were recovered near Houston-area bayous, according to the Houston Police Department. In an interview with NBC [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":195200,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-195199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}