(RightWing.org) – Is a serial killer stalking men in Austin, Texas? Some locals believe a murderer has committed a string of killings in the city over the last five years and dumped the bodies in a popular lake. However, police say there’s no evidence the deaths were anything but accidents.
APD Statement on Lady Bird Lake Drownings pic.twitter.com/mpc3uuJJ1N
— Austin Police Department (@Austin_Police) April 3, 2023
Lady Bird Lake is one of the most striking features of downtown Austin. It is an artificial reservoir created in 1960 by a dam on the Colorado River. It runs for over six miles and was built as a cooling pond for a now-closed power station, but now has become a popular place for locals to visit.
But does the lake have a sinister secret? Since 2018 the bodies of at least 18 men have been found in its 468 acres of water, and many locals think a serial killer has dumped them there. With four corpses found so far this year, that theory is becoming a social media sensation.
Believers in the serial killer theory highlight the fact the alleged victims had things in common — they were all young men, all disappeared after visiting bars on Austin’s popular Rainey Street, and all turned up days later in Lady Bird Lake.
Skeptics of the sinister theory point out that 80% of the 4,000-plus people who drown in the US every year are male, and the two biggest factors are alcohol use and risk-taking behavior. Austin police say none of the bodies have shown any signs of foul play, but that doesn’t satisfy some relatives and the more than 85,000 people who have joined Facebook groups dedicated to the serial killer theory.
So what’s really going on? The family of Jason John, who disappeared on February 5 and turned up in the lake a week later, says they don’t believe he drowned because he couldn’t swim and wouldn’t go near the water. John was last seen leaving a bar and setting off down a dark path that runs along the lakeshore. The Austin Police Department is warning locals that many access points to the lake are “challenging to see at night” — in other words, it’s easy to fall in accidentally.
So, is a patient assassin targeting drunk Austinites as they leave Rainey Street’s numerous bars, killing them in some undetectable way and dumping their bodies in the lake? Facebook groups say yes. Austin police say no. Either way, the safest thing to do is avoid walking near water at night after drinking alcohol.
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