Chilling statistics have surfaced, revealing that nearly 200 bodies have been recovered from Houston’s bayous over the past eight years. This unsettling discovery has left local residents demanding explanations.

Despite community concerns, authorities maintain that the startling number does not point to the presence of a serial killer.

According to records from the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office, accessed by KPRC 2, a total of 189 bodies have been found in the swampy waters of this Texas city since 2017.

Among these cases, 17 have been labeled as homicides, while 75 remain classified as ‘unexplained.’

“That certainly warrants further investigation,” Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and current criminal justice professor at Penn State Lehigh Valley, commented to the Daily Mail.

Fears of a serial killer were ignited in late September after officials announced that five dead bodies had been recovered over the course of just five days.

On Friday The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences said that the causes of all but one of deaths still remain undetermined, per CW39. The death of Arnulfo Alvarado was ruled an accidental drowning mixed with the effects of methamphetamine.

Since the start of the year, the death toll has risen to 27 according to the data obtained by KPRC 2.

Jade Elise McKissic, 20, who was a student at the University of Houston, was found dead in Brays Bayou in September

Anthony Curry, 35, was pulled from swampy waters in Houston on May 17

Authorities were seen on October 8 recovering a body from White Oak Bayou 

The new figures also indicate that the most common age of decedents was 30-39, with a quarter of the bodies pulled matching this demographic. 

 ‘Just the sheer number of cases, the fact that a few of them could be connected, I think that the percentage of something being connected – at least one or two of them – is pretty high,’ Giacalone said.

He urged Houston investigators to explore the possibility of ‘companion cases, or dare I say, patterns,’ among the deaths. 

Although he added that he wouldn’t want to ‘go out and over-speculate on anything’.

Among the unexplained deaths is that of Jade Elise McKissic, 20, who was a student at the University of Houston.

McKissic was last seen alive leaving a bar to get a drink at a gas station. She left her phone behind, the Houston Police homicide division said.

Her body was found in Brays Bayou on September 15, four days later, at around 10am. Police said there were no signs of trauma or foul play.

Of all the deaths, 39 percent have undetermined causes, while 24 percent were attributed to accidental drowning. 

Thirteen percent of them have been ruled suicides, nine percent were deemed homicides and sic percent were reportedly caused by accidents other than drowning.

Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and criminal justice professor at Penn State Lehigh Valley, discussed the bayou investigations with the Daily Mail 

The majority of the bodies found in Houston waterways since 2017 were in the Buffalo Bayou (pictured) 

Five percent of these cases are still pending autopsy results and the remaining four percent of victims reportedly died from natural causes. 

Most of the people found, a total of 87 bodies, were between the ages of 18 and 39. 

Houston Mayor John Whitmire and police officials have consistently shot down  rumors of a serial killer. 

‘Enough is enough of wild speculation,’ Whitmire said at a news conference on September 23.

‘There is no evidence that there is a serial killer loose on the streets of Houston.’ 

The Democratic mayor has blamed homelessness and drug abuse to rationalize the uptick of recent deaths surrounding the city’s 2,500 miles of bayous. 

‘Unfortunately, the homeless, when they pass, often end up in the bayou,’ he said. 

Giacalone slammed the mayor’s response to the local crisis as ‘mind-boggling,’ considering that many of the cases made publicly known ‘have nothing to do with the homeless population’.

Kenneth Cutting Jr, 22, was found dead in Buffalo Bayou in downtown Houston last year

The body of Raymond Hatten, 30, was discovered on July 7

Mayor John Whitmire (right) and Police Chief Noe Diaz (left) denied there is a serial killer dumping bodies in bayous during a September press conference

 And the vocal critics are not just those observing the dreadful events from afar. A private investigator probing a bayou death insinuated that there may be an evil plot at play. 

Texas Private Investigator Colman Ryan, who was hired by the family of Kenneth Cutting Jr, 22, who was found dead in Buffalo Bayou in downtown Houston last year, is not buying the Mayor’s narrative either. 

‘They’re saying they don’t have a serial killer, but I’m not sure,’ Ryan told Fox News. ‘Maybe their objective isn’t sexual assault. It’s not robbery. But they’re just throwing people in the bayou.’ 

Ryan’s bombshell assertion came just before the Houston Medical Examiner admitted to an error in Cutting’s autopsy report, in which his cause of death was ruled undetermined. 

Cutting’s cousin, Lauren Freeman, told KHOU 11 that she recently learned that a portion of his autopsy report was from another person’s case. 

‘The doctor that did his autopsy said, “Oh, that was a mistake. It was for the body I did after that, but it was accidentally put in his medical report,”‘ she said.

‘I don’t know how something like that is mistaken. Somebody has died and the information in the report has to be right.’ 

Cutting’s family has called for police to reopen its probe into his death. 

Ryan noted that neither Cutting nor McKissic was homeless or had a past of trauma. 

Houston has roughly 2,500 miles of bayous, including White Oaks Bayou (pictured)

‘I think they’re too quickly dismissing it,’ Ryan said of Houston police.  

However, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences said the ‘clerical error had no impact on the findings or the cause and manner of death,’ as per KHOU 11. 

Buffalo Bayou, where Cutting was found, has been the most common area for corpse discoveries, as per the fresh data obtained by KPRC 2. 

Since 2017, 21 bodies have been found in the Downtown Houston Buffalo Bayou Park area. 

The bayou located throughout the Eastwood and Lawndale-Wayside neighborhoods has harbored 17 bodies in the same time span, while 16 bodies were found in Houston’s East Downtown near Navigation Boulevard. 

The Houston Police Department and the Mayor’s office both declined to provide further comment in light of the new data, referring the Daily Mail to previous statements. 

In the meantime, Giacalone has called upon Whitmire and the city’s police to dive deeper into the bayou fatalities. 

‘The golden rule is that every death should be treated as if it’s suspicious until proven otherwise,’ he said. 

While the recently unveiled data reported 27 bayou deaths so far in 2025, authorities have only publicly confirmed 24 of these fatalities. 

According to the Houston Chronicle, those identified are:

• Douglas Swearingen, 44, found on January 11
• Carl Newton, 24, found on February 14
• Rodolfo Salas Sosa, 56, found on March 22
• Anthony Azua, 33, found on March 30
• Juan Garcia Loredo, 69, found on March 31
• Kenneth Jones, 34, found on May 7
• George Grays, 54, found on May 9
• Culcois Racius, 39, found on May 9
• Anthony Curry, 35, found on May 17
• Shannon Davis, 14, found on May 30
• Ernest Armstrong, 62, found on June 9
• Brent Brown, 28, found on June 12
• Raymond Hatten, 30, found on July 7
• Latrecia Amos, 57, found on August 21 
• Jamal Alexander, 31, found on August 27
• Rodney Chatman, 43, found on September 15
• Michael Rice, 67, found on September 20

One body discovered in early October in White Oak Bayou has not yet been identified. The Houston Chronicle did not name a victim who died by suicide.