Houston's top prosecutor is disputing online rumors that a serial killer is to blame for bodies that have washed ashore in the city'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 affiliate KPRC 2 on Monday, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare shot down speculation that the three bodies were connected to a larger crime scheme.
"There is nothing, nothing, and I want to be crystal clear, to indicate that there is someone operating here as a serial killer," he told the outlet. "There are many reasons for these deaths. None of them are a serial killer."
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.
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.
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.
"There is no evidence that there is a serial killer loose on the streets in Houston, Texas,” Whitmire said at the time. "If there was, you would hear it from me first."
Mary Benton, a spokesperson for the mayor's office, said in a statement that "the mayor believes one body is one too many."
"The city extends condolences to families whose loved ones were found in a bayou," she said. "Houston police are doing their part to patrol around bayous, but the city has more than 2500 miles of waterways and bayous."
The three bodies recovered were among the more than 30 found in the city’s waterways in 2025, according to KPRC 2.
Teare, the Harris County DA, attributed many of the deaths to the city's "massive homeless problem," mental health and substance abuse issues.
"It’s kind of a little-known fact, but when you get into the bayous, it is very difficult to get out," Teare explained. "When you combine that with someone that is high on some substance, someone that is intoxicated somehow, it makes it even more difficult."
Teare acknowledged that individual crimes do occur, but again reiterated that the bodies recovered are not part of a wide conspiracy.
"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," 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 are somehow connected to one another.
