Police in Texas are trying to quell fears that the ‘Rainey Street Ripper’ has struck again, with the latest suspected victim reportedly committing suicide.
In the past two years alone, the bodies of 11 men and two women have been found in a short stretch of the Colorado River in Austin, with police saying that only one person is suspected of having committed a crime.
But skepticism about the official story reached a new high after police announced on Friday that the last victim had died of “blunt force.”
Hours later, they issued a quick correction, claiming that new evidence indicated he had shot himself in the head.
“The deceased is believed to have suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” they tweeted. “This is NOT being investigated as a homicide.”
Hours after the last body was found on Friday, Austin Police Department spokesman Austin Zarling revealed the cause of death was “blunt force trauma” to the head
Two days later, police reported that the man had shot himself in the head
The final body came despite more than a year of work to improve safety along the mile-long stretch of river from the Lamar Boulevard Bridge to Lady Bird Lake, where all 13 victims were found.
Police responded at 5:30 p.m. Friday to reports of a man found with life-threatening injuries on a riverside path at Waller Beach, right in the middle of the mile-long beach.
Within 15 minutes of emergency services finding the man, he was pronounced dead. Large pools of blood lay between the path and the water’s edge.
“All of the investigations that are being conducted are routine measures,” the department’s Austin Zarling told a news conference.
‘At this time, this is considered an isolated incident and there is no known danger to the public.
“I’ve spoken to detectives from the homicide unit and there is no evidence of a serial killer at this time.
“We certainly don’t believe there is one.”
Police have concluded that most of the deaths are likely due to accidental drowning, due to the lake’s proximity to popular nightlife.
One of those victims is Ricky Parks, 59 years old. His body was the first to be found in July 2022.
Jeff Jones (pictured in hospital with his sister Amy) after falling 25 feet from a bridge in Austin and believes he was pushed by the ‘Rainey Street ripper’
Jones was unable to leave the hospital for 17 days, while his older sister Amy dropped everything to fly to stay with him, then took him home to New Hampshire to recover.
The deaths of Christopher Gutierrez, Kyle Thornton, 56, and Christopher Hays-Clark, 30, were also not being treated as suspicious.
Two of the deceased, Jason John, 30, and Jonathan Honey, 33, were believed to have drowned accidentally. Both men were last seen on Rainey Street.
According to police, a man, Josue Moreno, was shot while driving and his vehicle crashed into the reservoir.
The death of Clifton Axtell, 46, who was found in March 2023, was considered “undetermined.” The remaining bodies were not being investigated as homicides.
But investigators are dogged by persistent allegations that a homophobic killer has targeted gay men who frequent the nearby Rainey Street nightspots.
In April, a bartender on the entertainment strip claimed a customer had told him he was the rumoured Rainey Street Ripper who attacked men in the nearby waterway, while two more bodies were recovered from the water.
In a post on Reddit, he recalled that the man “suddenly started talking about ‘killing gays'” [Lady Bird Lake] that he found of [Rainey Street]’.
“He was clearly angry and said it quietly. But I know what I heard… Do people lie about this kind of thing?” the bartender added.
He described his client as a white male in his 40s, approximately 5 feet 9 inches tall, muscular, with light brown hair and stubble.
That same month, a man who plunged 26 feet from a nearby bridge while under the influence of drugs, narrowly escaping drowning, told Dailymail.com he believed he had been attacked by the Ripper.
Cliff Axtell, 40, was found March 5 in Lady Bird Lake after going missing near Stubb’s downtown on February 25. His death has been ruled “undetermined.”
In 2023, four bodies were found in Lady Bird Lake in Austin, including 33-year-old Jonathan Honey (pictured), who was found dead on April 1.
Jason John, 30, was found on February 13, 2023 after last being seen on Rainey Street a week earlier. His parents believe there is more to the story behind his disappearance
The death of father Christopher Hays-Clark, 30, (pictured with son) was not treated as suspicious
Jeff Jones, 38, was in Austin with about a dozen friends from his hometown of Boston on June 23 last year at a bachelor party.
More than two weeks later, he woke up in the hospital with metal rods holding his back together. Doctors found the date rape drug Rohypnol in his system.
Whoever it was, I missed the target and I fell to the ground. Luckily I didn’t drown because of that,’ he explained.
“I’m just lucky. There aren’t many people who can say they’ve survived a serial killer, so that’s a story I can tell, I guess.”
One Facebook group alone has gained 90,000 followers through updates on the deaths, but police continue to insist there is no connection between the deaths.
Mark Gillespie, former forensics director for the Austin Police Department, previously stressed in an interview with KVUE that the public should believe police when they say there was no foul play.
“They’re looking for foul play. So if the APD comes out with a statement that they don’t suspect foul play at this point, I promise you they’ve been looking for it, and they’ve been looking very hard for it. I respect that,” Gillespie said.
In an interview with KXAN, Dr. Carsten Andresen of St. Edward’s University said the rumors about the deaths at Lady Bird Lake are similar to conspiracy theories being spread in cities across the country.
Rainey Street (above) is a vibrant neighborhood in Austin known for its nightlife and its selection of bars, food trucks, and restaurants. Lady Bird Lake is about 1.8 miles, or a 35-minute walk, from the street. There are no cameras around the lake
“Human nature has always looked at things and looked for patterns that may or may not exist. But also social media and the ability to put these rumors online and have them spread like wildfire,” he said.
Andresen pointed out that Austin has a reputation as a city where people go to drink and party.
“I don’t think we’ve seen anything that would lead us to conclude that there’s a serial killer out there. But we do know that people in Austin drink excessively and that men tend to engage in risky behavior,” he added.