Houston Police Deny Serial Killer Rumor as 16th Body Is Pulled from Bayou By Angel Saunders

Houston residents are on edge after a record number of bodies have been pulled from local bayous this year. Now, city officials are denying rumors that the deaths are linked to a serial killer. 

Just after 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 8, a dive team recovered a male’s body from the White Oak Bayou at Marie Street, marking at least the 16th person found this year, KHOU-11 and Fox News reported.

No obvious signs of foul play were detected, per Fox 26 Houston. His cause of death will be determined by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.

PEOPLE did not immediately receive a response from the Houston Police Department or the mayor’s office. 

During a Sept. 23 press conference, Houston Mayor John Whitmire said “enough is enough with misinformation” and “wild speculation” from social media as users expressed concern online over the mounting number of bodies pulled from bayous in a short amount of time. 

Five of the bodies were discovered within five days last month, Whitmire said, admitting the situation was “alarming.” 

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“We do not have any evidence that there is a serial killer loose in Houston, Texas,” the mayor said while addressing the media.

He continued, “If there was, you would hear it from me first,” adding that his police force prides itself on “total transparency.”

“So, I’m before you today to let you know that enough is enough of wild speculation. It’s very frustrating to me to be at home, watch the news, or social media, and see people spread what I know to be false,” Whitmire said. 

Whitmire also stressed that there are 2,500 miles of waterways, or bayous, in Houston, with a portion of the homeless population living near them. He stated that when homeless people die of illnesses, their “friends and associates” “do not take him to a funeral home.”

Later in the press conference, Whitmire reiterated that there was no evidence “to suggest that any of these incidents are connected.”

Capt. Salam Zia, commander of the Houston Police Department’s homicide division, said the youngest victim was 20. Victims have been both males and females from their 20s to their 60s, Fox News reported.

Among the deaths was 20-year-old University of Houston student, Jade McKissic, whose body was recovered on Sept. 15 after going missing on Sept. 11.

“It is with profound sadness that we share the recent passing of one of our students,” her school told students in a letter also shared with PEOPLE. “Jade ‘Sage’ McKissic was a campus resident and student employee, and a friend to many in our community.”

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Additional victims include: Douglas Sqearingen found in January; Carl Newton found in February; Anthony Azua and Juan Garcia Loredo found in March; Jesse Steel found in April; Kenneth Jones, George Grays, Culcois Racius, Anthony Curry and Shannon Davis found in May; Ernest Armstrong in June; Raymond Halten in July; Latracia Amos and Jamal Alexander in August; and Rodney Chatman and Michael Rice in September, Click 2 Houston reported. 

Several victims had not yet been identified, with the total being 22, per the news station.