Rumours of a serial killer in a major U.S. city are swirling after 38 bodies have been pulled from a lake in three years.
The most recent discovery was found by a paddleboarder in Lady Bird Lake in Austin Texas, on Tuesday morning.
The discovery has renewed fears that a mass murderer, dubbed the ‘Rainy Street Ripper’, is on the loose in the city with close to a million residents.
Austin’s police force has insisted a killer is not roaming the streets, and has said only one of the cases was a homicide.
But half a dozen of the bodies dragged from Lady Bird Lake have causes of death which remain unknown.
The rumours were reignited when a paddleboarder discovered a body at 7am on Tuesday. It is believed to belong to a teenage boy who went missing on Sunday.
Early investigations show the teenager was with his family on kayaks and paddleboards on the lake when he fell into the river and did not resurface, according to Fox 7 Austin.
It was, however, the 30th male corpse to be discovered in the lake since 2022.
Of all 38 deaths associated with Little Bird Lake, 60 per cent were aged between 390 and 49, while two were teenagers.
Drowning has been the top cause of death, with suicide, drug overdoses and natural causes being other reasons.
(Picture: Scott Moore/REX/Shutterstock)
Two corpses were found in or around the river in April as well.
One was discovered under a nearby bridge, with the cause of death believed to be a ‘cardiac arrest incident’.
A few days later, police were back at the river again after another death in Lady Bird Lake, which cops said they were not treating as a homicide.
Officials are worried the large party scene in downtown Austin might be behind the number of deaths in the lake.
Rainey Street, a popular bar scene, is a favourite spot for bachelorette and bachelor parties but lies just feet from the river.
In response, the city has put up fencing and lighting around the lake as part of $800,000 upgrades.
They are also parking ambulances at the end of Rainey Street to take home any partygoers who have drunk past their limits.
This has not stopped speculation, however.
A petition was launched last July, gathering more than 5,200 signatures, which was titled ‘Austin Police Department – Acknowledge That The Austin Drownings May Not Be Accidents’, according to My San Antonio.
The petition focuses on the case of 21-year-old Christian Pugh, who disappeared after a night out on Rainey Street in November 2019.
He was found two days later, so badly beaten he fell into a coma for a month.
The official report from the Austin Police said that Pugh fell into the lake in a ‘tragic accident’.
They have also continued to insist that there is no reason for them to believe the deaths are connected.
Officials confirmed they have no reason to suspect foul play in the most recent incident and no trauma wounds were found on the most recent corpse.
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