Every Town - An ACTIVE Serial Killer Is Stalking Austin, Texas

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

More than sixteen bodies. One lake. And a growing number of questions that have left an entire city on edge. Over the past sixteen years, Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas has become the centre of a disturbing mystery that continues to unfold at this very moment. 👀 Watch This Episode On Youtube: https://youtu.be/vO4_CL6tA_Y 👁 Check out our movie AN ANGRY BOY for FREE! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvtlOlODQ8g&t=5238s https://tubitv.com/movies/100029672/an-angry-boy International & Other Ways To Watch: https://www.anangryboy.com/ 💀 MERCH: https://scary-mysteries.teemill.com/ 💀 Free 7 Day Trail on Exclusive Episodes, Podcasts & Perks! https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries   🎧 Our Other Podcast Scary Mysteries: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZooEZMoZ421WdsOVJhVkT 👁 X: https://x.com/ScaryMysteries1 👁 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg 👁 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald 👁 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial 👁 X: https://x.com/ScaryMysteries1 🗣 Business Inquiries, questions and comments hit us up at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love true crime, grab your favorite mug and pour yourself a dose of creepy true crime every single morning with a morning cup of murder. This short daily show is the perfect podcast to incorporate into your morning routine because in less than 15 minutes, you'll hear about a true crime that took place on a day's date in history. Each day's dark history lesson will kickstart your morning with intriguing tales of murder, abduction, serial killers, cults, and everything in between.

With over 20 million downloads, Morning Cup of Murder has something for every true crime lover. One listener describes the show as a small package with a powerful punch of crime. Another writes that the show is an absolute delight in the morning. Support yourself a piping hot cup of murder every single morning with Morning Cup of Murder. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Everytown has a dark side. Austin police were alerted about a body being found along a walking trail near Lady Bird Lake in East Austin on Wednesday. There are renewed concerns after a woman was recently found dead in Lady Bird Lake.

Austin police responding to a high priority call in zone 300 of Lady Bird Lake. Concern among people who hang out near Lady Bird Lake Monday after the body of... More than 16 bodies, one lake and a growing number of questions that have left an entire city on edge. Over the past 16 years, Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas has become the center of a disturbing mystery that continues to unfold at this very moment. And bodies deep appearing in these waters, the young man who vanished without explanation, wanted to be found days later under suspicious circumstances. While local authorities maintain these are tragic accidents, a growing number of Austin residents are questioning whether something more sinister,

might really be a play. Hey guys, it's Andrew, and thanks for tuning into another episode of Everytown. We're today, we're checking out an ongoing mystery taking place down in Texas. And 20 people found dead in Lady Bird Lake since 2008, and 12 of them since 2022. As the number continues to climb, the similarities between many of these cases have become impossible to ignore. Some survivors have interesting stories to tell, and whether or a number of these cases, or not, these are just a bunch of coincidences, or the work of a killer, or perhaps a mix of both,

is what we're digging into today. Let's head on over to Austin and check out the mysterious deaths of Lady Bird Lake. But to start off, Lady Bird Lake wasn't always called that. It created in 1960 as a cooling pond for a power plant. It was originally called Town Lake. The reservoir was renamed in 2007 to honor Lady Bird. Johnson, the former First Lady who had worked to beautified shores. This body of water stretches through downtown Austin, reaching depths of up to 18 feet,

and has become a central feature of the city's outdoor recreation scene. It's surrounded by parks, trails, and some of Austin's most popular entertainment districts. The Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail circles its perimeter, drawing joggers, cyclists, and pedestrians at all hours. On its northern shore lies Rainey Street. A historic district transformed into one of the city's hottest nightlife destinations, packed with bars, restaurants, and food truck. Despite its calm appearance, Lady Bird Lake has some powerful underlying currents.

Its waters can be more treacherous than they seem. And because of this, swimming is officially banned by a city ordinance. Though when the weather gets hot, people have been known to ignore this and take a dip despite the risks. And so unfortunately, there have been some drowning deaths reported here over the years, the ones that could have been avoided, but accidents happen. All these hazards alone don't explain the disturbing pattern that started to emerge in 2008. A pattern that begins with a Lebanese American school teacher named Rayd Hamad.

At 55 years old, Ray was a dedicated peace activist, who lived in the city, for over three decades. He spent his time teaching business education, pursuing graduate studies at the University of Texas, as well as running a charitable organization called the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund, which sold Palestinian craft to support families in need. The first death was one of the strangest of all

because all the events leading up to it were out of the norm. See, in February of 2008, the FBI and IRS joined four. to raid his South Austin home, seizing 40 boxes of material related to his charity work as part of an investigation and to alleged wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. No charges were filed, but on Monday night of April 14th, Hamad's family reported him missing. His last known contact was a peculiar phone call to a colleague in California, during which he briefed her on the raids, things he had already covered and, in previous emails before abruptly ending the conversation. Within 24 hours, police used his cell phone to locate his car in a parking lot near South Lakeshore

Boulevard. After an initial search, nothing turned up, but on Wednesday afternoon, a passerby on the north side of the lake spotted a body floating near the shore, just east of the I-35 bridge. It was Hamad, but the condition of his body would spark years of speculation and controversy, His eyes were wrapped in duct tape, as if the spool had been spun around his head, and both of his hands and legs were also bound. Despite the suspicious circumstances, investigators claimed the bindings were consistent with self-application. His arms, for example, were in front of his body, rather than wrapped behind his back. And so for them, officially it appeared like he had done this all to himself.

But still, not everyone was convinced. The case became even more controversial when Hamad's body was transported to the Islamic Center of Greater Austin for burial preparation. The Imam there, Ibrahim Dramali, reported that in his 20 years of preparing bodies for burial, he had never seen one in such horrible condition. He described the corpse as being in a barbaric state, with inadequate sutures, seeping blood, and flesh that appeared. torn. The state of the body was so disturbing that two experienced colleagues left the room in distress. As Dramali stated, it appeared like a wild animal that ripped him to shreds. His colleague back in California, the one who got the final phone call, suggested Hamad might

have deliberately staged his debt to cast suspicion on his perceived enemies. Others speculated about darker possibilities. given his political activities and the strange condition of his body, it's not out of the realm of possibility that he was targeted. In the end, the Austin PD stood by their ruling. But Hamad's death would become even stranger in the years that followed because it marked the beginning of what will become a disturbing pattern over at Lady Bird Lake. A few months later in June, Austin Fire and Rescue responded to an emergency call from a local fisherman

early on a Sunday morning. They had been out on the lake when they thought they had spotted a body, though they weren't really sure. When responders went to investigate, there between the Holiday Inn, in Interstate 35, they found the badly decomposed remains of somebody. Though they were in such bad shape that, at first, they couldn't even determine the gender of the victim. It would later be discovered that the remains belonged to a missing mother and preschool teacher, Nazima Habibu. And Azima had vanished shortly after telling her fiancé that she was going to the local grocery store. Unfortunately, this is all we really know about her story. And no cause of death has ever been disclosed.

At the time her body was found, homicide investigations were ongoing, with inquiries directed at people close to her, but no further information was ever made available. And Azima is an outlier in this whole mystery because she is one of the few female victims. murder story is definitely worth mentioning because it happened in the time frame, and as we try to piece together what exactly is going on here, and we need to account for all the information. A four years passed before the lake claimed its next victim, but on February 7th of 2012, Alaino Vallet, a 20-year-old student, was reported missing. For 10 days, the university community waited anxiously for news of their classmates' whereabouts. The answer came on a Monday morning, when police received a call at 8.42 a.m. about a body and Lady Bird Lake. A valet was found near the intersection of Lavaca and Caesar Chavez Street, and the police immediately began investigating it as an unaliving situation.

Though the reasons for this, quick determination were never fully explained to the public. Two years later in 2014, 25-year-old, evil. Ron Rublich disappeared after what would have been a routine ride share trip home. His last known location was precisely documented. An Uber driver had dropped him off outside the Holiday Inn near Interstate 35, around 2.30 in the morning. What happened next, though, remains a mystery. It wasn't until the following afternoon around 2.30 p.m., the two fishermen made the grim

discovery. The Rubik's body was floating in Lady Bird Lake. But how had a young man gone from being safely dropped off at a hotel to ending up in there? The Rubik's death was officially ruled as an accidental drowning. In 2015, 22-year-old Julio Santos III was home in Austin for a week after graduating before he was set to start a new job in Seattle, but his life was cut short. Santos was last seen near a food truck, across from the Barbarilla bar in downtown Austin at 2.3. 30 a.m. His body was found just hours later at 7 a.m. on the same day.

His belongings were discovered behind the bar, including some of his cash, N.D., suggesting he hadn't been robbed in that maybe he had chosen to go for a swim after having too much to drink, though nobody recalls him saying anything to that effect. His death was yet again ruled as an accidental drowning, or over his sister openly disagrees with this verdict once the investigation into her brother's death reopened. I think he was drugged. I think he was overserved. I think he was lord over there in the river. I picture somebody hurting him and he's just left. We should be able to have fun and not have to worry about our loved ones being found in the river and being told, oh, they just drink too much.

Then in October of 2018, Travis County Sheriff's Office, as a body found in Lake Austin earlier this week was the body of a man who went missing over the weekend. Body has been officially identified as Christopher White. He was last seen on Saturday morning. After attending the festival on Friday, October 5th, the group returned to their accommodations near Lake Austin. Early the next morning around 6 a.m., White, who appeared intoxicated, mentioned going to the dock, but was not seen leaving the house. Later that day, his friend. noticed he was missing and reported to the authorities.

On October 8th, a passer-by then made the shocking discovery. It was White's body floating in Lake Austin near a dock close to the rental property. The Travis County Medical Examiner ruled his death as an accidental drowning. The toxicology reports indicating the presence of ethanol and MDMA in his system. The Lake Austin is part of Lady Bird Lake with the same body of water. just a couple miles apart. Just a month after this in November, Martin Gutierrez,

a 25-year-old Austin resident, disappeared after a night out in the increasingly popular Rainy Street district. The circumstances of his disappearance were particularly troubling. The security footage from his final hours showed him in what his brother would later describe as a completely uncharacteristic state.

We actually found some surveillance at an apartment complex nearby that showed Martin going towards the water or what we thought was Martin, and it looked very similar the way he was walking and everything, so we were almost quite positive it was, and we turned it over to the detective. I just don't know how he got in the water. I don't know if he fell or if someone hurt him,

or there's just so many questions unanswered. This behavior was especially puzzling to his brother, who noted that they often went out drinking together, and Martin had never acted this way before. The surge for the young man ended when his body was found floating in the waters near the area where he was last seen. Officers pulled 25-year-old Martin Gutera's body from Lady Bird Lake on Monday. Yesterday, fingerprint technology confirmed it was him. The discovery raised more questions than it answered.

The autopsy revealed blunt force trauma to the back of his head. An injury that seemed a bit difficult to explain is simply the result. of an accidental fall. This one was severe. However, without anything else to go on and no other clues or evidence, officials ruled his death in accidental drowning while intoxicated. So up to this point, you might be thinking that accidents happen, right? That yeah, maybe there's an unusual amount of drownings happening here, but makes in a bunch of bars and young people and put it next to a large body of water and bad things are going to occur. And while it may be true for some of these cases, the following story shifted the public

perception as to what was really going on here in Austin. Because one of these young men who had been hanging out in this area survived his fall into the river, and he says it was no accident at all. On November 17th of 2019, 21-year-old Christian Pew went out for what should have been, just another night on the town with some friends. They headed to none other than Rainey Street, and it was pretty busy as usual. Like many of the victims before him, Pugh then vanished at some point during the night. His friends couldn't pinpoint exactly when or how he separated from the group,

but those hours turned into days as people searched, fear growing with each passing hour. Unlike the other cases, well, this story would take an unexpected turn, Because two days after his disappearance, Pew was found. According to police, Pew was last seen here at Clive on Rainey Street when he was reported missing, but this is nowhere near where he was found. He was actually found south of Lady Bird Lake near the south end of the Congress Avenue Bridge, a drive that took us about five minutes.

According to those who found him, Pew was deep embedded into this brush right here in between the water and the hiking bike trail. And Pew was conscious, but barely clinging to life. His body showed signs of severe trauma, broken ribs, a dislocated leg, things you'd expect from a fall off a bridge. He also had bloodied knuckles, a large welt on his head,

and these things were more consistent with having been in a fight. The injuries were so extensive that he immediately was induced into a coma to help the healing process, and it would last like that for a month. And meanwhile, the point, police classified this as another accident, suggesting Pew had stumbled and fallen off of Congress Avenue Bridge. But when the young man finally emerged from his coma, well, he had more to add to the

story. Unfortunately, the trauma of the whole thing had wiped his memory of most of the night. There were a lot of blank spots, but he thinks he was assaulted and thrown over that bridge deliberately. Now, as a reminder, the police were not the ones to find Pew. In fact, they waited over 48 hours before dispatching a search team. A short time after that is when that homeless man randomly found him. The police dismissed Pugh's claims, saying he thought that perhaps he was targeted, given some sort of drug and then tossed over the side of Congress bridge and left for dead. And the people in town at this point were realizing something was off with all this stuff happening,

even if the authorities wouldn't. Pugh's case sparked the creation of a change.org petition, asking the Austin PD to acknowledge that the drownings might not be accidents. And they wanted the cases to be taken more seriously, and within days, hundreds of concerned citizens had signed it. But even with this, the deaths didn't stop, and in fact, they multiplied in rapid succession. Beginning in mid-2020, the bodies started appearing. with disturbing frequency. Between July of 2022 and February of 24, at least 12 more people were found dead in or near

the lake. Ricky Parks was discovered in July of 2022, near 9 East Avenue. His investigation was quickly closed and no foul play was said to have been involved. On December 10th, an unidentified person was found near South Pleasant Valley Road and South Lake Shore Boulevard. just two weeks later on Christmas Day, another unidentified body was discovered near the pedestrian bridge along South Lamar. Three days after that, Kyle Thornton was found near the Congress Avenue Bridge.

That's three bodies in less than three weeks. Coincidence? With the work of a serial killer, maybe a little bit of both. By now, among the Austinites, there were rumblings of the rainy street killer on the loose. Those rumblings are right now only getting louder, because come 2023 things only got worse. On February 5th of that year, Jason John, known to friends as JJ, disappeared. A 30-year-old had moved to Austin during the pandemic, relocating from NYC with his puppy ruffle, seeking new opportunities in Texas. He was last seen walking from Rainey Street toward the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail.

a route that would become tragically familiar in these cases. Eight days of searching and his body was found. Autopsy results for Jason John, who was found dead in Lady Bird Lake, back in February, have been released. And the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office has ruled the cause of death an accidental drowning. March brought another devastating loss. A 40-year-old Clifton Axtell was found dead on the 5th. Axtel was a commercial real estate analyst on track to graduate from Harvard Extension School, where he consistently made the dean's list.

A friend's described him as a beautiful, bright ball of energy with fierce intellect and creativity, and he was deeply involved in his church, leading warship at Celebrate Recovery for three years. He left behind a wife, Megan, and two children. But the cause of death, the medical examiner was underwent. able to determine it. It was explained as a natural event that he had either entered the water on his own or fallen in. Because they didn't know which, they just left it as undetermined to play it safe. And before the city could even process, Axtel's death, another tragedy struck. This time, 33-year-old Jonathan Honey would come to Austin for what should have been a celebration, a bachelor

party with friends. On March 31st, he was enjoying the city's famous food truck scene. And it would be the last time anyone saw him alive. His body was found the very next day in the water. In April brought another victim, 30-year-old Christopher Hayes-Clar. And his death left a 12-year-old son without a father. Multiple 911 calls reported his body in the lake, leading into a water rescue attempt that came in too late. In June, Mogadogel was found near the 1,000 block of West Caesar Chavez Street.

And like so many others, his death was quickly labeled as not being investigated as a homicide. But by this point, the similarities between the cases were becoming impossible to ignore. The victims were predominantly young men. Many had disappeared from the exact same area. Many were found in similar locations. And in case after case, the official official official. explanation seemed to leave key questions unanswered. I mean, what really happened to these guys?

Jeff Jones is another survivor of Lady Bird Lake. And this 38-year-old was visiting Austin for a bachelor party, and after a night out on West 6th Street, he was found severely injured under the 6th Street Bridge near Shoal Creek. Now, Jones had sustained multiple injuries, including broken vertebrae, a punctured spleen, and internal bleeding. Medical tests revealed the presence of rohypnol in his system, indicating he had been drugged that night. Now, Jones believes he was drugged and pushed off of the bridge,

a theory that has raised concerned about potential serial killings in the area. After all, he wouldn't be the first, but yet, the police do not seem to be taking this seriously. Five bodies pulled from Lady Bird Lake in just six months. Jason John, Clifton Axtel, Jonathan Honey, John Christopher Hayes-Clark, and now an unidentified man. The most recent discovery came on February 5th of 2024. Austin police responding to a high-priority call in zone 300 of Lady Bird Lake around 815 Sunday morning. That's near Brazos and East Caesar Chavez Street. APD says that based on appearance, the body was a homeless woman in her 60s and that it looks like she was trying to

to stay warm based on her clothing and the position of her body. Police say there were no signs of drug or alcohol usage. And that leaves us with over 16 cases, the majority of which took place in the last three years, all surrounded by an unmistakable air of mystery. In short, this is what we got. Many of the victims were young men in their 20s or 30s. A significant number were last seen in or around the Rainey Street District,

Several victims disappeared in the early morning hours, between 2 and 3 a.m. The Austin police have consistently maintained that there's no evidence linking these deaths together or suggesting foul play was even involved. They point to alcohol as a common factor, noting that many victims have been drinking before their deaths. The department emphasizes that the combination of alcohol and easy access to the lake, particularly through poorly lit areas, creates dangerous. conditions. But that doesn't seem to be the whole story. Because multiple victims showed signs of

physical trauma. Several bodies were found far from where the victims were last seen. Many of them showing up in parts of the lake that were opposite to the direction that the current flows, meaning there's more to their stories than just falling in. They walked around to other parts of the city. Where exactly, though, nobody knows. So let's dive in. So let's dive in. into two of the most compelling theories surrounding the deaths at Lady Bird Lake. Now the first one is, let's say, the most rational, though it comes with a big asterisk. See, Austin has undergone a major transformation in recent years. In just four years, the city's metro population has swelled from 2.17 million to 2.31 million.

Each year brings a new wave. 52,000 new residents in 2022. another 46,000 and 23, and 46,000 more and 24. That's a lot of people. Around 1,000 new residents every single week, each chasing dreams of tech jobs and the freedom of Texas living. This massive growth has rewritten Austin's identity. The streets that once housed local musicians and artists now showcase tech campuses and startup incubators. The city's famous, weird, culture drowns under waves of development, leaving a landscape where homeless encampments huddle in the shadows of gleaming luxury high rises.

Some apartments running for more than what entire houses cost just a decade ago, the area around Lady Bird Lake embodies this transformation. Old music venues that launch legends like the Dixie Chicks and Lyle Lovett have vanished, replaced by towering condos. Former hippie hangouts and vegan cafes that once prioritized feeding the community over profit have given way to upscale restaurant and bars. This rapid change has created a perfect storm of conditions around the lake. University students under immense stress from Austin's rising cost of living mixed with the city's unhoused population creating a volatile environment.

bars and clubs overflow with revelers every weekend adding to the chaos. The lakes winding trails often dimly lit, and with numerous access points to deep water, provide the ideal setting for tragedy to unfold in an instant, especially when all the new people don't know what's around the next bend. So through this lens, the string of drownings takes on a grimly logical aspect. A late night on rainy street, or drinks flow flow. freely, and crowds spill into the streets until the early hours of the morning.

The lake is just a few blocks away. Its edge often unguarded. A little stumble is all it takes. A misstep could easily lead to disaster. But, then there's the other theory that continues to linger. With several bodies surfacing over the past two years in and around Lady Bird Lake, rumors of a serial killer have been brought into question. Although the police dismiss this notion, the pattern of death seemed to point to something far more sinister going on,

a predator intentionally targeting victims. And what better place to do it, really, than where there's tons of people and tons of alcohol. And people have foggy memories, and if anything is to happen, well, it's easy to blame in on the bars and restaurants sitting so close to the water. Here, the lake's edge combines tourist spots where people gather. to watch the famous Austin bats, isolated hiking trails and water access points, creating countless opportunities for anybody with malicious intent. Advocate to this theory note disturbing details that seem to transcend mere coincidence. There's the unexplained trauma found on multiple victims.

The curious fact that the bodies sometimes appear far from the victim's last known locations. Then there's the case of Martin Gutierrez, who was seen on campus. camera stumbling as if he had been drugged. The case of Christian Pew, who survived but can't remember what happened to him, again, possibly drugged. In the case of Jeff Jones, who was convinced he was drugged and pushed off of the bridge with the toxicology reports backing him up. Despite these unsettling signs, local law enforcement continue to maintain that each death has been thoroughly investigated and deemed either accidental or unexplained. But history has shown. shown that many deaths in many cases have been initially written off as coincidences until the

real perpetrator is finally caught. As I mentioned, it doesn't have to necessarily be one or the other, and the truth most likely lies somewhere between these two theories. It's possible that Austin's rapid growth alongside the changing demographics and an influx of people has created the ideal conditions for both accidents and predatory behavior to thrive unnoticed. Regardless of where you stand, one thing is certain. For many in Austin, Lady Bird Lake is no longer seen as just a peaceful urban retreat. And it's become a place of uncertainty where safety feels compromised. With so many unexplained debts, it seems like they need to take the simple steps first.

The more lighting in the dark areas of the park. More surveillance cameras, too. and, of course, guardrails along the water's edge. Then they can answer once and for all what exactly is happening and either help but a stop for the accident or put a killer behind bars. So that's going to do it for this week's episode of Everytown. Hope you all enjoyed it.

And please do come back next week for another episode filled with scary, strange, and mysterious stories. As you never know, maybe your town will be next. Thank you.