Hunting the Lady Bird Lake Ripper: Web sleuth asks if dead men were tested for drugs besides alcohol
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AUSTIN, TEXAS: Amid rampant social media speculation, web sleuths are debating the theory that there might be a serial killer on the loose in Austin, Texas. 30-year-old Jason John, 40-year-old Cliff Axtell, 33-year-old Jonathan Honey, and 30-year-old John Christopher Hays-Clark have been found dead at Lady Bird Lake back to back since mid-February 2023. John Kelly, a renowned criminal profiler, psychotherapist, and addiction specialist, discussed his views about the presumed serial killer in a Youtube video.
In the video uploaded on April 22, which has over 20K views, Kelly started by saying, "Today, we are going to take a look at something that’s very interesting and we are going to run it down for you — Is there a serial killer in Austin, Texas." Kelly added, "I’m kind of leaning towards that there is a serial in Austin Texas."
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Austin residents fear a serial killer is on loose as 8th body found in Lady Bird Lake in 10 months
'8 dead in 10 months'
"Four found dead in Lady Bird Lake since February 23. I think that could be a mistake. I think it could be February 13. But, nevertheless, since February 13 or 23, we got four found dead and all drownings, pretty much relatively young men. And a total of eight dead in the last 10 months. So, four found since mid-February and another four before that," he explained.
Drowning not a preferred choice for suicide
"A lot of people are saying it could be suicide. I ran the numbers and did the research," Kelly claimed. "In the United States, suicide by drowning is not the preferred suicide of choice for most people. In fact, suicide by drowning is less than two percent of all suicides in the United States. So let’s keep this in mind, when we’re thinking about eight men found in the water drowned in 10 months."
Were the deceased tested for drugs?
The criminal profiler then jumped to the point, stating, "It appears that they not only came from Rainey Street but it appears alcohol was present and a number of these people were found dead. The thing which is bothering me is were they tested. Were their bodies tested for any specific drugs? I am looking at roofies for hypno, I am looking at benzodiazepines, that’s been used by a couple of different serial killers."
"I want to know were they specifically tested when the toxicology testing was done on them," he continued. "Were they specifically tested for other drugs besides alcohol? Also, drugs that don’t lay in your system forever and when you think about it, if you can get away with it that is close to perfect on how to kill someone. If you can figure out how to knock somebody out chemically and get them in the water, that’s the perfect murder because the water is going to wash off all the evidence, it will wash off any DNA."
'Scary'
This theory left many skeptical. One of them said, "It sounds like a good possibility there is a serial killer in Austin, Texas. Manner of death and location is similar. I would be interested in the autopsy results to see what other similarities there are." Another said, "Very interesting... but scary. I live in the Texas Hill Country not far from Lady Bird Lake. I hope to hear more about this."
On the other hand, one wrote, "I read this lake is a 30-minute walk from the area where these men were last seen. What is the likelihood 10 men would walk there, over a period of 10 months and drowned? I don’t think that’s likely. Also, I haven’t heard any abandoned cars left by any of these men were left nearby, or stolen. No scooters left laying around. I believe they were most likely driven there by someone else." Commenting on the video, an individual said, "This guy is on point. What does the toxicology report reveal and what bars, in particular, did these victims visit just prior to their demise?" Another noted, "I feel they were drugged, picked up where ever from the killer and driven there too. Plus if they can find out what bars they were last seen at or know of that would be a good help."
This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.