Mystery as string of bodies discovered in same Austin lake

Police have previously spoken out about speculation that deaths at Austin’s Lady Bird Lake were linked

A dead body has been found in a lake in Austin, Teaxs, where a string of other bodies have been recovered over the past few years.

A call was made to police at 1.31pm on Monday to the 300 block of W Cesar Chavez Street in Austin, Texas, Senior Police Officer Ariel Crumes from the Austin Police Department said in a press conference yesterday.

The caller said that on the north side of Lady Bird Lake, they believe they found a dead body around 20 feet into the water.

Officers arrived at 1.33pm, and the body was officially pronounced deceased, Ms Crumes said.

As of the press conference on Monday, police had no identifiers for the body as police were “still on scene and the body was actively being recovered.”

Ms Crumes added that the investigation was still very early, and the scene was still active.

Jaydon Wolf came down to the lake after he heard the report, as he is searching for his friend he said has been missing since Saturday night after going out to bars, he told Fox 7.

“Our initial thoughts were hopefully it was not our friend, you know we just don’t want it to be our friend,” Mr Wolf told the outlet.

Several other bodies have been found in Lady Bird Lake; according to statistics by KXAN, five were discovered in 2023 and four in 2022.

This dead body would be the 10th found in the lake since July 2022, according to the outlet.

The rising number of dead bodies all connected to the same lake sparked speculations of a serial killer last year, yet police suspended these rumours, saying there was nothing to back it up.

This body discovery comes after five were found in the same lake last year (Fox 7 Austin)

“There are a lot of allegations that there’s a serial killer, but there’s no proof or evidence in any of our investigations to sustain that,” APD Assistant Chief Jeff Greenwalt told KXAN in April last year.

After one man, identified as 33-year-old Jonathan Honey, was pulled from Lady Bird Lake in April 2023, the Austin Police Department released a statement regarding the speculation of connected cases.

“There is no evidence in any of these cases to support allegations of foul play,” the police department said in April last year.

They said that while each incident has happened at the lake, “the circumstances, exact location and demographics surrounding these cases vary.”

However, they did offer up an alternative common theme between the cases: “The combination of alcohol and easy access to Lady Bird Lake.”

They said the lake has many access points, which can be challenging to see at night.

Before this case on Monday, the last person to have been recovered from the lake was in June and was identified by police as Mogga Dogale, according to KXAN.

The death was not investigated as a homicide, the outlet said.

The Independent has contacted the Austin Police Department for further information.