On July 3, 2024, the body of 22-year-old Kenneth Cutting Jr. was pulled from Buffalo Bayou, three days after he was reported missing. Cutting, a strong swimmer, had last been seen leaving friends after a night out downtown. His death was ruled “undetermined,” but his family insists he was murdered.
His case became a flashpoint in a disturbing trend: bodies surfacing in Houston’s waterways at an alarming pace.
Since 2023, more than 50 bodies have been recovered from Houston’s bayous, with at least 22 in 2025 alone.
Among the identified victims:
Salome Garza, found June 11, 2025, in Buffalo Bayou.
Seth Hansen, 34, recovered in September 2025.
Arnulfo Alvarado, 63, also recovered in September 2025.
Michaela Miller (age not released) recovered in September 2025.
Officials say causes of death remain pending in many of these cases, with only a handful confirmed as drownings or natural causes.
Theories of a “Bayou Killer” have spread across social media. Residents point to the clustering of cases—seven bodies in just three weeks in fall 2025—as evidence of something more sinister.
City leaders, however, continue to push back. “There is no evidence linking these deaths,” Houston police said in October 2025.
For grieving families, official explanations often feel incomplete.
Cutting’s parents continue to press for answers, citing inconsistencies in the timeline of his disappearance.
Relatives of Garza, Hansen, Alvarado, and Miller are still awaiting final autopsy results.
“They tell us it was an accident,” one mother said, “but how can we believe that when so many others have been found the same way?”
The waterways themselves complicate investigations:
Accessibility: They cut through downtown, parks, and neighborhoods.
Forensics: Murky waters obscure evidence and delay recovery.
History: Houston’s bayous have long been sites of both accidental drownings and criminal activity.
The Bayou deaths sit at the intersection of tragedy, rumor, and systemic gaps. Are they accidents, isolated crimes, or something more sinister? The truth remains submerged.
For now, the bayous carry more than water. They carry the weight of unanswered questions, the grief of families, and the uneasy sense that Houston’s most iconic landscape has become its darkest mystery.
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