A Real Life Austin Mystery

By Grey
Published May 21, 2025

Hi there! My name is Grey and I've been hearing a lot about something strange happening at Lady Bird Lake along Downtown. It’s like a real-life mystery, and I wanted to tell you all about it in my own words.

What’s Going On at Lady Bird Lake?

Lady Bird Lake is a lake in Austin where people go to have fun, like jogging, kayaking, and hanging out with friends. But lately, something weird has been happening. Since 2022, at least 12 people have been found dead in or near the lake. That’s a lot! That means there is an average of 4 bodies being found each year! Most of them were men between 20 and 40 years old, and many were last seen near a place called Rainey Street, which is full of bars and music.

What Do the Police Say?

The police in Austin, especially Chief Joseph Chacon, say that there’s no proof of anything suspicious. The police department think most of these deaths are accidents or suicides. Chief Chacon said, “We’ve found no evidence of that,” when talking about rumors of a serial killer. He also mentioned that such incidents happen every year in the city. But, according to Beaumont Enterprise, on a Thursday morning, a woman that was jogging on the bridge and saw a face laying head down in the water. She called the police and now, Officer Mendez is addressing with his team about a potential serial killer.

What Are People Saying?

Even though the police don’t think anything strange is going on, a lot of people are worried. Some think there’s a serial killer, and they’ve even given him a nickname: the “Rainey Street Ripper.” There’s a Facebook group with over 71,000 members talking about this.

Others believe that the victims might have been drugged. For example, Martin Gutierrez was found dead in the lake, and his brother said Martin was acting really weird before he disappeared. He was “frolicking,” which wasn’t like him at all.

Some people even think it’s connected to something called the “Smiley Face Killers.” This is a theory from the 1990s where young men were found dead in water, and smiley face graffiti was nearby. Recently, someone claimed to see smiley face graffiti near Lady Bird Lake too.

Also, from the bodies that were pulled out, most of them had traumatic gashes and marks around the upper body. This evidence shows that their had to been a stabbing in either the neck or any part of the body

Even though this could be good evidence of what’s happening. There is no legitimate evidence of what is happening. SInce most of the deaths are being targeted to Rainy Street. People could be getting drunk and falling and drowning in the water. But still, even if you are heavily intoxicated, you can get up and walk out of the water.  

What Can Be Done?

People are asking for more safety measures around the lake. Some suggestions include:

• Better lighting near the water.
  
  

• More police patrols, especially at night.
  
  

• Fences or barriers to prevent people from accidentally falling in.
  
  

• More cameras to monitor the area.

Conclusion

Even though I’m just a kid, I think it’s important to talk about these things. Whether it’s accidents or something more serious, people are dying, and that’s really sad. I hope that by sharing this, more people will be aware and help make the area safer.