Death toll hits eight, but cops play dumb RESIDENTS of partyhardy Austin, Texas, are living in terror as a body believed to be the eighth victim of a serial killer chillingly dubbed the “Rainey Street Ripper” has been fished out of a local lake!
John Christopher HaysClark, 30, was found floating at 1:21 a.m. near Longhorn Dam in Lady Bird Lake on April 15 and thousands of residents believe he’s another victim of the vicious ripper’s bloody rampage.
Austin cops say HaysClark is the fourth male found in the lake this year and the eighth in the past ten months, but they are pooh-poohing the theory a serial killer is prowling the city’s nightlife center and murdering young men.
But there are common elements to the deaths. The victims are in their 30s, frequented Austin’s bustling Rainey Street — a favorite afterdark hotspot lined with bars, food trucks and eateries — and were later found dead in the lake.
Named for President Lyndon Johnson’s wife, Lady Bird, the lake is just 1.8 miles or about a 35-minute walk from the city’s famed party street.
Just two weeks before HaysClark turned up, on April 1, Jonathan Honey, 33, was found floating in the lake. Another dude was discovered March 5, and 30-year-old Jason John’s body was found Feb. 1. Four other men had been found the six months prior to the new rash of deaths.
While clamping down on all details, cops blame the deaths on a “combination of alcohol and easy access to Lady Bird Lake” — in other words, they drowned drunk.
“Up to this point, we have not discovered anything suspicious tied directly to this incident,” says Austin Police Public Information Officer Michael Bullock.
But the 70,000 residents tuning in to the Facebook group called Lady Bird Lake Serial Killer / Rainey St Killer don’t buy the cops’ theory.
“As a criminal justice professional and student of criminal justice, I try to approach things from a fact-based academic standpoint,” writes a poster. “I’m really trying to make this accidental drowning thing make sense in my head, but I just cannot.
“I think the FBI needs to step in and investigate this.”
Tweets another: “Austin has a serial killer, and I’m not the only one noticing similarities with men in their 30s just ending up in the [lake] after midnight this early in the year.”
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