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More On The Alleged Serial Killer In Austin · Beyond The Horizon

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome back to the program. Down
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: in Austin, Texas, there have been eight bodies pulled from
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  Speaker 1: the same lake in 10 months, and now people are
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  Speaker 1: starting to fear that there might be a serial killer
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  Speaker 1: on the loose. So let's dive into this article from
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  Speaker 1: the Daily Mail, and let's get caught up on this
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  Speaker 1: story together. Headline, fears of a rainy street ripper, serial
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  Speaker 1: killer in Austin, after eighth body in less than a year,
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  Speaker 1: is pulled from Lady Bird Lake in the city. This
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  Speaker 1: article was authored by Vanessa Cerna. Austin residents fear a
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  Speaker 1: serial killer may be on the loose after the eighth
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  Speaker 1: body in just 10 months was pulled from a lake
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  Speaker 1: in the city. John Christopher Hayes Clark, 30, was the
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  Speaker 1: latest person to be found dead in Austin's Lady Bird
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  Speaker 1: Lake on Saturday. Texas police patrolled the waters by boat
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  Speaker 1: after several people reported an unresponsive person in the lake
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  Speaker 1: around 1 p.m. His identity was confirmed on Monday, and
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  Speaker 1: it is unclear how long his body had been in
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  Speaker 1: the water. Now, of course, at first glance, when you
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  Speaker 1: look at this, you say to yourself, well, these guys
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  Speaker 1: were probably drunk or on drugs or whatever, and they
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  Speaker 1: fell in the lake and drowned. But eight of them
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  Speaker 1: in 10 months? That seems like an excessive number. And now,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that there's a serial killer active. I
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  Speaker 1: have no idea. It's certainly something that needs to be
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  Speaker 1: looked into. And if it was my family member who
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  Speaker 1: was found in that lake, I'd want some damn answers.
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  Speaker 1: Earlier this month, 33-year-old Jonathan Honey was found dead on
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  Speaker 1: April 1st. Cliff Axtell, 40, was discovered on March 5th.
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  Speaker 1: And Jason John, 30, was found on February 13th. A
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  Speaker 1: further four unidentified bodies have been recovered from the lake
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  Speaker 1: in the past 10 months, according to Kron. Terrified residents
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  Speaker 1: have since set up Facebook groups and taken to TikTok
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  Speaker 1: to voice their growing fears that the deaths may be connected.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm sure that most of you out there listening
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  Speaker 1: to this are familiar with the smiley face killer and
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  Speaker 1: all of the talk about those killings or alleged killings.
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  Speaker 1: And while I don't know which way I fall on
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  Speaker 1: that case, I haven't really dug into it deep enough
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  Speaker 1: to have a meaningful opinion. I would think that it
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  Speaker 1: all warrants a little bit more of an investigation. And
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  Speaker 1: especially down here in Austin, with all of this being
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  Speaker 1: so recent. Now, of course, it's possible that these guys
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  Speaker 1: were drunk and they just fell into the water after
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  Speaker 1: a night of partying. But it seems like quite the
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  Speaker 1: coincidence that all of a sudden that this is a
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  Speaker 1: problem in Austin. Has this lake been a lake that's
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  Speaker 1: been problematic previously? Have people been falling into this lake
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  Speaker 1: and dying for years? Or is it something that just started?
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  Speaker 1: Investigators claimed they do not suspect foul play at this
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  Speaker 1: point in the investigation. But with so many bodies found
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  Speaker 1: in quick succession, residents remain fearful. A private Facebook group
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  Speaker 1: called Lady Bird Lake Serial Killer with more than 50,000
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  Speaker 1: followers was created when Jason John's body was discovered in February.
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  Speaker 1: The autopsies for the men who died this year were
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  Speaker 1: not available, but police said their body showed no signs
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  Speaker 1: of trauma. So, of course, without toxicology reports or anything
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  Speaker 1: like that, it's very difficult to lean one way or
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  Speaker 1: the other. But I will say this. Certainly suspicious that
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  Speaker 1: all of these guys end up falling in this lake
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  Speaker 1: and dying. You would think that at least one or
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  Speaker 1: two of them would be able to figure out how to,
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  Speaker 1: you know, get their bearings about them if they are
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  Speaker 1: inebriated and swim to the shore or something like that.
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  Speaker 1: But I guess that's not the case. And according to
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  Speaker 1: the authorities, these guys were so inebriated that they fell
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  Speaker 1: into the water and they just drowned. Austin police said
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  Speaker 1: the cases remain under investigation with evidence being analyzed. They
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  Speaker 1: added that the cases shared a combination of alcohol and
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  Speaker 1: easy access points to the lake, which can be hard
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  Speaker 1: to see at night. However, they claim that while each
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  Speaker 1: incident occurred at the lake, the circumstances, exact locations, and
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  Speaker 1: demographics surrounding the cases vary. Investigators have not released details
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  Speaker 1: regarding the whereabouts of all the men before their deaths,
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  Speaker 1: but have revealed both Jonathan and Jason were seen on
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  Speaker 1: Rainey Street before their separate disappearances. So there is a
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  Speaker 1: bit of a connection there between these two gentlemen at
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  Speaker 1: the very least. A loose connection, but a connection nonetheless.
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  Speaker 1: Rainy Street is a vibrant area in Austin known for
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  Speaker 1: its nightlife and boasts an array of bars, food trucks,
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  Speaker 1: and restaurants. Lady Bird Lake is about 1.8 miles or
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  Speaker 1: a 35-minute walk from the street. There are no cameras
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  Speaker 1: around the lake, so why would somebody walk 1.8 miles
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  Speaker 1: or a 35-minute walk to go to this lake if
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  Speaker 1: they're drunk. That doesn't make sense to me. Jason John's
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  Speaker 1: family believe there is more to the story behind their
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  Speaker 1: son's death and think the four men are somehow connected.
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  Speaker 1: He was last seen walking home. Jason was 30. Jonathan
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  Speaker 1: Honey was 33. Two in the morning, Rainy Street. So
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  Speaker 1: there were some similarities in the case. Elsie John, Jason
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  Speaker 1: John's mother, told Fox 7. Look, there's no doubt. And
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  Speaker 1: if you're a parent whose child has died in this manner,
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  Speaker 1: fallen in this lake, or been killed, whatever, you certainly
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  Speaker 1: want some answers. And you don't want to hear, oh, well,
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  Speaker 1: your kid just walked into the lake and died. Especially
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  Speaker 1: if you know that your child isn't that kind of person.
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  Speaker 1: Someone that doesn't, you know, get turned around or that drunk,
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  Speaker 1: whatever it might be. Elsie added that she doesn't agree
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  Speaker 1: with the initial ruling that no foul play was involved.
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  Speaker 1: She fears more men might end up dead. We definitely
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  Speaker 1: don't agree with that, she said. We don't know how
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  Speaker 1: many Jasons, how many Martins, and how many Jonathans are
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  Speaker 1: going to be losing their lives again, and this is
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  Speaker 1: not acceptable. Meanwhile, Cliff Axtell, 40, was identified by his
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  Speaker 1: sister on Facebook. Axtell, who was a married father of two,
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  Speaker 1: was found in the lake on March 5th after he
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  Speaker 1: went missing near Stubbs in downtown on February 25th. So
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  Speaker 1: like the area where all of these folks are going missing...
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  Speaker 1: It's not even really near this lake. You're talking about 1.8
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  Speaker 1: miles away or so. So it's not like you're coming
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  Speaker 1: out of the bar and stumbling right into the lake.
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  Speaker 1: Like if it was some kind of river walk or
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  Speaker 1: something like that. All right, I could understand that maybe.
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  Speaker 1: People get drunk, stumble out of the bar. The river
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  Speaker 1: is a few hundred feet away. You're loaded and in
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  Speaker 1: the drink you go. I can totally see that. But
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  Speaker 1: this is a little suspicious. And while I'm not saying
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  Speaker 1: that I believe there's a serial killer at work, We
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  Speaker 1: certainly need to have more details here and more context
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  Speaker 1: about what happened. Other bodies previously found in the lake
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  Speaker 1: include 22-year-old Julio Santos in 2015 and 25-year-old Martin Gutierrez
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  Speaker 1: in 2018. Christian Pugh, 21, was found alive in the
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  Speaker 1: lake back in 2019, but in rough condition. He sustained
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  Speaker 1: a hit to the head and bruised hands. So what
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  Speaker 1: does that mean? He sustained a hit to the head?
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  Speaker 1: Did somebody hit him in the head? Or did he
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  Speaker 1: take the hit to the head when he fell into
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  Speaker 1: the water? Gutierrez was found with several injuries after landing
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  Speaker 1: in the lake following a night out at Rainy Street,
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  Speaker 1: the same place Honey was last seen, his brother Mitchell
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  Speaker 1: previously told the news outlet. Austin residents have been left
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  Speaker 1: fearful over the multiple incidents and are warning others to
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  Speaker 1: stay safe. Several people have urged others not to visit
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  Speaker 1: Rainy Street alone and to stay with another person at
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  Speaker 1: all times. Others have also taken their concerns to TikTok
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  Speaker 1: by creating videos warning of an alleged serial killer as
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  Speaker 1: questions about the men's disappearance remain unanswered. Is there a
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  Speaker 1: serial killer among us? One TikToker asked. Some have pointed
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  Speaker 1: out the fact that the circumstances the men were found
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  Speaker 1: in resemble those of the smiley face killers. Those deaths
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  Speaker 1: began in 1997 and all bore striking similarities. Most of
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  Speaker 1: the men were young, athletic, and academically high achievers. According
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  Speaker 1: to retired New York police detective Kevin Gannon and his
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  Speaker 1: team of investigators, they have evidence that 100 of the
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  Speaker 1: men may have been murdered by a gang. A key
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  Speaker 1: piece of evidence is that the team found smiley face
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  Speaker 1: graffiti symbols at all of the sites where the bodies
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  Speaker 1: were recovered. Well, that would seem to me a bit
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  Speaker 1: more than a coincidence, huh? And again, look, I'm certainly
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  Speaker 1: no expert in the smiley face killer, but with all
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  Speaker 1: of the depravity we talk about on a daily basis here,
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  Speaker 1: I certainly don't doubt that there could be a group
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  Speaker 1: out there doing something like this, murdering young men and
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  Speaker 1: throwing them in the water. Gannon started working on the
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  Speaker 1: issue in 1997 when the parents of a New Yorker
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  Speaker 1: who had been found dead in the water pleaded with
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  Speaker 1: him to find out what had really happened to their son.
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  Speaker 1: Among the deaths they believe are suspicious is that of
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  Speaker 1: Dakota James, a 24-year-old who was found dead in the
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  Speaker 1: Ohio River after a night out with his friends in Pittsburgh,
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  Speaker 1: Pennsylvania in January of 2017. Police said he likely fell
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  Speaker 1: into the river while walking over an overpass on his
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  Speaker 1: way home, but there was no damage to his body,
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  Speaker 1: which would have been likely if he had been in
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  Speaker 1: the river for more than a month. The amount of
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  Speaker 1: time that had passed between him vanishing and and his
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  Speaker 1: body being found. Some autopsies of the victims, including William
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  Speaker 1: Hurley in 2009, showed alcohol and a hypnotic depressant which
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  Speaker 1: is used as a date rape drug in their systems
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  Speaker 1: and they're saying that it was roofies and let me
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  Speaker 1: tell you what if you get hit with a roofie
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  Speaker 1: forget it you're going down good old roche 727 you
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  Speaker 1: get one of those in your drinks it's lights out
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  Speaker 1: and if somebody did get roofied It would not be
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  Speaker 1: difficult for somebody else to cause them serious harm. So
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  Speaker 1: that's what's going on down in Austin. And while I'm
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  Speaker 1: not sure if I think it's a serial killer or not,
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  Speaker 1: certainly pretty interesting that eight bodies have been pulled from
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  Speaker 1: that lake in 10 months. So we'll keep our eye
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  Speaker 1: on this one and we'll see what comes of it.
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  Speaker 1: And we'll continue to follow along as more news becomes available.
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  Speaker 1: All right, folks, that's going to do it for this one.
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  Speaker 1: All of the information that goes with the episode can
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: be found In the description box.