A bullet-riddled car has been found in a lake in Austin, Texas, only weeks after the bodies of four men were discovered.
The vehicle was pulled out of Lady Bird Lake after police responded to calls before 2:30am on Monday about a shooting at the Festival Beach boat camp.
Cops found the car submerged in the body of water which took 10 hours to tug out, FOX 7 Austin reported.
The car was only three-quarters of a mile from the southern end of Rainey Street, a popular strip where the two of the men were last seen.
No one was found inside the car, police added, although they did not say whether the car was connected to the alleged shooting incident.
‘On Monday, May 1, 2023, approximately at 2:03am, Austin Police Department (APD) officers responded to a shooting call at 2100 block of Jesse Segovia St. and located a car in the water,’ Austin police said.
‘This is an active investigation. We do not have any more information to release at this time.’
At least eight bodies have been found in Lady Bird Lake in the last 10 months.
The body of Jason John, 30, was recovered on February 13 from Lady Bird Lake after vanishing eight days before.
On March 5, Cliff Axtell, at 40, was found, followed a month later on April 1 by Jonathan Honey, 33, who was last seen outside a taco truck at 2am on March 31. and
The body of Christopher Hays-Clark, 30, was found on April 15 at the lakefront.
Four unidentified bodies have been salvaged from the lake in the past 10 months, according to the Houston news outlet Chron.
Two of the men – Jason and Jonathan – were last seen on Rainey Street, a crowded nightlife district known for its food trucks and bars.
Police have now beefed up their presence along the strip as speculation over the so-called ‘Rainey Street Serial Killer’ reaches a fever pitch.
City officials have also sought to make the area around the lake safer, such as introducing lights along the trail and a fence.
This has done little to ease the fears of some, with more than 86,000 people joining the ‘Lady Bird Lake Serial Kiler / Rainey St Killer’ Facebook page created following the discovery of Jason’s remains.
Elsie John, Jason John’s mother, told Fox7: ‘We don’t know how many Jasons, how many Martins, and how many Jonathans are going to be losing their lives again.
‘This is not acceptable.’
But Austin police have been at pains to stress that, no, there is no serial killer, in a claim also backed by crime experts.
The force has pointed to how the waterfront is a 35-minute walk away from Rainey Street and would involve jumping a fence.
While the cases shared a ‘combination of alcohol’ and easy access’ to the lake which can be tricky to see at night.
‘The Austin Police Department is aware of speculations regarding the recent drownings in Lady Bird Lake, the force said in an earlier statement.
‘Although these cases are still under investigation and evidence is being analyzed, at this time, there is no evidence in any of these cases to support allegations of foul play.
‘While each incident has occurred at the lake, the circumstances, exact locations, and demographics surrounding these cases vary.
‘Our investigators approach every case with an open mind and objectively examine all available evidence.’
The department added that autopsies on the bodies have ‘not revealed any trauma’ or any ‘indication of foul play’.
‘One common theme of the drownings in Austin this year is the combination of alcohol and easy access to Lady Bird Lake, which has numerous access points,’ the APD added.
‘Many of the access points can be challenging to see at night. The parks in which most of these drownings have occurred are park areas that close at 10:00pm and occur after the park closes.’
APD police chief Joseph Chacon told FOX 7 on April 20 how drownings in Lady Birk Lake are not out of the ordinary.
‘I realise that there is a rampant rumour about a potential serial killer here in Austin,’ the chief said.
‘We’ve found no evidence of that.’
‘It’s a horrible circumstance that we have these, and we look at each one to determine the circumstances in which they occurred,’ he said.
‘Some of them are accidental, unfortunately, some of them are also suicides.’
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