The sister of Anthony Curry, a 35-year-old man whose body police pulled from White Oak Bayou in Texas last week, has stated speculation that a serial killer is at large in Houston.
The incident marked the seventh of this unnerving nature within the last month. The remains of university student Jade McKissic, 20, were identified back in September, followed closely by a further five yet to be identified.
These individuals were recovered from one of the city's numerous bayous, including Buffalo Bayou, Hunting Bayou, and Brays Bayou, as well as White Oak. The victims included both men and both, whose ages ranged between their 20s and their 60s.
In the days that followed the recovery of his body, a coroner ruled that Curry - a barber and construction worker - died of accidental drowning. It was also found that he had both PCP and ethanol in his system at the time of his passing.
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That said, however, the latest incident marks the 16th body to be pulled from the city's waters this year alone.
Given these numbers, Houston mayor John Whitmire was forced to speak out on growing speculation that incidents may not have been accidents at all, and could have been the work of one dangerous individual.
In a September press conference, he hit out: "Enough of misinformation [and] wild speculation by either social media, elected officials, candidates, the media. We do not have any evidence that there is a serial killer loose in Houston, Texas."
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As we say, however, Curry's sister Alexis has since spoken out, claiming she sees no plausible reason why her brother's body would have ended up in the slow-moving stream.
"That ain’t my brother," she insisted in conversation with Click2Houston. "He’ll go somewhere and chill off before he just go jump in some water."
Her comments come just weeks after Whitmire suggested that the likes of homelessness, alcohol use, and mental health issues could also be to blame for the staggering death toll in Texas.
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"I grew up in Houston," he declared. "Unfortunately, drowning in our bayous is not a new phenomenon."
Alexis is convinced, however, that her 'superhero' brother battled none of these issues, having lived happily with his girlfriend and their six-year-old son.
"I really want to know what happened," the heartbroken woman continued. "He is my big brother, and he would’ve done anything for anybody. For him to be found like that, it hurts. It hurts."
Retired NYPD sergeants Joseph Giacalone and Kevin Gannon previously spoke out in agreement with Alexis' plea, discouraging police from describing the mass drownings as simple accidents.
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Giacalone told Fox News earlier this week: "Something is afoot. A coincidence? Unlikely."
He added that Houston police need to carry out in-depth investigations into each of the 16th deaths, including 'the 48 hours prior to the discovery of their disappearance'.
Gannon agreed, suggesting the possibility that the 16 'drownings' could connected to the 'Smiley Face Theory', which argues that the 45 young Midwestern men found dead in water between 1990 and 2010 did not die accidentally, and could have been the victims of a multiple murderer.
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"We’ve never seen drowning numbers like this before, especially with a drowning occurring every other day in the same location," he told the news outlet.
"This is an aberration and not the normal age of our 700-plus 'potential victims', but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be involved in killing these older individuals also, as they feel like they are pretty invincible right now and can act with impunity due to the police response."
Rhianna Benson