At City Council this week, Travis McGee, Sunnyside resident and South Park civic club president, refused to sit with platitudes.
McGee asked council members to probe into the five bodies that were found in Houston’s bayous within a week. In total, at least 13 bodies have been found this year.
“We have to find out what’s really going on in these bayous. It is not normal for people to just keep popping up within a five-day span,” McGee told Mayor John Whitmire and council members. “I’m just one of many Houstonians who are very concerned. I don’t think it’s smart for us to assume that everyone is homeless, everyone is suicidal, everyone is dying of natural causes. We keep hearing we shouldn’t be alarmed, but when should we be alarmed?”
McGee pressed for specifics about who, what, when, where and how. He also wants the city to treat bayou cleanup like hurricane preparedness.
“We have enough resources in Houston to start going through these bayous versus just saying that it’s a homeless person,” he said. “They’re still human, right? That could be me. That could be anybody. Everything should be on the table, whether it’s a serial killer or a killer.”
Whitmire cut in to “set the record straight.”
There is no evidence of a serial killer, he said, urging residents to avoid speculation while investigations proceed.
Houston Police Department Chief J. Noe Diaz Jr. had echoed that message in a press conference. The department’s dive team recovered the five bodies between Sept. 15 and 20.
“There’s no evidence to suggest that any of these incidents are connected in all five incidents,” he said. “The investigation into these incidents is pending the determination of the ME’s [medical examiner] office. For us as an agency, rumors stir fear and anxiety in our communities. It’s important to rely on verified information and investigations.”
Meanwhile, Houston residents on social media are discussing the ongoing investigations.
Mayor: “You have to allow homicide to do their work”
McGee was unmoved by reassurances alone. He asked for proactive bayou sweeps during hurricane season, not just reactive recoveries. He also requested timely public updates instead of case-by-case fragments and for the city to stop shorthand assumptions about victims’ housing status.
Whitmire responded that homicide detectives and the medical examiner must finish their work. He promised transparency once the investigations were complete, but he was hesitant to share more.
“You have to allow homicide [department] to do their work,” Whitmire said. “They’ll be very transparent. I wish I could reveal the early stages of their investigation, but I can’t. I will tell you, putting my word on the line, that you’ll understand if you allow them to complete their work and reveal all the elements of the tragedy…I can clearly, categorically tell you that the five drownings are not connected. HPD has been in contact with the family.”
Council members weigh in
The tension in council chambers mirrored a citywide split: Online rumor versus official caution.
Council Member Juliam Ramirez said that the medical examiner determines the cause of death and HPD escalates where foul play appears.
Whitmire added that although he understands McGee’s daughter feels hesitant to return to her Texas Southern University campus, he said “wild speculation” and “social media misinformation” have added to unnecessary chaos.
McGee pushed back. Families deserve answers, he argued, and the early public updates feel “vague.”
Expressing condolences, especially for University of Houston student Jade McKissic, whose body was recovered from Brays Bayou, council member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz asked the city to be mindful of mental health issues among young people.
“Sometimes we assume they’re young, they don’t have a problem and they are really, really struggling,” she said. “We really have to be mindful of those things to make sure that they can access those services.”
Outside the chamber, the timeline is stark. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences found no signs of trauma or foul play in McKissic’s autopsy. The official cause remains pending and the case remains under investigation.
Council Member Fred Flickinger noted the city sees bodies in bayous every year, stressing that investigators cannot look for a missing person without evidence pointing to a specific location.
“We’d like that number to be zero,” he told the council. “But, they can’t go and look for something unless they know something’s missing. They’re not gonna dredge the bayou throughout the city every year looking for something that they don’t know is missing. Hopefully, we can continue on a trend with less murders and less bodies showing up. Unfortunately, this is a piece of society.”
