Texas State University’s Center for Geospatial Intelligence and Investigation (GII) is partnering with the Austin Police Department to conduct an evidence-based and scientific study of deaths that have occurred in Lady Bird Lake over the last several years, with the goal of understanding the nature and cause of these incidents and any possible connection to a serial killer.
The project will use geospatial and time-based analytic methods, including statistical clustering techniques from epidemiology for identifying disease outbreaks. The project will be completely independent, and TXST and the APD have committed to making public the results of the analysis.
Austin Police have conducted full and thorough investigations of these cases and found no evidence that they are related. However, speculation continues to circulate that Austin may be facing a serial killer.
The theory that a serial killer has been drowning young men in the Rainey Street/Lady Bird Lake area of Austin has been aggressively promoted by social and mainstream media for more than two years. Much of this coverage has criticized authorities for not recognizing the threat of a violent offender. While police must properly respond to any risks of a predator, they also must follow the evidence and ensure they are not leveraging resources in pursuing a criminal who does not exist. The ultimate goal for Austin Police is justice for victims and a safe community.
“The Austin Police Department looks forward to collaborating with GII to fully understand the circumstances surrounding these deaths,” Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said. “If any patterns or correlations are found, we want to know what changes can be made to reduce the likelihood of such preventable tragedies.”
Kim Rossmo, Ph.D., the Director of GII, will conduct the analysis. Rossmo has studied and researched serial murder for more than three decades and currently teaches university classes on cold case investigations and serial murder. As a retired detective inspector, he has worked operationally on a number of serial murder cases. He played a key role in analyzing the pattern of missing women in Vancouver, British Columbia, concluding they were most likely the victims of a serial murderer. (It was eventually determined the women were victims of the Pig Farmer serial killer, the worst such case in Canadian history.)
There is substantial research on serial murder and its investigation. Established methodologies exist for identifying serial crimes and valid techniques have been developed for crime linkage analysis (determining which incidents are linked to which other incidents). The GII, and the School of Criminal Justice and Criminology at TXST, are committed to contributing their knowledge and expertise to enhance public safety and justice in Texas, just as APD remains focused on facts, evidence and the well-being of Austinites.
APD is confident that this independent analysis will help provide clarity, inform the public discussion, and further support the mission to keep Austin safe.