A Reddit post in which a bartender purports to have spoken with a man claiming to be Austin’s “Rainey Street Killer” has gone viral on the social media platform.
On March 20, Reddit user @whatdid-it made a post in the r/bartenders thread saying a regular patron confessed to being the person behind a recent string of mysterious deaths at Lady Bird Lake.
Austin online forums have been abuzz with speculation about a serial killer being active near Rainey Street after four young men’s bodies were pulled from the nearby lake during separate incidents in spring of 2023.
Although authorities said they don’t suspect foul play, the story still caught national media attention. It picked up steam again in February after women’s body was pulled from the lake, prompting a feature on the TV show Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. In the recent online post, @whatdid-it initially refrained from explicitly saying what part of Austin they were referring to but later confirmed they were talking about Rainey Street and Lady Bird Lake.
“Suddenly, [the customer] started talking about ‘killing homos’ from LAKE A that he found from STREET B,” the user wrote in the Reddit post titled, “Have you ever had someone tell you they murdered someone/people?”
As of press time, the post has garnered some 230 upvotes and more than 100 comments.
Some commenters questioned why @whatdid-it didn’t bother to contact the authorities after the patron’s confession. One urged the poster to “get the fuck off Reddit and call the cops.”
In an edit to their original post, @whatdid-it said management at the bar where they work “did not give a shit.” They added that they called Austin police and were transferred to their homicide hotline, where they left a voicemail.
“Will go in person to put a statement in,” the user added. “After that, it’s out of my hands if they don’t do anything.”
Despite the online popularity of speculating about a murderer stalking Rainey Street, Austin police have repeatedly tried to quell rumors that a serial murderer is active in the state capital. Most of the deaths at the lake been ruled accidental drownings, they point out.
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This article appears in Mar 20 – Apr 2, 2024.
