What was meant to be a celebratory night out turned into a terrifying ordeal for Connor Deserly. He vanished, only to reappear in a hospital bed, his memory fractured and body damaged. Deserly suspects he was targeted, perhaps even by the rumored “Rainey Street Killer,” a figure whispered about in hushed tones throughout Austin, Texas, and online. This specter haunts the popular Rainey Street entertainment district, casting a long shadow of fear and suspicion.
Despite the growing unease and a grim tally of sixteen bodies recovered from Lady Bird Lake in the past two years, local police maintain a stance of tragic coincidence. They dismiss any talk of a serial killer. However, for individuals like Deserly and the grieving families of the deceased, this explanation rings hollow. They, along with a growing chorus online and among the bar-goers of Rainey Street, believe something far more sinister is at play – the presence of a predator they call the Rainey Street Killer.
Connor Deserly’s Brush with the Unseen Threat
Last February, Deserly and his friends arrived in Austin, eager to begin a six-week work assignment. Just two days later, the excitement of their new venture led them to Austin’s famed 6th Street, a lively area near Rainey Street.
Their evening took them to Rooftop on 6th. Beyond this point, Deserly’s memory becomes hazy. He recalls little else from that night, except for an encounter with a group of people who struck him as unsettling.
“One thing I did remember from that night is we met, like, a group of people… they had, like, a weird vibe,” Deserly recounted. He also noted feeling strangely intoxicated after only a drink or two, a sensation he couldn’t explain. His last clear memory was excusing himself to use the restroom.
Later, a friend reported seeing Deserly in a bar with a distinctly different, and potentially dangerous, atmosphere. “He said that he remembered seeing me in like a different bar, like a bar that was a way different vibe. And he said it was like it looked crazy from the outside. And he said that I got in there, but he couldn’t for some reason,” Deserly explained. After this sighting, Deserly disappeared completely.
The next thing Deserly, then 23, remembers is waking up alone and disoriented in a hospital. His friends had no idea of his whereabouts, unsure if he was even alive.
Panic set in as Deserly’s friends launched a frantic search. They began looking for him shortly after he vanished in the crowded nightlife scene. By the following morning, they were distributing missing person flyers across Austin, desperate for any information.
Missing person flyer for Connor Deserly
Courtesy Connor Deserly
Simultaneously, as Deserly’s friends desperately searched, another body was discovered in Lady Bird Lake. As previously reported by the Daily Dot, the grim tally had reached 14 bodies by September. Since then, two more discoveries have pushed the total to a chilling 16 bodies recovered from the lake in just over two years.
Nearly a year later, Deserly is still grappling with the physical and emotional aftermath of that night. He has fragmented memories of the evening that nearly cost him his life.
“I don’t know exactly which alleyway it was, but there’s an alleyway, and I was tucked behind a dumpster, and my legs were just sticking out, and somebody that was passing by saw feet from the side of it and called. And then by the time they got there, I was completely unresponsive,” Deserly recounted, describing his discovery by a passerby who summoned help.
Even as he seeks answers about what happened to him, Deserly is profoundly aware of how close he came to becoming the seventeenth body pulled from Lady Bird Lake in the last three years, a fate that fuels the chilling rumors of the Rainey Street Killer.
Local Fear and Online Buzz: Is the Rainey Street Killer Real?
As the number of bodies found in Lady Bird Lake climbed, whispers of a serial killer stalking Austin’s entertainment areas intensified, spreading from the streets to online forums. Last May, a man recounted to the Daily Mail his harrowing survival after allegedly being drugged and pushed into Lady Bird Lake – an attack he attributed to the rumored Rainey Street Ripper. TikTok has become a hub for speculation, with countless videos using the hashtag #raineystreetripper, many garnering hundreds of thousands, even millions, of views.
@dailydot EXCLUSIVE: In the last two years, over a dozen dead bodies have been pulled from a lake in Austin, Texas. The string of deaths has locals convinced there’s a serial killer, AKA the “Rainey Street Ripper,” stalking the streets. Police insist that there is no serial killer on the loose in the city, but more and more people aren’t buying it. So, we investigated. (Full story in bio 🔗) @Ford Sanders • #texas #serialkiller #raineystreet #exclusive ♬ original sound – The Daily Dot
Numerous theories attempt to explain the deaths and identify a potential Rainey Street Killer. The victims being predominantly men in their 30s and 40s, with some found to have drugs in their systems, adds fuel to the fire of these rumors. The mother of Jason John, another man found in Lady Bird Lake, voiced her disbelief to the Daily Dot regarding the official explanation of accidental death. Despite authorities claiming her son died of natural causes, Elsie John believes he was murdered.
“I feel someone either drugged him in the drink or someone threw him in the water,” said Elsie John. Jason’s body was discovered in Lady Bird Lake in February 2023 after he, like Deserly, disappeared during a night out with friends. Similar to Deserly, Jason was found with GHB, a date rape drug, in his system. Medical examiners attributed the presence of GHB to natural bodily production during decomposition. Deserly, however, tested positive for a cocktail of fentanyl, methamphetamines, and ketamine, drugs he insists he did not knowingly consume.
The recurring theme of alleged druggings has led to a popular theory: the Rainey Street Killer could be someone working within the entertainment district itself – a bartender, a bouncer, or another insider. Despite the mounting public anxiety and anecdotal evidence, police continue to deny the existence of a killer.
“I was on life support for, like, I think, three or four days, like, all the, you know, the tubes in the mouth, and it was pumping my lungs for me and all this other stuff,” Connor Deserly recounted, highlighting the severity of his unexplained medical crisis.
Drug Testing and Local Perspectives on Rainey Street Safety
Whether a serial killer is at work or not, some Rainey Street establishments are proactively addressing patron safety. Jeff Partridge, a bartender at Lucille Patio Lounge, explained that his bar offers drug testing strips to customers as a precautionary measure against potential drink spiking. Many other bars across Austin have adopted similar practices.
“We’ve got it labeled on the front doors, in the windows and in the bathrooms as well. We’ve had several people that come up just to check it out,” Partridge stated. He noted that even those who weren’t necessarily concerned about being drugged were curious about the testing strips and appreciated the bar’s initiative to raise awareness.
Partridge considers the possibility of a Rainey Street Killer to be extremely low, but acknowledges that it’s not impossible. However, he finds the idea of a bartender being the perpetrator particularly far-fetched.
“That would be one of the wilder things that I’ve heard working in a bar before. Again, not to say that it’s—anything is possible—I just, the likelihood of that is even smaller than somebody targeting Rainey Street specifically.”
Salvador Juarez, who works security at Lucille Patio Lounge, holds a somewhat different view. He believes the idea of a killer targeting Rainey Street patrons isn’t as outlandish as some might think. He points to the vulnerability of individuals in the area who often become heavily intoxicated.
“I feel like it’s not far-fetched to think that there would be one. I haven’t seen any like direct clues or signs myself, but it’s not far-fetched, just based on how intoxicated people get,” Juarez explained.
“Sometimes you’ll see people just like, they’re so intoxicated they’re completely out of it, and so they’re just wandering around. And they’ll pretty much go with anybody anywhere,” he added, emphasizing the potential risks for severely intoxicated individuals.
Salvador Juarez working at Lucille Patio Lounge
Juarez emphasized Lucille Patio Lounge’s strict policy against over-intoxication and inappropriate behavior. Staff are trained to stop serving anyone who appears inebriated and to prevent over-serving from the outset.
Juarez also offered another theory, suggesting that if the drownings aren’t accidental, organized crime could be involved.
“I don’t think it would be just based on, like a lot of the other facts of how the bodies are found. I think it would be someone, […] maybe it’s not a bartender or someone that works on the street, but it could be like someone that’s working with someone that works on the street, like multiple people working together to do this, not just one person,” Juarez speculated, suggesting a potentially wider network of involvement.
Interestingly, instead of deterring crowds, Juarez believes the Rainey Street Killer rumors might actually be attracting more people, drawn by a morbid curiosity.
“Everyone comes up, [like], ‘Oh, what do you know about this?’ […] I think the ripper thing draws more people in, just out of curiosity,” Juarez observed.
Austin residents Gillian Cooper and Alex Parker are frequent visitors to Rainey Street and the trail along Lady Bird Lake. Cooper is acutely aware of the serial killer rumors.
“I don’t feel like there’s anyone in Austin that doesn’t really know about it. I think it’s hard when you’re consistently seeing news articles about people dying, like, that’s something that people usually talk about,” Cooper stated, highlighting the pervasive awareness of the situation among locals.
“People just kind of like run with it, and we’re also, it’s funny I have this conversation [with] my mom, like, we’re so used to being lied to by all anyone in power with authority, that I think anything you’re like, I feel like that’s probably not the whole story,” Cooper added, expressing a general distrust of official narratives.
Parker is among those who find it difficult to believe that so many deaths are simply accidental drownings, as authorities assert.
“Austin is a community that thrives in the water, like most. It’s just, it’s really unbelievable to me that someone would choose to live down here on Rainey Street and, like, not have some, you know, consciousness of like, how to be in the water and water safety,” Parker argued, questioning the likelihood of accidental drownings for local residents.
Skeptics question the speed at which police dismiss each new body found as an accidental death. While some point to inadequate lighting and safety barriers along the trail by the lake as contributing factors, others doubt this explanation fully accounts for the rising death toll.
Cooper is among the skeptics.
“Back to things like, not making sense necessarily, like you have to stumble a pretty long way over a fence and through a lot of trees and stuff, to then fall into the water, either you would have had to have been drugged, I feel like, for it to be accidental, or be, like, very intoxicated,” she said, suggesting that significant impairment, potentially through drugging, would be necessary for such accidents to occur.
The growing number of bodies in Lady Bird Lake leaves more and more Austin residents wondering if there’s a darker explanation than accidental drownings.
Influencer Newman Parker, an Austin native in his twenties who frequents Rainey Street and Lady Bird Lake, feels particularly concerned.
“I wish the local police would take it a little bit more seriously. Continually saying that it’s an accidental drowning is not an effective measure to create change. And like, they’ve put in lights on the trail, they’ve put a gate, and they’ve done like, little things, but that’s not going to stop [it],” Parker opined, criticizing the police response as insufficient.
Fears of a potential killer have even altered his personal life, impacting his dating habits.
“I still date, don’t get me wrong, but I think the way I go about dating has changed.” Parker explained, “I used to meet people at bars and have conversations, and if we clicked, we clicked, and, you know, continue to be in each other’s lives from there, but that has is not really a thing anymore, because I kind of have this like basis, this base level of distrust for people I meet at bars now, because of that looming fear.”
Two Deaths in December Deepen the Mystery
The discovery of two more bodies in Lady Bird Lake within the first three weeks of December has intensified anxieties. The first victim was identified as 73-year-old Thi Lang Nguyen, a member of Austin’s unhoused community. Police attributed her death to exposure while seeking warmth, stating no foul play was suspected.
Details surrounding the second body, found on December 20th, are even more scarce. Police have only confirmed the deceased was male. Once again, authorities have stated there is no reason to suspect foul play.
@fordsanders BREAKING NEWS: Police in Austin, TX are responding to a body found near Lady Bird Lake. They say no foul play is suspected here. This is the 16th body found at this lake in 2.5 years… #crime #criminal #criminalsminds #ladybirdlakeaustin #ladybird #ladybirdlake #lake #austin #austintx #austintexas #atx #breakingnews #news #newsanchor #newsreporter ♬ original sound – Ford Sanders
Beyond the victim’s gender, no further information about the December 20th discovery has been released to the public.
Connor Deserly is acutely aware of how easily he could have become another statistic on that February night.
The day after his disappearance, yet another body was recovered from Lady Bird Lake. At the time, Ford Sanders, then a reporter for KVUE News, Austin’s ABC affiliate, was preparing to cover the story when Deserly’s frantic friends approached him, desperately seeking information about their missing friend.
They inquired about Deserly’s whereabouts and the situation at the lake. Sanders carefully informed them about the body recovered from the water, emphasizing that the victim’s identity was still unknown and urging them to remain hopeful.
Days passed before Deserly’s friends learned he was alive, fighting for his life in a local hospital.
“I didn’t know where I was, and the lady, she just kept saying, ‘You overdose, you overdose, you overdose.’ And I was like, ‘What the hell?’” Deserly recalled, describing his initial interaction with hospital staff. “And then I was on life support for, like, I think, three or four days, like, all the, you know, the tubes in the mouth, and it was pumping my lungs for me and all this other stuff,” he added, detailing the severity of his condition.
The overdose diagnosis didn’t align with Deserly’s experience or self-knowledge. He insists he does not use drugs. He believes the hospital’s focus on the alleged overdose led them to disregard his claims of being drugged and overlook other crucial clues.
His iPhone and wallet were stolen that night. He later received notifications indicating his iPhone was in China, a common destination for stolen electronics.
The days of uncertainty and the lack of information from authorities continue to trouble Deserly.
“No one could find me, and I was just kind of laying there for days. And it was weird. The hospital, they didn’t identify me. I had my I had my f***ing—my wallet, my pocket with my ID and everything. They didn’t even think to like identify me or reach out to anybody. They just like didn’t do anything,” he expressed, frustrated by the lack of hospital and police response.
Now back in Ogden, Utah, Deserly continues to recover from nerve damage sustained that night. He remains perplexed by the circumstances of his disappearance and near-death experience, but ultimately feels fortunate to be alive.
When asked if he believes a serial killer could be operating in Austin, Deserly stated that, based on his experience, he considers it a strong possibility.
Despite his ordeal, neither the Austin Police Department nor the hospital has contacted Deserly to follow up on his case. The APD did not respond to requests for comment.
“They never even spoke to me or anything. Never even contacted… APD, yeah, they never reached out, nothing, tried to open an investigation, nothing like that,” Deserly concluded, highlighting the lack of official follow-up regarding his terrifying experience and the broader mystery of the Rainey Street Killer.
