Houston's Bayou Serial Killer: 13 Bodies, Police Say Nothing

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The following story contains
descriptions of a young woman's

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death, discussion of
intoxication, and unresolved

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investigative questions.
Listener discretion is advised.

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This is no Tears for Black Girls
prologue, a path lit by neon,

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ending in water. 3rd Ward after
midnight.

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Neon over LA burgers and decoris
hums against a humid Houston

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sky.
Laughter spills into the parking

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lot and fades toward N McGregor
Way.

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Traffic whispers along Scott St.
The campus is close.

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Home is closer.
It's the familiar corridor every

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student knows by heart.
A camera catches the door swing.

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A young woman steps out alone,
no phone in her hand.

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She turns toward a gas station.
Fluorescents bloom.

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She buys a drink.
She steps back into the night.

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Another camera watches her shape
move toward the trees, toward

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the dark ribbon of Bray's Bayou.
Four days later, the water gives

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her back.
No signs of trauma, police say.

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No immediate foul play.
A family says.

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Look again.
A campus says this corridor is

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ours.
A city of bayous says nothing at

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all.
Part 1.

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The victim promise in a city of
water.

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Jade Sage Mckissick, 20 years
old.

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University of Houston junior in
strategic communications and

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advertising.
A campus resident.

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A student, employee orientation
team, church and school groups.

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A connector by nature, showing
new Cougs where to go, how to

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belong, what comes next.
Friends call her bright, family

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calls her cherished.
Faculty call her engaged.

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She is promised as routine,
future as daily habit.

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Some of her posts read like the
notebooks of a mind growing up,

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reflective, honest, turning the
world over.

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Family and friends reject the
idea that reflection equals

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intent.
Around her, there is love.

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Around her there are plans.
And then there is the walk, the

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ordinary route that becomes a
boundary line.

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Part 2.
The corridor where student life

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meets the city.
North McGregor Way and Scott St.

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a student artery.
Food, friends, bars, a late

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night gas station at the edge of
Braise Bayou.

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It's a familiar loop.
Last call, one more drink, a

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slushie, a breath of air under
the lights.

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Campus is right there.
This is the geography of risk

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layered over routine late hours,
dim corners, divided attention,

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and the steady pull of the
waterway that stitches Houston

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together. 3rd Ward breathes
history, community and change.

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It also holds the uneven edges
every city reveals after

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midnight.
Part 3, the night minutes that

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refuse to explain themselves.
September 11th around one AM,

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2025, Jade leaves LA burgers and
daiquiris near North McGregor

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and Scott.
She'd been out at local bars

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with friends.
She leaves without her phone.

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Surveillance captures her in the
gas station.

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She purchases a drink, described
as a slushie, then exits into

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the parking lot.
Another camera records her

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moving toward Bray's Bayou.
She steps out of frame.

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September 15th, 2025.
Responders recover a body from

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Bray's Bayou near the 4900 block
of Spur 5, less than a mile from

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campus.
The medical examiner confirms

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the identity.
Jade Sage Mckissick Police say

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there are no visible signs of
trauma and no immediate

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indications of foul play.
Autopsy and toxicology will tell

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the rest.
Part 4 The announcement

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statements and silence
university leadership rights to

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students.
The loss is profound.

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Counseling resources are
available.

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Police say the investigation is
open.

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The words are careful,
procedural correct.

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Family and friends counter the
quiet.

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She had plans.
They say.

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She was loved and knew it.
She did not go toward water to

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end anything.
They question the absence of a

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phone, the late walk alone and
the convenience of a conclusion

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before the science is in.
They ask for thoroughness, not

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shortcuts.
Part 5 The count How a city

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starts telling ghost stories by
late September, Local media

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tally bodies recovered from
Houston's bayous in 2025.

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At least 13, including multiple
within one week.

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The number grows loud online.
The word serial appears in

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captions and comments.
Fear fills the spaces between

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official statements.
Law enforcement offers

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procedural caution.
Investigations are separate

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unless evidence connects them.
Bodies are recovered from

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waterways for many reasons.
The Bayou system is vast.

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The work is methodical and slow,
between public dread and

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procedural caution.
Students ask for patrols,

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lighting and cameras that see
farther than the last frame Jade

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walked through.
Families ask for transparency.

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Everyone asks whether a familiar
walk can be safe again.

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Part 6 The investigation What is
known, What is not known Jade

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was last seen around 1:00 AM.
September 11th at North McGregor

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and Scott without her phone.
Surveillance shows a gas station

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purchase and a walk toward
Bray's Bayou.

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Her body was recovered September
15th near 4900.

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Spur 5.
Police publicly stated no signs

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of trauma and no immediate
indication of foul play.

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Autopsy slash Toxicology pending
investigation ongoing.

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Not publicly known.
Exact cause and manner of death.

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Whether any witness observed an
interaction after she left the

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gas station lot.
Whether additional cameras

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captured more beyond the last
frame.

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Whether any person of interest
has been identified.

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The absence of a phone removes A
lifeline and a data trail.

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The presence of cameras does not
guarantee closure.

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At 1:00 AM you walk under your
own light.

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Part 7 The system Safety,
intoxication and the edge of

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campus.
College towns learn this lesson

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over and over.
Ordinary routes hold

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extraordinary risk at night.
National data show increased

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vulnerability when alcohol is
involved, especially for women

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in late night, low visibility
corridors.

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Environmental risk multiplies
when a waterway borders the path

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home campus adjacent safety is a
system, not a sign.

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It's lighting, call boxes, late
hour shuttles, escorts, cameras

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that overlap, patrols that match
the route students actually

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walk.
It's friend systems that keep

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people together past the last
drink.

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It's the simple check in.
You good?

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You got your phone?
Text me when you're in Part 8.

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The family love as evidence.
Families are not laboratories.

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They are memory.
Witness the living proof of

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context that doesn't fit neatly
into press releases.

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Jade's family speaks in the
present tense longer than most.

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She is, she loves, she plans.
It takes time before she was can

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be said out loud.
They reject easy narratives.

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They ask for dignity and
thoroughness.

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They ask why a well walked
corridor can become a Cliff.

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They ask how often we must learn
the same lesson.

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That no signs of trauma is not
the same as no harm.

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That water covers more than
bodies.

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That a city of bayous requires a
city of guardians.

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Part 9.
The message?

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No tears for black girls.
This is a story about a black

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woman whose life intersected
with systems not designed around

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her safety.
A campus corridor meets a city

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of water.
Student freedom meets late hour

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risk.
An investigation meets a

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grieving family asking for more
than minimal answers.

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We center her not rumor, not
content cycles.

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We sent her a daughter who
walked a familiar path and did

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not come home.
We sent her a campus that must

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decide what shared
responsibility looks like after

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the candles go out.
We say her name because names

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are anchors.
Jade Sage Mckissick, 20 years

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old, Part 10.
Latest updates as of October

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29th, 2025.
Identification confirmed as Jade

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Sage Mckissick, 20, University
of Houston junior.

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Timeline last seen approximately
1:00 AM September 11th at North

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McGregor and Scott.
Surveillance shows gas station

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purchase and walk toward Bray's
Bayou.

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Body recovered September 15th
near 4900.

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Spur 5 Police position.
No signs of trauma.

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No immediate indication of foul
play.

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Investigation ongoing.
Pending autopsy.

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Slash toxicology.
Family community publicly call

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for a thorough investigation.
Highlight Jade's promise and

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support system Students
expressed concern about late

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night routes near campus.
Broader context Media counts

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note 13 plus bodies recovered
from Houston bayous in 2025.

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Law enforcement has not publicly
linked cases or confirmed a

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serial perpetrator.
Epilogue The last frame.

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There is a moment where the
camera stops seeing and the city

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keeps going, where the store
light narrows behind you and the

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water takes the reflections for
itself.

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In that gap between frame and
fact, families wait.

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Campuses choose whether safety
is a statement or a web.

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Cities decide whether corridors
are lit for leaving or lit for

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coming home.
We do not fill gaps with fear.

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We fill them with work.
We ask for the footage to be

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read as carefully as grief
requires.

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We ask for the walk from neon to
water to be redesigned until it

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ends with keys and a door and
not tape along a bank.

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Jade Sage Mckissick, a student,
a daughter, a life underway.

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May her memory be the policy.
We write the patrol.

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We fund the phone.
We remember the arm.

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We loop through a friend's at
1:00 AM on North McGregor Way.

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Author's Note and Resources This
episode reflects publicly

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reported information as of
October 29th, 2025 from KHOU 11,

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FOX 26 Houston Click to Houston
KPRC 2, the Houston Chronicle,

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and University of Houston
Communications.

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Law enforcement stated there
were no signs of trauma and no

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immediate indication of foul
play.

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Final cause and manner depend on
medical examiner findings.

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Claims of a linked series of
Bayou deaths remain unverified

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by police.
Counts of Bayou recoveries in

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2025 are media tallies and
social discourse unless

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confirmed by official
statements.

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If you have information relevant
to this case, contact the

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Houston Police Department
Homicide Division or Crime

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Stoppers of Houston Support and
Crisis Resources 988 Suicide and

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Crisis Lifeline.
Call or text 988 RAIN the sexual

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assault hotline 800-656-4673
National Domestic violence

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hotline 800-799-7233 University
of Houston CAPS for students

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713-743-5454 for families
seeking advocacy and unresolved

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cases.
Black and Missing Foundation.

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Texas Center for the Missing.
Thank you for tuning in to No

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Tears for Black Girls.
We're excited to announce a

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double feature from the No Tears
for Black Girls story universe

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by JC Reedberg, Roofied and Dead
Mike.

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Get your copies on Amazon today.
The digital editions are

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available with Kindle Unlimited.
These titles are the 6th and 7th

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installments in the series.
Also on October 31st, we're

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dropping a new song from the No
Tears for Black Girls

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soundtrack, Truth Teller by Jada
Truth.

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A powerful record about speaking
your truth and surviving trauma.

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00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:56,440
Sometimes our biggest enemy is
our family.

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00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:01,160
Please stream, pre, save and
share Truth Teller across your

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00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:04,640
socials after release from
anywhere you stream music.

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00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:07,680
Stay loved, stay blessed, and
stay safe.

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Until next time, hopefully, I'll
see you there.

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This is Samantha Paul.
They always ask me.

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Do you regret?
It regret telling the truth

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Never Mama wasn't there when I
needed a most let me searching

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for love chasing girls 15 years
old looking for oh in the arms

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of a man who should've let me
alone promised me safety why he

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planted a sea a dependency
rather than false cafe.

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While my family acted like they
weren't aware they knew.

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But I learned to play the game
he taught aren't quit, turn his

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lessons into what I saw with
money in my pocket, power in my

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hand even when I didn't
understand.

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True Teller.
True Teller.

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That's what I became as me when
I spoil the light.

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Destroyed his game.
Through Teller, True Teller

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found my power, found it in that
moment I drew my finest hour, my

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moment he thought he would
sleep, thought he had controlled

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our own.
But I was learning how to save

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my soul, save myself every
dollar that he gave to me.

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Everyone was buying back my
future.

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Save me my freedom.
I want some love face every

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night, every night.
And when I had the power to make

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it right, I had the power.
I'll make it wrong depending how

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you see how you see the
reckoning that was building

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00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:34,840
inside of me building up so I
get into my courage and my red

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all this time I burned down this
day burning down in this chapter

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of my stolen you stolen from
nothing but the burning truth.

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Truth.
That's what I became when I

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exposed the lies.
Watching him everybody chose a

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soul buddy soul just a surf cold
on a silver plate.

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Sometimes the truth just cannot
wait can't wait.

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00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:37,680
His word in ashes myself for me
free as was speaking true

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00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,680
differently differently true
teller true teller.

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That's what I became what I when
I explore the light just God is

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graceful teller the truth
teller.

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That's my power.
And.

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By the way, it was my aunt's
husband, the man at every family

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dinner, the one they all
trusted.

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They trusted him.
Family don't always mean family.

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The truth will set you free.
Set you free.