Body of homeless woman found at Lady Bird Lake; APD investigating

AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin Police Department is investigating a body of a homeless woman found in Lady Bird Lake.

APD says around 8:16 a.m. Dec. 1, it received a check welfare urgent call in Zone 300 of the lake, near Brazos and E. Cesar Chavez streets. A kayaker paddling upstream reported seeing an object in the water and when they got closer, realized it was a deceased person.

Austin police, fire and EMS crews responded to the scene and AFD was able to retrieve the body from the water.

APD says that based on appearance, the body is that of a homeless woman in her 60s and that it looks like she was trying to stay warm based on her clothing and the position of her body.

Her exact cause of death is unknown at this time, but APD says this is not being investigated as a suspicious death and no signs of violence were found. There is also no known threat to the public.

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Some residents walking along the trail near the lake had questions.

"How did she get there? You know, like, what happened to her. You know, those are kind of the things that might be going through my mind, but also, I'd just be, like, scared, you know? Like. Like I know who's doing this out here. Why? Why is there a body floating in the river?" said Martin Brzozwski.

"That's actually really surprising to hear. It still hurts to hear, you know. Like that's the one of your community members," said another walker, Vicki Dinh.

Brzozowski had kayaked the lake before himself.

"It's a beautiful experience. You know, you get to see the city, but you're also in nature at the same time. And so, like coming across something like that would just be really shocking, you know," he said.

In September, Austin police were alerted to another body being found, this one along a walking trail near the lake in east Austin. Police say there was no suspicion of foul play in that case and would not confirm if the deceased was male or female.

With several bodies surfacing over the past two years in and around the lake, rumors of a serial killer have been brought into question.

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"We've heard about that. And I think it is mostly a lot of men, like male bodies that were found. So, hearing about a woman is kind of scary," said Dinh.

APD confronted those suspicions on Sunday, saying that at this time, there was nothing to suggest a connection between this and previous bodies found in the lake.