Is La Llorona’s Daughter the Lady Bird Lake Serial Killer?

Subjects of Interest

• Candle Face Chronicles

• Candle Face

• The Lost Souls

• Lady Bird Lake Serial Killer

June 23, 2025

The following research reflects the data I gathered during this investigation. This data is compiled from public records, news reports, police statements, and city records.

Introduction & Historical Background

Lady Bird Lake (also known as Town Lake by the older generations) is a 416-acre reservoir on the Colorado River that winds through downtown Austin, Texas. Created in 1960, the lake reaches about 18 feet deep and has been a popular recreation spot. Yet, swimming has been legally prohibited since the 1960s due to safety concerns. The ban traces back to a tragic 1964 drowning: on Mother’s Day of that year, 11-year-old Inez Rendon and her 8-year-old sister Cynthia drowned while wading in the lake, a high-profile incident that shocked the city and prompted Austin to outlaw swimming in Lady Bird Lake.

Over subsequent decades, numerous drownings and water accidents have occurred despite the no-swimming rule, with victims ranging from children to adults. In recent years, a cluster of bodies found in the lake since 2022 has sparked intense public scrutiny, safety initiatives, and even speculation about a possible serial killer.

This report compiles all reported drownings and body recoveries in Lady Bird Lake from the earliest records through June 2025. For each case, I summarize victim details, date, circumstances, and official cause classification (e.g., accidental vs. foul play). I then analyze patterns in the incidents and examine how law enforcement, media, and the public have responded, from straightforward explanations of accidents to serial killer rumors, urban legends, and even paranormal theories.

Catalog of Reported Lady Bird Lake Drownings (1964 – June 2025)

The table below lists documented drownings and related deaths in Lady Bird Lake (or immediately adjacent) from the 1960s to June 2025. It includes victim demographics (when known), dates, key circumstances, and the official ruling or status of each case.

Click here to download (.pdf) the complete record of Lady Bird Lake deaths

Sources: Compiled from Austin Police Department data and numerous media reports (e.g., Spectrum News, FOX 7 Austin, KVUE, KXAN, Austin American-Statesman, MySA, and others). In total, over 20 drowning deaths have been recorded in Lady Bird Lake since 2008, alongside a few non-drowning incidents (one confirmed homicide and a handful of natural/medical deaths near the lake). The majority have been officially ruled accidental or non-suspicious.

Patterns & Trends in the Drownings

• Victim Profile: Most drowning victims have been adult males in their 20s or 30s. Many were young men who vanished after visiting downtown nightlife areas (like Rainey Street or Sixth Street) at night. Examples include Julio Santos (22) in 2015, Martin Gutierrez (25) in 2018, Jason John (30) in 2023, Jonathan Honey (33) in 2023. Several were reported intoxicated; toxicology in Jason John’s case confirmed alcohol, and APD noted “one common theme” was “the combination of alcohol and easy access to Lady Bird Lake” in late-night hours. Women are rarer victims — the 1964 sisters, an elderly woman in 2015, and one or two recent unidentified females.
• Locations: Many incidents occurred near the Rainey Street Trailhead and waterfront. Since 2014, at least five late-night drownings happened in that area: Santos, Gutierrez, John, Honey, Parks. Others occurred near Longhorn Dam / Pleasant Valley and the western end (Lamar Blvd, Mopac).
• Timing: Many drownings happened in cooler months (late fall through spring). Notable clusters: late 2022–June 2023 (eight bodies in seven months), 2014–2015, 2018. Most victims were last seen after 10 p.m. when parks are closed and visibility is low.
• Official Causes: The Medical Examiner and APD ruled most cases accidental drownings or undetermined accidents, a few suicides or medical causes. One clear homicide (Josue Moreno, 2022) unrelated to drowning.
• Environmental Hazards: Lady Bird Lake is dangerous: debris, drop-offs, poor lighting. Parks close at 10 p.m., but intoxicated individuals often access the water’s edge. The 2025 case of a 15-year-old illustrates hazards: he drowned stepping off a ledge where shallow water became deep.

Law Enforcement Response and Rulings

APD consistently states the drownings are tragic accidents or isolated incidents. They’ve said repeatedly there’s no evidence of a serial killer. After spring 2023, APD stressed no public safety threat, no pattern, no link among cases. Medical Examiner rulings support this: autopsies show drownings, sometimes alcohol-related.

When crime occurred, it was distinct: Josue Moreno shot in a car (2022); Christian Pugh (2019) survived an assault treated separately.

Media Coverage and Public Accounts

Local and national media began connecting the cases in late 2022, amplifying speculation. Terms like “Rainey Street Ripper” and “Rainey Street Killer” entered coverage. Families of victims publicly expressed doubts. Social media fueled theories, memes, comparisons to the Smiley Face Killer legend.

A local ghost tour company’s blog posited that perhaps the lake is “cursed,” noting Town Lake’s creation might have disturbed something, and speculating “maybe something far older has cursed this lake… in retaliation”

Safety Measures and Community Response

In response to accidents and public concern, the city implemented some changes

• Infrastructure: The city installed new lighting along the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail, closed gaps in railings, and added more warning signs.
• Patrols: APD and park rangers increased patrols during peak nightlife hours. Bars improved service practices, and surveillance cameras were considered.
• Public education: Awareness campaigns highlighted water hazards and park curfew enforcement.

Many residents felt relief that no evidence of a serial killer emerged, but unease remains. The term “Lady Bird Lake deaths” became part of the city’s collective cautionary memory, reminding people of the dangers of mixing nightlife and water.

The Drownings of Lady Bird Lake: My Investigation into Candle Face’s Role

What follows is independent from the official record above. This section reflects my own investigation, based on five months of notes, the accounts of lost souls who came to me, and patterns I’ve uncovered through mapping, study, and reflection.

Since 2022, the city of Austin has been gripped by questions about the mysterious drownings at Lady Bird Lake. Some speak of an unknown serial killer. Others blame accidents, alcohol, or the lake’s hidden dangers. But as I’ve dug deeper, a different pattern has emerged: one that combines both the serial killer theories and the paranormal accounts into a single, disturbing possibility.

Could the force behind these deaths be Candle Face, also known as Isabel, the forgotten daughter of La Llorona? The one who was drowned beneath the water by her own mother alongside her two younger brothers and who now uses water as her tool of judgment.

For those unfamiliar with me or my Candle Face investigation: victims of the evil entity I named Candle Face used to visit me at night, seeking my help to locate their bodies and identify the killers who took their lives in Candle Face’s name. I believe they came to me because of my experience as a missing persons and human trafficking investigator, my many years as an award-winning author, and because I’m one of the rare survivors of Candle Face’s torment when I was a child growing up in South Austin. As of today, readers and I have identified eight of 47 lost souls. Many remain unidentified. Please visit www.candleface.com/thelostsouls to join the investigation so we can identify the rest.

Over the past two years, several lost souls came to me, soaked and broken, to tell me how they died in those waters. Some were pulled under by Candle Face herself. Others were tricked or pushed in by those who served her. Their testimonies planted the first doubts about what the public calls accidents.

When the spirits stopped visiting, I turned to records: news reports, police statements, and city documents. I mapped the drownings from 2008 to today. These deaths don’t scatter randomly across the city or the seasons. They gather at the lake’s edges, the very kind of place where Isabel was drowned by her mother, where belief fades, and where her story is forgotten.

A human killer would leave some sign: bruises, marks, evidence of restraint or struggle. But there are none. The water erases everything except the pattern itself.

I returned to the stories the lost souls shared. They spoke of heat before the cold, of small hands pulling them down, of the silent grip beneath the surface. These aren’t the works of a man hiding along the trails.

The city searches for a man who stalks the bars and trails. The public fears a human killer waiting at the water’s edge. But the real danger isn’t human. While not every drowning at Lady Bird Lake may be tied to Candle Face, the pattern of certain deaths in their timing, location, and strange consistencies in their circumstances points to a force beyond simple accident. It’s these particular cases that suggest her hand at work, hidden beneath the surface where the truth is hardest to see.

The Case for Candle Face

As I pieced together the patterns from these deaths, one conclusion grew harder to ignore. The official explanations, accidents, intoxication, and environmental hazards explain some of what happened, but not all of it.

Candle Face, known in life as Isabel, was drowned by her own mother. It makes sense that water would become her chosen weapon. It’s silent. It leaves no marks that point to foul play. It hides what she has done beneath its surface. The victims’ final moments echo what Isabel experienced in death.

The signs of her presence have followed me throughout this investigation. The faint smell of water where there should be none. The soft sound of dripping in an empty room. My equipment freezing or failing when I try to document what I’ve found.

The idea of a serial killer haunts Austin. But the truth may be far more terrifying. The serial killer isn’t a man at all. It’s Isabel.

The Lady Bird Lake drownings reflect more than just a tragic pattern of accidents and preventable deaths. The evidence, when viewed through the lens of official reports alone, points to missteps, intoxication, and hidden hazards along an urban shoreline. But when you listen to the voices of the lost souls, study the patterns, and confront the facts that the city would rather ignore, a darker possibility comes into focus.

Candle Face — Isabel, the forgotten daughter of La Llorona, isn’t just a legend. She’s the force that waits at the water’s edge. The water that once claimed her life is now the instrument she uses to judge those who deny her, mock her, or simply cross her path without belief.

Austin searches for a serial killer in the shadows, but they’re searching for the wrong kind of danger. What claims these lives isn’t human. It’s Candle Face, hidden beneath the surface, using the lake itself to cover her work. The drownings will not stop until she is recognized, remembered, and believed.

Lady Bird Lake is not empty. It doesn’t forget. And those who doubt or dismiss what waits beneath its surface may one day find themselves among the silent souls it keeps. She is the serial killer they fear and the ghost they deny. Candle Face is both.