Overview
- Harris County’s medical examiner now counts 28 people recovered from local bayous in 2025 after four additional cases were confirmed this month.
- Newly detailed cases include Ruben Camacho, ruled an accidental drowning in Horsepen Bayou; Jesse Steel, whose cause was listed as blunt force injuries with the manner undetermined; an unnamed May suicide; and John Morgan, whose death was ruled a homicide from multiple blunt impact injuries.
- With the latest updates, known causes include six drownings, two suicides, one sudden cardiac death, one homicide, and one case of blunt force injuries, while many other determinations remain pending.
- The medical examiner ruled University of Houston student Jade McKissic’s cause of death undetermined, bringing the number of undetermined rulings in this year’s bayou cases to nine.
- Officials say they see no evidence of linked cases as a September–October cluster of seven recoveries stoked public concern and renewed calls for clearer communication and coordinated bayou safety oversight.