The Man Houston Police Can’t Ignore

HOUSTON — For years, bodies have surfaced in the waterways that wind through America's fourth-largest city.

Some were discovered by joggers. Others by fishermen, maintenance workers or people walking along Houston's sprawling network of bayou trails. Since 2017, more than 200 bodies have been recovered from Houston-area waterways, according to figures compiled in The Chronicle investigation.

Most of those deaths have ultimately been attributed to drownings, suicides, overdoses, accidents or other causes. Some remain undetermined. Houston officials have repeatedly rejected one particularly disturbing explanation.

"There is not a serial killer on the loose in Houston," Police Chief J. Noe Diaz has said.

Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare has been equally emphatic, saying there is "nothing" indicating that a serial killer is responsible for the deaths.

Behind the scenes, however, sources familiar with the investigations say detectives have examined numerous individuals whose lives intersected with people later recovered from Houston's waterways.

One name has repeatedly surfaced: Carl Clint Ashworth.

Ashworth has never been charged with killing anyone recovered from the bayous. Authorities have not publicly identified him as a serial killer, and he has denied wrongdoing. But according to sources familiar with the investigation, detectives have spent years examining his movements, relationships and possible connections to several victims.

A Person of Interest — Unofficially

Investigators' interest reportedly intensified after forensic evidence connected Ashworth to two women whose bodies were later recovered from Houston waterways.

The existence of biological evidence, however, is not evidence of murder.

According to sources cited in the original investigation, Ashworth acknowledged having contact with the women but maintained that the encounters were consensual and occurred before their deaths. Investigators have reportedly been unable to establish evidence placing him where either woman entered the water.

Without that connection, prosecutors have lacked the evidence necessary to bring homicide charges.

The difficulty illustrates a larger problem confronting investigators.

Water destroys evidence.

Bodies may remain submerged for weeks or months. Currents can carry remains miles from where a person originally entered the water. Decomposition, wildlife and weather can eliminate physical evidence that might otherwise reveal whether someone died accidentally or was killed.

In some cases, investigators may not even know where the actual crime scene is.

A Life on the Road

Ashworth's employment history has also attracted investigators' attention. From approximately 2006 until 2017, he worked as a long-haul truck driver, according to people familiar with his background.

Retired FBI Special Agent Jim DiOrio told The Chronicle that investigators examining serial offenders have long recognized the challenges created by highly mobile professions.

The FBI established its Highway Serial Killings Initiative after identifying hundreds of homicide victims whose remains were discovered near highways and learning that some offenders worked as long-haul truck drivers.

That history does not implicate Ashworth. Thousands of truck drivers travel similar routes every day without committing crimes. But investigators examining an individual's movements would naturally consider employment that regularly carried him across Texas and neighboring states.

Questions From Houston's Streets

Detectives have also reportedly sought information from people living around Houston's bayous. One homeless sex worker interviewed by The Chronicle, identified only as "Kiki," claimed he recognized Ashworth from a photograph and had seen him around areas frequented by homeless people and sex workers.

"I recognized him right away," Kiki said.

He claimed to have seen the man around those areas for years.

Police have not publicly confirmed Kiki's account, and The Chronicle could not independently verify his assertions.

Still, the account reflects a recurring concern surrounding the bayou controversy: many of the people whose deaths generate the greatest uncertainty come from populations whose disappearances can initially attract little attention.

Homeless people, sex workers and members of Houston's LGBTQ community have all appeared among the victims recovered from area waterways.

The Pearland Question

Investigators have also examined whether Ashworth had any connection to an entirely different case: the unsolved 2017 triple homicide in Pearland. Mark Hollis, Angela Ruiz and Miguel Ruiz were found dead inside a residence on Sept. 14, 2017.

According to sources familiar with that investigation, detectives later received information suggesting Ashworth may have known details about the crime that had not been publicly released.

But again, suspicion never became a criminal case.

No publicly disclosed DNA evidence, eyewitness testimony or murder weapon has tied Ashworth to the killings, and authorities have never charged him in connection with the Pearland murders.

More Than One Explanation

Ashworth isn't the only person investigators have examined.

Sources say detectives have looked at numerous individuals connected directly or indirectly to people recovered from the bayous. Many were eliminated from consideration. Others generated questions investigators could not conclusively answer.

That creates another possibility rarely acknowledged in online discussions. There may be no single explanation for Houston's bayou deaths.

Some may be accidents. Some may involve suicide or drug overdoses. Some could be unrelated homicides. And some may never be fully explained.

Houston itself also provides a logical reason for the extraordinary number of recoveries. The city contains an enormous system of bayous and drainage channels running through neighborhoods populated by millions of people.

Authorities note that flooding and heavy rain can move bodies considerable distances. Multiple discoveries occurring within days of one another do not necessarily mean the people died at the same time.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire has repeatedly emphasized those realities. "Drowning is not a new phenomenon," he has said. "And it certainly doesn’t prove there’s a serial killer involved."

The Mystery Remains

That explanation hasn't stopped the speculation.

Every new discovery produces another round of social-media posts, podcasts and questions from residents wondering whether investigators are missing something.

Ashworth occupies an unusual position within that mystery.

There are reasons detectives reportedly examined him. There are witnesses who have made claims about him. There is forensic evidence reportedly establishing contact with two women later found dead. But none of those things proves murder.

No court has convicted Ashworth of killing a bayou victim. No prosecutor has charged him with doing so. Houston authorities continue to maintain that they have found no evidence establishing the existence of a serial killer operating throughout the city's waterways.

That leaves Houston with an unsettling reality.

More than 200 bodies have been recovered from its waterways since 2017. Most have explanations. But some do not.

And until investigators can explain those remaining deaths—or produce evidence showing that some are connected—the question hanging over Houston's bayous will remain unanswered:

Are the waterways simply where the tragedies of a massive city eventually surface, or is something else hidden beneath the water?