Bodies in the Water and the Growing Questions About Carl Ashworth

HOUSTON — The bodies have surfaced in bayous winding through Houston and in the waters of Austin’s Lady Bird Lake. Some deaths have clear explanations. Others have left questions that continue to fuel fears of a serial killer.

Now, reports that Carl Clint Ashworth has relocated from Houston to Austin have added another thread to the controversy surrounding the former long-haul truck driver.

According to confidential sources cited by The Tampa Bay Chronicle, Ashworth reemerged in Austin after leaving Houston. A source described as being within the Houston Police Department said investigators in the two cities had discussed him.

In an interview with The Huntsville Press the source stated, “It’s one hundred percent verified that Ashworth is living in Austin at this time.”

The reported move has not been publicly confirmed by authorities. Ashworth has denied wrongdoing, has not been charged in connection with the waterway deaths and has not been publicly identified by police as a suspect.

Nevertheless, allegations involving contact with victims, witness identifications and his departure from Houston have helped explain why his name keeps appearing in discussions of the deaths.

More than 200 bodies have reportedly been recovered from Houston-area waterways since 2017. The total encompasses different circumstances and causes, rather than an established series of murders.

Public concern intensified when several bodies were discovered close together. Five were recovered within a week in September 2025. Three more were found during a week that December.

“For us as an agency, rumors stir fear and anxiety in our communities,” Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz said during a September news conference, according to ABC13.

Authorities and criminal justice experts have repeatedly rejected claims that the recoveries establish a serial killer. Accidents, intoxication, suicide and drowning offer explanations for many individual deaths.

The allegations surrounding Ashworth, however, concern reported connections to particular people.

Sources familiar with the Houston inquiry told The Tampa Bay Chronicle that biological evidence linked him to two women whose bodies were subsequently recovered from waterways. Ashworth reportedly acknowledged contact with the women but maintained the encounters were consensual and occurred before their deaths.

Investigators reportedly lacked evidence placing him where either woman entered the water. No charges followed. “Evidence of contact with Ashworth doesn’t explain how either woman died,” said a confidential source within the Houston Police Department. “It’s not enough to charge him.”

Detectives examined possible connections between Ashworth and multiple victims; however, they can’t establish a solid timeline linking him to the victims’ times of death. The source said investigators had not developed sufficient evidence to support homicide charges.

“Officially, nobody will say it,” the source said. “But there are detectives who believe this man is a strong suspect in multiple murders.”

The allegation conflicts with the publicly stated position that investigators have found no evidence of a serial offender. No disclosed evidence establishes a series of killings attributable to Ashworth.

Witness accounts have contributed additional suspicion.

A homeless sex worker identified as Kiki told the Huntsville Press, he recognized Ashworth in a photograph and had seen him around homeless encampments and areas frequented by sex workers. Police declined to confirm the account.

Former neighbor Bobby Letch described Ashworth’s departure more dramatically.

“He packed up his stuff in the middle of the night,” Letch told the Chronicle. “I ain’t sayin’ he killed anyone, but it’s suspicious.”

The newspaper also reported that Houston body recoveries slowed after Ashworth’s departure. A decline, however, would not establish a connection to him: weather, discovery patterns and ordinary variation could affect the numbers.

The reported Austin relocation has drawn attention to deaths near Rainey Street, where bars stand close to the trail and lake.

Among those whose deaths have attracted scrutiny are Jason John and Jonathan Honey. Questions about men disappearing after spending time around the entertainment district have sustained a separate serial-killer theory.

A potentially relevant lead involves a bar employee who reportedly identified Ashworth from photographs years after allegedly seeing him on the night Honey disappeared. “It’s absolutely the same guy I saw,” said the bar employee during an interview with the Huntsville Press. “I seen him that night, and I’ve seen him a dozen time since then. He's a big guy… always alone.”

The account remains uncorroborated by publicly disclosed surveillance, phone records or forensic evidence. Presence at a bar, even if verified, would not establish involvement in a death.

“Without something more tangible, we can’t arrest him,” an unnamed Austin police source told the Chronicle. Proximity to the lake deaths doesn’t establish criminal involvement. “Only hard evidence does.”

For now, the reported move connects Ashworth geographically to Austin, while the allegations explain the suspicion surrounding him. Neither establishes criminal responsibility.

What remains missing is publicly verifiable evidence tying him to a killing—or demonstrating that Houston’s bayou deaths and Austin’s lake deaths are part of the same criminal series.