Online rumors swirl after discovery of body in San Antonio sewage tank

After a body was found floating in a San Antonio sewage tank Saturday, online speculation has tried to link the discovery to a separate corpse found in Corpus Christi — and blame both deaths on a serial killer.

Law enforcement officials in San Antonio and Corpus Christi have said there's no evidence of foul play in either death, much less a connection between the cases. Even so, the rumor mill has taken off, reminiscent of speculation around Austin's "Rainey Street Ripper," who internet sleuths say is responsible for a number of bodies discovered in and around Lady Bird Lake.

In the most recent incident, a San Antonio Water System worker discovered a body floating face down in a diversion tank at the Leon Creek Water Recycling Facility around 8 a.m. Saturday. The San Antonio Police Department and the San Antonio Fire Department's Hazmat Unit responded to retrieve the corpse.

TV station KENS5 broke the news, revealing that workers also discovered a backpack in a connecting tank containing credit cards and two cell phones. Though authorities haven't publicly released the name of unidentified white male, police ran the name on the credit cards through a Missing Persons database and matched it to a man reported missing.

In online comments stoked by a viral post on social media page Corpus Christi Crónica, posters cited perceived similarities between the San Antonio body and another found in Corpus Christi in July.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi student Caleb Harris had gone missing in March, months before his body was discovered in a pipe at the Corpus Christi City Wastewater Lift Station on July 17. The discovery of Harris' body became national news and a topic of conversation for the TikTok true crime community.

Amateur internet sleuths speculated that Harris had been "stuffed down a drainage pipe." However, Corpus Christi police told media outlets it's possible Harris accidentally fell down the uncovered manhole, which was obscured by overgrown grass.

Authorities haven't yet determined a cause of death for Harris, but multiple media reports state that no signs of foul play were discovered on the body.

As evidence of "striking similarities" between the San Antonio and Corpus cases, the Crónica post said police also discovered no evidence of foul play in connection with the body discovered in the Alamo City — something SAPD confirmed.

Hardly a smoking gun.

An SAPD spokesperson told the Current via email that the department views Saturday's discovery as an isolated incident. Though the actual cause of death has yet to be determined, the department is treating it as a case of "apparent sudden death."