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A late night out, 3 disappearances, and 3 bodies recovered in Austin's lakes, rivers

Since 2015, three men have gone missing after drinking with friends. Days later, their bodies were found in Austin's lakes and rivers.

AUSTIN — Three young men. That’s how many have gone missing recently while drinking with friends, and then, were found days later in Austin’s lakes and rivers.

Credit: Families
From left to right: Martin Gutierrez, Christopher White and Julio Santos.

In June of 2015, Julio Santos, 22, was out with friends on Red River and Sixth Street when he disappeared around 2:30 a.m.

Two days later, his body was discovered in Lady Bird Lake, a little more than a mile from where he was last seen.

Then, in October of 2018, Christopher White, 25, was in town for ACL and staying with friends at a rental home in West Austin when he disappeared. He had been drinking in the early morning hours of Oct. 6 at the home on Smokey Ridge Road when he went missing.

White was found two days later in Lake Austin, less than 2,000 feet away from the house.

Then just last week, Martin Gutierrez, 25, was out drinking with friends on Rainey Street when he suddenly disappeared.

It took a week for his body to be discovered in Lady Bird Lake, around a mile from where he went missing.

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APD’s homicide unit alerted lake patrol to use sonar and cadaver dogs to look for Gutierrez on Wednesday, two days after he disappeared. They searched all day and couldn’t find him.

While APD detectives do not assume these kinds of missing person cases will end in a drowning, that is a consideration during their investigation, a corporal tells KVUE.

Without video evidence, it’s hard to determine where or how they enter the water.

Credit: Getty Images and family pictures
From left to right: Julio Santos, Christopher White and Martin Gutierrez.

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