AUSTIN — The family of a missing Austin man whose body was recovered in Lady Bird Lake a week after his disappearance is hoping something changes to prevent similar deaths.
Martin Gutierrez, 25, disappeared from Rainey Street on Nov. 18 after going out for drinks with his friends. His friends last saw him at The Alibi about 1 a.m. Nov. 19.
Martin was supposed to come home, but he never made it. Since then, his family and friends searched the surrounding area for nearly a week, hoping to find clues about his disappearance.
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"We just couldn't stop. Nobody wanted to sleep. Nobody wanted to eat. Just keep looking 'cause every second we weren't out there searching, Martin was out there," Martin's brother, Mitchell Gutierrez, said.
On Nov. 23, Mitchell told KVUE a manager at The Alibi showed him video of his brother acting strangely inside and outside the bar the night he disappeared, but it still didn't explain why Martin didn't come home.
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"It just makes your mind wonder and think, 'Did somebody mess with my brother,'" Mitchell said at the time.
Three days later, members with the Austin Police Department and the Austin Fire Department pulled Martin's body out of Lady Bird Lake, about a mile from where his friends last saw him.
At first, Martin's family was unsure if it was his body.
"You hope, hope, and hope it wasn't, but then you kind of hope it was, so then we'd have some answers," Mitchell said. "We didn't get any details at first. But then they said something about a black Patagonia jacket. And then we just lost it from there."
Martin was last seen wearing a black Patagonia jacket, a light green shirt, dark blue jeans and gray Vans, according to police.
"Just getting that was enough for us to know," Mitchell said.
Martin's family did not get confirmation that it was indeed his body until Tuesday morning, when they spoke with the medical examiner's office.
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"We still don't have any idea what exactly happened. You get some kind of closure finding him, but it's just not full yet," Mitchell said. "We just wanted to know what happened to him."
It was unlike Martin to not request a ride home after drinking, which worried his family even more.
"We take Ubers everywhere. Everywhere. He took an Uber to get there. I don't know. Something's not right. I just don't have that closure because something just doesn't connect," Mitchell said.
Martin's family is still awaiting the results from the toxicology report. They hope it will provide more answers about the circumstances surrounding Martin's death.
But even with those answers, they hope something changes.
"There has to be something. If there's more lighting or if there's some kind of restriction, like a gate, or something," Mitchell said. "Something so that no one else has to go through what we went through. Something has to happen."
If anything, he said, it should be a warning to people who like to hang out at popular drinking spots in downtown Austin.
"Don't go alone. Don't ever go alone. Make sure that your friends don't leave. If they do, get them back. Don't separate. Ever," Mitchell said.
Now, Martin's family is having to adjust to life without him.
"The worst part was having to call the funeral home for my 25-year-old brother," Mitchell said. "It's absolutely gut-wrenching. And I just feel numb at this point."
Martin's funeral will take place on Saturday, Dec. 1, at 11 .a.m at First Baptist Church in Big Spring, Texas, where Martin grew up.