AUSTIN — A little more than a week after a man disappeared following a night out on Rainey Street in downtown Austin, the man's sibling confirmed to KVUE's Pattrik Perez Tuesday that he has passed away.
The news of his death comes one day after Austin police found a body floating in the water near the area where Martin Gutierrez was last seen and where search parties had been looking for him. Tuesday, APD homicide detectives confirmed that Gutierrez had died and that the body found near Lady Bird Lake belonged to him.
Police said Gutierrez, 25, disappeared during the early morning hours of Sunday, Nov. 19 after visiting a bar called Alibi. His family spent their days after that, including the Thanksgiving holiday, searching for him. They even offered a $10,000 reward for information about what happened to him.
Just before 5:30 a.m. Nov. 27, Mitchell Gutierrez, Martin Gutierrez's brother, wrote in an emotional Facebook post, "I lost my best friend...a void that will never be filled again. The pain is constant and more than I could ever imagine with what seems like no end in site (sic). Martin was the brother I could go to for everything and now he’s gone. I am lost with no idea what direction to go from here. My family, friends, and community have come together in a way I never believed was possible in an effort to help me find him. I appreciate every text, call, message, posting, etc either sending prayers or providing assistance or advice to find him. Just keep our family in your thoughts and prayers...it helps more than you know. This world will always and forever be significantly less happy without Martin Gutierrez."
Before Mitchell Gutierrez knew about his brother's death, he said he saw videos of Gutierrez from the night before he disappeared at the Lustre Pearl Bar and Alibi Bar on Rainey Street. He said his brother was acting strangely before he was reported missing.
"You try not to suspect foul play or something, but it was odd because my brother went to Lustre Pearl, being OK, to Alibi, zero to 100," Mitchell Gutierrez told KVUE. "It just makes your mind wonder and think, 'Did somebody mess with my brother?"
Austin police confirmed at a press conference that they didn't suspect foul play in Gutierrez's disappearance.
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