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October 29, 2025 18 mins

In this episode of Hunting 4 Answers: On September 11, 2025, a 20-year-old University of Houston student went out with friends and never came home. Four days later, her body was found in Brays Bayou. As more remains surface in Houston’s waterways, the community is left to wonder: are these tragic coincidences, or signs of something far more sinister? In this episode, we sit down with forensic psychologist Dr. Debra Warner to unpack the mystery surrounding Jade McKissic’s final hours, the haunting rise in bayou discoveries, and the questions still left unanswered. If you have any information about Jade’s case or any related incidents in Houston’s bayous, please contact the Houston Police Department Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

This is the story of Jade McKissic. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hunting for Answers is a production of the Black Effect
Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. Welcome to Hunting for Answers, a
true crime podcast. I'm your host Hunter, and today we're
highlighting a case that has left the city of Houston
searching for answers, A case that began like any other

(00:21):
night out, but ended in tragedy. On September eleventh, twenty
twenty five, a twenty year old junior at the University
of Houston spent the evening out with friends in the
city's third Board. Sometime after one am, she left a
bar alone, stopped at a nearby gas station, and was

(00:44):
seen on surveillance footage walking into the night. Four days later,
her remains were found in Brazed by You, just miles
from where she was last seen. In the weeks that followed,
report emerged of other remains being found in Houston's bious

(01:05):
more than twenty in a matter of months. The community
began to wonder is this a disturbing pattern or a
series of tragic coincidences. This is the story of Jade McKissick.

(01:28):
Jade Elise Mackissick, known to friends as Sage, was a
twenty year old junior at the University of Houston, majoring
in strategic communications and advertising. She was active on campus,
working as a student employee, serving on the editorial team
of her campus chapter at UH, and described by peers

(01:50):
as an exceptional writer with a bright future. Those who
knew her remember Jade as someone who was outgoing, connect
to her community and involved in church and school groups.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Well, she was the life of the party kind of
like she she lit up a room, you know from
what they said, right, So she made contact with people.
She was, you know, into being around other people and
being with them, right, and looking at the behavior of
that day, like she was walking towards the Bayou, right,
she went into the store, she bought a slushy.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
She you know, to me, it looked like she was
going towards someone she knew.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
By all accounts, Jade was a young woman with everything
to live for. Thursday, September eleventh, twenty twenty five, officials
say Jade was last seen leaving La Burghers and Daggeries
on North McGregor. The restaurant's owner told police she appeared

(02:53):
to be herself and was headed toward downtown Houston around
one am. Police say Jade left the bar alone, her
phone left behind as well, and walked next door to
a gas station to buy a drink. According to the
Houston Police Department, surveillance then captured her leaving the gas

(03:15):
station and heading towards sprays by you near the corner
of Scott Street and McGregor Way. She was wearing a
black tank top and black shorts.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
You had the last moments before she's unlived, right, and
she was found, you know, drug away or whatever. And
you don't have any evidence. You know, in other places
you have evidence, you have something. There's nothing there and
that's the part that's so odd.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
The questions began to swirl. Why was she walking alone
toward the buyou in the early hours, what or who
could she be walking towards? And did anyone else see
her in these final moments? When Jade didn't return, concern
settled in A missing person's report was filed on September fourteenth.

(04:09):
The next day, September fifteenth, remains were recovered from Bray's
Byou at forty nine hundred sper five, about two point
five miles from where she was last seen. By September eighteenth,
the Harris County Institute of forensic sciences had positively identified

(04:29):
the remains. The autopsy found no signs of trauma or
foul play, but the official cause and manner of death
remained pending. Jade's death didn't occur in isolation. In a
short span, multiple sets of remains were recovered from Houston's

(04:49):
by US. For instance, September fifteenth, the same day Jade
was found, another body in Greens by You via East Freeway.
September sixteenth, remains were recovered from white Oak Byou north
of downtown. September twentieth, more remains found and a by

(05:10):
You located in the nine hundred block of N. York Street.
By early October, official reporting listed at least twenty two
bodies in Houston area by US in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
What's not random is that they keep happening in the
same place. That's the thing that's not random, and that
may be where you need to start looking. And so
one of the things that I want to look at
is what's similar between the two women of color versus
the people who aren't, because that's going to do a
common thread, because everybody else, especially the last six that

(05:49):
were there, there's no common thread between them. It's so
odd because they're so different.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
In typology, the victims span all walks of life, making
pattern finding difficult, but location remains a strong clue. The
University of Houston community was deeply shaken. Students and advocacy
groups expressed frustration with what they saw as a delayed response.

(06:18):
Mina V. Wuang, president of UH advocacy group Deeds Not Words, said,
obviously you hear a student just like you who died
minutes away from campus, and people are going to be outraged.
UH administration later responded via a letter from Vice President
of Student Affairs Paul Kittle, it is with profound sadness

(06:43):
that we share the recent passing of one of our students.
Jade Sage McKissick was a campus resident and student employee,
and a friend to many in our community. The university
also clarified that the incident occurred off campus, saying, at
this time, we do not have details surrounding her death.

(07:05):
We understand that it occurred off campus and is currently
under investigation by the Houston Police Department. Community residents near
the Bayou voiced their concerns as well. Multiple vigils were held,
including one at La Burgher's and daggeries, where balloon releases
and fundraising offered support for Jade's loved ones. Community members

(07:30):
and people online have raised serious questions regarding the discoveries
being made in the Houston Bayous, from questions over public
safety to fears of a possible serial offender. Houston Mayor
John Whitmer said, we do not have any evidence that

(07:50):
there is a serial killer loose in Houston, Texas. If
there was, you would hear it from me first. He
stated his police force prides itself un quote total transparency
and says enough is enough of wild speculation. So how
would investigators determine if these incidents are isolated or if

(08:16):
they're related?

Speaker 2 (08:18):
What is common among these victims? That's a behavior, but
it's common. It's common among something, right, So these victims
are so diverse, but they do represent the population is diverse, right, So.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
Is that a commonality? Right?

Speaker 2 (08:32):
You want to find whatever it is where all these
people at night walking to the bayou or they all
sitting on a table, where they all from that convenience store,
like you know what, what?

Speaker 3 (08:44):
What was it?

Speaker 2 (08:44):
One of the things that I actually thought about when
it came up about her, was what's the toxicology test,
because it just doesn't make sense. She seemed like she's
well educated. Why would you walk in the middle of
the night by yourself? Right, so or all those people intoxicated.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
One clear thread the location. According to the mayor, there
are twenty five hundred miles of waterways or by us
in Houston, with a portion of the unhoused population living
in proximity. Although surveillance footage captures Jade's last moments, there
is still so much unknown. We see Jade walking away

(09:28):
from the gas station alone with no one in sight.
After that silence, all you have is who she is,
where she was walking, and what she did right before
you know, And it's just you need more information to
figure that out. The fact that her remains were found

(09:49):
in water adds another layer of complexity to the case.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
So elements are always going to change the body no
matter what it is, and water it's going to wash
your way some of the elements, right. I hope that
they look at a lot of the literature from the
FBI's body farm. I believe it's in Tennessee, because that's
going to tell you how deep composition happens in different
elements at different times. And it can pinpoint like it'll

(10:19):
change the time of death or decay or you know,
it helps, it helps you look at it from a
different angle. But definitely being in the elements will change
lots of things because imagine if they left something and
it got moved because water moves or because of god
knows what, because of those elements.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
Given the circumstances, the community is rightfully alarmed. So of
course this has raised a lot of concerns in the community.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
People are bringing the alarm online on social media.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
What preventative or community strategies should folks in the area
kind of implement to help reduce risk.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
And as they should be alarmed.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
I mean this is scary, right, it is very scary.
I would say adding more cameras to you know, this area, right,
more light would be great. Also, use the buddy system,
you know, let someone know where you're going, call before
you have your camera on as you're walking, like you know,

(11:26):
have check ins, right, never go alone over there because
whatever's happening until they get a handle on it, you
need to have someone looking at your whereabouts, right, So
definitely can do that. Don't jump to conclusions about things
like who this could be what they could look like
because we don't have enough information. But also don't assume

(11:50):
that people who are when they're reporting something are a
runaway or their substance of the or like things in
their past, because a lot of times when people go missing,
they need we go there. People immediately think those things
and it may not be true.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
As of now, Jade mckissick's case remains unsolved. The cause
and manner of death are still pending. The Houston Police
Department has stated they do not suspect foul play in
her case, yet they have offered very little public detail
beyond that, so many questions still remain. What really happened

(12:27):
that night after Jade left the gas station, What will
the medical examiners report reveal, How did she end up
so far from where she was last seen? And is
there a pattern emerging in Houston's bious or just a
series of unrelated tragic coincidences.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Has there been more bodies and maybe they haven't released
that right, or what patterns have the police seen that
that are within the events that they have right? Sometimes
you know, you may not know on a national level
because we're not in the same community, right, But is
there something else that we've missed. Is there is there
something that is common that can help point in the

(13:13):
right direction right?

Speaker 3 (13:14):
Well?

Speaker 2 (13:15):
And I would want to know what questions I would
really want to think deep of what questions we're not
asking like that people think are insignificant, right, And sometimes
it is the thing that really breaks open a case, right,
you know, And so just thinking about the small minute
things that you think are irrelevant, going back and thinking
about those things might might help open this up, you know.

(13:38):
I really want to know what the common threads are
though between everybody, like you know, even if there's two
people who are just like like the two African American women,
what was the same common thread with them?

Speaker 1 (13:52):
For families and communities facing unsolved laws?

Speaker 3 (13:56):
Stay safe.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
And realize that you're you know, you've lost something. Your
life has changed. Your life was the way it was
before this happened, and it's different the way after. But
keeping that person's memory alive is how you can, you know,
help yourself process through this grief.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
You're going to go through different.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Stages of loss and let you know, those stages happen,
and some days you'll be angry and some days you won't,
But do do your due diligence to do the best
by your loved ones and know that that's all you
can do.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
Some days right and keep going.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
But having the grief and the what ifs and all
of that on yourself and I could have, would have,
should have. You can't change that. All you can do
is move forward and do the best that you can
and stay strong with each other, support each other.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
For families engaging with media or investigators.

Speaker 3 (14:54):
Have one person that is the face. Then also make
sure you don't jump to conclusions.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
Sometimes have a written statement of what you want to
say so that you're not taken down a rabbit hole, right,
and make sure you're all talking about what to say
or what's going to be said as a family. So
there's no shocks. I've seen miracles and I've seen things
just change. Working in the court so long, there's so
many good officers out there, there's so many good detectives,

(15:24):
there's so many good agents like working in so many
layers of law enforcement, and there's parts of the legal
system that are absolutely amazing for people.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
But what gives me the most.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
Hope is that deep down, a lot of people just
want to do the right thing by people, and they
you know, a lot of times just don't know how
to go about it.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
And I've seen people just really push to.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
Help and support people, and so I still have that
faith in humanity that that will happen, you know, And
I hope that if people bind together and look at this,
that they begin to bind together as a community and
move forward to help solve this crime, you know, and

(16:08):
help stop some of this violence that doesn't need to
occur on anyone on any level.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Jade McKissick was a bright, talented young woman with her
whole life ahead of her. She was loved by family
and friends, a dedicated student, a gifted writer, and a
beloved community member. Her family, her friends in the University
of Houston community deserve answers. They deserve to know what

(16:36):
happened to Jade McKissick. If you have any information about
Jade's case or any of the other incidents in the
Houston bios, please contact the Houston Police Department Homicide Division
or crime Stoppers. You can find their contact information in
the description below. As we close out this episode, remember

(17:00):
that sharing Jade's story helps in spreading awareness and it
could lead to more answers for her loved ones and authorities.
It also brings to focus the critical conversation of community
safety and awareness. Don't forget to hit the follow button
to stay updated on Jade's case and others like it.

(17:22):
Be sure to subscribe to Hunting for Answers on YouTube
and follow us on Instagram and TikTok for more true
crime content and case updates. Thank you so much for
joining us on another episode until next time. Hunting for

(17:53):
Answers is a production of the Black Effect Podcast Network.
For more podcasts from the Black Effect podcast Now Network,
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
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Hunter Gilmore

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