Body found in Greens Bayou in east Houston investigation

Houston Fire Department crews used a rescue boat Monday morning to recover a body from Greens Bayou near 12905 Industrial Road in east Houston, beginning a death investigation with no identification, no cause and no public explanation for how the person died.

The call came in at about 11:19 a.m. on July 13, 2026, and Houston Fire Department crews reached the waterway near Industrial Road and Miles Street, just south of I-10 near Federal Road in a heavily industrial stretch of east and northeast Houston. Houston police also responded, and homicide investigators came to the scene as crews worked the recovery. The body was in Greens Bayou, not Buffalo Bayou. Heavy rain and strong currents slowed the effort.

By Monday afternoon, officials had not identified the victim and had not said how long the person had been in the bayou. They also had not said whether the death was accidental, self-inflicted or criminal. No signs of trauma were disclosed, and the case remained an open death investigation while Houston police and the medical examiner worked to determine what happened.

Houston police recorded at least 12 bodies recovered from bayous across the city in the prior year, and another report put the 2025 total at 34 recoveries from area waterways. Two-thirds of the bayou deaths Houston Public Media reviewed over a year were either still awaiting a cause-of-death finding or never had one determined. A separate Greens Bayou recovery near I-10 in May 2026 occurred, and investigators have not said the cases are linked.