Families of missing Austin men call for coverage, cameras on Rainy Street trail

Austin, Texas – Two families teamed up to get lights and cameras installed on the Lady Bird Lake trail right off Rainy Street.

The family of Jason John and Martin Gutierrez last saw their loved ones leaving Rainey Street on the trail, only to be found in a lake a week later.

“It’s pitch dark in here. I can not see anything. I mean, there is no lighting there,” said Mitchell Gutierrez, brother of Martin Gutierrez.

Mitchell Gutierrez has been fighting to install lights and cameras on the trail since 2018. He’s wanted this ever since his younger brother Martin went missing there four years ago. His body was found a week later in the lake.

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“People are dying and families are just crushed and devastated because of all this. Something needs to be done,” he said.

The place where Martin was found is almost the same place where the body of 30-year-old Jason John, who disappeared in early February, was found. John’s family also searched for a week before they received a scary update.

“We’re still in shock and we’re still processing, but at least we have closure now,” John Rinju told FOX 7 Austin the day after police found his brother Jason.

Mitchell says he contacted John’s family as soon as he learned that Jason was missing. He says he saw the similarities in both cases almost immediately.

“The same thing: at 2 am, Rainy Street, on a day off, went missing, did not answer calls. Seven days later, he was found,” he said.

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He says the first encounter with Jason’s older brother Rinju was surreal.

“It was like I was talking in a mirror. This shock, this pain, that you don’t know what to say, what to do, what to feel,” Mitchell said.

Now the two families have united for one purpose. The goal is to make sure that this does not happen again in another family.

“We want it to change Austin. We want this path to be lit. It’s hard to believe that there are no cameras on the entire trail in 2023. be fixed,” said Rinju.

Both families recently met with state and local leaders to discuss the idea of ​​trail lighting and cameras. They feel that their call for change can become a reality. If and when that happens, Mitchell says it will be the ultimate testament to the loss of both lives.

“Surveillance and coverage will mean that we have really made a difference, that something has happened, that my brother’s death will not be in vain,” Mitchell said.