Staff Report
The body of a 29-year-old man from Fresno, Texas, was pulled from the lower San Marcos River on Sunday, Sept. 27 after an intensive search that spanned two days.
Jesse Austin Jr. had disappeared below the water around 3 p.m. on Saturday while tubing with friends near Martindale and, a 911 caller reported, had not resurfaced in 10 minutes time. Authorities including the Hays County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the scene and searched until 10 p.m. The search resumed at 7 a.m. the next morning and the body was found at approximately 1 p.m. by divers with the San Marcos Area Recovery Team.
Tubing outfitters operating along that stretch of the San Marcos River had been closed for most of the summer under COVID-19 restrictions but had recently reopened for business.
