Found Deceased TX - Delano Burkes, 26, missing after night out with friends, went to use the bathroom, seen running, Houston, 13 Nov 2022

[Tracey4AU]

I'm sorry. I'm not seeing where authorities said it was being investigated as a homicide. I did see that Rep. Sheila Jackson said something along those lines. This is a very sad outcome.

I’m sorry. I was quoting a MSM article and don’t think I said “authorities said” anything. Thank you for correcting me.

 

[LordMo]

Idk the area, as I’m from a cross the country, but I have plenty of experience bar hopping.

1. Did the friends bother to go into the bar to look for him?

2. How did he get into the bar with no id?

3. His friends LEFT him in HIS own car?! Sus

4. His friends didn’t call his wife before leaving him

5. Their story seems to be missing A LOT of information

Who just leaves their friend and takes his car and his id without calling a family member or simply looking for him?

to answer #2 -- maybe the staff already knew him and didn't feel the need to check since he was a regular, and/or it might've been a place that holds onto your ID until you pay the tab (which sounds wacky but I've been to exactly one place fitting that bill once)

 

[HoustonGuy]

Idk the area, as I’m from a cross the country, but I have plenty of experience bar hopping.

1. Did the friends bother to go into the bar to look for him?

2. How did he get into the bar with no id?

3. His friends LEFT him in HIS own car?! Sus

4. His friends didn’t call his wife before leaving him

5. Their story seems to be missing A LOT of information

Who just leaves their friend and takes his car and his id without calling a family member or simply looking for him?

I am in no way defending the friends but there are plenty of reasons they'd potentially leave without him.

Maybe he'd talked earlier about meeting up with someone? Maybe they thought he took an uber home? Maybe they thought he met a girl and didn't want to out that to his wife? Maybe they thought they were doing him a solid by grabbing his car from the bar so he wouldn't have to go back and get it the next day?

I don't know the answer to any of those questions, but Delano was a 26 year old adult in the town where he lives. I've irishe good-bye'd my friends while on a night out COUNTLESS times. This wasn't the case of a college student going to bourbon street on spring break and his friends ditching him an unknown place. Hindsight is 20/20, and while i'm in no way proclaiming his friends are innocent, there are plenty of logical reasons why the events that took place leading up to the tragedy may have occurred.

 

[daswagen]

Here's the two places we have confirmed footage. First one is McIntyre's the second is the storage yard with the military truck. There's a 3rd video from the news that I don't have a location for yet. I would hope that everyone in that area has been contacted by the teams in the last few weeks.

 

[slowpoke]

HPD spokesperson Jodi Silva said Tuesday the man found in the ship channel "did not show any signs of foul play," although Burkes' death remains under investigation by the department's homicide unit, pending the results of an autopsy.

The bar is within a few blocks from White Oak Bayou, which feeds into Buffalo Bayou, which meanders its way to the Houston Ship Channel. When asked if someone could be swept from White Oak Bayou to the location where Burkes' body was found – near the Port of Houston Authority on the southeast side of town – Silva said, "It is definitely a possibility."

Delano Burkes death: Family searching for answers, Houston police say foul play not suspected | Houston Public Media

 

[potatovine]

to answer #2 -- maybe the staff already knew him and didn't feel the need to check since he was a regular, and/or it might've been a place that holds onto your ID until you pay the tab (which sounds wacky but I've been to exactly one place fitting that bill once)

I go to the bar Mcyntires pretty regularly and they pretty much check everyone’s IDs, plus there’s always different door guys. They don’t hold ID’s for drinks or anything like that. It’s possible to maybe get in the backdoor without having to show an id…because of the porta potties back there, sometimes the bouncer will assume you were already in the bar and just left to use the porta potty. But speaking to the porta potties, it doesn’t make sense he would choose Mcyntires to use the bathroom. There’s always lines. I think the friends just made up this whole using the bathroom thing.

 

[daswagen]

The needing to use the bathroom thing IMO is a total fabrication. I would like to know why he got kicked out of McIntyre's. Every press conference they were adamant that he didn't have his ID.

 

[HoustonGuy]

The needing to use the bathroom thing IMO is a total fabrication. I would like to know why he got kicked out of McIntyre's. Every press conference they were adamant that he didn't have his ID.

I tend to agree - i think it's more likely he probably took off/barged his way in/went rogue from his friends but there some protection going on to try and downplay how potentially inebriated he may have been. I'm not victim blaming though. Just trying to get the clearer picture.

 

[MsKitty]

I go to the bar Mcyntires pretty regularly and they pretty much check everyone’s IDs, plus there’s always different door guys. They don’t hold ID’s for drinks or anything like that. It’s possible to maybe get in the backdoor without having to show an id…because of the porta potties back there, sometimes the bouncer will assume you were already in the bar and just left to use the porta potty. But speaking to the porta potties, it doesn’t make sense he would choose Mcyntires to use the bathroom. There’s always lines. I think the friends just made up this whole using the bathroom thing.

Can the porta potty be accessed without going in to or through the bar? I’m trying to visualize where the friends supposedly left him off and what their explanation would be for why they drove away without him

 

[tigertex]

Hello everyone. I live in the immediate area where the bars are and video from one of the cameras outside my house is what you are seeing in some of the news reports. We've gotten the chance to meet some of the family. They seem like good people. His wife Autumn is a very nice person. I feel horrible for them. Watching the video for several hours after he passed by didn't reveal anything that was obvious to me (such as somebody following him). We did see another person coming down the street a few minutes after he passed but to me it didn't look like a pursuit (the person was walking casually). It was strange that Delano was running like he was though. I'm attaching a photo of the route he took up to the last time he was seen on camera. The path between McIntyre's and the corner of 18th and Bevis is a little bit an assumption because there hasn't been video of that area.

The parts of this that seem strange to me have to do with the "friends", where exactly they were, why they were there and how it is that they left Delano there. I say this because the story has changed a few times throughout this. First, they said they were at a "restaurant" and Delano went next door to use the restroom. Then it changed to being at a bar. Then it changed to dropping him off. The period between when they last saw him and when they decided to leave has never been explained clearly. His friends may have nothing to do with his eventual demise but it sure feels like they're not giving the whole story. Apparently they were old friend he hasn't seen for a while, that's all I know about that.

The other weird part is where they found his body. That is a long way from where he was last seen. The water in the bayou nearby was not very deep. Maybe a couple feet. That might be enough to drown in if you are drunk or passed out but hardly enough to cover the body. It's hard for me to picture it floating and being carried by the water in that area because it is so shallow, especially without being seen. There are walking trails along that bayou which go all the way to downtown and beyond, so maybe he walked further down and got into the water at some deeper point. You could walk from the last point he was seen to downtown Houston in a couple hours or so. These trails are well used during the day so it seems likely that he would have been seen. One issue with the trails though: there have been known to be muggings and other crimes along them, even in broad daylight. There are sections where there are homeless people hanging about. It used to be that there were communities of homeless people living along the bayou, especially around the downtown area. I'm not sure if that is still the case though because I haven't been to that area in a while and I know the city was trying to curb this behavior.

Again, the image only represents his trail up to the point he was last seen on camera.

 

[potatovine]

The needing to use the bathroom thing IMO is a total fabrication. I would like to know why he got kicked out of McIntyre's. Every press conference they were adamant that he didn't have his ID.

I totally agree. I think it was made up to either protect Delano or protect themselves from something they were doing that they didn’t want delanos family/public to know about. Because also, if they couldn’t find him (if they even did actually look for him) wouldn’t they have called his wife to tell her they can’t find Delano? Just seems weird.

 

[potatovine]

Can the porta potty be accessed without going in to or through the bar? I’m trying to visualize where the friends supposedly left him off and what their explanation would be for why they drove away without him

Yes. There’s a food truck and porta potties in the back of the building and you have to pass by the back entrance (where there is usually a bouncer) when coming back in from the porta potty. So if the bouncer sees you leave to use the porta potty, they usually won’t ask for you to show ID again because they saw you were already inside. So I’m thinking maybe he could’ve gotten in that way.

But also now I’m thinking maybe he just walked past the bouncers and didn’t show his ID when asked and maybe that’s why he got kicked out? He may have gotten a few steps inside and then all the bouncers grabbed him and escorted him out? I don’t know, could be.

 

[buyerninety]

Seems like houses at the south end of Bevis St and (west - over White Oak Bayou) houses at the corner of T C Jester Blvd & Lindyanne Lane ought to be checking any video they might have.

 

[SpicyFruit]

I go to the bar Mcyntires pretty regularly and they pretty much check everyone’s IDs, plus there’s always different door guys. They don’t hold ID’s for drinks or anything like that. It’s possible to maybe get in the backdoor without having to show an id…because of the porta potties back there, sometimes the bouncer will assume you were already in the bar and just left to use the porta potty. But speaking to the porta potties, it doesn’t make sense he would choose Mcyntires to use the bathroom. There’s always lines. I think the friends just made up this whole using the bathroom thing.

One of his missing flyers on FB was by his sister and she had a different reason they were at Mcyntires than MSM has said. I just can't post it here because her personal FB would not be an approved source.

 

[SpicyFruit]

I just really keep thinking about that video where it seriously looks like he is getting into a car. Did someone maybe give him a ride down there? It could still be no foul play but then who gave him the ride and why have they not come forward?

 

[wendybtn]

When the press conference was done a few days ago, his mother alluded to the “friends” not being very helpful with information or the search effort.

Just my opinions…

A few things that I’ve gleaned, I feel like the “friends” possibly set him up.

Drunk men pee outside. They don’t typically find a bar to go to the restroom after they’ve just left another bar.

If he was so under the influence that someone else had to drive, someone needed to be with him.

If he went to the restroom at one place, why would the friends go to another place and wait…then go looking for him?

At what point do friends just give up and leave you, go home, with your car, and call your spouse almost 12 hours later???

I kinda feel as if he may have been running away from the “friends” in that video. The same “friend(s)” who probably gave him whatever was suspected to cause his behavior.

Jealousy is the root of so many crimes.

This young man had multiple arrests (see post #13), including DUI, drug possession, interfering with a server, etc. He likely did not have a drivers license. I hope he is more at peace now.

 

[slowpoke]

What kind of responsibility does McIntyre’s have, if any? Not sure why Delano was made to leave their establishment, but let’s say in a scenario where a bar kicks someone out of their bar for perhaps unruliness due to being overly intoxicated: would it be protocol to make sure the person has a safe ride home?

Another question that comes up for me, is in regards to this that I read in this article:
Search continues for Delano Burkes seen on video running away from Heights area bar

However, at some point, they got split up.

"They had texted Delano," said Delano’s brother Pierre Burkes. "Upon not getting a text back, [Delano’s 2 friends] went inside Moonshine where they thought he was. They didn’t see him. So, they made their way back to the car, circled the block, and left."

It says the two friends thought he had gone into Moonshine, which I understand is a close next door to McIntyre’s (where we now know is where Delano was, and was told to leave). Wish we could hear more details on this. Did the friends see him enter Moonshine? They didn’t think to search in McIntyre’s, too? This is just so tragic and sad.

 

[daswagen]

I think the bar's liability depends on if he got served there or if he actually just stopped in to use the bathroom, as the story goes.

 

[daswagen]

Hello everyone. I live in the immediate area where the bars are and video from one of the cameras outside my house is what you are seeing in some of the news reports.

Can you upload the entire video to Youtube or another video sharing service? I'm not on it, but is there a Nextdoor group for that area? Maybe we can ask for more people to check their cameras, footage may start being overwritten soon. Thank you for checking your cameras.

 

[slowpoke]

I started to recall another case, that of Michael Vanzandt, missing in California a few years back. He was never found. But a lot of similarities to Delano’s situation.

My recollection: Michael was out at Hermosa Beach, watching a tv fight at a bar with friends. The group then moved to another bar, but had to wait in a line to get in. Michael said he had to go use a restroom first so he left his friends in the line. Meanwhile, the friends decided to go to another bar instead, and texted him to let him know, but his phone was apparently out of battery power and he never replied. They never saw him again, and I think they eventually left the area to go home without him.

Cell phones are great for reaching people immediately unlike in my young days when they didn’t exist (yes, I’m old, lol), but they are also problematic because we rely on them so much. Dead battery, no reception in remote areas, no recall of others’ phone numbers if our phone is dead or unavailable—these can really throw us and make us wonder in that situation: what to do now?