Caleb Harris

Case background and investigation

Caleb Harris was a 21-year-old junior at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and a native of New Braunfels, Texas. In the early morning hours of Monday, March 4, 2024, he disappeared from his off-campus apartment complex in the 1900 block of Ennis Joslin Road. According to police and news accounts, a doorbell camera recorded Harris, a roommate, and a friend playing with a puppy in the parking lot at 12:56 a.m. He later ordered food through UberEats, sent his sister a Snapchat video at 2:44 a.m. showing him with the puppy in the parking lot, and at 3:03 a.m. sent a friend another Snapchat showing a nearby bridge. His cell phone last transmitted location data at 3:12 a.m. When an UberEats driver delivered his order at about 3:20 a.m., Harris did not answer, and his roommates found the food untouched at the door later that morning. His truck remained in the parking lot and his wallet and keys were left behind. His father told reporters that Harris "definitely wouldn't leave on his own accord, especially with no shoes and keys and wallet."

The disappearance triggered a months-long search involving the Corpus Christi Police Department, the FBI, the Texas Rangers, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Coast Guard, and the Secret Service, along with drone flights, dive teams, and volunteer searches. Investigators served dozens of search warrants and subpoenas to technology companies, submitted 82 preservation requests to social media providers, and reviewed more than 1,500 gigabytes of digital data. According to police, cell phone data, geofencing, and surveillance video from roughly 50 locations indicated Harris never left the general area of his apartment complex that night. The family offered a reward that grew to $50,000 for his safe return.

On June 24, 2024, city workers performing routine maintenance discovered human remains in a wastewater collection well at the Perry Place lift station, not far from Harris's apartment. Because of advanced decomposition, the Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office could not immediately identify the remains, which were sent to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification. On July 17, 2024, forensic analysts confirmed through DNA comparison with his parents' samples that the remains were Harris. On August 8, 2024, the medical examiner's office released autopsy findings listing both the cause and manner of death as undetermined, noting no obvious signs of homicide or major traumatic injury.

Investigators said evidence indicated the body entered the lift station through the sewage system, and that heavy rains from Tropical Storm Alberto in June 2024 likely pushed the remains through a 15-inch sewage pipe to the collection well where they were found. How Harris got into the pipes in the first place remains unexplained. The Corpus Christi Police Department has said it does not classify the case as a homicide; Assistant Chief Todd Green explained that "in order to have an arrest, you have to have a crime and we can't even prove that a crime was committed." Harris's family disagrees — his father, Randy Harris, has publicly stated the family believes his death was "100% homicide" and not an accident, and the family has offered a reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

At the one-year mark in March 2025, police said the investigation remained active and open, with tips still coming in and potentially relevant evidence undergoing testing. Detectives said they had identified and ruled out several persons of interest using phone records and surveillance video. No arrests have been made, and the circumstances of Caleb Harris's death remain unresolved. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Corpus Christi Police Department.