Police Confirm Identity Of Swimmer Who Drowned At Barton Creek [UPDATED]

AUSTIN, TX -- The body pulled from Barton Creek on Tuesday has been positively identified as Ceazar Kainz, a 24-year-old who had prompted a massive search effort after going missing Monday night while swimming.

Austin Police Department officials confirmed his identify via Twitter on Tuesday evening.

A search for Kainz, who lived in Cedar Park, had to be called off Monday night after it became too dark to continue. The search continued early Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m., and officials announced just a few hours later they had found a body.

The medical examiner's office told the Austin American-Statesman report that Kainz was a lifeguard with the city of Austin. The newspaper also reports the young man was an employee at the popular downtown bar Rain on 4th.

He is the second to die in the area in a span of a week. On Memorial Day, a woman who was tubing at the naturally fed Barton Springs Pool was caught up in heavy currents. Her body was found against a culvert, pulled there by deceptively treacherous currents made stronger by excess water from recent heavy rainfall.

Emergency officials have repeatedly warned residents not to swim or tube at the locations due to the flood-induced conditions still intact there. The greenbelt there has been closed for some time.

Rain on 4th was closed Tuesday night to allow its employees to grieve, bar officials tweeted. The bar was expected to be re-opened on Wednesday.

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AUSTIN, TX -- Emergency crews located a body at Barton Creek Tuesday afternoon, possibly the young man who went missing Monday night.

An Austin Police Department spokesman staged an afternoon conference to alert the media of the discovery. But he wasn't able to confirm if the body found was that of a missing male swimmer that prompted a massive search before the effort was called off last night due to darkness.

Before the press conference, police identified the missing swimmer as Ceazar Kainz, 24.

The search for Kainz resumed early Tuesday afternoon after being called off. Police were joined by fire department and parks and recreation department officials in Tuesday's search.

The death is the second to occur in the area in the span of a week. Austin-Travis County EMS officials have joined others in reminding the public that the area has been closed to the public as a result of heavy rains that have fueled stronger-than-normal currents.

A woman's body was found on Memorial Day, police surmising she was sucked onto a culvert while she was tubing the naturally fed Barton Springs Pool, which also was closed due to heavy rainfall.

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From April 6:

AUSTIN, TX -- A week to the day that a woman died while tubing down the naturally fed Barton Springs Pool, EMS medics responded to two rescue attempts at the site -- which is closed to the public after heavy recent rains resulting in stronger-than-normal currents.

The first call to which Austin-Travis County EMS medics responded came at about 5:45 p.m. in the Sculpture Falls area of Barton Creek. EMS officials searched for a missing swimmer, described as a male in his 30s, before being forced to call off the search.

The missing swimmer is now deemed "missing," according to EMS officials.

Some four later, EMS again were called to the scene. This time, medics were alerted to two injured males who had been traveling along the Barton Creek greenbelt. The two men in their 20s were located and transported the the hospital with undetermined yet non-life-threatening injuries.

The pool was closed when a woman and her friends decided to go tubing there on Memorial Day, and officials subsequently closed the greenbelt as well following her death. The woman drowned after being carried away by strong currents fed by heavy recent rains.

EMS officials continually tweet their activities in updating the public about their rescue efforts, writing of their efforts in a succinct and dispassionate manner with the word economy demanded of Twitter. But sometimes, officials express palpable concern -- such as Monday, when they reminded the public that Barton Springs is closed to the public.

With a death already recorded, and two rescue attempts in the course of just a week -- despite repeated warnings of officials to stay away -- the frustration is understandable.