“Austin was a beautiful soul. He lived his life in the big way and had a big smile and a hearty life, and if you knew him, you knew that about him.”
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A family is pleading for help finding the person who killed their son more than a year ago.
Alongside Houston Crime Stoppers, Austin Kanuch’s loved ones asked for the public’s help.
It was Sept. 22, 2023, when Kanuch, who was 39, was stabbed to death inside his home. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office said neighborhood cameras captured a person in a hoodie riding a mountain bike up to the house on Greenleaf Lake Drive, hopping the fence and breaking in, but they said the images were too dark to build a description of the suspect.
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Crime Stoppers and family members held a news conference on Thursday to announce that the reward for information that leads to an arrest in the case was increased to $20,000.
“Austin was a beautiful soul. He lived his life in the big way and had a big smile and a hearty life, and if you knew him, you knew that about him. He just filled the room,” Celine Miller, Austin Kanuch’s mother, said.
Kanuch was a husband and a father of three children.
Earlier this month, his parents spoke out for the first time since his death. They said there were few leads in the case, and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said it didn’t have a motive for the murder.
Adding to the mystery, Kanuch and his wife had just closed the purchase on a new house the day before his death. Family members don’t believe the real estate deal had anything to do with his death, though investigators are looking into everything.
“Was there some disgruntled person he didn’t give a good car deal to? I mean, that kind of detail was searched and researched and nothing was found,” Harold Miller, Austin’s stepfather, said.
According to family members, Kanuch’s wife was home at the time of the stabbing and was cleared of wrongdoing.
“Now let’s be real. Somebody knows,” Andy Kahan with Houston Crime Stoppers said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS (8477).