FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas — The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office is investigating after some residents living in the Pecan Grove neighborhood reported getting oddly labeled boxes of water.
In mid-March, Emily Millward found one of those strange boxes at the front door of her home. Instead of the typical shipping information, she explained the box had a plain white label with the name “Rodney B.” printed on it.
“I stopped and I looked and I was like what, what is this,” Millward said. “I had just come in from running errands. My daughter and I had a quick lunch and about 20 minutes later I went to get something from my car and there’s just this brown box sitting there.”
Adding to her confusion, Millward tells KHOU 11 that she saw an unfamiliar person on her home security video, walking away from her house around the time the package showed up.
“I had no idea who it was,” she said. “When I walked out and talked to my neighbor, she starts fiddling it with her foot and I’m just sitting there going, 'I’ve got my dog and my kid inside. I don’t need anything to explode.'”
Millward ultimately called for help and a FBCSO deputy showed up to open the box. Inside they found a silver insulated bag which held two plastic soup containers full of clear, liquid water.
“Honestly I laughed," she said. "I don’t know why anyone would deliver bottles of water to anybody."
When she shared her experience on Facebook, Millward found out some of her neighbors had similar experiences.
KHOU 11 has obtained multiple images from other residents in Pecan Grove who received similar brown boxes that also held plastic containers of water. These additional packages were addressed to different names like “Fang Chen” and “Min X.”
Officials with FBCSO confirm that Fort Bend County Hazmat evaluated a package that was delivered to a Pecan Grove resident on March 25 and confirmed the liquid inside was water.
“We’ve received four calls about this so far,” said Captain Dalia Simons. "Right now this is a unique situation and we have investigators who are following up on these incidents.”
Simons said this should serve as a reminder to be alert for suspicious mail.
“Don’t open these packages," she said. "Don’t shake them. Just call authorities, and when they arrive they will make a decision about the next steps to take."
As for people living in Pecan Grove, Millward said many are now speculating on social media about the origins and purpose of the unexpected packages.
“Half of them laugh and the other half are like you need to call the cops and you need to make people aware that this is going on," she said. "We need to talk to somebody because it’s starting to scare people a little bit."
In a statement, a spokesperson with FBCSO shared the following safety information:
“Residents that receive packages they were not expecting or did not order and don't recognize as possibly belonging to a neighbor should either write "RTS" return to sender and send it back or discard the package. Do not open or shake the package. Residents can always contact the Sheriff's Office and we will respond to determine if a crime has been committed and further investigation is needed.”