Smiley Face Gang – Detectives Say 40 Drowning Victims May Have Been Murdered
April 28, 2008 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
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At least 40 young men who drowned may have died by far more sinister means — serial killings at the hands of a national gang that revels in murdering young men and leaving smiley-face markings at the scene, a team of retired New York City police detectives and criminal justice investigators said Monday.
They believe the victims, including University of Minnesota student Chris Jenkins and Fordham University student Patrick McNeill, didn’t accidentally drown but were actually killed by members of the so-called “Smiley Face Gang.”
A smiley-face symbol was found painted at some of the drowning locations — in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa, they said.
“They’re telling you here that they’re into evil, they’re very happy as most serial killers are,” said retired NYPD Det. Kevin Gannon. “They’re content with their work and what they’re doing and the fact that they’re thwarting the police.”
Jenkins’ body was discovered in the Mississippi River about four months after he disappeared in 2003. To police, his death looked like an accidental fall after a night of drinking.
McNeill drowned in New York City in 1997, also after bar-hopping.
The task force that formed to solve the crimes believes a national crime network has killed at least 40 men — mostly white college students and 20-somethings, often with high grades and impressive athletic records — in about 10 different states.
The team investigated 89 separate cases dating back a decade and said it had connected 40 of them through a variety of evidence — including matching sets of gang graffiti.
It was Jenkins’ death, however, that tipped off police. His body was found encased in ice in the Mississippi, his hands folded across his chest in an odd pose that was inconsistent with a chance drowning.
Chris Jenkins was a popular student at the University of Minnesota who disappeared one night in 2003.
Four months later, he was found dead in the Mississippi River. At first police thought Jenkins was just a drunk college kid who accidentally fell into the river and drowned after a night on the town.
But for two retired New York City Police detectives, Jenkins’ death became the link that connected the drowning deaths of 40 young men — usually high-achieving college students — in 25 cities in 11 different states.
Chilling Discovery
Detectives Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte have been tracking the suspicious drowning deaths of young men across the country ever since they investigated the death of college student Patrick McNeill, who drowned in New York City in 1997. Gannon made a promise to McNeill’s parents that he would never give up on his case.
When the detectives took a look at Jenkins’ death, they discovered that the position of his body and other physical evidence proved that the college student didn’t drown accidentally. The cause of death on Jenkins’ death certificate was changed to “homicide.”
UPDATE: 05/07/08
New details have emerged in the search for missing 19-year-old Middlebury College freshman Nicholas Garza that could link him to the so-called “Smiley Face Gang,” which a group of retired detectives believes is responsible for the apparent drowning deaths of dozens of young men across the country.Searchers have found smiley-face graffiti near Garza’s campus like that painted near some of the locations where about 40 bodies have been discovered across 11 states, FOX 44 News reported. Garza’s mother thinks that discovery could link her son’s disappearance to the deaths of the other mostly college-age victims.
Volunteer searchers have come forward with pictures of the smiley face, found on a utility shed door a short distance from downtown Middlebury, Vt. The photos were taken a week-and-a-half ago, when the group was scouring a river bank for clues.
When the volunteers saw New York detectives describing the alleged gang of serial killers on national TV and saw pictures of the graffiti discovered in some of the other cases, they realized the striking similarity to the drawings they had photographed.
The graffiti on the shed was almost identical to that painted near some of the spots where the young men’s bodies have been found, typically in rivers.
“When you’re walking around, you notice there’s graffiti but you’re not paying attention to what’s out there,” Nicholas’ mother, Natalie Garza.
Garza was last seen walking out of a dormitory Feb. 5. When friends couldn’t find him the next day, they notified campus security, but his mother didn’t file a missing persons report until five days later because friends thought Garza might have left campus to go to a cabin that was out of cell-phone range.
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I clearly recall the death of Patrick McNeill in 1997. At the time my son was a freshman at Fordham University. I also remember a young man drowning here in NY on New Year’s Eve- either before or shortly after the McNeill drowning. Wasn’t there also a Yeshiva University student whose body was found in an uptown river here in NYC? I always found these drownings suspicious and am glad there may be some answers after 11 long years.
I hope these invesigators find everything they are looking for. I have a friend who recently passed mysteriously. He was at a bar in P.A( we are from Delaware) disappeared, everyone left the bar, his body was found face down in the water 3 weeks later in a creek right behind the bar. We need closure, Good Luck detectives
My friend was Craig Burrows who died on september 23 2002. He was out that night on water st. and no one ever seen him leave the bar. It is very strange to me and i have said from the start that there was a seriel killer on the loose. I am 28 now and i have been drunk before and there is no way in hell i would even come close to going into the river or lake here in Eau Claire, WI. How are they forced into these rivers and lakes? Could it be a group of females? I know that is unheard off but how do you get these young 20year old males down to the water if your a group of males after one person? I have lots of ? and would like to help solve these cases. If you need any help whats so ever please email me and let me know what i can do to help.
Thanks
Russ LaPoint
I saw on the news that at one of the locations along with the smile face the name of a street painted. Does any on know what that street name was?
Please help! I lived in the La Crosse, WI area and followed the stories as we all did in the community in amazement, as these boys deaths one after one were dismissed as drownings. We all spoke out in the local papers with no real results. I was so thankful to see the fight goes on with the 2 detectives. Otherwise It made us feel as if we were all CRAZY. This victimization goes well beyond the death of these poor boys.
Please help get something done about this tragedy, anything you can for the closure of this mysterious trend for the family and friends across the nation affected by this, and possibly stopping future tragedies. They say there is no evidence, whatever happened to circumstantial evidence?
Thanks,
A concerned citizan
Could this be some type of hazing ritual for a fraternity?
in middlebury vt there is a guy missing from the local college and i have yet to hear if they are linked. it seemed he went missing slighty after the albany student from plattsburg NY. these ares are 1-3 hours from each other. i just hope someone has contacted the detectives on this similar events.
Does anyone know the name of the NYC new year’s drowning victim? I think his parents lived in westchester
KENNETH
I believe the street name was SINSINAWA
DOUG
You are probably speaking about Nick Garza. The detectives have linked him.
Week of May 7th – Martin Marticek – 28 year old male was reported missing and found 7 days letter in a lake not far from his family summer home. Was there a smiley face.. was about the 24 year old male from Levittown, PA.
I was out with friends last night and happened to spot a kid wearing a sweatshirt in memorial of his friend that went missing and was found dead. He told me his friend was a victim of the “smiley face gang.” That was the first time I heard of it. I think it is horrible that people can get away with this! There has to be something our communities can do to help. My sorrows go out to the families and friends that have lost someone due to these sick sick people.
I really think that this isn’t just a coincidence because last year Abel Bolanos from my college, Iowa State University, went missing and was found on campus in Lake Laverne. I went there after I heard about the smiley face killers to see the smiley face and it was still there and really creepy. The smiley faces on ISU’s campus really didn’t seem right, they were out of place compared to the other graffiti there. It’s just all too weird to be connected like this. No one, even if you are blacked out drunk, can fall/get in a freezing cold lake and not get out or wake up. JUST TOO WEIRD TO BE COINCIDENCE!!!
There’s a creepy red smiley face on the Vally forge biking trail (the 20+ mile long paved trail. To my knowledge no drownings have occurred there like this. Couldn’t this just be markings by a group people with two much time on their hands? I don’t see a single serial killer gang as possible, it just doesn’t fit the profile of serial killers.
Im concerned about this killings as i am in a college related program that i will not mention for reasons of safety,The Reasons why Certain Serial Killers tend to target Usually young or old popular people is because the Killer wants to make him or herself feel like they are more superiror than the victim(s),This problem with the Culprit (s) tend to date back into their childhood,where they have suffered mounts of abuse whelter it be physical or mental from family, People that they may have onced look up to or other know peers, Which may trigger unknown rage and hostility towards people,And Some Pyschopathic killers may lure victims with their trick called “Mask of sanity” to make them selves normal and even charming,But i do hope the perp (s) be caught before the body count rises
The main comment out here should be that other than the local news affiliates in these places, this should be more broadly distributed. If Nancy Grace can talk about the random murders in North Carolina U and the Camp Lejeune murders, she can talk about this sick epidemic.
I am not far from agreeing with Wanda and Russ collectively. I believe it could be a sorority hazing thing. The thing that screams woman to me is the way the murders occur. Drowning. and in odd positions, as if they were asleep. Usually the male perspective of suicide is always more bruteful, such as hangings or shootings in certain places of no return.
Be ever recognizant in your communities and let’s try to make this global…
SSG H
How about the boy in Ithaca, NY who was actually from the midwest? He disspeared after walking home from a costume party and his body was found in a pond on campus.
.. these murders are all linked.. it just makes sense.
Did anyone find out of Martin Marticek was a victim of the smiley face killer? He was found drowned back in May.
We never heard another word about Martin Marticeks’ death. People even suggested suicide but no one believes it. Again an unsolved mystery.
Yo mac;
The Smiley Face Serial Killers have now migrated north to
Canada.
There are at least a dozen missing young men in metro-Vancouver,
B.C. area.
Smiley Face has now gone global!
Art in Vancouver
Sounds like it’s possible that they are an aggragate of rape victims. Folks should look into wether victims had been known to be sexually aggressive. Also, it may be worth looking into rape-victim coping networks.
Victims may have been lured and stunned/tased and thrown in water to drown, possibly to reestablish a sense of control ofter the traumatic experience.
Would be good to look for failed attempts in these areas involving similar M.O.
God rest the souls of the innocent…
Creative Art Therapists should have a look at all of the smiley faces that have been found. Their interpretations could be invaluable to the authorities investigating these cases.
I am an art therapist and I have taken a good look at the smiley face that is painted in red above and the eyes may be a clue to how the victims end up where they end up: the eyes have weight are too large for the faces and my instinct tells me that the victims may have had to wear eye cups like those placed on the blind or masks of some kind. In addition the marks across the mouth also may indicate a gag of some kind. For what it is worth and I am happy to be a part of any interpretation of drawings or paintings as an expert.
Another observation: the “x” on the red painted smiley face may indicate a ritual out of the bible. Jews had a mark painted over the doors of a first born…something akin to that…maybe a cult of some kind based on distortions of Christianity.
What about the Garza case in Middlebury? Last I heard, the police there were saying there was no foul play.
There’s a new possible student to add. http://www.tribstar.com/local/local_story_122221752.html There’s a 20’s white male college student, missing after leaving a bar late at night alone, near a river and near an interstate … fits the pattern. Makes me sick. Hopefully, Gerald will be found and brought home safely.