Accidental Drownings or the Smiley Face Killers?

April 26, 2008

Matt Kruziki was driving east through Iowa when he and his buddy decided they should rest for the night. They stopped in Dubuque and checked into a motel. It was still early, so they went across the river to a strip club, The River Queen Lounge, in East Dubuque, Illinois. He left the bar early in the morning on Christmas Eve, 2005.

He was never seen alive again.

Matt Kruziki
Matt Kruziki

Matt’s body was found floating in the Mississippi River on March 18, 2006. The coroner’s report said there were no signs of foul play. There are three things about this case that are very interesting. One, the coroner’s report said no foul play. Two, Matt’s body was located near Sinsiniwa Street and at that location, a crude smiley face was also found.

What could possibly be interesting about those three, seemingly unimportant, factoids in this case?

Because this is one of many all-too-similar drownings in the upper Midwest, all dismissed (in the opinion of many) way too lightly. In fact, it is one of far more than 40 similar drownings nationwide, stretching from New York to Montana. Most of the drownings, but not all, seem to be along the corridors of I-90 and I-94, two vital links that connect Boston to Seattle (I-90) and Michigan to Washington (I-94.)

The death of Chris Jenkins in the Twin Cities brought suspicions to a head several years ago. His death mirrored so many others. Jenkins was attending a Halloween party at The Lone Tree Bar, wearing a Native American costume, on October 31, 2002. He left the bar about 1 AM on November 1, alone, without a wallet or identification. He was not seen again until his body was found floating in the Mississippi River on February 27, 2003. The Medical Examiner’s report said, “…the cause of death is unknown, apparent drowning and the manner of death undetermined.”

The parents of Chris Jenkins did not accept that determination. They hired a private investigator and dug for more clues. After new evidence came to light, the Minneapolis Police Department began re-investigating the case. (It was later learned that Jenkins was kidnapped, tortured and dumped in the river.)

The further investigation caught the eye of two retired New York Police Department homicide detectives, Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte. Now retired, then Sergeant Gannon had been investigating the drowning death of a young, healthy and athletic young man, Patrick McNeill. McNeill had last been seen leaving a bar in New York in 1997. His body was found 11 miles downriver almost two months later. Gannon made a promise to McNeill’s parents that he would never give up on the case.

Joined by Duarte, the detectives  uncovered an alarming number of similar deaths around the country. All of the deaths were blamed on accidental drowning, all except one.

Because after further investigation, the determination of Jenkins’ death was changed from “undetermined” to “homicide.”

The multiple mysterious cases of accidental drowning are (at the time of this writing) the target of an investigation by Kristi Piehl, Investigative Reporter with KSTP-TV, the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis. In an interview with Piehl, Duarte said, “I think it is a serial killer, but not one individual. I would just say, a group of individuals, probably located in more than one state.” He is sure that, if not stopped, they will kill again.

The detectives have visited every site of a reported drowning, searching for the location of the body entering the water, not where found. At each location, they have found a disturbing symbol, a smiley face. They have found the smiley face in Wisconsin, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and most recently in Iowa.

In Michigan, with the usual sick graffiti, they found the word, “Sinsiniwa.” It meant nothing, at least, until they arrived in East Dubuque, Illinois. Matt Kruziki went into the river at the foot of Sinsiniwa Avenue.

There is little doubt now that these accidental drownings are anything but accidental. It offers hope to the distraught families of the victims. More importantly, it means they can find closure and the victims can find peace.

# # #

Ms. Piehl’s video reports can be seen on the KSTP website. Her first report aired on Wednesday, April 23 and her follow-up report on April 25. Click on the links to see the reports. In addition, you will find links to a map of some of the drowning locations, a copy of the police reports and several other documents of interest. Other sources for this entry include America’s Most Wanted, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and the Waukesha Freeman.

 UPDATE

Other Mysterious “Accidental Drowning” cases that could be related, here on HFTM:

Joshua Szostak

Tom Smith - “Found” Forum

Tom Smith - Blog Entry

There is a thread here, too: Smiley Face Killers

Written by Ghost Writer · Filed Under Cold Cases, Commentary, Smiley Face River Killers 

Comments

9 Responses to “Accidental Drownings or the Smiley Face Killers?”

  1. packy on April 28th, 2008 8:26 pm

    It’s about time this has become believable that there is a possiblity of foul play in a lot of these cases.

    Thanks for providing us another way for these cases to come to the attention of the public. People out there know something. Hope we can reach them.

  2. The Kitchen Guy on April 28th, 2008 9:59 pm

    Cynthia Kaump did a report on this on Fox 6 television in Milwaukee tonight. She reports that the police chief in La Crosse, where there have been 8 such drownings, dismisses this entire investigation and doesn’t accept any of it as fact.

    WITI-TV 6 Fox News Mississippi Drownings Story

    You will also find a link to coverage of the press conference held in New York City today, where the retired detectives presented their case.

  3. kronman on April 29th, 2008 4:40 pm

    sinsiniwa - take it apart and re-arrange it a litte it becomes

    in sin I was

    or

    I was in sin

    the answer to those both is “born”
    you find that phrase in Steven Kings Storm of the Century where the character says Born in sin - come on in
    and also there is a song by Matthew Sweet which has Born in Sin as its refrain and a disturbing admission where he uses the word snuff as in to kill and admits to being a thrill killer within the context of the song. The geography of where the body is placed in the river practically gaurantees the body would have floated across state line and been discovered on the other side of the river - probably a kind of taunt to the FBI. The Smiley face picture shown on a news site has an X on the forehead - look up smiley and X and you get the blog short hand of X-( which is listed as a translation of user dead a kind of double reference. I wish they could catch these guys. There is a K-8 school in that neighborhood - I think he knew the area and probably got started being a killer of young people right there at that school - I bet if they look they can find one of the students of that school was a drowning victim in the timeframe of before the first killing they know about.

  4. J on May 2nd, 2008 12:01 pm

    Has anyone ever wrestled, fought back, or escaped these killers attempts? Nobody has crossed these crazed lunatics and actually escaped them with some kind of story to tell? Some of these so called victims are described as being strong and athletic. Nobody has overpowered the killer (s) yet? At least has someone been attacked by them without being successfully abducted or murdered? Are these guys that good at what they do? Why don’t they investigate police reports of reported assualts against young college aged men in the areas to gain some clues such as: specifics (someone jumping out of a vehicle at them), a face, number of people attacking them, or any description of attackers. In ten plus years across the country? Has there has been no kind of suspicion or possible identification of who may be behind all this, if it is real???? That seems odd to me. No disrespect to the deceased, may they rest in peace…..

  5. Dustin Bessire on October 3rd, 2008 2:14 pm

    I was looking into this case for three weeks straight as of July. I had dropped it and gotten a little behind. I’m looking for someone to theorize and compare evidence with. If interested, email me to the address dustin_bessire@yahoo.com

  6. Anon. on March 29th, 2009 2:25 pm

    I heard that there was one guy who got away, he woke up and was in the river and managed to save himself but he said he couldn’t remember anything really about how he got there suggesting GHB or some other drug that would affect memory ensuring that no matter what happened it couldn’t be traced back to them.It’s so creepy. I can’t remember where I read that though. Pretty sure it was on a news site though.

  7. Amanda on April 9th, 2009 8:18 am

    A student just went missing at our school coming back from a party early sunday morning at 3am in St. Paul. Scent dogs log his disappearance to the middle of the street. Seems very coincidental.

  8. liz on July 8th, 2009 10:49 am

    From http://www.todaystmj4.com

    “Missing UWM Student Found Dead in River
    MILWAUKEE - The body of a missing University of Wisconsin Milwaukee student was found in the Milwaukee River Monday. Bryan Barker, 21, hadn’t been seen since July 4.

    Police said no foul play is suspected.

    Barker was a business major from New London, Wisconsin.

    He was last seen leaving Sullivan’s, a Water Street bar, about 1 a.m. on Saturday. Barker was out celebrating a friend’s birthday and left the bar to walk to home.

    The medical examiner’s report says friends described Barker as intoxicated at the time.

    His family reported him missing later Saturday after Barker’s girlfriend could not reach him on his cell phone.

    Barker’s body was recovered from the river about two blocks north of the bar.”

    The same thing happened almost exaclty 2 years ago at this same location.

  9. Karl Forston on October 5th, 2009 4:10 pm

    recently came into contact with one of these sickos I believe. His name is Christopher Paul Fredericks. He let me stay in his garage when I needed a place to stay.He has a smiley face tatoo on his side. He spent time in Leavenworth. He lived near the Mississippi river during his youth. He bugged me to get a tattoo on my arm. He was a bartender at a bar right on the ocean in Imperial Beach Ca. He told me he had someone killed and two people he knew drowned when he was younger. My last name Forston is the same as a policeman who arressted an Indian protester in Indiana. Apparently I have ancestors who wronged the indians. He is native american. He placed a bottle of muriatic acid next to a water heater where I was sleeping. I was slowly being poisoned by the acid. This a doctor confirmed. I have tried to contact Gannon and Duarte but so far have not been contacted. I believe I could help crack this case. My email address is karlforston@yahoo.com If any interested party would like to contact me please feel free to. I have even more information than this that might help.

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