Two Detectives say they can prove.....

[Tracian]

DETECTIVES: Chris Jenkins murder connects dozens around country

Could there be a calculated, cross-country plot to kill young college men, including some in Minnesota? It seems a little hard to believe, but two New York detectives say they can prove it.

Now, they are revealing years of their evidence for the first time to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS...


http://kstp.com/article/stories/s421846.shtml?v=1

[Tracian]

I ran across this blog, which I have to say is quite interesting regarding the symbolic 'smilie faces' left at the crime scenes.

I highly recommend that those interested in this case check out this blog, and the connections the author makes.

http://thutherthought.blogspot.com/2008/06/smiley-face-killers.html

[Tracian]

The Smiley Face Killers: Detectives Unveil a Horrific Theory in the Mysterious Deaths of Dozens of Young men

http://www.red-alerts.com/homeland-security/the-smiley-face-killers-detectives-unveil-a-horrific-theory-in-the-mysterious-deaths-of-dozens-of-young-men/


from the link:

A spray-painted smiley face with a taunting grin could be the disturbing signature of a nationwide network of killers who target promising college students.

The chilling symbol has been found at at least 12 sites where young men fitting a distinct profile have been drowned in incidents that were ruled accidents.

Found by two retired NYPD cops, the link could be evidence that at least 40 men in 11 states were victims of a syndicate of serial killers. Four area students were among the victims - all found floating in New York City waters more than a decade ago.

“I believe we’re looking at an organized group that has a hierarchy and is involved in murder and other criminal activity,” retired NYPD Sgt. Kevin Gannon said Monday, noting that some of the deaths in different cities occurred on the same day.

Gannon, a 20-year veteran who worked homicide and missing persons cases, said trademark graffiti left at the sites where the victims have been dumped in the water reveal a pattern of intent - along with the near-identical profiles of the drowned men.

In every case, the victim has been a 19-to-23-year-old white male with high academic achievement and active in competitive sports, said Gannon.

“If this was a random thing, we’d have a wider range of victims,” he said.

Gannon, who has partnered with retired Bronx homicide Detective Anthony Duarte, said the 12 smiley faces have been found at drowning scenes in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. The crude drawings vary in size, shape and color and at least one had a chilling message written next to it: “The evil, happy, smiley man.”

“They’re laughing at the police,” said Gannon. “They’re happy they’re getting away with this and they’re getting a little more brazen.”

The killings happen in regional clusters - not unlike the time four young men in the city went missing and then surfaced dead in waters surrounding the five boroughs in 1997 and 1998.

Pat Brown has gone on record before as saying signature killers are exceedingly rare. And while there have been serial rapists and murderers who have worked together in teams there has not been, to my knowledge, a network of killers this large (unless you believe the theories of Maury Terry concerning the Son of Sam “cult”) who kill seemingly for sport or pleasure. Gangs that kill do so for materialistic reason or in some cases status, and there is more variety in the victims. These killers have a definite victim profile they work from.

[Claudia]

Minnesota and Wisconsin victims that detectives believe may be related:


Wisconsin

1) Charles Blatz 28 yrs

Missing-9/28/97 La Crosse, Wisc.

Found-10/03/97 -- Mississippi River --BAC (0.20)

2) Anthony Skifton 19 yrs

Missing-10/10/97 La Crosse, Wisc.

Found-- 10/20/97-- Mississippi River --Bac (0.23)

3) Nathan Kapfer 20 yrs

Missing-2/22/98 La Crosse, Wisc.

Found---4/04/98 -- Mississippi River -Bac (0.22)

Third (3rd) child missing within five (5) months, (9/20/97 ---2/22/98). Not just the same state but the same town of La Crosse.

4) Jeffrey Geesey 21 yrs.

Missing-4/11/99 La Crosse, Wisc.

Found---5/24/99 - Mississippi River - Bac (0.42)

5) Craig Burrows 23 yrs.

Missing-9/29/02 Eau Claire, Wisc.

Found--10/06/02 - Half Moon Lake

6) Michael Noll 22 yrs.

Missing-11/06/02 Eau Claire, Wisc.

Found-----8/19/03 - Half Moon Lake

7) Nathan Herr 21 yrs.

Missing-01/10/03 Sheboygan, Wisc.

Found----3/15/03 - Lake Michigan

Third (3rd) child missing within less than three (3 1/2) months, (9/29/02--01/10/03)

8) Jared Dion 21 yrs.

Missing--4/10/04 La Crosse, Wisc.

Found----4/15/04 -- Mississippi River -Bac (0.40)

9) Joshua Snell 22 yrs. (in from Minnesota for a wedding)

Missing-6/12/05 Eau Claire, Wisc.

Found---6/15/05 - Chippewa River

10) Cullen Fortney 21 yrs.

Missing 1/08/06 Mississippi River La Crosse, Wisc.

Found---1/08/06 - ALIVE Bac (0.043-0.1643)

11) Kenji Ohnri 20 yrs.

Missing-01/28/06 Madison, Wisc.

Found----6/19/06 - Lake Mendota

12) Lucas Homan 21 yrs

Missing-9/30/06 La Crosse, Wisc.

Found--10/02/06 - Mississippi River

Minnesota

1) Ken Christiansen 19 yrs.

Missing-4/13/01 Duluth, Minn.

Found---4/16/01 - Chester Creek

2) Christopher Nordby 27 yrs.

Missing-11/07/01 Minneapolis, Minn.

Found-----2/11/02 - Mississippi River

3) Christopher Jenkins 21 yrs.

Missing-10/31/02 Minneapolis, Minn.

Found---02/27/03 - Mississippi River

4) Joshua Guimond 20 yrs.

Missing-11/09/02 Collegeville, Minn.

Found---( ) Never Found

5) Jeremy Stienkeoway 24 yrs.

Missing-01/20/03 Hinckley, Minn.

Found----4/10/03 - St. Croix River

6) Patrick Kycia 19 yrs.

Missing-9/23/05 Moorhead, Minn.

Found---9/28/05 - Red River

7) Scot Radel 21 yrs.

Missing-02/02/05 St. Cloud, Minn.

Found-----3/01/06

[Tracian]

I ran across this blog, which I have to say is quite interesting regarding the symbolic 'smilie faces' left at the crime scenes.

I highly recommend that those interested in this case check out this blog, and the connections the author makes.

http://thutherthought.blogspot.com/2008/06/smiley-face-killers.html


Here is another great blog, explaining theories:

http://blackwellbrief.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html

[LoveK-9's]

I am busy watching the videos and checking out the links. So I just wanted to say thank you for the info. I am not sure that "everyone" of the deaths are linked, but I do believe that there is a connection. It's all so hard to believe since it goes against all the textbook profiling spree/serial killers. If there is a cluster/group it will be a case to rewrite the "norms".
TY - I have to get back to the links.

[Nut44x4]

Ex-cop: Szostak murder victim: Retired policeman says he believes drowning was work of "Smiley Face" killer
Released : Sunday, August 03, 2008 4:00 AM
Aug. 3--ALBANY -- A retired detective says Joshua Szostak, whose body was found in the Hudson River four months after he was last seen leaving a downtown bar, was abducted and murdered by the "Smiley Face" killer.

Kevin Gannon, a retired New York Police Department detective who has tracked the case through his company, Nationwide Investigations, said his assertion is based on markings found in the Albany area as well as the circumstances surrounding Szostak's Dec. 23 disappearance.

"We have a cumulative amount of evidence to substantiate that Josh was probably drugged, abducted and murdered," Gannon said by phone last week. "I can't tell you exactly what it is, because it would warn the Smiley Face if he knew anything about us."

The Smiley Face theory emerged as Gannon and his colleagues have tried to link the deaths of some 40 students who went missing and later were found drowned in 11 states over the past decade. In each case, a smiley face was found spray-painted nearby. Gannon's investigation has been reported in newspapers and on radio and television.

All the victims are white men between the ages of 19 and 23 who were high academic achievers and many played competitive sports. Gannon said Szostak, a 21-year-old SUNY Plattsburgh student, fit that profile.

Detectives in Albany, and elsewhere in the country, have rejected the theory.

Szostak's death was ruled an accidental drowning shortly after his body was discovered in April by a Catskill fisherman, based on autopsy findings. A spray-painted smiley face was found on a tree near the Port of Albany, but police spokesman Detective James Miller said it was not linked to Szostak and was likely a "cruel hoax."

Bill Szostak, Josh's father, always suspected foul play. In addition to contacting Gannon, Bill Szostak had an independent autopsy of his son performed by noted pathologist Michael Baden. It concluded Josh drowned and had a blood alcohol content of 0.126.

Gannon said Baden's report did not specify how long Josh Szostak had been in the water, leading him to believe he did not drown accidentally.

"So much evidence has been found that I don't understand why the case was closed (by Albany police) within two hours of finding my son's body," Bill Szostak said recently. He said he has formed a nonprofit organization, the Smiley Face Victims Investigation Fund, and will hold a fundraiser Sept. 5 at the Verdoy Fire Department to raise money for Gannon's efforts.

Detective Miller stood by Albany's investigation.

"We worked on it in excess of multiple days from the course of his initial disappearance, and there had never been any credible evidence from retired detectives working on the investigation that gave us any indication that anything happened beyond a tragic accident," he said. "This should not have gotten to this point. This was strictly a tragic accident, and no one should be using it to further their own agenda." Vielkind can be reached at 454-5043 or by e-mail at jvielkind@timesunion.com.

http://calibre.mworld.com/m/m.w?lp=GetStory&id=316319071

[packy]

This is an article about Cullen fortney (He's also listed on the Wisconsin/Mn thread) who claimed he had no memory of how he got into the water. Also Nick Thompson has no memory of how he got to the hospital.

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2006/02/08/news/01river.txt

Tests show a college student who claimed he escaped a freezing Mississippi River on Jan. 8 had only alcohol in his system that night, a family spokesman said.

Cullen Fortney, 21, a University of Wisconsin-Madison student from Viroqua, Wis., who was in La Crosse with friends that night, told police he could not remember what happened after he left a downtown bar about 1:45 a.m. He walked into Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center about five hours later, his clothing wet.
Roger Putnam, Fortney’s uncle and family spokesman, said a full toxicology report revealed no suspicious substances in Fortney’s system. This supports La Crosse police’s earlier conclusion that foul play was not involved, Putnam said.

“(The family) continues to believe the La Crosse Police Department did an outstanding job on the investigation,” he said.

An e-mail that circulated widely in the days after the incident had speculated someone slipped another substance into Fortney’s drink that night, since his blood-alcohol level registered 0.043 when tested about 9 a.m. at the hospital. The same e-mail implied the incident might have been tied to past river drownings of other young men who had been at downtown La Crosse bars.

But Fortney’s blood-alcohol level would have been 0.163 percent at about 1:30 a.m., police said.

Investigators concluded Jan. 13 that Fortney had fallen into the river, thought to be about 32 degrees that night, but did not go under water. After Fortney narrowed down where he might have gone in, police found some of his personal items near the river’s edge.

Fortney told police he got separated from his friends that night, and recalls being in a bar about 1:45 a.m. but very little after that until he found himself in the river, police said.

La Crosse police Capt. Rob Abraham said the investigation has been suspended, though it is not considered closed.

The case of a truck reported stolen that same night by a companion of Fortney’s has been cleared, police said.

Nick Thompson, 25, also of Viroqua, turned up the same morning as Fortney at the same hospital, passed out in the lobby, police said. He told police he didn’t know how he got there, and his pickup truck, which he had parked in the Wettstein’s lot, was missing.The vehicle was found in the 900 block of King Street. Video footage from the Wettstein’s lot showed a man with keys entering the truck about 3 a.m. and driving away, Abraham said.

While the footage isn’t sharp, the man is thought to be Thompson, Abraham said.

Police do not believe the truck was stolen, Abraham said, and the investigation has ended.

Anne Jungen can be reached at (608) 791-8224 or ajungen@lacrossetribune.com.

[Claycat]

These are the detectives who work on the Smiley Face River Killers cases.

http://www.nationwideinvestigations.us/theteam.html

[packy]

These are the detectives who work on the Smiley Face River Killers cases.

http://www.nationwideinvestigations.us/theteam.html

Thanks, Clay. Glad they have considered that a lot of these "accidents" need looking into.

[Adicia]

i have a question, if these victims are drugged with GHB, by the time their bodies are found, they wouldnt be able to detect the drug in their system correct? or would they...