Serial murders in the Midwest wilderness ?

“DETECTIVES: 40 DROWNING VICTIMS MAY HAVE BEEN MURDERED BY 'SMILEY FACE GANG'

�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.

Gannon and another NYPD detective, Anthony Duarte � along with the other investigators � believe a gang of killers has been trolling interstates from New York to Wisconsin, staging the drowning. The FBI and local authorities don't agree with the theory that all the drownings are linked and the work of a gang.
But families of the victims have long believed their loved ones' deaths were suspicious. "The people that murdered Chris have murdered before him and they've also murdered people after him, Jan Jenkins said on "Good Morning America." "Those people are still at large."�
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352960,00.html”

“Creepy.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=4738621&page=1”

“it was you...wasnt it.....”

“I wear a smiely face sticker on my badge at work....but I'm not in that gang no way!”

“Great, I can hear my sister now.”

“So Wal-Mart is behind the murders?”

“msdoolittle... point out to your sister these were all men.... You can't pass that part of the physical.”

“At the crime scene of a drowning in Michigan was the graffiti "sinsiniwa'.

At a crime scene of a drowning in Iowa found the grafitti "sinsiniwa". The location where the killers slid the Iowa body in the water was "Sinsiniwa" Avenue.

One such victim made his last phone call to a friend and said "he said he was scared, that he was hiding in a brushy area, that he was running from someone, that he didn�t know who it was or how he was going to get away. (He said) he didn�t do anything, but he was terrified and he was scared for his life".
http://www.weau.com/news/headlines/18353369.html
19 victims are listed from Wisconsin and Minnesota.
last edited: 4/29/08 4:47:35 AM”

“"mostly white college students"

Whoa!! racially motivated, time to get the honkey equiv of the Rev. Al out on the streets.


OTOH this is one very sick bunch of people.

I wonder what leads the investigators to deduce a gang and not a sole perp?

Must be devastating for the families of the victims, and any family that has a missing college age child.”

“Everytime we hear about a new drowning Bill and I have wondered if there was something more sinister involved than just a drunk falling in the river...there just seem to be too many around here to be chance...”

“Yeah, perhaps so, but there are a lot of drunks and there are a lot of rivers.”

“So many drunks.............so many rivers, eh Nimblefoot?”

“he's right...we have lots of water around here...the thing is, why it is mostly young, white males that are found drowned...I mean, trust me, they are not the only ones that drink around here...”

“Mata, the young ones die because they haven't learned how to be a drunk and survive. Old drunks have a proven track record and seldom behave stupidly, at least relative to their past behavior. They no longer say "hold my beer and watch this".

Probably is murder, tho.”

“"They no longer say "hold my beer and watch this."

You betchya!
Old drunks know better than to trust their beer to another. They will guzzle it first and then take a flying leap.

Probably some team of sickos...”

“I wonder how many people actually drown accidentally with their hands folded neatly across their chests.”

“It seems that they would have to be unconscious before drowning to end up that way.”

“I've long since wondered this. I mean, Third Street - full of bars for maybe four or five blocks - is maybe three or four blocks from the Mississippi in La Crosse... but geez, the drownings became a bad, sick joke. Wouldn't wanna let your kid go to UW-L for fear of these stupid drownings!

It just didn't seem that this many young, white males could just wander off into the Miss. and drown!! So I've wondered if there could have been something more.

I see the Eau Claire TV station quotes the La Crosse (also called LAX) police chief as saying this:

La Crosse Police Chief Ed Kondracki issued a statement Monday saying in part:

"I would like to take this opportunity to once again remind and assure our community that the eight river drownings which occurred between 1997 and 2006 have been thoroughly investigated... The La Crosse area river drownings are tragic and unfortunate accidents."

In the statement, Chief Kondracki also says there is no evidence at this time to connect La Crosse area drownings with any other deaths around the country.

I checked the La Crosse Tribune website and here's a whole page of links saying that these killings were not done by serial killer(s) in LAX.. (course, before this latest news):
http://www.lacrossetribune.com/shared-content/search/index.php?search=1&t=6&r=&o=0&l=10&q=serial%2C+drowning&d1=01-01-1999&d2=today

They blame alcohol... course, it would minimize inhibitions of someone wants you to go walk by the river....

Another guy from our area (being an hour from the Mississippi and La Crosse) was murdered on the island where the airport is located in La Crosse. Now that one was labeled a murder, but no murderer ever found. But it wasn't a drowning.

Also, "sinsiniwa??" I think there's a convent by that name in NE Illinois, not all that far from Galena, IL or Dubuque, IA. I remember reading a story by a Star-Trib travel writer who stayed there for a retreat.”

“This one's interesting from last September, when FBI profilers were called in. It includes a ton of comments on the story:

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2007/09/03/news/01lead.txt”

“And you know what else is really weird on that LAX paper site? Running a seach for "serial, killer" did NOT turn up a story since this information came out on Monday. Now the lack of that story in a town where ?? drownings took pace is certainly strange!!!! Someone else try looking, to make sure I somehow didn't miss it, please....”

“OK, sorry to keep posting here. I just added "smiley" to my search words and came up with this - apparently just posted now at midnight, according to its date. WOW - and it's an EDITORIAL, not a story. They do make a good point in calling for the FBI to release its findings from the study....

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2008/04/30/opinion/editorial/edit0430.txt

Published - Wednesday, April 30, 2008

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Curbing severe alcohol abuse would make people safer
By La Crosse Tribune editorial board


Two retired New York City Police detectives are stirring up the waters again on the issue of the Mississippi River drownings.

Based in part on a 2003 case in Minneapolis, in which University of Minnesota student Chris Jenkins� death
was originally ruled an accidental drowning and later changed by police to homicide, retired detectives Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte are raising the possibility that as many as 40 drowning deaths around the country could be murders.

Among the things they cite is the presence of crude �smiley face� drawings found near the scenes of death. La Crosse police say they found no such drawings in the cases of eight river drownings here between 1997 and 2006.

La Crosse Police Chief Ed Kondracki notes that the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation and the FBI both conducted in-depth reviews of the drownings.

We urge the FBI to make public its findings, and made a formal records request to the agency on Sept. 10, 2007. Having the FBI go public with what it found in the La Crosse investigation could help lay to rest the persistent rumors of �serial killers.� That request is still pending.

What we do know about all eight La Crosse drownings is that each young man had been drinking heavily � with blood alcohol levels ranging from 0.20 to 0.44 percent.

At those levels, people are vulnerable and can easily be hurt, in falls, vehicle accidents or, with the proximity of the river, by drowning.

Focusing attention on theories about serial killers also has another bad impact: It lets people off the hook for drinking way too much. At .20 percent, someone is clearly impaired. Wandering off alone with that level of intoxication is a recipe for tragedy.

There have been many examples of how severe alcohol abuse hurts this community � and there are several measures under way to combat this area�s culture of drinking. Those should continue.

Concentrating on untested theories about serial killers takes us off the track of dealing with binge drinking � and that could be deadly.



Another commentary from April 24, 2008, which shares how others in LAX have died when severely intoxicated:

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2008/04/24/opinion/editorial/00edit0424.txt

Published - Thursday, April 24, 2008

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Here are more reasons to fight dangerous alcohol abuse
By Tribune editorial board


If you have any doubts that Wisconsin has a dangerous culture of alcohol abuse, the latest national statistics about drunken driving should put those doubts to rest.

A new federal study says that the Upper Midwest has the worst drunken driving record in the entire country. And Wisconsin is the worst of the worst.

The national average is 15 percent of adults 18 or older have admitted in surveys to driving under the influence.

In Wisconsin, 26 percent of people 18 and over admitted to researchers that they have driven while under the influence of alcohol.

While a survey question asking people to characterize their drinking and driving practices is a bit subjective, a difference that large between Wisconsin and national responses is cause for concern.

Meanwhile, a local group studying the relationship between injury and alcohol use has come up with disturbing statistics of its own.

The Community Coalition on Changing the Culture of Risky Drinking Behavior reported that of the 553 emergency room visits at La Crosse�s two hospitals from 2004 to 2006 due to traffic accidents, 35 were considered alcohol-related. That number represents 6 percent of all accidents in those years. The state average is 3 percent.

There were 14 alcohol-related deaths among 15- to 24-year-olds from 2003 to 2007. Of that number, six were motor vehicle crashes, four were drownings, two suicides, a fall and a pedestrian death.

All of these numbers show that local officials are right to be actively working on ways to reduce alcohol abuse. And, for those who think all this concern is overblown, no one is talking about prohibition, banning drinking or anything else. We�re talking about the very high levels of drinking that lead to dangerous behavior.

In the much-publicized drownings of young college-age men in La Crosse during the past several years, all had blood alcohol levels of 0.20 percent or above.

That�s well above the legal blood alcohol limit for driving � 0.08 percent. Those are dangerous blood alcohol levels.

The local task force on changing risky drinking behavior involves the La Crosse Health Science Consortium, both medical institutions and the Injury Research Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Their plan includes the collection of statistics on local alcohol-related injuries, the compilation of an �assets inventory� of local alcohol prevention, treatment and policy resources, and the development of evidence-based strategies to reduce alcohol-related injuries among young people.

The latest federal study about state drunken driving practices � along with the local injury statistics � ought to convince all of us about the need for action.”

“Young man missing in New York...wonder if there's a river or lake nearby?”

“Are you reffering to the one they pulled out of the Hudson last week Mataharihiker? He had been missing since November, when he left a bar in Albany.”

“Lizs, you are spot on with your data. It's been that way as long as I remember. The only way it will ever change is with jail time, or a combination of jail time and rehab.”

“No Lizs...I am talking about this:

Minnesota College Student Missing In Ithaca, N.Y.
ITHACA, Minn. (WCCO) ― Authorities in New York are searching for a college student from Minnesota who has been missing since early Sunday morning.

According to Ithaca College, 19-year-old freshman William Jacobson originally from St. Paul was last seen around 4 a.m. April 27 in the backyard of a home in the city of Ithaca.

Jacobson was attending a party at the home and was last seen walking away from the home. Officials say they believed he was planning on walking back to his dorm room on campus. His roommate did not report him missing until late Monday night.

The college freshman has not been seen since, and authorities are concerned about his welfare.

The Ithaca Police Department along with several other law enforcement agencies is conducting both a ground and aerial search.

"Predominately the areas surrounding Ithaca college that a pedestrian could reach on foot. There's a lot of wooded area in this immediate area. And a lot of hiking trails in the area," said Ithaca Police Chief Edward Vallely.

Jacobson's family is in New York and family friend Kevin Leach spoke with Jacobson's brother Tuesday evening.

"They are with the police now and they are doing as much as they can. There are helicopters and ATVs and ground searches. They are doing all they can so that is good to hear about," said Leach.

Anyone with information as to Jacobson's whereabouts is asked to call the Ithaca Police Department at 607-274-1060 or 607-272-3245, or the Ithaca College Office of Public Safety at 607-274-3333.”

“He was found drowned in a pond in Ithaca...”

“Lizs, I was just in LaCrosse a week ago and some locals and I talked about the drownings etc, they all had their theories. The bank down to the river there is supposed to be quite steep, and from my short stay the locals enjoy their drink.”

““Are you reffering to the one they pulled out of the Hudson last week Mataharihiker? He had been missing since November, when he left a bar in Albany.”
lumberzac
10:01:33 AM
4/30/08

They just said on the news that they found a smiley face painted on a tree where they found the body. Police are still saying the drowning was accidental and the graffiti was someone's cruel joke. still makes you wonder.”

“Birch, ya didn't call me!! ;-P

Here's a website that was referenced in the comments on the La Crosse Tribune page. This guy is really following all this:

http://www.vanceholmes.com/court/trial_missing.html”

“I didnt know I'd end up in Lacrosse (other then the airport). All of my time was spent between sparta and some other town. I wish I'd had your number.”