Thursday, March 24, 2016

Are the Smiley Face Killers Back?





On March 15, an article appeared in the Boston Globe that began: “State Police on Tuesday pulled the body of a 22-year-old Central Massachusetts man from the Charles River, ending a desperate search by family members and officials after he went missing last month while celebrating his birthday at a bar in Boston.”

The name of the young man was Zachary Marr. He was a student at Mount Wachusett Community College.  As soon as I saw this, I wondered if perhaps his death signaled a return of the fabled Smiley Face Killers gang.  I described the conflicting theories about the group in my not-yet-published book “The Saga of Smiley” in a chapter called “The Smiley Face Murders, the Happy Face Killer and O. J. Simpson.”  (Last month I posted about O. J.’s “suicide letter’ which he signed with a Smiley Face symbol.)

Here’s the section I wrote about the Smiley Face Killers:

As much as he may embody the phrase “don’t worry, be happy,” Smiley has sometimes been used as a symbol of the dark underside of society, appearing as an anti-hero in music, movies, even comics. And when it comes to Smiley, life has imitated art, as the happy face has been co-opted by some evil criminals who are all too real.

Smiley’s most famous link with crime is his role as an identifying mark left near the spots where the corpses of more than 40 college-aged men were fished out of freezing rivers or lakes during the decade of 1997-2007.  Inevitably, the unknown instigators of these deaths were referred to in the press and by investigators as the Smiley Face Killers (SFK for short).

In 1997, when 21-year-old Fordham University student Patrick McNeill wandered off from a night of bar-hopping in New York City and was found floating in the Hudson River three weeks later, his death was ruled a suicide, but his parents refused to believe it. 

Five years after that, in a similar tragedy, University of Minnesota student Chris Jenkins, also 21, was found dead, encased in the ice of the Mississippi River four months after he vanished from a Halloween Party. His death, too, was ruled an accidental drowning; yet another college student who had too much to drink and then fell into a body of water. 

But two retired New York police detectives, who had been investigating a large number of drowned college-age men for years, considered Jenkins’ body the missing piece in a puzzle that connected at least 40 victims, who, they believed, were victims of a gang.  The young men were all found dead in winter in a body of water after a night of drinking.

Retired detectives Anthony Duarte and Kevin Gannon were on the track of what could be the biggest serial killing in U.S. history, which they attributed to a gang they called the Smiley Face Killers. In many of these cases, Smiley graffiti was found painted on a wall, tree or sidewalk near the point where each man was believed to have entered the water.



Duarte and Gannon claimed that the Smiley Face Gang had struck in at least 25 cities in 11 states in the U.S. since about 1997.  Virtually all of the 40 victims were athletic white college males; all were last seen leaving a party or bar with alcohol in their systems, then found dead in rivers or streams. Many attended colleges along the Interstate 94 corridor in the Midwest—in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa–and in 22 cases, a Smiley graffiti was scrawled nearby.  Each death had been ruled accidental by police.

Jenkins’ corpse convinced the detectives that his death was not accidental, because, when his frozen body was dredged from the Mississippi, his hands were folded across his chest in an odd pose that they said was inconsistent with an accidental drowning.

The parents of each of the 40 victims were convinced their sons had not died accidentally.  The press played up the story and detectives Gannon and Duarte appeared on television to discuss their theory.  “We believe they [the killers] were specifically leaving a clue for us or anyone who was paying attention to these drownings,” Detective Gannon told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” He added that these were almost perfect crimes because the water washed away physical evidence.

In life, as on Law and Order, serial killers often like to leave a calling card, and criminologists told ABCNEWS.com that the sadistic Smiley is an example of the kind of signature typically left by psychopathic killers who derive sexual arousal from their killings and are so proud of their murders that they’ll do anything they can to get credit for them.

But Smiley aside, not everyone was convinced there was a pattern here. Police forces investigating the deaths disputed the “Smiley Face Gang” theory that the deaths were linked.  Criminal profiler Pat Brown scoffed that the Smiley faces found near the water were nothing more than coincidences.  “It’s not an unusual symbol,” she said to a reporter for a Minneapolis paper.  “If you look in an area five miles square, I bet you could find a smiley face.”

 On April 29, 2008, the F.B.I. issued a statement “regarding Midwest river deaths” which said in part: The FBI has reviewed the information about the victims provided by two retired police detectives, who have dubbed these incidents the “Smiley Face Murders,” … we have not developed any evidence to support links between these tragic deaths or any evidence substantiating the theory that these deaths are the work of a serial killer or killers. The vast majority of these instances appear to be alcohol-related drownings.

Their word may be law, but in this case, the FBI’s statement was not the final pronouncement on the Smiley Murders. On June 21, 2008, ABC News reported that Bill Szostak, whose son was found in the Hudson River, had written a petition aimed at getting elected leaders to call on the FBI to investigate not only his son's death, but also 43 similar cases in nine states; college men whose deaths had been ruled accidental drownings. He got 900 signatures on his petition the first day.

The FBI has not reopened their investigation, but parents of possible “Smiley Face” victims still maintain a number of web sites that post information about the nearly 100 young men who have died in similar circumstances.  These sites include a Facebook page called “the Smiley Face Killers,” which on April 24, 2013, posted an article from the Daily Mail saying that, “Police found the body of Brown student Sunil Tripathi, falsely accused of being the Boston Marathon bomber, in the Providence River in Boston.”

And just last week, a statement posted on the Smiley Face Killers Facebook page read:
March 15th, 2016, the body of Zach Marr, age 22, was pulled from the Charles River in Boston Massachusetts. Zach went missing on February 13th, 2016, and the circumstances are all too familiar. Zach was "Last Seen leaving the Bell in Hand Tavern, where he was hanging out with friends and family" only to disappear into the night without warning. One month later, his lifeless body is pulled from the river. We see the pattern time and time again, young male, out with friends, dead in water. Marr was a student at Mount Wachusett Community College, and Zach deserved a lot more out of a life that was cut short by the Smiley Face Killers. RIP Zach Marr.


54 comments:

Unknown said...

Look at the missing student at the university of Minnesota. Just found last week in the river after being reported missing for 3 or 4 weeks. This is very real, and I believe it is a network or now copycat.

Concerned adult said...

I just started doing some research on this and I'm beginning to wonder if this indeed something to be taking seriously. Only a couple of weeks ago, a young 23 year old went missing in the Old Port here in Portland, Maine. I had seen posters of him. He was just pulled from the Portland harbor and on New Year's another young male in his 20s disappeared in Old Port and they pulled his body from the Portland harbor a few months ago. Both were last seen leaving bars and then weren't seen again. Both fit the profile of white males in their 20s. Either someone is copy catting or it is starting back up again. I don't understand why this isn't being investigated more.

Unknown said...

Police will not admit the connections or say there is a active serial killer or killers. They are investigating and chasing down leads, but they do not want the public to panic. The less we know the easier of job they can do.

Unknown said...

The police will not admit that there are connections or a serial killer(s). That would cause public panic and hinder their investigation. If I were a gambling man, I would bet that the authorities are searching for SFK.

Cooper86 said...

I'm quite sure they're not all related. But I remember reading about 1 of these murders and the young man had called a friend and said he was being chased and was hiding. He was found drowned shortly after. Definitely suspicious at the least.

Unknown said...

There has to be something in Common other than the fact they were young males.someone knows something or someone witnessed something odd and suspected something .maybe a killer female cult gang(a network of freak gals) in my life (even drunk to the point of blacking out)have decided to take a swim in a freezing river after drinking.ever! The guy who called on the phone and said someone is chasing him through the woods,then ended up a drowning victim.that contact is very vital clue.this is way to creepy of coincidences to ignore investigating.

Unknown said...

There has to be something in Common other than the fact they were young males.someone knows something or someone witnessed something odd and suspected something .maybe a killer female cult gang(a network of freak gals) in my life (even drunk to the point of blacking out)have decided to take a swim in a freezing river after drinking.ever! The guy who called on the phone and said someone is chasing him through the woods,then ended up a drowning victim.that contact is very vital clue.this is way to creepy of coincidences to ignore investigating.

Anonymous said...

Due the Math dummy-- (On Minnesota cases alone) *NO WAY* DO 2 MEN, EVERY YEAR -under 40yrs Old- ALWAYS LEAVING BARS, WEDDING'S, etc. DECIDE TO JUMP IN RIVERS (sometimes Pond's) BETWEEN LATE SEPTEMBER through JANUARY (95% of the time)..
Get out of hear!
***FACTS***
Look at this, within the Last 2 Years alone as og now 3 SIMILAR Late Night SFK. abductions are as follows---
2015 Joseph Brunn leaves Otsego/Elk River Hotel/Wedding magically disappears & OF COURSE - 5 DAYS LATER Found in the Mississippi River..
Than in May/June Aaron Thomas Pigeon goes missing from Grand Forks Bar & guess what 3 Days Later body found in Red River....
Now 2016 (early November), Almost to the day; ANOTHER MAN Joseph Hernandez has gone missing- SAME SCENARIO!!! Last scene in Mendota Heights Leaving A Hotel/Wedding..
**Point being**
What do you wanna bet J.Hernandez is found in A River within 5 Days ?????

Crunch the Numbers, EVERY YEAR, since Like 1999 In Minnesota TWO MEN (minimal) GO MISSING EXACT SAME COINCIDENCE'S EVERY YEAR !!! An the First always disappears before Christmas. If this were just happen stance; upwards of 90% would go "Jump in Rivers" when it's Nice out!
Because In MN it's Cold from September 15 to April 15 (barring A brief Indian Summer).. E.g. It's Cold 55-45 degrees or less, thus people aren't walking around by Rivers as much..
NO WAY WOULD THIS JUST HAPPEN BY CHANCE. Like I said there would be more of this happening in the Summer, when MORE people are walking to & fro, BUT ITS NOT! THIS Disappearnce/ River Death (abduction) rate -for almost Two Decades now- Favors the winter? That's BACKWARDS- consistently, MEANING [X] that "Something" has been injected into the equation. An X-Factor = SFK ...
Copy-cat or Not they're 100% real..

Check-out even more mysterious past cases Like 'Jelani Bronson' or 'Dan Zamlin' ALL THE SAME & ALWAYS IN MINNESOTA !!!

Unknown said...

http://www.fox9.com/news/31184349-story Check this out very similar circumstance

Jessa said...

Lately we have been having missing young men here in iowa only to find their bodies in the Mississippi River. One boy is still missing from 2008. I think there's something strange about that.

Jessa said...

We have had several young men come up missing here in iowa to only find there lifeless bodies floating in the Mississippi River. one boy still remains missing since 2008. Something isn't right, I think some one is doing it. Just men are found drowned not women.

KatieRSD said...

Same story on Shane Montgomery in Philadelphia and a few recently in NJ

Kacyn K. said...

One in Pittsburgh recently: Paul Kochu went missing December 16 and wasn't found until March 20th of the following year down river in West Virginia.

There is currently another college student missing, Dakota James, who was last seen on surveillance leaving a bar after being refused service for being too intoxicated. Wonder where they will find him?

Anonymous said...

Also Jacob Lipp, Jimmy slack in PGH. Both separated from friends after a night of drinking..found in the river months later...deemed accidental.

Unknown said...

Dakota James found today and guess where? Yes there is a lunatic lurking.

Dicey95 said...

They just found Dakota James body in the river today. A lot of people are wondering how so many young men keep ending up dead in rivers. Hopefully they'll figure something out this time.

Unknown said...

Dakota james' body was found in the Ohio River close to Robinson and neville island this morning about 30 feet out from a dock...his body was identified but a medical examiner...now just waiting for an autopsy report to find out cause of death..nothing was said on the news if there were any physical injuries on that were noticed right away to maybe offer smell kind of explanation on what was the cause of death if any foul play was involved...there has been mentioned a few times in comments about his death of a possible serial killer...also a male nurse in pittsburgh went missing and then his body was found in a river I think just last year..I could be wrong on the timing of that though, I just remember the story..it's just odd that collage students are going missing and then their bodies are found floating in that river a month or so later..all around the same age....

Unknown said...

They just found Dakota James' body in the Ohio River today 3/6/17. He went missing in downtown Pittsburgh 1/25/16. This is yet another chilling "coincidence" in the Mystery.

Sam said...

They found dakota in the Ohio River

Unknown said...

And here goes your theory kaycn, Dallas was found this morning, how heartbreaking, honesty after ready this i def have my suspicions, this is all way too shady for me, definitely something going on. And then when Paul kochu went missing there was another young man missing and found too , so that's two there that year and now Dakota I mean yea I'm scared. This needs to be taken way more seriously

Anonymous said...

Dakota James found today after ging missing Jan 25 2017. In the Ohio River.

Anonymous said...

And now Dakota James? And someone else was found just a few days ago as well....... creepy.....

Anonymous said...

Also a week before Dakota was found, a young black male who had been missing for months was found in the river. They are not the first two here in Pittsburgh. There have been many in the last few years.

Anonymous said...

Just today, a Duquesne student was found dead in the Ohio River after reported missing in January. Just 2 wks ago, police and cadaver dogs searched where he was found. He was last seen out with friends. Strong, young men do not simply wash up in rivers.

Anonymous said...

And 2 more before him. 1 just a couple weeks ago and 1 in late November I believe.

Anonymous said...

Pulled 2 more. 1 a couple weeks ago and 1 in late November.

Anonymous said...

This is crazy and no one has a clue who this person or person's are and like it's being said they are all drownings no way wonder if the Pittsburgh police are aware of this people

Anonymous said...

Dakota James was found in the Ohio River yesterday...he was missing for 40 some days.

Unknown said...

Dakota Leo James from Pittsburgh was just found in the Ohio River in robinson on March 6, 2017.

Anonymous said...

Now they found dakota james, also a young collage student ,his body was found in the river just a few days ago after missing for a month ,so very sad, the ppl trying to better their life and they get snatched and killed, for what? Coos need to handle this

Unknown said...

When are they going to start to realize we got a murderer out there getting away with this

Unknown said...

They found dekota in the river dead recently in Pittsburgh...so sad and definitely strange i was actually just talking to someone about pittsburgh having a serial killer

Anonymous said...

It has been happening alot im pittsburgh as well they just pulled another body of a young man out of the river was last seen leaving a bar as well. I think it is really real.

Anonymous said...

They found him in the river.

Anonymous said...

They found Dakota in the river the other day smh r.I.p to all these young men

Anonymous said...

Look at Dakota James in Pittsburgh .. there are a lot of unanswered questions

Unknown said...

Dakota James. Ohio River in Pittsburgh, PA. Found March 6, 2017. Details sound chillingly similar to Smiley Face Killers. http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2017/03/06/body-of-missing-duquesne-grad-student-found/

Anonymous said...

They did yesterday 3/6/17

clm72 said...

Paul Kochu, missing from Pittsburgh, December 2014, located 3 months later in the Ohio River March 2015. Cause of death -- accidental drowning.
Where he left his Wharton St. residence was approximately 2 miles from where Dakota James was last seen in Katz Plaza.
These cases don't look coincidental to me.

Anonymous said...

I have been noticing so many misisng persons and they end up im the river .. way too many. Way too many. Last thing i would do being under the influence was go anywhere near water.. and its beyond me why no one is paying attention or causing any attention to it. I dont know why i dont hear anything on colleges trying to help the situation even if its suicide or SFK. I think colleges, all kids college age should video themselves and also write it down on legal stamped paper saying they would never commit suicide / jump off a bridge/ jump in water/ etc or go by water when drinking especially in cold winter months. So someone can rule stupid coroners and police statements on what they think. Some thought on my theory is its a gang initiation thing. They have to murder to get into these gangs. The best way to get inititated and to be trusted is to kill someone and also without any hot heat is to go after drunk white college kids. As crazy as it sounds they are easy targets when so drunk / intoxicated .. they are easily controlled. Same reason serial killers target vagabond prostitues and runaways. No one knows there whereabouts. Etc. Also, many new gangs in USA the past 20 years and since its all over in Mostly northeastern cities /. Cold winter city's death percentage is 99.9% i read somewhere before a kid came to an area in a fenced off lake and survived. Its crazy, sad, bizarre, strange, & confusing all at the same time.

Unknown said...

http://framinghamsource.com/index.php/2017/03/31/police-need-help-finding-missing-man-last-seen-celtics-game/

I hope this doesn't turn out like the others. So many young men missing in Boston and ending up in bodies of water in Boston.

Unknown said...

There was a man Michael Kelleher that went missing two days ago after game at TD garden in Boston. 23 years old and was intoxicated. Bet you they find his body in the river

Unknown said...

They found the young man from st.cloud that was missing in the Mississippi and they found another man in Minneapolis area to. Both white males.they had video footage of the st.cloud man.

Anonymous said...

This one is less than 2 weeks old. I went to St. Cloud State; you don't walk on this railroad bridge...

http://kstp.com/news/body-identified-as-jesse-aaron-dady-st-cloud-state-student-mississippi/4443894/

This is another suspicious St. Cloud Death back in December. "He was with friends and then left with a group of men he had met while at the bar." They say he died of "Cold Temperatures and Intoxication"... If you look at the weather that day, the Max was 39 degrees, mean 33ish degrees and the low was around 19 degrees. That is not cold for us here.. Oh, and a bridge over the Mississippi is a little over a mile away from the last place seen.

http://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2016/12/09/body-found-benton-county-identified/95215434/

Anonymous said...

Well, multiple young men have died this way in West Virginia. Just to name a few there was a man in his twenties found in a creek at a camping sight in Bluebend. A few years later there was a man found floating around the river (of Bluebend) dead. This kind of scares me because my family goes camping and swimming there quite often. Hopefully those we're just accidents.

Anonymous said...

It isn't one lone killer. It is a socialized network of killing teams, each with 4-8 members and a territory operated within. It is a competitive "sporting" club of sorts. Tragic and sick.

kingme1 said...

The smiley face was created in In 1963 by Harvey Ball who was employed by State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, Massachusetts..

Worcester is less then 50 miles from Boston..

kingme1 said...

In 1963, Harvey Ball created the smiley face.. He was employed by State Mutual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, Massachusetts (now known as Hanover Insurance) to create a happy face to raise the morale of the employees.

Worcester, Massachusetts is less then 50 miles from Boston, Massachusetts...

exceldriver said...

A few years ago, I remember reading a post that seems to hold some water (pardon the pun).. Trane Corporation is one of the largest commercial Heating and Air Conditioning suppliers in North America. It is based out of LaCrosse ,WI.
When you think of how many of the victims were killed near college towns and during periods of time that school isn't in session, it would make sense that Trane employees are working on the campus' ventilation systems.
A coworker of my sister's had a cousin who was one of the first to drown in the Mississippi river near LaCrosse. She always thought that it was like a cult or network, because this guy was pretty responsible, but was separated from his friends and ended up dead.

FreakedOut said...

Ok, I know this thread is old. But check this out: https://www.google.com/amp/kdvr.com/2018/01/13/group-searching-for-adam-gilbertson-finds-body-in-south-platte-river/amp/

29 year old Adam Gilbertson originally from the Twin Cities metro (I-94 Loop) goes missing in Denver after a night of drinking. Last seen leaving a bar at 1am on December 15, 2017. Body found in a river 3 weeks later. This shit is terrifying. Check out the google map of his last whereabouts http://helpfindadam.com/

This was a friend of my friends. All drink heavily, never had any issue with falling into rivers before... now all of a sudden when he’s alone it happens??

FreakedOut said...

Ok, I know this thread is old. But check this out: https://www.google.com/amp/kdvr.com/2018/01/13/group-searching-for-adam-gilbertson-finds-body-in-south-platte-river/amp/

29 year old Adam Gilbertson originally from the Twin Cities metro (I-94 Loop) goes missing in Denver after a night of drinking. Last seen leaving a bar at 1am on December 15, 2017. Body found in a river 3 weeks later. This shit is terrifying. Check out the google map of his last whereabouts http://helpfindadam.com/

This was a friend of my friends. All drink heavily, never had any issue with falling into rivers before... now all of a sudden when he’s alone it happens??

FreakedOut said...

Ok, I know this thread is old. But check this out: https://www.google.com/amp/kdvr.com/2018/01/13/group-searching-for-adam-gilbertson-finds-body-in-south-platte-river/amp/

29 year old Adam Gilbertson originally from the Twin Cities metro (I-94 Loop) goes missing in Denver after a night of drinking. Last seen leaving a bar at 1am on December 15, 2017. Body found in a river 3 weeks later. This shit is terrifying. Check out the google map of his last whereabouts http://helpfindadam.com/

This was a friend of my friends. All drink heavily, never had any issue with falling into rivers before... now all of a sudden when he’s alone it happens??

Anonymous said...

https://www.oxygen.com/smiley-face-killers-the-hunt-for-justice/videos
Show airs on Oxygen network January 19, 2019 at 7 pm Eastern time

Anonymous said...

Yes! This is my theory. I think it's a women's "cult " they are picking young males to use for reproducing and are stalking,seducing,drugging them. Once they are done they drown/kill them like some sacrifice.