Thursday, May 22, 2008

Are Serial Evil Smiley Face Killers Destroying Young College Student's Lives and Dreams? ~ Tommy G.







Are serial killer smiley face killers on the loose? Christopher Jenkins, 21, was a University of Minnesota senior with a bright future in business. On Halloween in 2002, Christopher vanished after last being seen in a bar. Four months later, his body turned up in the Mississippi River still wearing his Halloween costume. Four years later, police changed the cause of his death from accidental to probable homicide. His parents, Steve and Jan Jenkins, have always suspected foul play.

Patrick McNeill was a Fordham University Student whose body washed up in the East River two months after he left a bar in New York. His death, too, was initially ruled an accidental drowning.

In 2006, a tip from a man in jail, caused police to change Jenkins' cause of death from "unexplained drowning" to homicide. Retired NYPD detective Kevin Gannon and NYPD officer, Anthony Duarte, are helping to investigate these deaths. They hypothesizes that there has been many student drowning deaths, many of them involving young men who attended colleges along the Interstate 94 in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. Nine of the students attended the University of LaCrosse, in Wisconsin. Three attended colleges in New York state.
Potentially, as many as 40 college age men have died in bizarre drowning deaths across the country. The two detectives opine that in each case, the men may have been drugged and then thrown into the water to make it appear as if they'd drowned.


Water often washes away key pieces of evidence such as fingerprints, fibers, and DNA. Some of the deaths may also be connected in a bizarre fashion. Near the water's edge, a smiley face has been painted on trees and other surfaces. The smiley faces may have been left by the killers. They varied in size, shape and design. In Iowa, one had devils horns and a caption which read, "Evil Happy Smiley Face Man." Some of the other sites contained symbols similar to gang graffiti. Minneapolis police are not convinced that Jenkins' death was the work of a serial killer or killers. The FBI has not jumped on the bandwagon either. The FBI believes that the vast majority of these instances are "alcohol-related drowning."

Gannon and Duarte are none the less pressing onward. Scott Javin and Brad Henley were two college age students who apparently drowned in their vehicles. Wonder if there were ever any smiley faces left behind? Did any one think to check? In the interim, be on the lookout for any Evil Avatar Killers (some in the comments hypothesize it may be part of a gang or illegal organization's initiation.) Others speculate that it is just an isolated occurrence or two...

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice guys out there....

Anonymous said...

Killers or bad artists?

Anonymous said...

the similarities are scary.

Anonymous said...

What would police think about graffiti 5 years ago. Would have been cleaned up without thinking it was related to an alleged drowning that is not discovered until 5 years later in Javin case!

Anonymous said...

Boyz should not be blamed just cause their is artistic expression on a tree.

Anonymous said...

Further investigation is warranted.

Anonymous said...

Never thought about a possible link to Javin and Henley murder. It provides food for thought...

Say What said...

I'm not a paranoid person, but this is the second time I've read about these murders and each time I had an eerie feeling about these young lives being taken. Young men, intelligent, atletic, well liked. With all the Middle Eastern students at most of the colleges, what better way terrorize the USA from within the confines of a college campus. Sleeper cells scattered way before 9/11.

Anonymous said...

If it were women, this would be front page on all the news media!

Anonymous said...

Ok, hold on. I know Legal Pub will try to get to the bottom of this. If some individuals, gang or god for bid "terrorist group" is using a date rape drug to lure, kidnap and then drown these guys, the identification of these scum will surface.

On the other hand, what if the incedents of drownings in the male population in this age group are not significantly different on college campuses as it is in the general population?

Anonymous said...

My guess is most of these are unrelated.

Anonymous said...

Patrick McNeil was a real popular guy.

Anonymous said...

was the guy in jail at one of the colleges, the one who gave the clue? Look at the photos in yearly albums.. These are young men who are around these guys, they are close to them. expect them to be friendly, but only to bve close to them so they are not afraid to be near them they know them they know them. comfort zone

Anonymous said...

they see them in the books year books smiling and they hate them because they will never be like them. They have an online communication with all the other killers Easier to conceal in the dark winter nights cans of sprays and noticably quieter on the streets They know their routine where they go every move help them more to come Help THem Tell Detectives

Breal4u said...

Seems like someone had to have seen something!!...but then again if they are ruling the deaths as "accidental" my guess is they are not taking time to interview witnesses...why do the NY former Investigators feel its a "gang of killers"?? If it is...my guess is one of the is a female...used as the lure/bait...why else would all these men leave with strangers...(unless their gay) then cancel the female idea out...they need to start interviewing witnesses at the bars!!

Anonymous said...

Very scary!! And, I do think most of the deaths are connected! Too much to say, they are just coincidences...

Anonymous said...

The boyz in the back say eveyone is in a ball room blitz. Ballroom blitz.

Nah, I doubt the killers, if they exist, saw these dudes in the year book and were jeolous.

Now, I am down with the idea that a hot gurl could lead them down a dark and dangerous road to know where pleasant.

But got to tell ya, I still favor the idea that they all got drunk, stupid and carelessly lost their own lives...

Anonymous said...

I think they all ate cereal? Does that mean it is in fact a cereal killer on the loose?

Ms Calabaza said...

These sound pretty similar to me. Maybe a gang initiation? Very scary stuff.

Anonymous said...

You mean to tell me that several people die and there are smiley faces, calling cards, that are left and people have doubts about a connection. If you look at the killing that occurred at Ithaca College where the body was found in the pound, the smiley face was located on the SAME building that the victim lived in. There’s an obvious connection because not many people go around and graffiti devious smiley faces on surfaces AND these smiley faces just happen to turn up near a dead body. Many organizations such as MS13's initiation involve riding around at night with their car lights off and shooting the people that flash their lights to signal to turn them on. The whole question now is if this is a gang, a few people or an organization. The idea for the smiley face could have been taken from fight club. In one scene they set specific windows on fire to create a smiley face on the outside of a building. Maybe just an idea of how a fictional criminal organization becomes reality.

Anonymous said...

This would be the first time I have ever heard of the possibility of a serial killer targeting straight college aged men. Young, strong and straight is not the normal description of a victim. Very strange.

Anonymous said...

Evil avatar killers! Folks like these give avatars a bad name.

Legal Pub said...

Wonder if there were ever any smiley faces left behind with Henley or Javin? Course such markings would have been long gone by the time their bodies were discovered. In the interim, be on the lookout for any Evil Avatar Killers (some in the comments hypothesize it may be part of a gang or illegal organization's initiation. Of course, that has yet to be proven but is somethng to investigate.)

Anonymous said...

I have a permanent smile on my face, does that make me evil?

Anonymous said...

It might, where were you on the night of ....

Anonymous said...

String those suckers up!

Anonymous said...

I truly question whether there is any connection...

Anonymous said...

A gang of psychopathic serial killers, right...

and they prefer to kill by drowning, right...

and they are all planned to look like drowning, right.

And they all suck as artists so they draw smiley faces, right...

Anonymous said...

could be...

Anonymous said...

smiley face = violence!

Its that simple copper stoppers

Anonymous said...

This smiley face connection needs more scrutiny by law enforcement.

Legal Eagle 3 said...

Probably a spam, but L.P. will let it stand for now.


Legal Eagle 3