The Smiley Faced Killer

Across the upper U.S. centered in Michigan 40 young men have been DROWNED in 11 states and a red smiley face sprayed at the scene of the murders. Just as with the Michigan Oakland County Child killing murders, police have proof that many of these kids were HELD HOSTAGE before they were drowned.

http://www.tnt.tv/title/0,,333471,00.html
Happy Face Murders (1999)
Marg Helgenberger, Henry Thomas Rating: TV-14-DSV

Lorraine Petrovich is terrified of her abusive younger boyfriend, Rusty Zuvic. After finding a dead woman along a highway, the police receive an anonymous phone call implicating Zuvic in the murder. The tip leads police officer Jen Powell and her criminology student partner Dylan McCarthy to Lorraine's house. Lorraine provides them with enough information to not only convict Rusty, but to face arrest herself as an accomplice. As the investigation progresses, Powell's doubts grow when a trucker begins to leave anonymous messages, identifying himself only by a smiley face, claiming that he is the killer. On trial for murder, Lorraine now says she made up the entire story.

It was on the Detroit 11pm news. I think channel 2. They showed a map of where the 40 young boys bodies were found in 11 states, stating that 2 were in Michigan, one of which was near Lansing. All victims had a happy smiley face painted in the vicinity with spray paint. Because some of the victims had obviously been held hostage for up to days before they were found drowned, police theorize that the happy face serial killer must have a partner. As with the Michigan OCCK killings, all victims shared a similar MO in their death and all the Mich OCCK kids were held hostage.

I can find this on no other news service yet. Often these murders seem to follow a program, that`s why I posted the happy face movie. Seems similar.

These were all college students and they were all killed on the night in which they were last seen alive..go to abc.com for the correct info...

Thanks. ABC News has an article and a video. For some reason the video froze. Here`s the article.

Detectives Chase 'Smiley Face' Murder Mystery
Retired NYC Detectives Spend 11 Years Connecting the Drowning Deaths of 40 Young Men Across the Country
By KRISTI PIEHL
April 28, 2008

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Chris Jenkins was a popular student at the University of Minnesota who disappeared one night in 2003.

Reporter and detectives connect "smiley face" tag to deaths of young men.
Four months later, he was found dead in the Mississippi River. At first police thought Jenkins was just a drunk college kid who accidentally fell into the river and drowned after a night on the town.

But for two retired New York City Police detectives, Jenkins' death became the link that connected the drowning deaths of 40 young men — usually high-achieving college students — in 25 cities in 11 different states.

Chilling Discovery

Detectives Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte have been tracking the suspicious drowning deaths of young men across the country ever since they investigated the death of college student Patrick McNeill, who drowned in New York City in 1997. Gannon made a promise to McNeill's parents that he would never give up on his case.

When the detectives took a look at Jenkins' death, they discovered that the position of his body and other physical evidence proved that the college student didn't drown accidentally. The cause of death on Jenkins' death certificate was changed to "homicide."

Video says that police have linked 40 murders of college men. They also believe that of 19 cases that they have left to still research that at least 15 of those are also related, but because the two retired cops are broke so they`re releasing this now to the public. All victims were drowned starting I think with 1st victim in 1997 in NY McNeill. At sites where bodies were put in water police find smiley faces in several states. In Michigan they found Sinsinsha which apparently they found elsewhere and corresponds to a street. They believe that the killings are connected because of similarities found at scenes. They believe that more than one person is involved because victims were killed the same day 400-600 miles apart.

Smiley Faces: Another Serial Killer Signature?
Murderers Are Known to Leave Their Own Personal Touches at Crime Scenes
By EMILY FRIEDMAN
April 29, 2008

Binding, torturing and killing victims is how serial killer Dennis Rader methodically murdered 10 people near Wichita, Kan., during a 20-year killing spree that garnered him the nickname "BTK strangler."
Serial Killer
The 'Zodiac Killer,' the 'Boston Stranger' and the 'BTK Killer' were all known for their signature... Expand
The 'Zodiac Killer,' the 'Boston Stranger' and the 'BTK Killer' were all known for their signature killing methods. Now investigators wonder if smiley faces found near the crime scenes of 40 college boys' killings are the sign of another serial killer.

Like Rader, who began his work in the 1970s, several infamous serial killers have taken ritualistic approaches, either by leaving signature characteristics or repeating their steps in the killings.

Albert Desalvo, the 1960s "Boston Strangler," was convicted of strangling 13 women and then tying nylon stockings in a bow around their necks. Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed 17 men between 1978 and 1991, routinely took body parts from his victims and stored them in his refrigerator. The Zodiac Killer, who got his name from the symbols he drew on notes to the media, is still unidentified, despite having killed at least five people between 1968 and 1969 in California.
Related
Cops Chase 'Smiley Face' Murder Mystery
WATCH: 40 Drowning Deaths Linked

So, when two New York City detectives found smiley faces painted at the crime scenes of more than 40 young men — typically high achieving college students initially presumed to have drowned in 25 cities in 11 different states — they began to wonder if they had uncovered yet another overtly proud serial killer.

"We believe they were specifically leaving a clue for us or anyone who was paying attention to these drownings, that the cases were ultimately linked," Detective Kevin Gannon told ABC's "Good Morning America."

The detectives found the smiley faces in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa.

While there has yet to be a sexually-driven motive identified in the smiley face case, criminologists told ABCNEWS.com that it's 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.

Killers Leave Marks, Clues at Murder Scenes

"Signatures are ritualistic crime scene behaviors that are done for psychosexual gratification," said Louis Schlessinger, a professor of forensic psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "It goes beyond what is necessary to kill that person because killing alone is not enough."

http://startelegram.typepad.com/crime_time/20...
April 29, 2008
TV report: 40 drownings were actually 'smiley-face murders'

What many thought were the accidental drownings of at least 40 young men, actually were serial killings pulled off by a national gang that kills and then leaves a smiley-face marking at the scene of the crime, St. Paul, Minn., television station KSTP reports.

The victims include University of Minnesota student Chris Jenkins and Fordham University student Patrick McNeill. The smiley-face symbol was found painted at some of the death scenes in Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Iowa, the station reported.

A team of retired New York City police detectives and criminal justice investigators is working on the case, the station reported.

"They're telling you here that they're into evil, they're very happy as most serial killers are," retired NYPD detective Kevin Gannon told KSTP. "They're content with their work and what they're doing and the fact that they're thwarting the police."

You can read and watch the report by KSTP here.

-- Lance Murray

Posted at 07:39 AM in Homicides | Permalink
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Taylor wrote:

These were all college students and they were all killed on the night in which they were last seen alive..go to abc.com for the correct info...

They weren`t all killed on the night they were last seen and some were drugged before drowning. http://kdka.com/college/Smiley.serial.killer.... .
html
"We can prove that some individuals went in the water not on the night they went missing, which means they were held for an extended period of time before they entered into the water," Kevin Gannon, a private investigator, said

One had escaped and had called his brother on his cell phone before they caught him... before he was found dead in the river.

http://www.weau.com/news/headlines/18353369.h...

22-year-old Josh Snell from Hastings, Minnesota, disappeared in Eau Claire in June of 2005. His brother says he was in town for a wedding and later went to the bars. Snell was found four days later, pulled from the Chippewa River. Jon Snell says he doesn't believe his brother wandered into the water.

In a phone call with a friend "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,” Jon Snell says.

He says he's glad someone else looked into his brother's death.

“I can't thank Kevin and Tony enough,” Jon Snell says.“They’ve been amazing."

But, he says he knows his search for answers isn't over. He wants an outcome.

And that’s exactly what Gannon and Duarte hope to give Snell and dozens of other devastated familie

After looking at a lot that`s written about this what appears is this. All of the victims are college age or slightly older men who are nearly always just leaving a bar. Some victims bodies show signs of being drugged before being drowned, some victims are known to have been held hostage for some period before being drowned, Jenkins was driven around in a van and beat for 6 hours before being drowned, Snell was hunted down although he wasn`t a student, some sites say smiley faces at 12 locations, some say at 22 locations.

Sinsinawa appears in Michigan at a location near Lansing but MICH victims name and date missing hasn`t been revealed and it`s known that Matt KRUZiki was put in water at SINSINAWA, wall and sixth street. Smiley face appears there also.

http://wnyt.com/article/stories/S430956.shtml...
Face raises more questions in Szostak case


ALBANY - From the very beginning, Bill Szostak says he felt foul play was involved in his son's disappearance and death. But instead of getting answers, he says the discovery of a smiley face only leads to more questions.

"I'm just a dad trying to make some sense out of my son's death," Bill Szostak said Thursday.

Joshua Szostak went missing in December after a night out in Albany. A fisherman discovered his body April 22 in the Hudson River near Coxsackie. Police ruled his death an accidental drowning.

But with Wednesday's discovery of the smiley face, Bill Szostak still has plenty of questions to be answered.

The smiley face identifies Szostak as one of the victims of the Smiley Face killer. He was last seen minutes after midnight Dec 23, 2007, making his date of disappearance actually Dec 24, 2007 or Christmas eve. In a fitting name for a victim of the CRUISE ship killer, another victim KRUZiki also went missing Christmas Eve Dec 24, 2005 at SINSINAWA AVE where a smiley face was also found. In Michigan at the site of another victim going into the water is found on a rock SINSINAWA. One victim disappeared on martin Luther kings Birthday and another on Halloween, still another on new Years Eve.

The Michigan OCCK victims all disappeared on/near the Holidays of New years, Valentines Day, Christmas and St. Patricks Day. Jonbenet Ramsey was murdered Christmas night and Helgoth murder Valentines day. Is this all just a coincidence that excerpts from the Zodiac remake dirty Harry were in the ransom note? Was it just a coincidence that Michigan victim Tim King was fed his favorite food chicken as a last meal and it was found partially digested just like Jonbenet was fed her favorite pineapple as her last meal? Is it just a coincidence that the Michigan kids went missing on WED and Jonbenet died on WED ? Just a coincidence that the Michigan kids were all washed and redressed and that Jonbenet was washed with toilet water and redressed in oversized WEDNESDAY underwear? Is a pubic hair left at both crimes just a coincidence?

Is it a coincidence that after Jonbenet`s murder that in 1997 Gary talked of a new plot and that Paul B. was helping him. Is it just a coincidence that the 1997 victim McNeil fell victim to Gary MacNeil? Just a coincidence that Gary slept on Jonbenet`s bed in Michigan on a WEDNESDAY in Charlevoix before her murder? Is there a Michigan connection???

Among the missing Michigan kids are BEERS and dacONE MILLER. Among the Smiley face victims is BLATZ. Just a coincidence???

The Michigan kids were kept hostage for days before their murders as were some of these college boys. One victims name is KRUZiki. Gary claims to be the CRUISE ship killer. Remember how two of the cruise ship victims woke up in the water swimming for their lives where Gary worked as bartender on the ship??? Is it just a coincidence???

Just as the college boys Smiley face victims were drugged and abducted just after leaving a bar, Cruise ship victim Tim Sears awakens in water thrown overboard off ship after being slipped a Mickey by bartender Gary in the ships bar. Same thing happens to a man in Australia cruise but before he can be rescued a crew member ACCIDENTALLY puts kinks in the rescue boat metal rope line and he dies before he can tell what happened. Read Tim Sears story.
http://www.cruisebruise.com/Tim_Sears.html

DETROIT wrote:

Cruise ship victim Tim Sears awakens in water thrown overboard off ship after being slipped a Mickey by bartender G-A-R-Y

Uh huh! Yep, Sure, gotcha!

Boy oh boy that Gary sure does get around and never gets caught

Let me know where I can contact him

Does he take requests?:)

Gannon and his partners at Nationwide Investigations revealed the findings of their investigations during a news conference in New York Tuesday.

Most of what the detectives are calling murders occurred in the Midwest during the winter months. Almost all involved popular athletes with good grades. Most had been drinking before they disappeared and their bodies subsequently found in near-frozen bodies of water.

The link they think they’ve found is a smiley-face symbol drawn near where many of the drowning victims’ bodies have been discovered.

“This is what we saw,” Gannon said.“They're happy, as most serial killers are, and very content with their work and what they're doing and the fact that they're thwarting police."

Likewise All of the Michigan OCCK kids were abducted in the Winter.

Victims had date rape drug used on them- more zodiac victims

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04292008/news/reg...
McNeill, who lived in Port Chester, disappeared Feb. 16, 1997, after drinking at a bar on East 92nd Street. His body was found April 7, 1997, near the 69th Street pier in Brooklyn.

Gannon, then working in missing persons, caught the case and promised McNeill's parents he would never give up.

When he retired, he enlisted Duarte, his old partner, and devoted his life to keeping that promise, mortgaging his house and spending tens of thousands of his own money.

He told The Post yesterday, "They're psychopaths. They have no remorse. Some of the victims were held for a while until they were put in the water."

Gannon said McNeill's death was similar to that of Lawrence Andrews, 22, who vanished on New Year's Eve in 2006 after drinking near Grand Central Terminal.

His body was found Feb. 12, 2007, also off the 69th Street pier.

Gannon said that after studying the water flow and land contour, he concluded the similarities weren't coincidental.

In both cases, he believes the victims were drugged with GHB, a date-rape drug, and then placed in the water.

Gannon and Duarte began working in high gear in 2003, when they learned four young men had vanished in Minnesota and Wisconsin over a 40-day period. Instead of looking at where the bodies were found, the detectives looked at the point of entry into the water, finding smiley faces nearby. Nine of the 22 faces were drawn with horns, Gannon said - like an "evil, happy, smiley man."

"To revisit the situation ...is painful," said Andrews' mother, Susan.

murray.weiss@nypost.com

Police question Time line in death of Abel BOLANos.
http://media.www.iowastatedaily.com/media/sto...

Bolanos got off work Friday night at 11pm, parked his car and walked to a nearby party. His car was left there. At 3 something in the morning Saturday his card was used twice to attempt to gain access to a dorm where he didn`t live but never to his own dorm room. Someone thinks they possibly saw him walking later Saturday. His credit cards were found in the town Monday and his dorm access cards were on his body when he was found drowned. Two smiley faces in a D were found in a nearby drainage ditch.

I`ve repeatedly told you that the Michigan OCCK kids were abducted on WED & SUN, held hostage killed on or near Holidays, that Judy Ferro was killed New Years Eve and that Pervinkler was killed new years day and framed for judy`s murder being killed with his own 22 which was found 40 feet from his body. Likewise Jonbenet was killed Christmas night and Helgoth killed Valentines Day with his own gun and attempted to be framed as Jonbenet`s killer.

OCCK victim Tim king was fed his favorite food chicken as a last meal as Jonbenet was fed pineapple as her last meal. Jonbenet was washed after dead as were Michigan kids. Jonbenet had her underpants changed to say WEDNESDAY as Michigan kids were all redressed after dead. Pubic hair at Tim Kings murder, pubic hair at Jonbenet`s.

Compare Smiley face murders. Michigan kids all in winter, Smiley face all in winter. Welzien killed New Years Eve 1999, Andrews killed new Years Eve 2002, Szostak killed Christmas eve 2007, KRUZiki killed Christmas Eve 2005, Keoway killed MLK Birthday 2003, and Jenkins murdered Halloween 2002.

Gary talked about bodies in Men DO CIN O CALIFORNIA AND SAND SIN. SINSINAWA left at Michigan murder site and SINSINAWA name of avenue where KRUZiki put in water. CRUISE SHIP victims awoke drugged in water. Date rate drug found in college students drowned. SOME COLLEGE KIDS HELD FOR DAYS as were Mich OCCK kids. College kids drowned together same day and dumped in locations miles apart like GARY Indiana.

Only 25 of the 40 names have been made public. Michigan name never released nor were two inOhio near Columbus and Athens area names made public. of the 25 revealed so far.

6/25 College kids drowned Holidays, 10/25 SUNDAY, 3/25 WED

Michigan missing kids named deBEERS and dachONE MILLER. Murdered college kid named BLATZ. Murdered boy BOWLING in Parker-College kid BOLANos. CRUISE ship killer-college kid KRUZiki