Is there a serial killer stalking college aged men? Is there a serial
killer stalking you? If your college aged... Beware the smiley face. Some
believe there is a killer or killers called the smiley face killer active in
the United States. What they do is drown drunk college aged males and leave a
smiley face painted near where the body was dumped. Between 1997 and 2008
authorities pulled the dead bodies of more than 40 young white men out of
rivers and lakes in more than 25 cities across 11 states. They mostly all been
college aged, popular and athletic. Most had been last seen leaving bars or
parties while drunk. In nearly all cases the police believed that the person
simply being drunk fell into a river or body water and drowned. After all almost
half of drowning deaths, they're linked to... you know. However one pair of
detectives believed there was more to it.
The smiley face murder theory came from two New York City police detectives,
Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte. They concluded that the deaths of at least 45
young men by drowning have too many similarities to be unrelated.
The theory began in connection with bodies found in New York City, it then
spread to include murder cases from the Midwest. In at least a dozen cases a
painted smiley face was found near a body of water
where victims corpses was dumped. Nearly all the victims of the smiley face
killer were white college men. The victims all had been spotted at local
bars or parties getting drunk on the evening they disappeared nearly all
these alleged drowning victims were discovered in a frigid northern climate
during the winter months not a good time to go for a swim in the drink and
definitely not while you're drunk and in at least a dozen cases smiley faces were
found painted near where the detectives determined the bodies had been dropped
into the water also the word since anyone which means rattlesnake was found
near some of the smiley faces the detectives believe that one of the
primary motives may have been jealousy as all the men were good-looking
athletic and academically successful however because some of the deaths
occurred on the same night but in different states the detectives believe
that the murders were carried out by an organized gang of murderers they
believed their theory enough to reportedly use their own personal money
to continue the investigation when official funds dried up
so they they truly believe in it like a lot the smiley-faced murder theory all
began with 20-year old Patrick McNeil he was last spotted drinking with friends
at a Manhattan bar one night in February of 1997 his corpse was dragged out of
the East River two months later and 12 miles away he was found floating in the
water face-up which is extremely rare for drowning victims an autopsy revealed
ligature marks around his neck his groin area showed House fly larvae that had to
have been laid on his body indoors and under warm conditions McNeil was dead
before he ever hit the water although he'd been missing for two months when
his body was found the absence of what's known as skin slippage under his feet
indicated he'd been in the water for less than a day on Halloween night 2002
21 year old University of Minnesota student Chris Jenkins was last seen
being kicked out of Minneapolis bar four months later his body was found encased
in ice in the Mississippi River face-up with hands folded across his chest again
not the typical position of a drowning victim Gannon then working in missing
persons caught the McNeil case and he promised to the McNeil parents he would
never give up when he retired he enlisted soirée his old partner
undivided his life to keeping that promise mortgaging his house and
spending thousands of his own money in 2003 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 d-22
faces were drawn with horns Gannon said like an evil
the smiley man in 2008 the two retired New York City detectives turned private
investigators announced their findings painted on the walls near the locations
of where 22 of the dead bodies were found was the same symbol over and over
a smiley face given the presence of the graffiti and the similarities among the
victims the two investigators insisted that the deaths have been the work of a
serial murderer or likely murderers now widely known as the smiley face killer
they're Psychopaths one of the investigators said of the murder or
murderers at the time they have no remorse
however not everybody is so keen on the smiley-faced
murder theory in fact the smiley face murder theory has been widely
discredited police departments involved do not officially treat these deaths as
part of a serial killer investigation the Minneapolis nonprofit Center for
homicide research released a thorough report on the smiley faced killer theory
in 2010 that firmly debunked the entire idea they list 18 reasons why the theory
is false we'll run through some of them real quick graffiti is omnipresent
you'll find it everywhere and let's be honest you'll see a lot of smiley faces
- painted as graffiti none of the smiley faces exactly match one another no
criteria has been established specifying the necessary distance that a smiley
face must occur in proximity to a deceased body in order to be counted as
smiley face could be 10 feet away it could be a mile away there is no
evidence of victim trauma and the vast majority of bodies recovered since in
uwah they state it's a Native American word meaning rattlesnake that has long
shown up in graffiti across the Midwest it's not just linked to the smiley face
killer it just shows up this is the word - shows up all the time homicidal
drowning is extremely rare it is not a common method for a killer Gannon who
once claimed to have mortgaged his house so he could pursue - smiley face
investigations seems to have stopped researching the case sometime around
2012 he and Duarte have reportedly moved on to more lucrative cases several
surviving parents of the alleged smiley face victims have also expressed doubt
about the former detectives motives for making such a large public announcement
about their theory when bills oh stack son died in Albany New York it was
classified as a drowning although szostak says he still thinks it's murder
but he's utterly disenchanted with detective Gannon
I feel Kevin as like a sponge he latches on to the families sucks the life out of
them and when he has nothing else to suck he dumps them do I think he is
revitalized families and done more harm than good
yes I do and that's a shame despite all of this though the smiley
face murder Theory still exists to this day it was brought up again after the
2012 disappearance of a Northwestern University student who's floating corpse
was found near smiley face graffiti on a tree
more recently the smiley face murder Theory was brought up in 2015 in regards
to the reputed drowning death of 21 year old Shane Montgomery who had last been
seen drinking with friends the day before Thanksgiving but whose body
wasn't found up until right before Christmas so it's largely been thought
but not confirmed that the smiley face theory it's just an urban legend it's a
myth maybe it's correlation not causation and even that it's it's
minimal at best however having said all of that there could be a smiley face
murderer out there who knows let me know what you think down below thanks for
watching my kit