Another Possible 'Smiley Face Gang' Link Emerges

Photo from FOX44
Enhanced graffiti photo from The Sope-Bocks
New details have emerged in the search for missing 19-year-old Middlebury College freshman Nicholas Garza that could link him to the so-called "Smiley Face Gang," which a group of retired detectives believes is responsible for the apparent drowning deaths of dozens of young men across the country.

Searchers have found smiley-face graffiti near Garza's campus like that painted near some of the locations where about 40 bodies have been discovered across 11 states, FOX 44 News reported. Garza’s mother thinks that discovery could link her son's disappearance to the deaths of the other mostly college-age victims. Volunteer searchers have come forward with pictures of the smiley face, found on a utility shed door a short distance from downtown Middlebury, Vt.

The photos were taken a week-and-a-half ago, when the group was scouring a river bank for clues. When the volunteers saw New York detectives describing the alleged gang of serial killers on national TV and saw pictures of the graffiti discovered in some of the other cases, they realized the striking similarity to the drawings they had photographed, FOX 44 reported. The graffiti on the shed was almost identical to that painted near some of the spots where the young men's bodies have been found, typically in rivers. "When you're walking around, you notice there's graffiti but you're not paying attention to what's out there," Nicholas' mother, Natalie Garza, told FOX 44. (enhanced photo at right)

Garza was last seen walking out of a dormitory February 5. When friends couldn't find him the next day, they notified campus security, but his mother didn't file a missing persons report until five days later because friends thought Garza might have left campus to go to a cabin that was out of cell-phone range. Middlebury police believe the graffiti is more than two years old and are not following up on leads related to the alleged gang. Officers have been searching the water for Garza after an airplane captured a picture of what appeared to be a body several weeks ago. "Nick didn't walk off this campus and he was in his right frame of mind, and I believe somebody knows what happened to my son that night," Natalie Garza told FOX 44. Searches of the 350-acre campus have yielded no clues as to what happened to the student. The last large-scale hunt ended February 23, though there have been spot searches since then. All 109 buildings on campus have been combed through twice, as have their rooftops. (original photo above)

I can already read the words CLASS and DDICE in the graffiti. BTW, the smiley face is not readily apparent in this photo.

If you recognize any of the graffiti, please drop me a note in the Comments section.

Smiley Face Murders - Backlash from Pundits

Over the past few days, I find that several pundits are boldly proclaiming the theory that there is not a serial killer or gang of murderers on the loose in America's Midwest. These nay-sayers range from the layman to professional law enforcement officers. Some have vested interest in what side of the matter they call true. Their assertion -- the similarities in the deaths of 40+ young men is nothing more than a coincidence.

Being a layman, amateur sleuth, or whatever you want to call me takes the pressure off my career ego should I be wrong in the assertion that there is a Smiley Face Murder Club or a single serial killer murdering young men. If I end up being wrong, then that could be a good thing -- in terms of more lose of life and peace for many young men across the country.

Truthfully, my research and investigation is not even near complete. The vast mountain of data is overwhelming -- especially for someone who has to search dozens of resources in order to glean just a few bits of new data. I am not privy to police nor Nationwide Investigations internal documentation on the cases being examined. Yet, it took me only an hour or so of reading to see what I believe is a clear picture of serial killings.

Yes, I do believe in coincidence -- on a large and sometimes profound scale. I'm prepared to say many things could be a coincidence. For purposes of my lay investigation, I'll even concede that the smiley faces found at 12 sites *could* be NOTHING more than coincidence -- graffiti from locals. However, the order of magnitude of coincidence that would be demanded from documented similarities in the deaths of 40 or more young men is an idea I am not prepared to accept.

Without going into the information deeper than most have read in newspapers, blogs, etc., allow me provide the reader with data that individually could easily be written off as coincidence -- BUT, as a whole, is extremely hard to ignore.

1) ALL 40+ are male
2) ALL 40+ between the ages of 17 and 28
3) Vast majority are Caucasian
4) Almost all of the 40+ were college students
5) Almost all had been drinking
6) ALL of the 40+ dead were out on the town, for a social occasion
7) Almost all left friends/family and ventured out alone
8) Almost all went missing during the months when college classes were in session
9) ALL of the 40+ went missing during the late night hours
10) ALL, who have been found, were found in or very near bodies of water
11) None, who have been found, had major trauma to their bodies (GSWs, cuts, abrasions, bruises)
12) None were robbed of anything obvious
13) Most of the autopsy reports show cause of death as "drowning"
14) None showed evidence of struggle, which should be apparent, in a "normal" drowning accident

I'm sure there are more things that could be listed. I'm also sure that some pundits will take issue with the "almost all..." items. Fine... but let's not ignore the overall picture. If I were to write these facts out in a paragraph, it would make a compelling argument AGAINST coincidence and FOR the idea that the deaths of these young people are related. Let's see how such an argument might look -- complete with a few admitted generalizations:

Between 1997 and 2008, forty or more young, white, male college students have died (or gone missing) during the college calendar year. These young men had gone out for a social event -- most to party with friends. They left friends and/or family and struck out on their own during the late night or early morning hours -- but never made it home. Some have never been found. Of those who have, their lifeless bodies were pulled from Midwest rivers or lakes. The cause of death for each case is listed as "drowning" or "undetermined". Signs of obvious trauma were lacking and most of the dead had very little or no water in their lungs (as would be expected from drowning). Foul play is not obvious in ANY of the deaths. All of the young men were athletic and healthy. Are these deaths all just one big coincidence? Or, something else?

I submit that as data is compiled, more similarities will be gleaned. Even if the Smiley Face Gang is nothing more than the imagination of media and bloggers, something is wrong with the idea that we're looking at a huge, unfortunate coincidence. Let's not forget that detectives Gannon and Duarte, along with Dr. Gilbertson and Adam Carlson have holdback evidence and other information linking the cases together. Smiley faces were one piece of that evidence. We now know others (informants, witnesses, possible nickname graffiti). Even without knowing the full scope of the holdback, it is my opinion that these investigators are onto the truth -- there is a serial killer or group of serial killers taking the lives of young men. They need to be stopped -- and brought to justice.

What are YOUR thoughts?

Evil Happy Smiley Face Man

Photo enhancement by The Sope-Bocks

Truthfully, it sounds (to me) like a bad translation from an Asian language to English. "Evil Happy Smiley Face Man" appears to have been spray painted on a concrete barrier near where one of the "Smiley Face murders" took place.

"It's not just a smiley face. He’s evil, happy and he drew horns which are synonymous with the devil. He’s telling you he knows murder is evil," Nationwide Investigations' Kevin Gannon says, "I believe we're looking at an organized group that has a hierarchy and is involved in murder and other criminal activity ... If this was a random thing, we’d have a wider range of victims,” he said.

As the team of investigators offers additional information to the media, we learn more and more about what could be called the Smiley Face Murder Club. For instance, the original image of the red smiley face on a non-descript blue background was not the complete image. Above, you can see the (mostly) complete image -- one of TWELVE found at crime scenes in five states.

The scrawl on the right hand side says, "Evil Happy Smiley Face Man". There is also a lower case letter "r" and something below the letter (cut off in the photos I've been able to dig up). It's interesting to note that the writing looks like that of a female -- and the lowercase letters "e" (in Smiley and Face) are both written backwards. The smiley face has a cross or X on the forehead and horns on top of the head. Creepy!

Gannon and Duarte have been investigating river drownings for more than a decade. They say while not every scene had the evil smiley face, all the deaths are the work of serial killers. That includes seven deaths in La Crosse and three in Eau Claire. It’s an "organized killer which hunts his victims and takes real pride in what he does," Gannon says.

The detectives say the men are all young, athletic and smart. Two victims' names offered by the Gannon/Duarte team are:

• Lucas Homan - 21 years old when he died after drowning in the Mississippi River in La Crosse.

• Josh Snell -22-year-old 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. 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 families. "Arrests would be ideal conclusion to this investigation, yes,” NI's Anthony Duarte says. 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.

Across the border in Minnesota, Minneapolis police spokesman Jesse Garcia said the case of at least one suspicious drowning death is currently active, and police are open to new hard evidence. "They [Gannon/Duarte/Gilbertson/Carlson] didn't come up with any new evidence that wasn't already there," Garcia said. "They basically came up with a new theory. We can't go forward with theories as evidence."

Steve Jenkins (father of homocide victim, Christopher Jenkins) said the graffiti represents concrete physical evidence and that the investigators also corroborated the accounts of alleged witnesses from other disappearances. Additionally, Jenkins said the investigators have identified suspects, although they've declined to release names. "There's a lot more evidence that they did not share (with police)," Steve Jenkins said. "They showed just enough to get the (authorities') interest in collaboration." [I told you yesterday there was a major holdback!]

Sources: WEAU, Red-Alerts.com, NY Daily News