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?

Smiley Face Murder Club Victims' List

Frank, a Blogger.com member, just sent me "the list". It contains 40+ names of young men believed to be victims of the Smiley Face Murder Club (or Smiley Face Gang). The list came from Footprints at the River's Edge, a blog that has more information on this topic than ANY other site I've seen. Heres' the list:

* 42. Christopher Melancon, 24 (WI)
* 41. Brad Olsen, 26 (IL) MISSING
* 40. Abel Bolanos, 19 (IA)
* 39. Wade Steffey, 19 (IN)
* 38. Nick Rossini, 21 (MN)
* 37. Jesse Ross, 20 (IL) MISSING
* 36. Lucas Homan, 21 (WI)
* 35. Brian Shaffer, 27 (OH) MISSING
* 34. Scott Radel, 21 (MN)
* 33. Kenji Ohmi, 20 (WI)
* 32. Cullen Fortney, 21 (WI) SURVIVED
* 31. Patrick Kycia, 19 (MN)
* 30. Matt Kruziki, 24 (IA)
* 29. Matthew Soumakis, 31 (IL)
* 28. Josh Snell, 22 (WI)
* 27. Chris Thiem, 19 (IN)
* Adam Falcon, 20 (NY)
* 26. Chris Olberding, 18 (OH)
* 25. Marlon Blue, 21 (IL)
* 23. Glenn Leadley, 23 (IL)
* 24. Jared Dion, 21 (WI)
* 22. Nathan Herr, 21 (WI)
* 21. Chad Sharon, 18 (IN)
* 20. Josh Guimond, 21 (MN) MISSING
* 19. Michael Noll, 22 (WI)
* 18. Chris Jenkins, 21 (MN)
* 17. Craig Burrows, 23 (WI)
* 16. Chris Nordby, 27 (MN)
* 15. Eric Blair, 18 (MI)
* 14. Ryan Katcher, 19 (IL)
* 13. Brian Welzien, 21 (IL)
* 12. Patrick Runningen, 23 (WI)
* 11. Ken Christiansen, 19 (MN)
* 10. Nathan Edberg, 21 (MN) MISSING
* 09. Jeffrey Geesey, 21 (WI)
* 08. Trevor Hoheisel, 27 (IL)
* 07. Keith Noble, 19 (OH)
* 06. Nathan Kapfer, 19 (WI)
* 05. Ryan Getz, 21 (MI)
* 04. Anthony Skifton, 19 (WI)
* 03. Charles Blatz, 28 (WI)
* 02. Richard Hlavaty, 19 (WI)
* 01. Morgan White, 19 (MI)
* Unconfirmed - Dale Shields (MI)

I've been at this for nearly 20 hours straight now... Time permitting, I plan to add date missing, date found, city, state and body of water to ALL of these names later today.

More Missing Young Men - Are They Connected To The Smiley Face Gang?

Last Updated: 05/01/08 12:19am
Still have 35+ news sites & blogs to research

The following list of young men missing from the Midwest is not complete, but it offers The Sope-Bocks' readers an opportunity to research the names along with me. This post will be updated as I learn more -- and you send your feedback. If I can find their locations, I plan to map the locations and post the map here.

Dr. Lee Gilbertson - The timeline of the [40 studied] drownings move in a consistent pattern. "East, west, east, west, east, west, north, south -- east, west, east, west, east, west, north, south. Now we start to see patterns that can't be explained."

Eric Blair
Jared Dion
Adam Falcon
- Missing 11/13/04
- Found 11/18/04
- Location: Grasse River
Ryan Getz
Josh Guimond
- Still missing
Ryan Knatcher
- Missing
Patrick Kycia, 19
- Missing 6/9/05
- Found 9/27/05
- Location: Red River, Minnesota
Glen Leadley
Keith Noble
Michael Noll
Chris Olberding
- Found 10/6/04
- Location: Ohio River
Scot Radel
- Found 3/1/06
- Location: Mississippi River
Brian Shaffer, Med school student
- Missing 4/2/06
Joshua Snell
- Missing
- Found 4 days later
- Location: Chippewa River
Wade Steffey
Joshua Szostak
Brian Welzien

NOTE: I am NOT sure these guys are victims of the Smiley Face Gang.

Sources: Various blogs, Ramblings from the Reservation Blog

Background on the Smiley Face Gang Investigators

So how did all these people investigating and/or researching drowning deaths come to work together?

Decorated former NYC police sargeant, Kevin Gannon, has been trying to resolve what caused the death of at least one college student since 1997. In fact, he made a promise to Patrick McNeill's mother that he would not allow her son's death to go unsolved. He "joined forces" with NYPD Detective Anthony Duarte in a concerted effort to solve the case.

In 2003, they traveled to Minnesota where college student Chris Jenkins was found dead in the Mississippi - thought to be a drunken accident. "It screamed homicide," said Gannon. Jenkins was found floating on his back with his arms crossed on his chest - an unusual pose for a drowned person. Jenkins' death was reclassified as a homicide, and the retired NYPD cops found the spot where Jenkins might have been thrown into the water. It was there that they discovered the first smiley face.

Since that time, Gannon has dedicated his life, his work, even his own monetary means to finding the true circumstances surrounding the deaths of McNeill, Chad Sharon, Christopher Jenkins and dozens more young men across the Midwest.

In the early months of 2003, St. Cloud State University's criminal justice professor, Dr. Lee Gilbertson, invited his students to take a closer look at drowning death patterns of male college students in the region. Five young men had all turned up drowned in a three month period starting October, 2002.

During their investigative work, the Chad Sharon case (South Bend, IN // December, 2002) was one of more than a dozen the criminal justice students reviewed, according to other students in the program.

It has not been confirmed publicly, but it appears the culmination of the Gannon/Duarte investigation with that of the St. Cloud State students lead law enforcement to change the cause of death (CoD) for Chris Jenkins from "undetermined" to "homocide". Additional information gathered from study of more than 100 drowning deaths of young males during the same time period (1997 - 2002) provided a link between at least 40 cases.

Gannon explained, "Right now really, we're out of finances and really can't do any more on the cases. In fact, we looked at 89 cases in totality. We knocked out 30 right away and there was 19 cases that we haven't even done yet -- and out of those 19, it looks like at least 10 or 15 of those could be connected."

In mid-2006, Dr. Gilbertson and St. Cloud criminal justice graduate student, Adam Carlson, are officially working with Gannon and Duarte. Here is some data on the investigators as known thus far:

Kevin Gannon
- Retired NYPD Sargeant
- 20 years service
- Highly decorated

Anthony Duarte
- Retired NYPD Detective
- BA in Criminal Justice
- 20 years of service
- Several commendations

Dr. Lee Gilbertson
- Associate Professor; St. Cloud State University
- Criminal Justice Department
- MS in Criminal Justice
- PhD in Sociology
- 16 years military service
- Certified Gang Specialist

Adam Carlson
- Criminal Justice graduate student at St. Cloud State University
- Former student of Professor Gilbertson
- Certified Gang Specialist

The investigators, who have been working unpaid on the cases for two years, met four weeks ago with Minneapolis police to present their evidence, but approached the national media after local authorities didn't act, Steve Jenkins (Christopher's father) said.

It was bloggers and the media who dubbed the reported serial killer(s) as the Smiley Face Gang or Smiley Face Murder Club.

Sources: Minnesota Daily and Nationwide Investigations

Smiley Face Gang - What's The Holdback?

Last Updated: 6:37pm EDT

From my investigation thus far, I suggest the detectives (and law enforcement) have an important holdback in the area of evidence for the deaths linked to the Smiley Face Gang. I know for a fact that investigators have a few holdbacks at this point. One is that there are informants' who have assisted Gannon and Duarte. The fact that informants exist was accidentally leaked into the edited KSTP article. Another holdback is the nicknames of so-called Smiley Face Gang members -- some of which have been left at multiple death sites. Still a third -- which might be related to the first two -- was mentioned by Chris Jenkins' father yesterday during a press conference, "The investigators said the gangs leave specific graffiti at the sites of their killings, including a smiley face at the site of Chris Jenkins' murder, as well as 12 other symbols repeated throughout the 40 cases."

"In every case, the physical evidence led in one direction and the body was found in another," Dr. Gilbertson said. Whether there is another, larger holdback or not -- Some "thing" is not yet publicly known! Until last weekend, the holdback that became the namesake for the serial killer(s) was the smiley face. What other piece(s) are we missing in the puzzle?

Actually, there are arguments for AND against a major holdback...
Think about it... How would the victims be subdued and killed without any physical evidence of foul play? We do know that the cause of death (CoD) for most of the young men is "undetermined" or "drowning". Public reports do NOT note major bumps, bruises, scratches or abrasions on the victim's body. Toxicology reports show alcohol present in most, but not necessarily all the young men. Did the coroners test for any other substances?

Did the coroners assume too much? IE: Young man pulled from a body of water + Alcohol in his system + Friends report he left alone + No major trauma to body = Drunk kid drowned. You know, I doubt that the coroners in 25 cities, across 11 states, are all that incompetent.

The other side of the coin...
IF the deaths were ruled "undetermined" or "drowning" in all 40 cases (plus many more that may not link up), there would be NO reason for a holdback in evidence as the case would be closed. Period, end of story.

Give me your feedback -- More holdback evidence or not?

Smiley Face Gang

UPDATED: 3:13pm EDT

The Smiley Face Gang seems to have hit the news pretty big two days ago -- and dropped yesterday. Personally, I wonder why more isn't being said about the fact that more than 100 young men have died in supposed drowning accidents -- almost all in similar circumstances -- and the FBI, state agencies and attorneys general are not raising red flags about the situation.

I hate to say it, but if 100 young college girls went missing or supposedly drowned under similar circumstances, everyone in the media and half the federal law enforcement agencies would be crawling every inch of the banks of the Mississippi River -- and several lakes. If these guys were all gay, GLAAD, the NEA, HRC and every other liberal group with an agenda would be all over the story. Instead, these are mostly middle-class white guys -- so who cares?!?

Nonetheless, I'm still trying to find everything I can in order to assist LE and the blogosphere in solving the case. One thing -- I'm currently looking for a list of the 40 names that former detectives Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte have associated to the Smiley Face Gang. I have the list of 19 names from Wisconsin and Minnesota. Add to that number, Patrick McNeill (NY) and Chad Sharon (IN). I need information (hopefully name & location of disappearance) on the other 19 young men.

I also know that victims died in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. Gannon and Duarte claim to have linked cases in eleven states. What other three states are involved? [I have read about a case in Tennessee (Jessiah Jameson), but am not sure if it is "officially" connected or not.]

If YOU have any additional information, please post a comment here. I would appreciate names, locations, dates and links to news or law enforcement documentation of the story.