For nearly the last 30 years, two retired New York Police Department detectives, Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte, believe that a series of coincidental drownings that have occurred throughout the country are the result of a group of organized serial killers.
So how do the smiley face killers operate?
It is believed that a nationwide network of serial killers drug young men at a bar or party and once they became dulled enough, they would then abduct them, hold and torture the victims before finally killing the men and dumping the bodies in water.
The theory begins in 1997 with the death of college student Patrick McNeill, who drowned in New York City. McNeill’s death was ruled accidental and due to alcohol intoxication, but Gannon and Duarte disagreed with this. They examined the autopsy report, the crime scene photos. Soon Dr Lee Gilbertson from St. Cloud University began digging into the case.
Soon they began tracking the suspicious drowning deaths of these young men across the United States. Victims were typically white, athletic, and in college. These deaths had appeared in multiple cities, from the east coast all the way to the West Coast. They tended to also appear along the I-94 corridor, which passes from Michigan to Montana.
The term “smiley face” was coined when the team revealed they’d discovered graffiti drawings with a smiley face on at least a dozen locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. Although the paint color, size and style of the faces varied, the team was sure it was a killer’s signature, and they were claiming responsibility. The detectives theorized the killings are motivated by jealousy and that a coordinated effort is being made after these men.
Several cases give support to the Smiley Face Theory.
For example, on the night of October 8th, 2009 in Boston, William Hurley called his girlfriend Claire Mahoney to come pick him up as he wanted to go home. William, a groundskeeper, was attending a Boston Bruins home game and wanted to go home early as he was tired. While on the phone, William warned his cellphone battery was dying. Claire asked for his location and was given 99 Nashua Street but soon the line went dead. Just a few minutes later Claire arrived at the address, but William was nowhere to be found.
Around a week later his body was found in the Charles River and suspiciously the cellphone was smashed close by. His death was ruled a drowning, and police stated that they found no evidence of foul play. Still there were doubts in the community and especially by people who were close to William like Claire. They note several key things such as evidence of blunt force drama as well as a toxicology report that found high levels of GHB, which is commonly used as the date-rape drug.
in 2008, the detectives went public, and they claimed to have identified more than 40 potential murders that could be the Smiley Face Killers. The national media quickly picked up the story. In the years that followed, the group has found additional physical evidence. Also, they have probably most important, expanded their database of potential victims of the Smiley Face Killers. Its currently around 350 cases and growing. It’s important to remember that much of this evidence is not circumstantial.
For example, and probably most important, is the decomposition timelines. The lack of decomposition on the bodies is inconsistent with the period of time that the victims are missing.
For example, Dakota James, who was missing for 40 days showed decomposition of only around three days, another example is Todd Geib, who was missing for 21 days but showed decomposition of around 2.5 days.
The team goes onto to state that the presence of land insects, lividity patterns, and the lack of bloating associated with many of the bodies suggest that the victims died on land, not in the water.
Astoundingly, the detectives also point out the occurrence of GHB, the date-rape drug occurs in 99.9 percent of the cases. GHB isn’t typically included on post-mortem toxicology tests, but many of the families of suspected Smiley Face victims either requested that the coroner test or sent samples to the team.
With all this evidence, the team believe this forensic evidence shows that the victims were drugged before they were abducted, then killed and placed into the water.
With the similarities in victim profile and circumstances around their disappearance and death, they also point to 13 symbols, including the now famous smiley-face graffiti, located near the crime scenes.
Still not everyone is convinced that there is something fishy going on here. Local police are hesitant to reopen many of the cases and the FBI has stated that they have found no connection. Skeptics also point out the variation in Smiley Faces at the scenes. They appear to be random in where they are placed around the scene with quite a bit of variation. Critics also point out that cold water can preserve a body, and this could delay the decomposition.
Still, many detectives and other individuals within law enforcement tend to agree with the issues going on with this case. One of The main goals of the team is have these cases reclassified from accidental drowning to homicide.
Perhaps the key piece of evidence is the presence of GHB in so many of the victims. There doesn’t appear to be a convincing rebuttal to that piece of hard evidence.
And this raises some questions. For example, how did the killers know GHB is not checked for in toxicology screen? It leads many to believe that these must have been planned.
Also, why were only drunk people usually found in the lakes or rivers? It appears the killers were targeting people who were under the influence.
In many of the cases, people disappeared without anyone seeing them. Were the men lured away by a female?
Perhaps one day someone will come forward with intimate knowledge. Or perhaps the killer will slip up and be caught.
