Smiley face murders

The Smiley face murders (alternately referred to as the Smiley face killings, the Smiley face murderer(s), the Smiley face gang, and other variations) refers to a theory originally advanced by two retired New York City detectives, Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte, that a number of young men found dead in bodies of water across several states over the last decade did not accidentally drown, as believed by most law enforcement sources, but were victims of a serial killer or killers.

Gannon and Duarte's theory

As recently as 2008, Gannon and Duarte were examining evidence going back to the late 1990s that they believe connects the deaths of 40 or more college-age white males, whose dead bodies were found in water in 11 states, often after leaving parties or bars where they were drinking. The men, according to the former detectives, have often fit a profile of being popular, athletic, and good students." [http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/21/smiley.face.killer/index.html Smiley face killers may be stalking college men] ", CNN, May 21 2008.]

While the majority of these cases are believed by local authorities to be the result of accidental drownings, Gannon and Duarte have theorized that the young men were all murdered, either by an individual or by an organized group of killers. [" [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352960,00.html Detectives: 40 Drowning Victims May Have Been Murdered by 'Smiley Face Gang'] ", Fox News, April 29 2008.] The term "smiley face" became connected to the alleged murders when it was made public that Gannon and Duarte had discovered graffiti depicting a smiley face near locations where they think the killer dumped the bodies in at least a dozen of the cases.

Rejection of the theory

Although Gannon and Duarte have been investigating cases going back as far as 1997, the perhaps most noted case in their theory is that of Chris Jenkins, a 21-year-old University of Minnesota student who left a bar in Minneapolis on Halloween night in 2002 and whose body was discovered in the Mississippi River in February 2003 (the Mississippi runs through downtown Minneapolis). Jenkins' death was originally ruled an accident, but in November 2006 the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) indicated that they had evidence suggesting the case was a homicide. [http://www.startribune.com/local/11593526.html | Retrieved on 22-AUG-2008] However, the MPD has indicated that it does not support Gannon and Duarte’s theory linking Jenkins’ death to the drowning deaths of other college-age white males.

Other police forces that investigated the deaths Gannon and Duarte have argued should be linked together also dispute their conclusions. The La Crosse, Wisconsin, police force, which in charge of eight such investigations, released an official statement reiterating their original conclusions that the deaths were accidental drownings of inebriated men and stating that no smiley face symbols were found in connection with any of these cases. [http://media.graytvinc.com/documents/lcpd+release.pdf ]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has also issued a statement indicating that they do not agree with Gannon and Duarte’s belief that there is a serial killer at work. ["FBI Statement Regarding Midwest River Deaths" FBI website press release, online at http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel08/statement042908.htm ]

Criminal profiler Pat Brown calls the serial killer theory "ludicrous," arguing that the evidence doesn't fit what is known about serial killers. Brown also believes that the smiley face images found in some of the cases are likely nothing more than coincidences based upon making a guess at where the body entered the water and searching a wide area until an example of smiley face graffiti can be found. "It's not an unusual symbol," she told Matt Smith of the Minneapolis-based newspaper "City Pages". "If you look in an area five miles square, I bet you could find a smiley face." [http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2008/06/criminal_profil.php ]

Congressional response

Despite these official dismissals, the case saw renewed interest in early 2008 when smiley face graffiti was discovered near the death scene of Tommy Booth, a young man found drowned in a creek behind a bar in Ridley Township, Pennsylvania. [http://kstp.com/article/stories/s434838.shtml?v=1] Developments such as the Booth case led at least two active members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Michael R. McNulty (D-NY) and Jim Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI), to request that the FBI re-open its investigation. [http://kstp.com/article/stories/s451821.shtml?cat=1] [http://sensenbrenner.house.gov/UploadedFiles/sensenbrenner%20letter%20to%20fbi.pdf]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.nationwideinvestigations.us/press.html Nationwide Investigations] - Gannon and Duarte's official web site