Happy True Crime Thursday my True Crimers!
So first things first I have to tell you guys something. I was thinking about what to write about this week when the Smiley Face Killers randomly popped into my head. I was going back and forth on it, but then....I was going for a walk around my neighborhood with my husband and cousin when I looked down to see this. To them they are like "oh that's cool," to me it blew my mind and I took it as a sign that I needed to go with my gut and write about the Smiley Face Killings for this weeks blog!
Since the year 1997, former NYPD detectives Kevin Gannon, Anthony Duarte along with Dr. Lee Gilbertson a professor of criminal justice, have investigated dozens of mysterious "accidental" drowning cases involving college-aged men. They believe that the deaths are actually the work of a group of serial killers they have dubbed the Smiley Face Killers. They were given this name due to the creepy spray-painted smiley face left at the sites where the bodies were recovered.
Most of the young men were athletic and successful in their lives, they all disappeared after a night of drinking with friends and were never heard from again. The team believes that these men were targeted, killed and dumped into local waterways by a group of highly sophisticated serial killers that uses that dark web for communication, picking college towns to kill in.
This story is much different than ones I have written before, as what I stated above is at this point just theories they have put together. To this day the cause of death is still listed as undetermined or accidental drownings. At the end I want you to think for yourself whether or not you feel these cases are connected or if they were just tragic accidents and the similarities are just coincidences.
So now I'm going to tell you about a few of the men involved.
Todd Geib was 22 years old when he went missing in the early hours of June 12th, 2005. He was at a bonfire party in an orchard close to his home in Casnovia, Michigan. He was reported missing later that day by his mother, and a large man hunt began. His body was found 3 weeks later in a lake that had previously been searched. It was ruled an undetermined drowning. The night of his disappearance Todd had made several calls from his cellphone, one of them to a friend who heard Todd say "I'm in a field" before the call dropped. His remains had very little signs of decomposition, which would have been present if he had died the day he went missing. Alcohol and antidepressants were found in his system, but it was reported that he was not suffering from any form of depression at the time. A smiley face was spray-painted on a tree near where his body was found.
21 year old Lucas Homan disappeared from La Crosse, Wisconsin on September 29, 2006. The day he went missing he had been celebrating Oktoberfest with his friends, after a night of bar hopping he headed home around 10 pm with a friend. Somehow they got separated during their walk. The friend ended up in the ER detox with a head injury after being picked up by police. He told investigators he couldn't remember anything from that night. The morning of October 2nd Lucas' body was found not to far from the shore of the Mississippi River. The autopsy report noted "acute alcohol intoxication was a major contributing factor" to the ruling of it being an accidental drowning. According to Gannon and Dr. Gilbertson, Lucas had various injuries to his head, hand and arms, they theorized that a mark on his forehead may have been a footprint that was the result of Homan being held down. A spray-painted smiley face was found near where Lucas' body was found.
January 19th, 2008 Tommy Booth, age 24 was celebrating a friends 21st birthday with a group of friends. Surveillance video shows him entering the bar, but no video of him leaving. About 2 weeks after he went missing his body was found face down in a creek behind the bar. His death was ruled a probable drowning, there were no signs of trauma. Strangely the area had been searched several times in the weeks before his body was discovered, but no one had seen Tommy. His body was found in full rigor mortis, which sets in 24-36 hours after death. According to Gannon and Dr. Gilbertson this is inconsistent with the belief that Tommy drowned the night he disappeared. They also noted that the body appeared to be staged, 3 sticks were strategically placed around his body and there were shoe and drag marks in the soil. A smiley face was painted on a wall of the bar under a deck.
24 year old Navy veteran William Hurley went missing on October 8th, 2009 after leaving a Bruins hockey game in Boston, Massachusetts. William called his Fiancee Claire about halfway through the game saying he wanted to leave. When Claire arrived at the stadium to pick him up he was no where in sight. She called him to find out where he was waiting, he answered and she heard him ask someone where he was located. "99 Nashua Street," William also told her his phone battery was going dead. She drove to the address, but no William. She called him again, but his cellphone was dead. She drove around for over an hour before she returned home. He never returned home himself. 6 days after his disappearance his body was found in the Charles River, close to where he asked Claire to pick him up. Investigators said there wasn't signs of foul play and they ruled it an accidental drowning. William's mom received a copy of the autopsy report and had a physician analyze it. She found that he had GHB in his system along with alcohol and that he reportedly suffered blunt force trauma to the head, eye socket and his left leg. A smiley face was found painted near the river.
December 16th, 2014 Paul Kochu was drinking and watching Monday Night Football with friends. After drinking way to much his roommate stated that Paul "cut himself on broken glass or something, so we came home, helped clean that up." Paul was last seen around 1:30 am when his friends left to get food, when they returned he was gone. Ten days later police released surveillance footage of Paul heading in the direction of the 10th Street Bridge downtown at 2:45 am. It shows him stumbling around and swaying while trying to walk and holding his hand with a bandage on it. It wasn't until March 20th, 2015 that his body was found floating in the Ohio River. His body was nude with a small cut on his hand, 3 broken ribs and a 1 inch wound on his scalp. He had a blood alcohol level of 0.15, almost double the legal limit. His death was ruled an undetermined drowning. His parents have voiced their suspicions that they believe there was foul play involved in their sons death. They have raised money to hire a forensic pathologist to review the autopsy results, nothing new has been announced yet. A smiley face was found painted nearby.
Dakota James, age 23 was walking back to his apartment on January 25th, 2017 at 11:30 pm after a night of drinking with friends and co-workers. He never made it home. The last known sighting was caught on a surveillance camera in downtown, showing him enter a dark alley. This was the last time he was seen alive. When Dakota didn't show up for work the next day his boss contacted Dakota's family. They filed a missing persons report 72 hours later. Down the road they also hired a private investigator who organized a massive citywide search, this led to the discovery of Dakota's body in the Ohio River on March 6th. Pittsburgh police theorized that he most likely fell into the river while crossing a bridge near city center and drowned, believing his body traveled almost 10 miles and even went through a dam before it was discovered. However with all the traveling they thought the body went through there was no visible damage. Smiley face was spray painted on an underpass by his body.
By this point I think you guys have an idea of why they believe that these cases are so similar. Let me tell you how this theory even began. This all began with the death of a gentleman by the name of Patrick McNeill in New York City. The 21 year old went missing on February 16th, 1997. He was last seen leaving a bar called the Dapper Dog on Manhattans Upper East Side. His body was recovered April 7th, he was found floating in the water near a pier in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. It appeared to be an accidental drowning, but Gannon who was on the case at the time vowed to Patrick's parents that he would find out the truth. Gannon retired in 2001 and enlisted his old partner Duarte to help him find out what happened to Patrick.
They reported finding overwhelming evidence that suggested Patrick had been killed and then placed in the water. Intoxication was consistent with drugging, a car was seen following him after her left the bar, ligature marks on his neck, charring on his head and torso, and his body positioning in the water was inconsistent with a normal drowning. They soon found several other young men who died in very similar circumstances.
Regardless in 2008 the FBI during a press release stated "they have reviewed information about the victims provided by two retired police detectives, who have dubbed these incidents the Smiley Face Murders." "To date we have not developed any evidence to support links between these tragic deaths or any evidence substantiating the theory that these deaths are the work of a serial killer or killers. The vast majority of these instances appear to be alcohol related drownings."
To this day they are still working on these cases, in January 2019 the Oxygen Channel released a docu-series "Smiley Face Killers- The Hunt for Justice" to try to bring light to the investigations. I would highly recommend watching it.
So what do you think? Please leave your thoughts in the comments and I will see you all next week!
https://www.romper.com/p/what-is-the-smiley-face-killers-theory-oxygens-new-docuseries-investigates-a-series-of-unsolved-drownings-15918456
Most of the young men were athletic and successful in their lives, they all disappeared after a night of drinking with friends and were never heard from again. The team believes that these men were targeted, killed and dumped into local waterways by a group of highly sophisticated serial killers that uses that dark web for communication, picking college towns to kill in.
This story is much different than ones I have written before, as what I stated above is at this point just theories they have put together. To this day the cause of death is still listed as undetermined or accidental drownings. At the end I want you to think for yourself whether or not you feel these cases are connected or if they were just tragic accidents and the similarities are just coincidences.
So now I'm going to tell you about a few of the men involved.
Todd Geib was 22 years old when he went missing in the early hours of June 12th, 2005. He was at a bonfire party in an orchard close to his home in Casnovia, Michigan. He was reported missing later that day by his mother, and a large man hunt began. His body was found 3 weeks later in a lake that had previously been searched. It was ruled an undetermined drowning. The night of his disappearance Todd had made several calls from his cellphone, one of them to a friend who heard Todd say "I'm in a field" before the call dropped. His remains had very little signs of decomposition, which would have been present if he had died the day he went missing. Alcohol and antidepressants were found in his system, but it was reported that he was not suffering from any form of depression at the time. A smiley face was spray-painted on a tree near where his body was found. 
January 19th, 2008 Tommy Booth, age 24 was celebrating a friends 21st birthday with a group of friends. Surveillance video shows him entering the bar, but no video of him leaving. About 2 weeks after he went missing his body was found face down in a creek behind the bar. His death was ruled a probable drowning, there were no signs of trauma. Strangely the area had been searched several times in the weeks before his body was discovered, but no one had seen Tommy. His body was found in full rigor mortis, which sets in 24-36 hours after death. According to Gannon and Dr. Gilbertson this is inconsistent with the belief that Tommy drowned the night he disappeared. They also noted that the body appeared to be staged, 3 sticks were strategically placed around his body and there were shoe and drag marks in the soil. A smiley face was painted on a wall of the bar under a deck. December 16th, 2014 Paul Kochu was drinking and watching Monday Night Football with friends. After drinking way to much his roommate stated that Paul "cut himself on broken glass or something, so we came home, helped clean that up." Paul was last seen around 1:30 am when his friends left to get food, when they returned he was gone. Ten days later police released surveillance footage of Paul heading in the direction of the 10th Street Bridge downtown at 2:45 am. It shows him stumbling around and swaying while trying to walk and holding his hand with a bandage on it. It wasn't until March 20th, 2015 that his body was found floating in the Ohio River. His body was nude with a small cut on his hand, 3 broken ribs and a 1 inch wound on his scalp. He had a blood alcohol level of 0.15, almost double the legal limit. His death was ruled an undetermined drowning. His parents have voiced their suspicions that they believe there was foul play involved in their sons death. They have raised money to hire a forensic pathologist to review the autopsy results, nothing new has been announced yet. A smiley face was found painted nearby. 
They reported finding overwhelming evidence that suggested Patrick had been killed and then placed in the water. Intoxication was consistent with drugging, a car was seen following him after her left the bar, ligature marks on his neck, charring on his head and torso, and his body positioning in the water was inconsistent with a normal drowning. They soon found several other young men who died in very similar circumstances.
Regardless in 2008 the FBI during a press release stated "they have reviewed information about the victims provided by two retired police detectives, who have dubbed these incidents the Smiley Face Murders." "To date we have not developed any evidence to support links between these tragic deaths or any evidence substantiating the theory that these deaths are the work of a serial killer or killers. The vast majority of these instances appear to be alcohol related drownings."
To this day they are still working on these cases, in January 2019 the Oxygen Channel released a docu-series "Smiley Face Killers- The Hunt for Justice" to try to bring light to the investigations. I would highly recommend watching it.
So what do you think? Please leave your thoughts in the comments and I will see you all next week!
Resources:
https://allthatsinteresting.com/smiley-face-killer-theoryhttps://www.romper.com/p/what-is-the-smiley-face-killers-theory-oxygens-new-docuseries-investigates-a-series-of-unsolved-drownings-15918456
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