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View Full Version : News Frightening coast-to-coast tonight: connected serial killings in 25 cities/11 states?


keg in kc
04-26-2008, 01:33 AM
This reads like fiction, but it's a story that apparently broke in Minneapolis this week, and I believe I heard tonight it's going to be carried on Good Morning America next week.

Short version is that two retired NYPD detectives believe they've uncovered evidence that dozens of college-aged male drowning victims in a number of states, going back more than a decade, were victims of connected serial killings, carried out by some wide-ranging, well-organized group of murderers.

I don't think I can do the story justice, so I'm just going to provide the original story from the TV station (if you follow the link the video will autoplay).

This is some scary shit.DETECTIVES: Chris Jenkins murder connects dozens around country (http://kstp.com/article/stories/s421846.shtml?v=1)

[i]Could there be a calculated, cross-country plot to kill young college men, including some in Minnesota? It seems a little hard to believe, but two New York detectives say they can prove it. [/il]

By: Kristi Piehl, Investigative Reporter; Justin Piehowski, Web Manager; Nicole Muehlhausen, Web Producer
Posted at: 04/23/2008 10:28:47 AM
Updated at: 04/25/2008 10:43:24 PM

University of Minnesota college student Chris Jenkins was found in the Mississippi River in February of 2003.

Minneapolis Police began investigating the case, which also caught the attention of two retired NYPD detectives.

Turns out, Jenkins' death was the missing part of the puzzle for Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte.

They think Jenkins connects dozens of other deaths around the country over the last decade. The stories are the same all over the country--an athletic, intelligent, well-liked college student goes missing.

Family and friends launch a massive search. Weeks or months later, the young man is discovered drowned. In more than 40 cases, the deaths are blamed on a drunken accident--except for one.

The death of Chris Jenkins in Minneapolis is the only one where the cause of death was changed from 'undetermined' or 'drowning' to 'homicide.'

"I can honestly tell you that I've walked every step of the way and it is hard for me to believe," Chris' mother Jan Jenkins told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. "The level of evil we are dealing with here is rampant, it's deep and it's widespread."

Because of extensive investigation by Duarte and Gannon, Jan Jenkins now says she knows exactly what happened to her son on the night he disappeared, Oct. 31, 2002.

"Chris was abducted in a cargo van," she said. "He was driven around Minneapolis for hours and tortured. He was taken down to the Mississippi River and he was murdered. And after that, his body was positioned and taken to a different spot and then to a different point in the Mississippi River," she said.

Gannon and Duarte say they've discovered a link between Jenkins' death and the drownings of at least 40 other men in 25 cities in 11 different states.

It began in New York

The investigation started 11 years ago in New York when then-Sgt. Gannon made a promise to the parents of Patrick McNeill.

Patrick McNeill was last seen at a New York City bar in 1997. His body was found 50 days later, 11 miles downriver.

"We knew it wasn't suicide," said Patrick McNeill's mother Jackie McNeill. "It was one of those things where he walked out and was never seen again."

One of the only things comforting the McNeills is Gannon, a decorated officer with a long history in the New York City Police Department.

"I told them I would never give up on the case," Gannon told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. When Gannon retired, he devoted his life to keeping his promise to the McNeill family.

"We've been doing this on our own, our own finances," Gannon explained. "We've never taken a penny from any of the families. I personally have mortgaged my own home to investigate this."

According to Gannon's ally, Duarte, this is almost 'a perfect crime' because the water washes away any physical evidence and there are never any witnesses. Almost all of the men are last seen by friends leaving a bar or college party.

Local police have investigated the deaths and the FBI has even taken a look at the cases.

In every case except for the Jenkins case, local law enforcement has ruled the death an accident.

"I think it is a serial killer, but not one individual. I would just say, a group of individuals, probably located in more than one state," Duarte said, adding that he thinks they may kill again.

'Sick Signature'

Gannon and Duarte have done something that no other law enforcement agency has ever done in this case -- they looked at the big picture and visited each site where the young men disappeared.

While most local investigations focused on where a body was recovered, Gannon and Duarte tried to figure out where the body went into the river.

City after city, when they'd find the spot where the body went in, they would find something else: The symbol of a smiley face.

"It's very disturbing," Duarte said.

The paint color and size of the face varies, but the detectives are convinced that it's a sick signature the killers leave behind.

They found one eight years ago in Wisconsin and then others in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana. Then most recently, they believe they've found one in Iowa.

In Michigan, they found something strange among the group's graffiti: the word 'Sinsiniwa.' They couldn't figure out what it meant until a few months later when they arrived in Dubuque, Iowa to investigate the death of Matt Kruziki.

His body was found on Sinsiniwa Avenue. Plus, they've discovered the nicknames of people in the group at more than one location.

Two years ago, already entrenched in their investigation, Gannon and Duarte came to Minnesota. They connected with St. Cloud State College Professor Lee Gilbertson.

Gilbertson had challenged his criminology students to search for patterns in the 11 disappearances of Minnesota and Wisconsin college students.

Why go public?

Gannon and Duarte are now confident they've discovered a nationwide criminal enterprise.

The detectives say they have to go public to 'protect the innocent and prosecute the guilty.'

"If nothing else, we have to warn the families and the young individuals so that no one else becomes a victim," Gannon said.

Duarte added, "Other kids are at risk, yes, it's very frustrating."

Gannon and Duarte want their investigation to prompt changes in the way drownings are investigated.

They say medical examiners frequently don't even consider murder when looking at the body of a drowning victim.

The detectives requested that 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS hold back some key details of the murders such as motive and the identities of the informants. They hope that information will someday be used to file criminal charges.

They have already taken all of this evidence in the Jenkins case to Minneapolis Police and Hennepin County prosecutors--so why haven't they taken action? We will ask them.

Watch 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Friday night at 10:00 to find out how Minneapolis Police and Hennepin County prosecutors responded.

keg in kc
04-26-2008, 01:39 AM
One of the callers raised an interesting point: the fact that it was men may have helped the killings go under the radar. If dozens of college-aged woman over 11 years had disappeared and later been found floating in a river, the story probably would have spread like wildfire years ago, and would most likely have been handled very differently by both local authorities and the FBI. You don't think about popular, athletic men as stereotypical "victims", so the cases were treated as accidental drownings, drunk kids who fell into a river and died, no questions asked.

The part about the smiley-faces on (IIRC) 19 of the locations is just bizarre. It almost makes it sound like a joke, the "smiley-face killiers". Not a very funny one, but a joke nonetheless.

Mecca
04-26-2008, 02:14 AM
I'm never going to another party again.

Thig Lyfe
04-26-2008, 02:30 AM
I'm never going to another party again.

The stories are the same all over the country--an athletic, intelligent, well-liked college student goes missing.

You've got nothing to worry about.

pr_capone
04-26-2008, 02:33 AM
You've got nothing to worry about.

ROFLROFLROFL

Mecca
04-26-2008, 02:34 AM
Hey damn it, I'm just not in college....

I also don't know how to swim so I stay far away from water, anyone that knows me knows that.

Ultra Peanut
04-26-2008, 02:41 AM
The impression I got was that everyone who's ever died has ended up floating in the river.

stumppy
04-26-2008, 03:31 AM
The impression I got was that everyone who's ever died has ended up floating in the river.

The impression I got was that the NY detectives might be on to something. You should take a look at the interactive map.

Mecca
04-26-2008, 03:31 AM
In a Van.....down by the River!

BigRock
04-26-2008, 04:10 AM
You should take a look at the interactive map.
Do the locations of the killings form a smiley face over America? 'Cause that would be some epic shit.

markk
04-26-2008, 06:19 AM
i enjoy the program... for its curiousity value. but i dont know how anyone can take anything from it seriously, between the caller who claims to be a time travelling abraham lincoln and another who says his *sshole is a portal to another dimension

Ultra Peanut
04-26-2008, 11:17 PM
i enjoy the program... for its curiousity value. but i dont know how anyone can take anything from it seriously, between the caller who claims to be a time travelling abraham lincoln and another who says his *sshole is a portal to another dimensionI will not have you besmirch the good name of Mel's Hole.

ChiefaRoo
04-26-2008, 11:48 PM
Do the locations of the killings form a smiley face over America? 'Cause that would be some epic shit.

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Rausch
04-26-2008, 11:52 PM
I will not have you besmirch the good name of Mel's Hole.

You still rolling on that...eh...info?

jAZ
04-27-2008, 12:28 AM
i enjoy the program... for its curiousity value. but i dont know how anyone can take anything from it seriously, between the caller who claims to be a time travelling abraham lincoln and another who says his *sshole is a portal to another dimension

There is a lot to take seriously, but the majority is goofy stuff.

That show (and more-so under Art Bell), has the best Science on broadcast radio outside of Science Friday on NPR.

Dr. Micho Kaku's appearances are always addictive.

ChiefaRoo
04-27-2008, 12:31 AM
There is a lot to take seriously, but the majority is goofy stuff.

That show (and more-so under Art Bell), has the best Science on broadcast radio outside of Science Friday on NPR.

Dr. Micho Kaku's appearances are always addictive.

Michio Kaku rocks. I've read a couple of his books and enjoy him on Discovery as well although he's no dramatic gopher.......
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Silock
04-27-2008, 12:45 AM
Michio Kaku besmirches his own name by appearing on that abortion of a show? That makes me sad :(

BigRock
04-27-2008, 12:46 AM
A few years ago I had to drive home every weekend from school, which was a few hour trip, and I listened to Coast to Coast during a few of the drives. And there was this "demon" who kept calling in, claiming that he had posessed the person who had called.

A normal person would be talking, and suddenly the voice would turn all deep and growling and evil. It would go like this...

Host: Hi, you're on the air.

Caller: Hello, I was just calling to comment on what a previous caller said. I was out at my grandpa's farm one night, looking up at the stars, and I'm pretty sure I saw a UFO because it was round and bright and -- ARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHH HELLO GEORGE IT'S ME AGAIN.

Host: Oh no! It's that demon!

Caller: I HAVE TAKEN THE SOUL OF THIS PATHETIC MORTAL. AND I'M COMING FOR YOUR OTHER CALLERS. AND FOR YOU AS WELL. I AM A HELPER OF THE DEVIL. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

It was hilarious. And they always played it like it was for real, which made it even funnier, if not a little sad.

ChiefaRoo
04-27-2008, 01:21 AM
A few years ago I had to drive home every weekend from school, which was a few hour trip, and I listened to Coast to Coast during a few of the drives. And there was this "demon" who kept calling in, claiming that he had posessed the person who had called.

A normal person would be talking, and suddenly the voice would turn all deep and growling and evil. It would go like this...

Host: Hi, you're on the air.

Caller: Hello, I was just calling to comment on what a previous caller said. I was out at my grandpa's farm one night, looking up at the stars, and I'm pretty sure I saw a UFO because it was round and bright and -- ARRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHH HELLO GEORGE IT'S ME AGAIN.

Host: Oh no! It's that demon!

Caller: I HAVE TAKEN THE SOUL OF THIS PATHETIC MORTAL. AND I'M COMING FOR YOUR OTHER CALLERS. AND FOR YOU AS WELL. I AM A HELPER OF THE DEVIL. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

It was hilarious. And they always played it like it was for real, which made it even funnier, if not a little sad.

Admit it when you hear that stuff when you're driving at night you look into the back seat every now and again and the hair on the back of your neck stands up.

Ultra Peanut
04-27-2008, 01:44 AM
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keg in kc
04-27-2008, 01:57 AM
Michio Kaku besmirches his own name by appearing on that abortion of a show? That makes me sadHe's an ambassador who's dedicated his life to simplifying complex scientific concepts into something the masses can understand, and coast to coast, however you might not like the unconventional subject matter, plays nightly on more than 500 stations in North America, and to more than 20 million listeners worldwide. He's not going to get a bigger audience; really, what other major talk radio program do you think is going to give him a semi-regular 3-hour platform to discuss whatever he wants. People who listen to Rush or Dr. Laura or Hannity or Bill O'Reilly aren't generally the kind of people who'll be interested in listening to a college professor ramble on about science for 3 hours. Fact is, the kind of geeks, kooks and weirdos who are up into the wee hours listening to "crazy talk" tend to be more interested that kind of thing than most mainstream listeners. And that's why he's been one of their more popular guests for years.