pbray: (crime)
pbray ([personal profile] pbray) wrote2008-05-21 01:55 pm
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Smiley face killer?

It sounds like an idea for an episode of Criminal Minds or perhaps [livejournal.com profile] matociquala and friends' Shadow Unit-- a serial killer preying on college men, whose murders go undetected because each death is classified as an accidental drowning. Until the coincidences start piling up, and a potential signature is identified.

The story hit the media outlets last month, and CNN has joined the debate. It has all the ingredients of a classic Hollywood story, including the two detectives who are doggedly pursuing their theory in the face of almost universal disbelief.

It would be fascinating to watch unfold--if you could forget that these were real people, who left grieving family and friends behind.

smiley face killers

(Anonymous) 2008-05-21 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
http://smileyfacekillers.blogspot.com/

check out all of the videos I have compiled.

[identity profile] kristine-smith.livejournal.com 2008-05-21 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Yanno, I saved an article from a semi-recent issue of the Trib in which these deaths are discussed. The claim in that article is that there was no evidence supporting a serial killer. Interesting that the opinion is changing in some quarters.

[identity profile] pbray.livejournal.com 2008-05-21 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, the earlier articles I'd seen had been fairly dismissive, so the latest round of news stories is interesting.

And it would be a nightmare to investigate, with so many potential victims, and how much evidence has been lost over the years (or was never even collected) given the assumption of accidental drowning.

The Watchmen

(Anonymous) 2008-05-21 07:11 pm (UTC)(link)
So, I just happened across an article about the possible smiley face killer on cnn. I decided to start looking around for the history of the smiley face on Wiki. Given the times, victims and locations.....the watchmen is kind of eerily similar. Im gonna get into it a little further, my first instinct was that it is a feminist group. The smiley was also used as a symbol for Xstacy, a possible explanation for how the victims were drugged or persuaded. Anyone know what costume Christopher Jenkins was wearing when he disapeared? What costume was he found in?

Re: The Watchmen

(Anonymous) 2008-06-03 05:30 pm (UTC)(link)
indian costume

Smiley Face Hoax

(Anonymous) 2008-05-21 07:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Almost certainly what this is. How does anyone know if those faces aren't drawn after the fact?
Very sad that there are real deaths, but I think some detectives just want some notoriety.

Re: Smiley Face Hoax

(Anonymous) 2008-05-21 08:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Chris was wearing an Indian costume.

Re: Smiley Face Hoax

(Anonymous) 2008-05-21 08:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I meant to reply to the other post. Sorry.

These two detectives are good men. They've spent all of their owns funds, at great personal and spiritual cost.

Smiley face killer

(Anonymous) 2008-05-21 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Does anyone know the locations of the 40 or so students. I know of a case in Scranton which sound chillingly similar to the pattern but wonder if anyone is including this young man in the list. He also disappeared after visiting a bar on St. Patrick's Day weekend and was found "drowned" several weeks later.

copycats

(Anonymous) 2008-05-22 12:33 am (UTC)(link)
How can 40 people get killed without the FBI or police getting any solid evidence or leads of a serial killer(s). Probably just a bunch of sickos who don't know each other and don't communicate with each other, and copycat the way in which the murders are set up.

[identity profile] sausconys-books.livejournal.com 2008-05-22 12:41 am (UTC)(link)
As I was reading the CNN article, I was thinking of the local man, Josh Szostak, who disappeared around Christmas and whose body was just found recently in the Hudson River and wondered if he was one of the men in NY State. Then I watched the video and got goosebumps because he was the first one mentioned. This is pretty scary and I've already been through a serial killer lives in my town thing back in the 80's (Arthur Shawcross in Rochester, NY).

[identity profile] pbray.livejournal.com 2008-05-22 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
It's scary to contemplate.

Around here, every spring thaw brings at least one body to light. This spring it was a young man who'd jumped into the river while under the influence and drowned. There were witnesses to his jumping in, so it was a tragedy rather than a mystery.

But you think of all of those cases where there were no witnesses, and how hard it would be to weed out potential murders from accidents or suicides, and just how long someone could get away with something like this, especially if they kept crossing jurisdictions. This is the part of the story that haunts me.

have you found this stuff on the internet?

(Anonymous) 2008-05-22 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
First off, I feel terrible for the families of the victims. Have you found any of these articles on the net?
http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2006/12/smiley-veil-and-urban-legend.html

Pay particular attention to page 4
http://www.folklore.ee/Folklore/vol27/news.pdf

http://www.watchman.org/occult/ellisinterview.htm

How can I help?

It's Clear Who the Smiley Face Killers Are

(Anonymous) 2008-05-22 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
These psychos are killing intelligent college-educated white men.....my theory is that they're fanatical Hillary Clinton supporters. 40 possible related incidents is rediculously high. I'm worried for my husband's life. He is a good-looking Obama supporter.

[identity profile] mc23.livejournal.com 2008-05-22 07:16 pm (UTC)(link)
This reminds me of some deaths over here in the UK at an army barracks, Aldershot(?), a while ago. I think there were 5, all caddets and all shot. All were, (still are?), classed as suicide even though 1 was shot multiply times and another was shot twice..in the head.(!?)

[identity profile] pbray.livejournal.com 2008-05-22 07:51 pm (UTC)(link)
How bizarre!

It is possible, by the way, to commit suicide via multiple gunshots to the head. There was a case here in the U.S. just last fall, where a suspect killed himself in that way just as the police were moving in to arrest him. But it's obviously extremely rare.

[identity profile] mc23.livejournal.com 2008-05-22 08:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I have never heard of this, but like you said it is possible.

I do remember one other thing about this case. One of the caddets had just returned from leave. According to his mother he was happy and talking about getting a car. 3 hours later he was dead. His death is/was classed as suicide like the others, and his mother says she will accept this *if * someone will tell her what happened in those hours to drive him to kill himself. As far as I know no-one has.

[identity profile] pbray.livejournal.com 2008-05-22 08:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Really makes you wonder, doesn't it.

I remember reading about this case on the BBC website earlier this year--wasn't there a history of severe abuse and hazing of recruits as well?

[identity profile] mc23.livejournal.com 2008-05-23 09:37 am (UTC)(link)
Yes there was.