Another suspicious death in Mississippi River near La Crosse

This subject was the topic on the Coast to Coast radio show (formerly hosted by Art Bell) one night last week. Two homicide cops in New York came up with the serial killer theory after a Fordham student died under similar circumstances in New York City.

Weird, wild stuff.

 

Well if Art Bell says it's true...

I knew a kid who died in similar circumstances in Minnesota. The story in the New York paper had quotes from police discounting the idea of a smiley face killer or a serial killing syndicate that somehow manages to get these kids to drown without clubbing them, shooting them, or stabbing them first. Even drunk, these aren't 1-year-olds being held down in a bath tub.

 

Post says 40 people--all drowned. I think its a bit more than a coincidence.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04292008/news/regionalnews/killer_gang_drowns_40__sleuths_108571.htm

 

Um...

 

I know that story very well. Authorities suspected he was pissing into the river across from the liquor store when he fell forward into the concrete and cracked his skull.

 

Wouldn't GHB show up in a toxicology screening from the autopsy?

 

This is a good case of what newspapers do best.

Hit the story hard, from all angles, get it right, then publish everything you find and everything that backs it up.

You won't get that from TV or the InterWebTubes.

And don't forget to mention that to your publisher and your executive editor, who were probably off cavorting together in Cancun that weekend.

 

I read about these deaths in FHM (yeah, I read the articles). Seems kind of odd, but I imagine you could do a statistical model that would be able to determine the probability of this many deaths in such a confined geographic area.

And just seeing that all the victims were young men sure makes it seem like a profile. No young women get drunk in that area? No old men?

 

It's a naturally occurring substance in the body and it continues to form after death. What they'd have to look for are unusually elevated levels based on a timeline going back toward a time of death.

It is kind of thing that a medical examiner would look for if it was already suspected to be a factor -- such as in a sex assault-homicide. But I'd be surprised if it was part of the standard screening. I've read enough autopsy reports to know that they don't look at every possible outcome with every dead body. They look at what the outward signs point to and then see if that's supported by what they find in the body.

Drunkenness + water in the lungs + no signs of serious trauma (that can't be explained by a body being in the water for some time) is going to equal a pretty quick autopsy so they can get to the next case.

 

Except that the article I linked is from a TV station.

 

This is a fascinating story.

I cannot wait for this to unfold.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ned=&q=%22Smiley+Face+Gang%22&ie=UTF-8&scoring=n

If Homeland Security became involved, I have a feeling with all the listening on our phones and the patrolling of the internet, credit card usage, this would be solved in about a day.

 

Brian Lambert, a really good media critic in Minnesota, does a good job of pointing out some major flaws with the KSTP-TV report that was linked to previously. And surprise, it came during sweeps week.

http://msp.blogs.com/brianlambert/2008/04/kstps-psycho-ki.html

A quote:

"WTF? I need an explanation of how an organized cult of psychopaths operates, roaming the country attacking and drowning twenty-year-old men, albeit drunk ones. And while you're at it, what would possibly be their motivation?"

He also points out that the detectives say they have enough to make an arrest. Um, then what are they waiting for? And the Minneapolis official says bring the evidence forward and we'll make an arrest.
Minneapolis cop says the two New York detectives have a new theory, no new evidence.

As for the GHB angle...I still don't get how you'd go from giving someone a date rape drug, to getting them in a river to drown them. I'd assume they'd have to slip it in their drink while they're at the bar. So no one in a large group of college kids notices a stranger hanging around. The killers then manage to make sure the person they gave the GHB to goes home alone (they must be psychic to know that person's not going home with three other people). They follow them but are not noticed by anyone - 40 different times . As the victim is getting groggy, from the date rape drug and the alcohol, they come up from behind and shove them into the river, holding them down. Again, with no one noticing. And this has happened 40 different times. In addition, not all the victims were at bars, some were at house parties. So, again, a stranger manages to slip in unnoticed and drop a little drug into someone's beer?

The stories mention how the NY detectives put their own finances, their own homes, on the line to continue the investigation. It seems like they might be motivated to come up with something besides "accidental drowning" to justfiy the time and expense that was put into it.