Are the "Smiley-Face" Killers Roaming the Country?

In November of 2006, in the City of Chicago, Jesse Ross, a student from the University of Missouri was walking back to his hotel at the Four Point Sheraton Hotel which was only ten minutes away. A surveillance photo from the Four Points Sheraton taken at about 1 in the morning shows Jesse standing near the lobby holding a Gatorade bottle. He was in town with other students for a mock UN Conference which was to take place at 2 am. This was to be followed by a dance. Jesse was going to head back to his room before attending the dance, a walk that should have taken no more than ten minutes.

Jesse never reached his room. He never attended the dance. He was never seen again. Between where the conference was held and where his room was lay the Chicago River. It was believed he may have fallen in and drowned. Frogmen were called in and police brought dogs down by the banks of the river but his body, to this day, has never been found.

His friends say they did see him drink, but that they had never seen him drunk. They also stated they did not think he was drunk the night of his disappearance. Debate has raged since then if Jesse Ross was actually drunk when he attempted his walk back or not.

In December of 2005 a 31-year-old man named Matthew Soumakis was in Chicago on business. On the morning of December 5 he called his mother. The day before, on the 4^th, he called his wife to say he was going to go out to dinner with a cousin who had driven up Indianapolis. Not long after the call to his mother, just before 8 in the morning, a security camera at The Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers, where he was staying, showed him walking out of the hotel and turning toward Illinois Street. He never made it to his business conference.

His co-workers became concerned. His family filed a police report. His room was searched and his laptop, luggage and other personal effects were there. The police monitored his credit cards and found that none of them had been used.

There was a possible sighting of Matthew in a bar directly across the street from the hotel, Lizzie McNeil's. The reports were that this happened about five hours after he was seen by the security cameras and some witnesses say he was seen drinking with an older gentleman with gray hair until about 1:30 in the morning.

On December 20^th, the worst fears of Matthew and his family were confirmed. His body was pulled out of the Chicago River near Halsted and Division. It was determined that he died from drowning but the circumstances behind where he had been and what happened that ended with him in the river have never been discovered.

On and on, the stories go, throughout the Midwest, into the upper Northwest and all the way to the East coast. In each case, young men, apparently popular, many of them in college, all of them athletic, have been disappearing and then showing up drowned in bodies of water. In all cases this has happened during winter months and in most cases the individual who has drowned was drinking on the night that they disappeared.

Is it a coincidence? Over 40 young men have died in this way. Are they all accidents? At least two retired police detectives and one professor think that there is a connection and they think there is a dangerous groups of serial killers on the loose.

Former New York Police Detective, Kevin Gannon, along with former Detective Anthony Duarte and Professor D. Lee Gilbertson from St. Cloud State University have been spending time reviewing the cases. They say that there is a gang of serial killers on the loose and that they are targeting these men. They also believe that they have been leaving a calling card.

In each case, according to Gannon, Duarte and Gilbertson, graffiti showing a smiley-face or smiley-face with horns has been found near the scene where the young men have drowned. This, they theorize, is the calling card of this gang. Therefore, they have been dubbed the "Smiley-Face Killers."

Gannon has been involved in the case since 1997 when he began investigating the death of Patrick McNeill. Patrick's body was found in the Hudson River after a night of drinking. At the time, his death was declared a suicide, but his parents refused to believe that it was. Gannon swore to McNeill's parents he would not stop investigating the case.

Since then, he has remained true to his word. In fact, the three men have put up their own money to investigate the numerous cases around the country. Recently, the three of them came forward to appear on various news sources in an attempt to generate interest. They want the FBI to start investigating.

Along the way the group has earned the respect of several of the parents of missing young men. While others have said they don't believe that their sons were murdered, there are those who have never been able to put the deaths behind them. They have refused to believe the official stories given. They have been appearing, along with the detectives, on local news media asking that the cases be re-opened and that the FBI put their resources behind it.

In recent news the FBI stated that they were looking into the facts given by the detectives, but that they were not ready to start an investigation. Other police departments around the country have also offered their own criticism. They say that graffiti of all kinds, including smiley-faces, are common and not exactly proof of a gang of serial killers. There are many who believe that these have just been unfortunate accidents of young men wandering off after nights of drinking.

The debate remains open. The detectives are still looking to continue their investigations. The families are still searching for answers. Young men are being a little more cautious, but no one knows for sure what is happening. Is there a gang of serial killers on the loose? Right now, it remains to be seen.