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The Smiley Face Killers

PilotsError

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PilotsError

PilotsError 2338

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Anyone else heard of this shit?  Too long to copy and paste everything.

 

Dozens of college-age men dead from ‘accidental’ drownings—but a team of retired detectives say the boys were drugged and killed by a shadowy gang with a sinister symbol.

 

[quote]

n the evening of Dec. 15, 2016, Dakota James called his friend Shelley in a panic.

He was cold, disoriented, and scared out of his mind, wandering the streets of downtown Pittsburgh, trying to find someone—anyone—who would help him.

“I don’t know where I am,” he told her, sobbing. “I’m so cold. Please help me. I’m lost.”

Shelley didn’t hesitate.

“I’m thinking, ‘Did he get mugged? Did he get beat up? Was he in a car accident?’” she told The Daily Beast this week. “I was so scared. I said, ‘Where are you?’ I’m coming.’”

“Pittsburgh’s North Side,” he told her.

She quickly hopped into her car to go get him, then remembered she could use her cellphone to figure out where he was because he’d enabled location services with her when she gave him a ride to the airport months ago.

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That program was telling her he was on Pittsburgh’s South Side. But Dakota was texting her as she drove, trying to guide her. “I’m here,” he texted, sending a picture of a jean-covered leg. “Please help me. I’m so cold. The cops won’t help me.’”

Her phone’s location services told her he was at a Springhill Suites on Water Street in Pittsburgh’s South Side, not North. She texted him that with a question mark.

“I’m here^^^^,” he texted back. “I honestly don’t know.”

She got there in less than 10 minutes, arriving around 11:30 p.m. As she pulled up to the hotel, she saw a dark SUV in the wrong lane, facing the wrong direction. And Dakota was walking out of the hotel and straight toward the SUV.

“I pulled up not even 10 feet away from the SUV,” she said. “I said, ‘Dakota!’ He turns, looks back then comes over to me, got in my car, and we left.”

He wasn’t slurring his words. He was walking a straight line, not staggering at all. His clothes weren’t disheveled or wet or dirty. He was emotional, still crying, and he was scared but he did not appear to be drunk.

I said, ‘Do you want to go to the hospital?’ Because I’m thinking, ‘Was he raped? Was he drugged?'

“What happened?” she asked him. “Are you OK?”

He didn’t want to talk about it, he said.

“He said he just became aware that he was walking on the street and he had no idea where he was or how he got there,” said Shelley, 35, who asked that her last name be used to protect her privacy. “He said he went up to a police officer and they didn’t help him. So, then he called me.”

The last thing he remembered, he told her, was leaving his work Christmas party then heading to some bars with his coworkers from J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc., where he was a carrier sales coordinator. That was around 7:15 p.m. Everything since then was a blank.

“I said, ‘Do you want to go to the hospital?’ Because I’m thinking, ‘Was he raped? Was he drugged? Because he seemed drugged, because he’d lost four hours,” she said. And he said, ‘No. I just want to go home.” So, I just took him home. He was crying so much.”

The next day, he thanked her for picking him up, but brushed the whole thing off, saying he had a bad hangover. And she might have, too, if he hadn’t vanished five weeks later, after a similar night out with some of the same co-workers.

Was it just an odd coincidence? Or was James being stalked in the weeks before he died? If she hadn’t shown up at the hotel, would he have vanished that December night, instead?

“I didn’t think about any of this until after he went missing,” she said. “What happened that night?”

 

On March 6, 2017, 40 days after Dakota James disappeared, a woman walking her dog saw his body floating in the Ohio River, about 10 miles from where he was last seen in downtown Pittsburgh—at 11:49 p.m. that January night—and about 30 feet from the shore.

His death was ruled an accidental drowning by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office. But a team of retired detectives and a gang expert believe he’s one of about 100 victims of the Smiley-Face Killers, an alleged organized gang of serial killers that communicates on the dark web, with cells in dozens of cities across the United States. An additional 250 cases might be connected, but they can’t prove it, they say.

James fits the profile of the other suspected victims: smart, athletic, popular, college-age white men who went out drinking and never came home, they say. More recently, some alleged victims have been openly gay, like Dakota. Like him, weeks later, their bodies were discovered in lakes or rivers with smiley-face or other graffiti specifically connected to the group spray-painted nearby. So far they’ve connected about 70 deaths with similar graffiti nearby. About 30 of the men, including Dakota James, had the date-rape drug GHB in their system, according to the autopsy reports.

“Dakota was clearly murdered,” Kevin Gannon, a retired New York City police sergeant who has devoted his life to solving these cases, told The Daily Beast.

The evidence to support that claim? James’ body wasn’t decomposed enough to have been in the water for 40 days, Gannon said. His body was undamaged, despite traveling 10 miles down river and underneath a concrete and steel dam to get to where it was found. Someone used his PayPal account for an $11.99 transaction two days after he vanished. And there appeared to be ligature marks around his neck, indicating he was strangled, says Cyril Wecht, the famed forensic pathologist and former Allegheny County medical examiner, who reviewed the autopsy report and photos at the request of James’ parents.

James fits the profile of the other suspected victims: smart, athletic, popular, college-age white men, who went out drinking and never came home.

And there were 11 smiley-face symbols spray-painted on the Roberto Clemente Bridge, the closest bridge to where James was found and where police believe he fell into the water. It was a good distance away, about 10 miles, but the investigators have discovered that the smiley-face graffiti usually appears on the first man-made structure visible from where a body is found. They don’t know if the graffiti was already on the Roberto Clemente Bridge before James died.

Gannon, his former colleague at the NYPD Anthony Duarte, Prof. Lee Gilbertson, and another retired NYPD detective, Mike Donovan, are the stars of Oxygen’s Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt for Justice, a new six-part limited series that premieres Saturday, Jan. 19 at 7 p.m.

Kevin Gannon (left) and Lee Gilbertson

Anton Floquet

They have a theory; they have suspects; and they say they have evidence. What they don’t have is the support of any of law enforcement or the medical examiners who either ruled these deaths accidental drownings or left them simply undetermined (instead of ruling them a homicide, suicide, or an accident).

They also have a host of detractors, from the FBI—which looked at the deaths in 2008 and concluded the vast majority appeared to be accidental drownings—to the Center for Homicide Research—which looked at 40 of the cases and concluded the same—to the various police departments and medical examiners that handled each case and steadfastly refuse to change their conclusions.

None of that deters Gannon. He has mortgaged his home and maxed out his credit cards trying to solve these cases. While looking into the death of one college freshman, he was accused of sexual assault; local prosecutors declined to bring charges. A bout of cancer in 2004 forced him to stop for 18 months. But then he returned to the cases.

“It’s been a difficult road and that’s why we had to choose TV, to go to the court of public opinion,” Gannon admitted. “We felt like there was no other option.”

They are hoping the publicity generated by the show will finally force law enforcement to take some action against the group.

“To me, this is one of the most dangerous domestic terrorist groups in the United States and somebody needs to pay attention to them,” Gannon said.[/quote]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/is-a-serial-killer-gang-murdering-young-men-across-the-us

 

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PilotsError

PilotsError 2338

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‘SMILEY FACE’ INVESTIGATIVE TEAM BRINGS NEW EVIDENCE IN LUKE HOMAN CASE TO WISCONSIN POLICE

by ALY VANDER HAYDEN

JANUARY 26, 2019 • 7:57 PM ET

The "Smiley Face Killers" investigative team believes Luke Homan was murdered.

 

 

When Patti and Jerry Homan sent their son Lucas "Luke" Homan off to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2005, they warned him not to go near the Mississippi River. At the time, a series of mysterious accidental drownings had already taken the lives of seven young men. Still, Patti believed she had nothing to worry about because Luke "hated the water."

In the fall of his sophomore year, Luke disappeared from downtown La Crosse after celebrating Oktoberfest with a group of friends. Three days later, his body was found floating in the Mississippi River not far from the shore. 

"When I first heard he was missing, I really kinda knew that he was gone," said Patti in "Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt for Justice," which airs Saturdays at 7/6c on Oxygen. "And especially with all the things that had happened in La Crosse throughout the years, all I could think of was that he was never gonna come back."

Local law enforcement later concluded Luke's death was an accidental drowning, and the autopsy report noted "acute alcohol intoxication was a major contributing factor." To this day, however, the medical examiner's ruling "doesn't make any sense" to Patti and Jerry. They do not believe Luke would have walked near the river's edge, and the two have been outspoken about the possibility of foul play.

Sam Donaldson, Luke's friend who was with him the night he vanished, also does not think Luke's death was accidental.

"We had no reasons ever to really be by the water," said Donaldson. "The weekend before, the question had come up about Luke going to La Crosse and the deaths that had occurred in the river, and Luke had said, 'You pretty much have to be a dummy to drown in the river.' Because if you were to leave a bar and see the river, you know you're going the wrong direction."

(The Mississippi River is located about a half-mile from the stretch of bars commonly frequented by students from the surrounding universities.)

[Photo: "Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt for Justice" Screengrab]

Though the La Crosse Police Department closed its case in 2006, a team of investigators is hoping to have Luke's cause of death reclassified as a homicide. Former New York Police Department detectives Kevin Gannon, Michael Donovan, Anthony Duarte and professor of criminal justice Dr. Lee Gilbertson are convinced Luke might have been murdered by the Smiley Face Killers, an alleged unknown group of serial killers that targets college-aged men, dumps their bodies in local waterways and leaves behind smiley face symbols near where the bodies are found.

During "Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt for Justice," the team consulted with underwater forensic expert Bobby Chacon, forensic toolmark analyst William Moore and forensic footwear specialist Marty Ludas to reexamine Luke's autopsy report and photographs. While Chacon estimated Luke had only been in the water for three to 12 hours, not 50 hours like police had originally theorized, Moore and Ludas hypothesized that injuries on Luke's forehead were the result of an assailant pinning him down with the sole of their boot. 

Based on the minimal body decomposition and injury pattern, "The Hunt for Justice" team does not think Luke's death was the result of an accidental drowning.

"The evidence points that Luck Homan was murdered," said Gannon. "We believe this is a homicide."

In order to convince local law enforcement to reopen the case, Gannon and Patti visited the La Crosse Police Department to share their evidence. 

The Homan family is currently awaiting a response from the La Crosse Police Department.

To learn more about Luke Homan's case, watch "Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt for Justice," airing Saturdays at 7/6c on Oxygen. 

 

https://www.oxygen.com/smiley-face-killers-the-hunt-for-justice/crime-time/luke-homan-new-evidence

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SubliminalHorn

SubliminalHorn 6845

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13 minutes ago, Steel Shank said:

Didn't some dude here for ACL end up "drowning" in Lake Austin just this past festival?

Yeah he wandered away from the house they were staying at on Lake Austin. I read the other day toxicology report came back with alcohol and MDMA in his system. That one doesn’t sound too suspicious. 

But there was a young guy that disappeared from Rainey just before thanksgiving. His body was found floating in Town Lake east of 35. I haven’t seen any new reports regarding his case. But it was an odd one. 

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Prepuce of Doom

Prepuce of Doom 21144

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13 minutes ago, Continental Op said:

I know that when I murder a ton of people I'm leaving a calling card to make sure it's not hard to tie me to every last one of the crimes like I'm Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci robbing houses in Home Alone.

But make sure that when you choose a calling card, you choose something extremely ubiquitous.

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Reagan1k

Reagan1k 3026

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My wife was watching a documentary or series on it last week.  Parts of it seems contrived to create drama but some of it is suspicious. 

Anyway-  martial law and 8pm curfews are the only safe responses at this point. 

Edited by Reagan1k
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Longhorn Al

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I wanted to post about this a couple weeks ago, but couldn't find the graphic I had seen in December.  One of the local news stations showed a map of downtown showing the locations of all the bodies found in water during 2018.  There were about 5 in Austin.  The accompanying story asked if a serial killer could be on the loose.

Then I saw this Smiley Face Killers thing this month.  Interesting.

 

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El Diablo

El Diablo 4232

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Can't remember where I saw it but the speculation was that all of these were tied together, loosely, to transients. Supposedly there's a subculture within the homeless "community", a group that get their jollies by offing folks who have more than they do. Here's a glimpse into their world.

https://www.arcurrent.com/magazine-dam/2015/05/04/rail-riders-inside-the-invisible-culture-of-train-hopping/

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XYZ

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25 minutes ago, El Diablo said:

Can't remember where I saw it but the speculation was that all of these were tied together, loosely, to transients. Supposedly there's a subculture within the homeless "community", a group that get their jollies by offing folks who have more than they do. Here's a glimpse into their world.

https://www.arcurrent.com/magazine-dam/2015/05/04/rail-riders-inside-the-invisible-culture-of-train-hopping/

I always wanted to be a train hopper. Supposedly there’s a secret manual.

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