Is a Serial-Killer Gang Murdering Young Men Across the U.S.?

[mystery-ak]

THE SMILEY-FACE KILLERS
Is a Serial-Killer Gang Murdering Young Men Across the U.S.?

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.
Nicole Weisensee Egan
01.18.19 4:57 AM ET

On 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.

more
https://www.thedailybeast.com/is-a-serial-killer-gang-murdering-young-men-across-the-us?ref=home

[mountaineer]

At the time of the James disappearance, people on a local (Pittsburgh) site talked about his being gay, which wasn't being reported by local news media. They also mentioned some other gay young man disappearing months earlier. With the GHB aspect of the story, it seemed likely that these guys just had gotten involved with some freak at a gay bar or something like that. This is the first I've heard of a killer gang theory. Wierd.

[Sanguine]

At the time of the James disappearance, people on a local (Pittsburgh) site talked about his being gay, which wasn't being reported by local news media. They also mentioned some other gay young man disappearing months earlier. With the GHB aspect of the story, it seemed likely that these guys just had gotten involved with some freak at a gay bar or something like that. This is the first I've heard of a killer gang theory. Wierd.

And, not all of the victims were gay.

[mountaineer]

And, not all of the victims were gay.

Yeah, the ones people were talking about in Pittsburgh, as I recall, involved only the gay men. No one was connecting their disappearances with any other cases, let alone anyone possibly victimized by a gang. I think people initially were afraid it was some kind of anti-gay conspiracy. However, if these cases truly are connected, then the hate crime element gets thrown out the window.

[LadyLiberty]

This is chilling.  They disappear and then show up 30-40 days later in a river with very little decomposition.  I shudder to think what was done to them during those many days before they were murdered.

[mountaineer]

 New Oxygen TV series debuts with examination of Dakota James' death
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Jan 16, 2019
12:00 PM

The mysterious disappearance and drowning of Duquesne University graduate student Dakota James in 2017 is the focus of the inaugural episode of a new TV series, “Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt for Justice,” debuting Saturday.

The series, which airs at 7 p.m. on Oxygen, follows an active private investigation spearheaded by retired NYPD Detective Kevin Gannon, one of the originators of the Smiley Face Killer theory. That theory posits that a serial killer or killers may be responsible for the disappearances and drownings of scores of college-aged white men from the Northeast to the Midwest since 1997.

The series kicks off with an investigation of the circumstances of Mr. James’ case by Mr. Gannon and his team of investigators.  ...

Also mentioned in the first episode is the eerily similar case of Duquesne graduate Paul Kochu, 22, who went missing from the South Side in the early morning hours of Dec. 16, 2014, after a night of drinking with friends. His body was recovered in March 2015 in the Ohio River in Wheeling, W.Va. He likewise had drowned and his death was ruled as undetermined by the West Virginia Medical Examiner. ...  Post-Gazette

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Freaky. There's was something similar in Manchester England a few years ago. Young college age men ending up in a canal. If you really want some freaky stuff look up the missing 411 stuff by David Paulides.

[Smokin Joe]

This is chilling.  They disappear and then show up 30-40 days later in a river with very little decomposition.  I shudder to think what was done to them during those many days before they were murdered.

Cold water? It takes a while for enough decomposition to occur to produce the gasses which make the body float. Most of the drowning victims we recovered when I was a fireman had been in the water a few days before they came up, and that was in the summer. In winter, when the water is colder, it can take longer. If the bottom feeder/scavenger fauna is seasonally inactive or just not present, the body could be in fairly good shape for having been in for a month.

[mystery-ak]

Retired Detectives Say Gang Of Serial Killers Is Responsible For At Least 70 ‘Accidental’ Drownings
6:53 PM 01/20/2019 | US
Joshua Gill | Religion Reporter

    A team of retired police detectives and a gang expert argue about 100 officially ruled accidental deaths might be the work of a gang of serial killers called The Smiley Face Killers.
    The cases stretch from current day back to 1997 and involve alleged victims who were white, college-aged males possessed of notable athletic and academic ability and were found dead in a body of water, displaying alleged signs of foul play.
    The FBI, local law enforcement agencies and the Center for Homicide Research have refuted the serial killer theory, but detectives say the presence of the date rape drug GHB in some of the victims, ligature marks on at least one body and other evidence shows otherwise.

A team of retired detectives believes a series of deaths that authorities ruled accidental is actually the work of a sophisticated gang of serial killers.

The retired detectives, a group called Global Death Investigations, have given the alleged group of killers a name, the smiley face killers, and say they might be responsible for about 100 deaths since 1997 across the U.S. authorities officially labeled as accidental drownings. The deceased all bear similar profiles: College-aged white males, athletic and intelligent, who never returned from a night out drinking and whose bodies were later found either in a body of water or washed up on shore.

The retired detectives assert the alleged gang of killers operate in cells across the country that communicate via the dark web to recruit, choose victims and organize the killings. Of those cases the detectives believe are connected to the group, 70 of the alleged victims were found near the graffiti of particular symbols, including a smiley face, that are specific to the alleged serial killer gang.

more
https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/20/serial-killers-drownings-smiley/

[Smokin Joe]

Retired Detectives Say Gang Of Serial Killers Is Responsible For At Least 70 ‘Accidental’ Drownings
6:53 PM 01/20/2019 | US
Joshua Gill | Religion Reporter

    A team of retired police detectives and a gang expert argue about 100 officially ruled accidental deaths might be the work of a gang of serial killers called The Smiley Face Killers.
    The cases stretch from current day back to 1997 and involve alleged victims who were white, college-aged males possessed of notable athletic and academic ability and were found dead in a body of water, displaying alleged signs of foul play.
    The FBI, local law enforcement agencies and the Center for Homicide Research have refuted the serial killer theory, but detectives say the presence of the date rape drug GHB in some of the victims, ligature marks on at least one body and other evidence shows otherwise.

A team of retired detectives believes a series of deaths that authorities ruled accidental is actually the work of a sophisticated gang of serial killers.

The retired detectives, a group called Global Death Investigations, have given the alleged group of killers a name, the smiley face killers, and say they might be responsible for about 100 deaths since 1997 across the U.S. authorities officially labeled as accidental drownings. The deceased all bear similar profiles: College-aged white males, athletic and intelligent, who never returned from a night out drinking and whose bodies were later found either in a body of water or washed up on shore.

The retired detectives assert the alleged gang of killers operate in cells across the country that communicate via the dark web to recruit, choose victims and organize the killings. Of those cases the detectives believe are connected to the group, 70 of the alleged victims were found near the graffiti of particular symbols, including a smiley face, that are specific to the alleged serial killer gang.

more
https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/20/serial-killers-drownings-smiley/

Intelligent and accomplished younger white males?

How about their political leanings?  Were they rising conservatives, or did this cover a broader spectrum?

[Frank Cannon]

This whole thing is dubious. Gang of Serial Killers? I don't buy it.

[Smokin Joe]

This whole thing is dubious. Gang of Serial Killers? I don't buy it.

What? You don't believe in Democrats????