Crime, Conspiracy, Cults and Murder - Ep. 47 | The Smiley Face Killers Are Still Out There...

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

A string of young men found dead in water, smiley face graffiti nearby—accident or a hidden network of killers? In today's episode, we dive in to this chilling mystery of the Smiley Face Killer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He was smart and he was friendly, the kind of guy that you would trust to walk you home. And one night, he would leave a bar, alone, and he would disappear into the dark. And six weeks later, his body would be found in a river. No sign of a struggle, no suspects, just a smiley face painted on a wall nearby. And then, it happened again, and again and again, 40 times across 11 states. So are these all just tragic coincidences? A collective hallucination, maybe? Or are we staring straight into the face of America's most ignored serial killer?

Crime, conspiracy, guts, serial killers, and murder. All things that I love to consume, and I know you do too, you sick, twisted, intellectual, beautiful... I screwed it up. I'm not redoing it. And anyway, today, we are talking about an infamous, infamous case, very highly recommended in the comments. So here we are today. We're going to be talking about the smiley face murders. So without further ado, let's unbuckle our seatbelts go Mach 5 down the highway, slam on the brakes,

and bust through this windshield into this ignored case together. Patrick McNeil was 21 years old, and he was a junior at Fordham University, and he was majoring in accounting. And he was known for his very clean-cut appearance, his social ease, and his ambition. After all, he wanted to join the FBI after graduate. Not an easy feat. And his friends would describe him as confident and very well-like, just an all-around great guy. And his roommates would even call him a real ladies man.

But on the night of February 16th, 1997, Patrick would go out with his friends to a bar on Manhattan's Upper East Side, something he did on a pretty regular basis. And this bar was called the Dapper Dog, a very popular Fordham hangout. So Patrick would go out with his friends and hang out at the bar, but at some point during the night, he started to feel pretty sick. and witnesses would recall seeing him actually vomiting in the bathroom. So he eventually decided to leave the bar, telling his friends that he would just head back to the campus by subway by himself.

So he would say goodbye to all of his friends, but one of his friends actually said that he was going to join him, so he would go outside and wait for his friend. But he would actually just never show up outside, so he just thought, okay, he probably just wants to stay at the bar, so I'm just going to go alone. Which as a woman, it's just something we just wouldn't do, you know? Not something we do is leave alone,

but as a man, pretty normal and pretty common. And what happened next has been the subject of speculation for over two decades. So eyewitnesses on Second Avenue reported seeing Patrick stumbling along the sidewalk clearly intoxicated. Because he was just at a bar. But they also saw something else. And that was a double parked vehicle. And this vehicle started to slowly trail him matching his pace and even turning when he turned. Just creepy as hell.

And Patrick would be last seen near East 90th Street heading toward the direction of the East River. And at this point, by witness accounts, the car was still following him. And after that, Patrick McNeil would never be seen alive again. So obviously, his family would notice that Patrick went missing and they would call it into the police. So the NYPD and his family and countless volunteers in New York searched tirelessly for Patrick. And they would distribute over 10,000 posters turning it into one of the city's most famous, missing person's cases, but weeks and weeks would pass. And then 50 days later, on April 7th, 1997, his body would be found floating in the East River near a pier in Brooklyn, which was

roughly 12 miles from where he was last seen. And he would be found wearing only jeans and socks floating face up in the water, which is uncommon for accidental drownings. And the medical examiner listed the cause of death as drowning, the manner of death undetermined, and his blood alcohol content was actually recorded at 0.16, which is twice the legal limit to drive, but he wasn't driving. He was just walking. But there was unusual details that stood out. Because despite the cold temperatures, fly larvae were discovered on the body, which is an anomaly since insect activity is typically dormant in winter months. Dr. Cyril Wett would even quote to say, I'm saying that the fly larvae have been laid in the groin area. It's an indoor fly. Could not have been an

outdoor fly. It was an indoor fly and the larvae were there. Did not move ahead into the later stage. So we have a body that was already dead before it was placed in the water. I would call it homicide. Yes. And there were also reported signs that Patrick may have been bound and possibly burned before being placed in the water. And retired NYPD detective Kevin Gannon, who worked to this case, would later state that he believed Patrick McNeil had been abducted, held for an extended period of time. and then was murdered, and that he wasn't just a simple victim of accidental drowning. But Patrick's case would just close. But Kevin Gannon's investigation had only just begun. And soon, he would find other young men with eerily similar profiles,

who also vanished near water, who were also ruled as just drownings, but were completely unexplained. So Patrick McNeil's case might have been the beginning, but it didn't end with him. Because in the years that followed, similar cases began servicing. And not just in New York, but across the country. Different cities, same victim profile, and the same tragic end. Young men in their early 20s, college students, athletes, and high performers.

And in some of those cases where the bodies were found, something else appeared nearby. Something seemingly innocuous. And it was a smiley face. And then there was Lucas Homan. And he would be 21 years old when he was last seen at Octoberfest in La Cros, Wisconsin in September, 2016. And during October Fest, he would actually become separated with his friends at the festivities. And days later, his body would be found near the shore of the Mississippi River. And the autopsy would note injuries to his heads, hands, and arms, as well as a footprint-shaped bruise on his forehead.

And authorities would initially rule this as an accidental drowning. But near the site where he was found was another smiley face. Which like also, with the amount of bruises on this person, isn't it look like he was beat and held captive? and then thrown in the river, the neglect in these cases is astounding. And then there was Todd Gieb. And he would vanish when he was only 22 years old, while attending a bonfire party in rural Michigan in June of 2005. And at the bonfire, eventually he would kind of disappear,

and then he would call his friends saying, I'm in a field, but then the call would completely drop. And he would never be heard from again, until he was found three weeks later, with his body found in a private lake. And what's odd is that he was found upright in the water with his head and shoulders above the surface. A very, just deeply unnatural position for a drowning victim. And what's also odd is that that lake had been searched previously as well.

So it's almost like he was dumped in this lake later on after the first search was done. And a toxicology screen would indicate that alcohol and antidepressants were found in his system. But he was reportedly not suffering from any sort of depression at the time. But something else didn't add up because his body showed minimal decomposition, which was extremely unusual given that it would have been present if he actually died on the day of his disappearance, leading experts to question whether he had been in the water the entire time or whether he had been somewhere else before he had died. And to boot nearby on a tree was, you guessed it, a painted smiley face. Tommy Booth was 24 when he disappeared from a bar in Woodland, Pennsylvania. On January 19th, 2008, and he was celebrating a friend's 21st birthday on that night. And surveillance cameras would show that Tommy would enter the bar, but he would never leave.

And two weeks later, his body would be discovered in a creek behind the bar. And he would be found with full rigor mortis, which usually dissipates somewhere between 24 to 36 hours after death. And for those of you who don't know what rigor mortise is, it's when the body gets really stiff after death, like almost immovable. And this actually suggested that he hadn't been in the water for the full duration of his disappearance. And spray painted nearby, someone had left an eerie, smiley face. And then there was William Hurley, a 24-year-old Navy veteran who disappeared after leaving a Boston Bruins game on October of 2009. Before he left, he would call his fiancee for a ride, but when she arrived shortly after, he was gone. And six days later, his body was recovered from the

Charles River. And an autopsy found blunt force trauma to his head, eye socket, and his leg. And toxicology revealed something else, which was alcohol in GHB, a drug often used to incapacitate victims. And his death would be ruled in undetermined drowning. And once again, there was a smiley face near the river. And then there was 21-year-old Chris Jenkins. He was a student at the University of Minnesota. And on Halloween night, 2002, he left a bar in downtown Minneapolis and was never seen again. And four months later, his body would be recovered from the Mississippi River. And he was still fully dressed in his Halloween costume. So authorities initially ruled this as an accidental drowning. But in 2006, after years of pressure from his family, the Minneapolis

Police Department reclassified his death as a homicide. It's just so sad that like the family had to pressure the police into considering this case as a homicide. Like, do your fucking job. And to detect, Kevin Gannon, the detective who was on Patrick McNeil's case, who was the first case, this wasn't just a win for the family. It was a sort of validation, proof that one of the earlier cases had been mishandled and that it could fit the pattern he had begun tracking. Because one case is a tragedy and two is maybe a coincidence. But when young men across the country begin vanishing under almost identical circumstances, after nights out drinking, always found in water, often with smiley-faced graffiti nearby, at what point do you stop calling it chance?

And that is the exact question, retired detectives Kevin Gannon and Anthony Dwart, who actually joined the Gannon investigation, were asking. Because they weren't seeing isolated drownings. They were seeing a pattern emerge. A mark, a symbol, a face. And sometimes it was large and cartoonish. And other times, it was kind of hastily scrawled. But it was seemingly always nearby. and always just out of place enough to feel wrong. But to most investigators, these were just coincidences, because graffiti is in fact pretty much everywhere. And smiley faces are extremely common.

But to Gannon and Dwart, they were signatures, though they weren't left at every single crime scene, so they were not predictable but seemingly intentional. Enough to at least suggest taunting or a pattern or a ritual. So by the middle, So by the mid-2000s, what started as a lingering suspicion had grown into something far more disturbing. And retired NYPD detectives Kevin Gannon and Anthony Dwart weren't just reviewing cold cases at this point. They were tracking the pattern, as I said before.

And this pattern spanned dozens of cities. And it was a pattern that no one else seemed to be seeing for some reason. So by this point, the team had compiled a list of over 40 young men. And all of them were found in bodies of water. and ruled as drownings and all just deemed accidents. But to Gannon and Dwart, the similarities were just impossible to ignore. But to police departments, they were just unrelated tragedies. So Gannon and Dwart started to put all of these pieces together and a map started to take shape.

And the shape was not random. And to make sense of it, the team needed more than investigative instinct. They needed someone who could look at the data and explain from the outside. And that's when Professor Dr. Lee Gilbertson came into the picture. He was a criminal justice professor and expert in organized criminal behavior from St. Clown University in Minnesota. And Gilbertson hadn't necessarily set out to solve the case. In fact, his introduction actually came through the classroom because he would actually assign the deaths of several young men as a case study for a graduate course in criminal profiling. So at first, it was just academic curiosity. Because the cases themselves were bizarre, but they were,

but they were also very distant, until, of course, the similarities began to pile up. So then came the phone call. And detectives Gannon and Duart actually saw the project online and called them to collaborate. And when Gilbertsin first initially examined the case files, he didn't just rush to judgment, which I think is good. He approached this theory with great caution,

constantly looking for holes and inconsistencies. So he wasn't necessarily trying to prove their point. He was just trying to understand it at this point. But he would say patterns were there. There was the same profile, same behaviors, and same aftermath. And the most telling, actually, was the same terrain. Because Gilbertson saw what the others different, and that was that the geography actually might be the key.

Because the victims weren't being found in obscure locations. They were actually being found inside of patterns, along specific river paths in proximity to college towns, and within certain travel corridors. So he argued that the locations actually weren't actually. they were deliberately chosen. So Gilbertson would pose a theory of his own. One even darker than the idea of a lone serial killer. Because he claimed that this didn't look like it was the work of one person, but instead looked like the work of a network. So according to Gilbertson, these cases didn't resemble a serial killer's hunting ground, but a disturbed model more akin to a gang or cell-based activity. Essentially, multiple individuals, which is just, even more terrifying and horrible. And he would suggest that they were operating independently,

but they were also connected in some way. And they would select targets based off of certain criteria, leaving behind obscure, possibly symbolic marks, the smiley face. But they hadn't quite found something to link it all together at this point. Ganon and Gilbertson began applying geographical profiling to new cases. So they would locate high-risk areas, tracing victim movements, analyzing proximity to waterways, bars, and surveillance blind spots. So what they were building wasn't just a theory, but it was a map.

And in the very center of the map, a crude mocking symbol. One that kept appearing near the water and one that would give this theory its name. A, you guessed it, smiley face. But as I was saying before, the symbol wasn't consistent in design. There was no single style, no brand-like stamp that screamed, serial killer. Like a lot of serial killers we go through, they have a very specific MO and they do certain rituals like leaving marks or taking specific items. And in this case, it's a smiley face, but since it's not consistent, it really doesn't seem like it's one person. But this kind of just added to the unease. Because smiley faces were showing up within walking distance of recovery sites, often within 20 feet. But again, it wasn't at every single scene, but in just enough of them to start to raise questions. So in the cases like, Tommy, Todd, William, and Lucas, the smiley face was there. And sometimes they weren't alone.

Because Gannon's team claimed that they actually found additional undisclosed markings at some of the sites. Some were runes, arrows, and abstract figures. But they chose to not release those symbols publicly because they didn't want to inspire copycats. Or alert who was ever behind it. Because the team believed that these symbols were kind of a mocking calling card. And in interviews and briefings, Gannon started to refer to the... the perpetrators, or whoever they were, as part of a syndicate, which is a loose network of individuals or cells possibly communicating across cities. And he suspected that the group selected

victims with great care, targeting young men based on profile, vulnerability, and opportunity. And each act carried out in a different place. Each crime was dressed as an accident, and each messaged was tagged with a smile. So at this point, the press just needed a name, of course, And soon they would have one, the smiley face killers. So what started as just a theory was now a brand and one that would spread across the internet. To message boards, true crime communities, and headline after headline,

it would just keep coming up. The smiley-faced killers. Behind that eerie nickname was still a chilling question. If this was real and if someone was really killing young men across the country and leaving behind this cryptic grin, how had no one stopped them at this? point or properly investigated them besides Gannon and Dwart who were just doing this as like something on their off time basically. So by the time Gannon's team began to speak publicly about

the smiley face killer theory and it already ignited quite the controversy. And not because of what was known, but because of what was missing. Because the idea of a hidden network stalking and abducting young men across multiple states was pretty fucking bold. Because it challenged the very framework most law enforcement agencies used to understand violent crimes. And that made people very uneasy, naturally. And in precincts in college campuses and media circles, a quiet wave of skepticism began to ripple beneath the surface. Because critics were just questioning the conclusion, they were questioning the very foundation of the theory itself. And one of the first criticisms was the symbol, the smiley face. Because yes, smiley face graffiti had been found near some of the

recovery sites. But it was also kind of everywhere else. I can't like the every time I've seen graffiti, there is a smiley face somewhere in there. And there on bridges and underpasses, skate parks and alleyways, where graffiti is very prominent to begin with. And urban graffiti wasn't a rare thing. And the smiley face, like I said before, was arguably the most universal symbol on earth. So to many, connecting it to the murders felt like seeing faces in clouds. If you lucked hard enough, You're gonna see a face. Might be a really scary face or something. I've seen some weird shit in clouds.

I'll tell you what. But you'll see it if you're looking for it. And there was the lack of hard evidence. There was no murder weapons, no fingerprints, no DNA, no witnesses and no direct links between the victims themselves. In each case, when viewed in isolation, could be explained away. It was a college-aged-aged man, a night of drinking,

a body in a river. Tragic, yes. But to most authorities, not suspicious. And the profile of the profile, though, were consistent, but so were their environments. College towns, winter weather, nightlife culture, waterfronts, intoxication, and to skeptics, that wasn't conspiracy, that was just a risk. And even some within law enforcement began to question whether Gannon's team was chasing shadows at this point. Because they saw the theory built on circumstantial links, bound together

by grief and frustration and a deeply human desire to make sense of senseless death. Because to them, it wasn't murder. It wasn't ritual. It wasn't misinterpretation. It was just accidents. So even as the theory began to catch the public's eye, behind the scenes, it was already being quietly dismissed. But Gannon and his team were not back and down.

Because for every case, critics explained away. But that's when another one surfaced. So Kevin Gannon and Anthony Dwart had spent years compiling case files, mapping location, and connecting the dots no one else seemed to see. because they really believed they had uncovered one of the most overlooked serial crime patterns in American history. But at this point, it wasn't enough to believe it.

And they needed others to see it too. So they went national, baby. The detectives would appear on ABC's Good Morning America laying out their investigation to a national live audience. Then, their theory was featured on CNN, where Gannon reiterated the most chilling possibility of all. We believe they're being murdered. And then Dwart added,

water destroys evidence, it's the perfect crime. But they didn't name any suspects at this point. And they didn't point fingers, but they posed a terrifying question to millions of viewers. What if these aren't accidents? And what if someone or some group is hunting young men across the country? And the media would take immediate notice. And they would latch on to the smiley face killers

because it was eerie, it was marketable, it was viral. And that's when public opinions started to light up again. So true crime fans, amateur sleuths, grieving, families began to all re-examine the old cases with fresh eyes. Was there a pattern that no one noticed? Was there a link between their loss and someone else's? And for many, Gannon and Dwart had pulled back the curtain on a dark truth. But for others, they'd stepped into the spotlight with a story too far-fetched to believe. So there are basically two parties, either you believed it or you didn't. And as their theory started to make headlines, they also began to adopt some enemies. And the detectives

being in this field for so long had expected some critics. But what they didn't expect was how loud and how fast it would grow. Because the more the Gannon and Dwartz spoke, the more resistance they triggered from within the very world that they came from, which was law enforcement, forensic experts, and eventually the big guy, the big guy on campus, the FBI. And the FBI would push back and put out a statement. And it would say,

Over the past several years, law enforcement and FBI have received information about young college-aged men who were found ceased in rivers in the Midwest. The FBI has reviewed the information about the victims provided by two retired police detectives who have dubbed these incidents the Smiley Face murders and interviewed an individual who provided information to the detectives. To date, we have not developed any evidence to support the links between these tragic deaths or any evidence substantiating the theory that these deaths are the work of a serial killer

or killers. The vast majority of these instances appear to be alcohol-related drownings. The FBI will continue to work with the local police in the affected areas. to provide support as requested. And this was said supervisory special agent Richard J. Colco, Washington, D.C. So that was on April 29th, 2008, and it was very rare for the FBI

to put out public statements. But they would dismantle this case in just a few sentences. So it was swift, and it cut directly through the heart of the Smiley Face killer theory. So the Bureau's position was pretty clear. There was no suspects, no motive, and no forensic evidence linking the cases.

of federal investigators, it wasn't a case. It was basically just a story. And from their perspective, it just didn't hold up. But Gannon, my guy, was not convinced. Guy was persistent as hell, I will give him that. And he would actually fire back at the FBI publicly, accusing the FBI of ignoring key inconsistencies in the cases, which included toxicology reports, signs of staging, unusual injuries and bodies recovered in places that had already been searched, which we already knew. And it was already pretty fucking suspicious. And Gannon believed that if the FBI actually sat down with them and actually looked at the evidence that they collected, they wouldn't have actually made that statement.

Because to him, the Bureau hadn't disproven the theory at all. They basically just dismissed it without digging any deeper. But some of the loudest voices in opposition were the experts. It wasn't conspiracy theorists, it wasn't internet sleuths, but very seasoned criminal profilers, detectives, and forensic psychologists. Many of whom have worked on serial cases. And Dr. Chris Mohandi, a respected forensic psychologist who personally investigated the 2002 death of Christopher Jenkins, saw no evidence of foul play. He would point to inconsistencies in the graffiti as a key problem, because the smiley faces varied widely in shape, size, and style. Some were cartoonish, others minimal, and some had been there for years.

So to Chris, this wasn't a calling card. It was just urban noise. But raising my hand here, the smiley face might have nothing to do with it, and that's like a very, I think the smiley face part is actually a very small part of it. It's how similar these deaths are. That's just me, though. But anyway, then we have Nanette Toosby, a former LAPD detective, who echoed those same concerns.

And she would note that in many of the cases, the locations where the bodies were found and the locations of any graffiti were not close to each other. And she also argued that a serial killer spanning more than 27 years and state lines without any sort of trail seemed unlikely, which they didn't claim. They claimed that it wasn't one person, so. Okay. Okay, Nanette. I'm being an asshole. Anyway, but then came Pat Brown, a veteran criminal profiler. And her take was even more blunt. She basically just called it ludicrous. Like actually, she used the word ludicrous. Luda and the smiley faces were just a red herring and she said, if you look in any area five miles square, I bet you could find a smiley face,

which I agree. I do agree with that. Like they're all really fixating on this smiley face thing, but I really don't think that's the point. I think there's just more than that. That a lot of these deaths look like outplay. I think we should look into that. Stop looking at the fucking smiley face. Center for Homicide Research, a Minneapolis-based organization focused on data-driven crime studies went one step further. And they published a full-length report aiming to scientifically refute the smiley face killing theory. And the argument included this. No proof that smiley faces were painted at or immediately after the time of killing. Graffiti is everywhere.

Thanks, Center for Homicide Research. No discernible criteria has been stated for how close to smiley faces must be in proximity to the death site. No evidence of victim trauma. What? The way that intoxicated men accidentally fall into bodies of water is well known and documented. That is fair. They concluded the theory most likely was a result of observational bias. You basically see what you want to see.

There is fact in that. I do think that personally. And they thought it was also a result of group think. Basically, people influenced by an authority figure, a.k.a. prominent lead homicide detective from New York, which has the largest city of population. And these posed a risk of distracting attention from the actual causes of death. But even local law enforcement had their doubts.

Because in La Crosse, Wisconsin, a city where eight separate cases were connected to the theory, police issued a very clear response. The deaths were accidental drownings. There was no evidence of homicide and there was no relevant smiley face graffiti found near the site. So to them, it was a problem of alcohol, geography, and tragedy. Not of conspiracy. So the message from experts was very clear. The theory supposedly wasn't supported by any evidence

and was built basically just on shaky foundation. And they were trying to connect dots that didn't necessarily connect at all. But for Gannon's team, persistent guy, it wasn't about what the experts believed. It was about what was happening. And they were determined to uncover more evidence. Because long after criticism came and went,

the bodies were still showing up. So Dakota was 23 years old. He was a graduate student of DeKesney University with a promising future. He was very bright and very responsible and not the kind of person who just vanishes without a trace and who vanishes with no reason. But on January 25th, 2017, Dakota went out with friends in downtown Pittsburgh. And it was just a casual night out, just drinks after a very normal day. Nothing unusual for him. But surveillance footage later showed him walking alone through

through Katz Plaza and then down a nearby alley toward Fort DeKesney Boulevard. And that would be the last time he was seen alive. And for 40 days, Dakota was just missing. And the family would just beg the public for information and the searches would intensify. And then he would finally be found. So on March 6, his body was surfaced in the Ohio River, near Interstate 79 Bridge over Neville Island, just miles away from where he was last seen. The Elganey County Medical Examiner ruled it in accidental drowning.

There was no trauma, no foul play suspected, and the case was just closed. But Dakota's family did not accept that, especially his mother, Pamela James, because she believed that there was no way he ended up in the river on his own. And that's when Dr. Sewell Wecht, a renowned forensic psychologist would enter. And he would go on to review Dakota's case, and he would find it deeply, deeply troubling. And he would make these notes. Minimal decomposition inconsistent with traveling over 10 miles and 40 days in a river, supposedly through a dam as well.

Ligature marks around the neck suggesting possible strangulation, not mentioned in the autopsy at all, and the distinct difference in coloration of the fingernail beds of the fourth and fifth fingers on both the right and left hands, which certainly would be consistent with someone reaching up and trying to release the pressure from a ligature that is being applied around the neck. So to wecht, this wasn't just drowning.

It looked more like a staged crime scene. But the police just stood by their ruling. There was no suspects, no evidence of abduction, and no witnesses. Which of course just means he wasn't murdered. Just because you haven't found anything yet. They're like, ah, it was an accident. We can't find anything. You look?

Let me look. Let me look really quick. One sec. Nope. Case closed. It was an accident. Let's go get lunch. Like, the amount of,

of neglect in these cases. It is just so sad, so disheartening, especially for these families, just wanting answers as to why their child, their brother, their uncle, whoever went missing and just turned up dead, and they're just being pushed aside. It's disgusting. And obviously, to Dakota's family,

this was not a tragic accident. They believed it was something else, something much darker. And for those who had been following the smiley face killer theory for years, the details felt hauntingly familiar. So Gannon, once again, would assemble his team. It's like the Avengers, I love it.

Including former members Anthony Dwart and Dr. Lee Gilbertson. But this time, they added a fellow retired NYPD detective, Michael Donovan. So with fresh eyes and newer tools, the team brought something to the table that most local departments lacked, which was advanced forensic methods, digital reconstruction, and geographic profiling. Because to them, this wasn't about just chasing hunches.

It was about following the data and letting digital trail speak for itself. And in several cases, they conducted detail reviews of cell phone records, GPS logs, and account activity. And these discoveries would form a foundation for a brand new light to be shown on the smiley face killer theory. But more on that in a moment. So in the early days, the symbol was simple, a smiley face, crude, cartoonish, and sprayed

onto bridges, tunnels, walls, and river banks. And to some, it was just graffiti. But to others, it was a signature. But as the cases mounted, the investigative. began to notice something unsettling, and that was the symbol was evolving, because the smiley face kind of shifted from concrete to code.

And they began to theorize that the symbol was no longer limited to paint cans and underpasses. It had become something more abstract. A digital marker passed through usernames, avatars, and encrypted online communities. And it was a way of signaling identity or allegiance. And then they would find something that changed everything. Because during the course of re-investigation,

the team was hand to the way a URL. And the URL had led them not to the surface web, but to something far more concealed. A dark web portal. Yep, we're getting real dark. And the site was not public. So this couldn't be accessed by accident. And before granting entry, it demanded something unexpected, which was webcam verification. And to proceed, they would need to show their faces. Which again is just just fucking terrifying. And this was a step that no investigator could afford to take, so they would back off. But what lay beyond that login screen has haunted them ever since. And from that moment on, the Gilbertson Networks theory felt much stronger.

But this dark web portal helped paint a picture. It was decentralized, anonymous, operating in cells across various cities. And each cell, they believed, composed of dozens of individuals, capable of recruiting, surveilling, and communicating without. leaving a trail at all. And if true, it would explain the uniformity of the victims and the precision of the disappearances and the near total absence of forensic evidence. So the recruitment, they theorized, occurred through encrypted communication. So these weren't just thrill kills. They were coordinated acts, according to Gannon and his team. And the smiley face, it wasn't just

to taunt anymore. It was a banner. And to critics, this all just sounded like folklore. Digital age, myth-making wrapped in fear. But to Gannon's team, it made sense of what nothing else could explain. How could the same kind of victim disappear under the same circumstances in city after city year after year? Without a single suspect ever being caught, even though foul play was present in some of the murders. So if the killings were coordinated behind the screen, then maybe the face on the wall wasn't just a signature. Maybe it was just watching you back. So though the cases were live and well with Gannon and his team, and of course, the victim's families, the smiley face killer theory had lost a bit of steam over the years.

And critics said that it had been debunked and the media just moved on like they always do. So the cases just remained cold. But in 2019, the theory returned. And this time, it was through a television screen. Because remember that brand new light that I mentioned, this was it. Because the oxygen network launched a six-part true. crime docu series called Smiley Face Killers, The Hunt for Justice. And it followed Kevin Gannon and Anthony Dwart and their investigation team as they reopened some of the most controversial cases

connected to the theory. And this series wasn't just a recap. It was an extension of the investigation updated for the digital age. And each episode dove into different cases, revisiting timelines, interviewing families, and challenging the official rulings, and in some cases, revealing new details the public had never heard. And in the case of William Hurley, the Navy veteran who vanished after the Boston Bruins game, they would examine his damaged cell phone that was recovered near where he was last seen.

Because they suspected that the phone had actually been intentionally destroyed, just based on the way that the phone was damaged. And this was potentially to disrupt digital evidence collection. And then came the case of Dakota James, because in addition to forensic red flags raised by Dr. Cyril Wecht, including the minimal decomposition and possible, ligature marks, the investigation team uncovered something very odd in Dakota's digital footprint.

And it was a PayPal transaction made two days after his disappearance. So DeGannon and his team, it suggested a chilling possibility that someone maybe had access to Dakota's accounts after he had vanished. And if this was true, he may have not been alone during that time. And in the case of Todd Gieb, who disappeared after the bonfire party in rural Michigan in 2005 and was found three weeks later upright in the lake, the team actually went a step further. And they would conduct a forensic decomposition study. Working with forensic biologist Dr. M. Eric Benbo, they would use a pig carcass to replicate the environment conditions of the lake where Geep was found. And the results? Bodies left in the water for three weeks showed immediate insect infestation and

extensive decomposition, which was far more than what was seen in. Gabe's case. And to the investigators, this was very significant. It not only suggested Todd had not been in the lake for the full duration of his disappearance, but that someone may have held him elsewhere. And then the body was placed in the water after the fact. So these weren't just one-offs. They were signposts, evidence that supported what they had believed for years. And these young men weren't just falling into rivers. They were being put there. So for some, the oxygen series breathed new life into the old myth. But for others, it served as a reminder

for something far more disturbing, that after two decades, no one could fully explain why so many men were disappearing, only to be found in water miles from where they were last seen. But this time, the audience watching wasn't just investigators. It was millions and millions of viewers and the next wave of believers. So in the modern era, the rules for investigation have changed. And the technology that once didn't

exist now might just crack the silence. And today, investigators aren't limited to witness statements and physical evidence. They have data and machines that know where we've been and what we've seen and who we were near. Because geo-fencing now allows authorities to pinpoint every phone in a certain radius at any given time, which is kind of scary. But also helpful in this case. And Wi-Fi logs can place victim or suspect inside a building without a single camera. And phone ping triangulation can quite literally rebuild the final minutes of life with chilling accuracy. So these tools aren't just theoretical. They've already been used in major criminal

cases to secure convictions. And if applied to the drownings linked to the Smileyface killing theory, they could finally reveal what happened between the time a victim vanished and where their body was found. So the next breakthrough, if it comes, may not be found at the bottom of a river, but buried in data. And for the families left behind, the answers from law enforcement were never enough. And for some, the search for truth never stopped. Like Pam Jane, the mother of Dakota James, has become one of the most outspoken advocates for reopening the cases, because she never accepted that her son died of accidental drowning. And even with the aforementioned evidence discovered by Gannon and Dr. Wecht, including the potential ligature marks

on his neck and minimal decomposition, and despite being missing for 40 days, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office refused to change the ruling. But still, Pam continues to speak out, demanding that her son's case be reopened. And she is not alone. The Holman family, the Hurley family, and more. They lost their sons under nearly identical circumstances, and they continued to call for the cases to be formally re-examined. Because for these families, the pain of losing a child

had not been compounded by the feeling that no one but them wanted to look deeper. But with Gannon and his team, they looked. And what they found wasn't closure. It was contradiction, and the kind of contradictions that don't lead to peace, but just to more questions. So by now dozens of cases have been reviewed. Autopsy reports, GPS data, surveillance footage, and digital footprints analyzed again and again.

Some theories unraveled, some theories refuted, and some leads just went cold. But even after that, some patterns refused to go away. And victim after victim followed the same haunting sequence. College-age man, intelligent, athletic, and well-liked, disappearance late at night, often after leaving a bar or party. And they were found days or weeks later in a body of water, with no sign of robbery, no sign of essay, and no motive. And in many cases, the victim's phone

was missing or later found damaged. And then there were the geographical coincidences as well. Many of the victims were found in or near major river systems, always in proximity to nightlife, but far enough away that their last known locations raised questions. And some bodies were recovered upstream in others in areas that had already been searched. And a few showed rigor mortis or minimal decomposition,

inconsistent with the official timelines. So these weren't drug dealings gone wrong. They weren't robberies. They weren't hate crimes. Nothing was taken. Nothing was left behind. And often there was no obvious reason the victim had left where they were in the first place. So why does this keep happening?

But here is what the believers say. The victims fit a profile. Too specific to be random. They always turn up in the same way in water, days or weeks later, sometimes miles from where they were last seen. The condition in which the bodies are. are questionable. They're found in better condition than they should be. They have strangulation marks or burning marks and the defy typical drowning behavior. And while the official causes of

death are usually listed as accidental, many private pathologists like Dr. Cyril Wecht have raised concerns about potential signs of strangulation, post-mortem, water entry, and other red flags overlooked in the initial autopsies. And believers point to the smiley face graffiti as a kind of ritualistic signature, although not always identical, but often close enough to raise eyebrows. And if you step back far enough, you'll also notice something chilling. These deaths aren't localized. They cover multiple states following major water routes and appearing in clusters near college towns. And to believers, this isn't sloppy work by a serial killer. It's a network, one that's possibly been active for over two decades and perhaps operating in independent cells,

as Gannon and Gilbertson had theorized, capable of using digital footprints, recruiting new members, and communicating without ever being caught. And each drowning isn't just a mistake, it's a message. And the smiley face was just a symbol that says, we were here. And then we move on to the skeptics view. So while believers say that the theory connects dots between unexplained deaths, the skeptics say the smiley face killer theory isn't a chilling discover at all. It's just a dangerous distraction. That just started with a symbol. The smiley face, the theory namesake, is one of the of the most common pieces of graffiti in the world. You'll find it under bridges and sidewalks and inside bathroom stalls and the presence of a smiley face near a crime scene is statistically meaningless.

There was also no consistent style, no matching handwriting, and often, no photographic proof that it was even there in the first place. And then there's the victim profile. Yes, most of the men were young, white, and athletic, but so are millions of college-aged men across the country. So skeptics argue this as a survivorship bias, which is basically the human tendency to notice patterns that match. our expectations while ignoring the ones that don't. And when you start with the conclusion that these men were murdered, it's easy to retrofit the evidence to support it. And the geography, critics note that nearly all the cases occurred in college towns and cities within rivers and nightlife. Places where alcohol consumption is high and environmental hazards are very real. And the combination of drinking, cold weather, poor lighting, and water is already statistically very dangerous. And to them, the pattern isn't conspiracy. It's just a tragic probability. And the list goes on and on stuff I've already gone over, but they argue that clinging to conspiracy theories can distract from the real dangers like substance abuse, mental health struggles, and unsafe environments. And by replacing those hard conversations with a villain we can't see, because sometimes the scariest answer isn't that someone is responsible, it's that no one is.

So whether you believe the smiley face killer or not, one thing is undeniable. And that is that the superiors, story leaves a mark. Not just on the families and not just on the investigators, but on all of us. Because what we're dealing with isn't just death. It's disappearance, uncertainty, and a narrative where the ending is never quite satisfying. And the facts just never align fully. And for the families and the victims, the psychological toll is compounded by more than just grief. Their mourning sons, brothers, partners, and friends. And while fighting institutions, confronting doubt, and navigating public speculation, many were told to just move on, to accept the ruling, to let it go. But how do you let go when the final chapter doesn't make any fucking sense?

How do you grieve when every detail feels just a bit off and enough to haunt you? And for law enforcement, the toll comes in a form of pressure. They fear of missing something bigger or chasing the wrong theory or of being accused of apathy. And for some officers, the cases remain open wounds. And for others, just statistics in a filing cabinet. And for the public, it's a lingering chill that comes with every new headline, every new name, every young man who disappears without any sort of explanation. And then there's the internet. A place where tragedy becomes theory and theory becomes obsession.

And in the digital age, true crime isn't just a genre. It's a community, a conversation, and sometimes a battleground. On one side, people are desperate for justice and on the other, skeptics demand proof. And in the middle, there's real lives and real families. and real consequences. And conspiracy theories by nature fill the void left by uncertainty. So when the truth feels incomplete,

our minds kind of just do the rest. Sometimes we find clarity and other times we find comfort and patterns that aren't really there, potentially. But for those who have actually lost somebody, the ambiguity is the real punishment. Because when a death is ruled accidental, but everything about it feels deliberate. You don't just mourn the person you lost.

You mourn the answers you'll never get. But for me, there's just a certain silence in these cases, a stillness that just doesn't feel right. And for every official report that says accidental drowning, there's a grieving family and a set of missing phone records or a toxicology screen that raises more question than it does answers. So I hope that technology can finally break this silence because the families deserve that. But I personally do share that just gut feeling by those investigators and parents. And every friend that says that wasn't like him. Because if it's all a coincidence, why does it feel so intentional? But I will leave that question to you.

I'm very interested to see what you guys think about this case. I know it was a long one, but it's extremely interesting. And I know a lot of you recommended this. Thank you for recommending it. I'm happy to bring new light to this case. I think it's really important. Let me know what other cases you want me to go into down below. And until then, stay safe.

And I will see a beautiful face in the next video. Okay, bye.