Smiley Face Killings

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The Smiley Face Killings, alternately referred to as the Smiley Face Murders, the Smiley Face Murderer(s), the Smiley Face Gang, and other variations, refers to a crime theory originally advanced by two retired New York City detectives, Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte^[1]^[2] As recently as 2008, Gannon and Duarte were examining evidence going back to the late 1990s that they feel connects the deaths of 40 or more college-age white males, whose dead bodies were found in water in 11 states, often after leaving parties or bars where they were drinking. The victims, according to the detectives, have often fit a profile of being popular, athletic, and good students.^[3]

While the majority of these cases have previously been believed by local authorities to be the result of accidental drownings, Gannon and Duarte have theorized that the young men were all murdered, either by an individual or by an organized group of killers.^[4]^[5] The term smiley face became connected to the alleged murders when it was made public that Gannon and Duarte had discovered graffiti depicting a smiley face near at least a dozen of the death scenes.

Although Gannon and Duarte have been investigating cases going back as far as 1997, the perhaps most noted case in their theory is that of Chris Jenkins, a 21-year-old University of Minnesota student who left a bar in Minneapolis on Halloween night in 2002 and whose body was discovered in the Mississippi River in February of 2003 (the Mississippi runs through downtown Minneapolis). Jenkins' death was originally ruled an accident, but in November of 2006 the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) indicated that they had evidence suggesting the case was a homicide.^[6] However, the MPD has indicated that it does not support Gannon and Duarte’s theory linking Jenkins’ death to the drowning deaths of other college-age white males. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has also issued a statement indicating that they do not concur with Gannon and Duarte’s findings.^[7]

Despite these official dismissals, the case saw renewed interest in early 2008 when smiley face graffiti was discovered near the death scene of Tommy Booth, a young man found drowned in a creek behind a bar in Ridley Township, Pennsylvania.^[8] Developments such as the Booth case led at least two active members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Michael R. McNulty (D-NY) and Jim Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-WI), to request that the FBI re-open its investigation.^[9]^[10]