DETECTIVES: Chris Jenkins murder connects dozens around country

KSTP ^ | 04/23/2008 | Kristi Piehl

[toast]

Could there be a calculated, cross-country plot to kill young college men, including some in Minnesota? It seems a little hard to believe, but two New York detectives say, they can prove it.

[Rebelbase]

“The mob approached her and said that if she didn’t pay her son’s bills, they’d break both his legs. She paid, and sent her son to Silver Hill, because they clearly meant what they said.”

The brother of a friend of mine got tangled up in crack and spent a night smoking at the dealer’s house. When it came time to pay up he didn’t have it and they broke his leg.

[Chickensoup]

We lost a college girl at work here in Portland several years ago. She was drunk in the Old Port. Went missing for months, turned up under one of the piers. Closed as an accidental drowning.

Pretty tiny thing. Her picture was everywhere.

[RDTF]

that’s them! thanks

[RDTF]

I wonder if the people on those blogs know about this?

[Amelia]

ping for later

[Girlene]

Here's a little more news from all, Smiley Face Murders

"Smiley Face Murders - The Smiley Face gang have committed 40 murders in 11 states with the loose-knit gang of killers leaving a smiley face and mystery clue where they dumped each young man in the water, including the breakthrough clue, Sinsinawa. "...



....."In their investigation of the gang of smiley face killers, the detectives made a chilling discovery as they backtracked from where each victim’s body was found to where they believe it was placed in the water.

At many locations, they found a smiley face painted on a nearby rock, often with smiley face gang member’s nicknames added as graffiti, and obscure clues like “Sinsiniwa” that they found while looking into a Michigan drowning case.

The detectives were puzzled by “Sinsiniwa” and couldn’t figure out the obscure clue until they went to Dubuque, Iowa a few months later to investigate another possible smiley face murder, that of a college student named Matt Kuzinski whose body was found on Sinsiniwa Ave.

Because the smiley face gang would plant evidence such as wallets or cell phones far away from where they actually dumped their victim’s unconscious bodies in the water, local police following up on the missing person’s reports would assume the young men were accidental drowning victimes instead of deliberate murders.".....

".....The smiley face gang is loosely connected via the Internet and various members meet up, kidnap young college-age men off the street by throwing them into a waiting cargo van, then torture their victims for hours before dumping the unconscious young men into a nearby river.

The smiley face and associated graffiti is their method of bragging about what they’ve done and the water washes away all the DNA evidence.

There may be many more victims and retired detectives Gannon and Duarte have gone public with what they know in hopes of getting an FBI task force assigned to catch these killers."......

[Aquamarine]

There does seem to be a disconnect in these cases. When I saw the title 'DETECTIVES: Chris Jenkins murder connects dozens around country' I assumed that Gaines and Fleischmann would be on the list.

An obvious question is why do are so many young attractive men going missing? That's the thing that stands out to me, these are all attractive young men that are getting drunk and supposedly falling into the river.

[Girlene]

Found this little snippet from the one drowning death of Chris Jenkins whose parents ran a lot of their own funded investigations. From Nov. 18, 2006, Student's drowning now called homicide

Steve Jenkins said in 2003 the blood-alcohol concentration in his son's heart tissue was only 0.12 percent. Tests also found a high level of the date-rape drug known as GHB in his son's system, though Steve Jenkins added that medical examiners told him the body could produce the substance naturally

I guess GHB is a naturally occurring substance in the body, but a "high level of the date rape drugh, GHB, wouldn't be considered "naturally occurring", otherwise it would have been called a normal level of GHB. From this site, Gamma-Hydroxybutyrate (GHB), the drug suppresses the gag reflex causing the victim to possibly die from drowning in their own vomit or choking while on their backs.

I noticed from one articles I found, Chris Jenkins had very little water in his lungs. He may have asphyxiated himself prior to being thrown in the water by choking while on his back, on his own vomit which may have washed away, whatever. Since many of these men have disappeared after leaving bars/parties and drinking, it would not surprise me if someone had slipped GHB in their drinks prior to leaving, or after being abducted. I wonder if any of the bars/hotels had surveillance cameras to identify possible suspects.

[RDTF]

are they still missing? wonder if they’ve checked the waters

[cherry]

this truely is a horrendous story.....if the FBI doubts it, then I am certain there is some truth to it...

[Girlene]

I’m not sure why the FBI downplayed the homicide theory in these cases. Hopefully they’ll get do a little more investigation to augment what the NY detectives have found so far. Creepy.

[WOBBLY BOB]

my prime suspect is a book deal and tv “sweeps week”...

[Abigail Adams]

Story and video from Good Morning America here:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4738621&page=1

You can read people’s comments here:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/comments?type=story&id=4738621

The detectives’ web site here:

http://nationwideinvestigations.us/index.html

In the interview, they said they have run out of funding and can’t do any more work right now. I had read that one of the detectives has mortgaged his house to work on the investigation.

They also said they had talked to the Minneapolis police, and the police are not interested in looking further into Chris Jenkin’s case. How sad is that!

They said the victims are young, college-age, athletic men with high GPAs. Makes you wonder how the killers know their GPAs? Do they pick a target ahead of time?

[Polynikes]

“They said the victims are young, collegyoe-age, athletic men with high GPAs. Makes you wonder how the killers know their GPAs? Do they pick a target ahead of time?”

I don't think they target on the basis of GPA’s. It seems to me the fact that they are young, college-age, athletic men is more of a factor. I saw the news conference on Fox and one of the detectives made an off-hand remark that one of the smiley faces had ears or horns. That implied satanism or some sort of cult activity. Maybe the boogeyman is real in this case.

[Palladin]

The FBI was totally wrong about the Baton Rouge serial killer of women. Their profilers said that it was a “white man” in a “white pickup truck”.

Turned out it was a black man who had several different vehicles at his disposal—none of them a white pickup.

FBI totally messed upon that one.

[F-117A]

They were interviewing the reporter for this on the radio this morning. She mentioned that for most of the victims the alcohol level was in the .12%-.20% range. Too high for driving but not to the point of being in a stupor.

Assuming they were abducted, could (more) alcohol have been administered after they were abducted? Do you know if the victims condition was observed BEFORE they went missing? In other words, were they noticeably drunk at the bar or observed to be pretty sober?

[Michael_Michaelangelo]

I think these guys might be trying to meet someone through Craigslist, or some other online meeting site (Myspace?). I think the killer might be a woman.

[Girlene]

Could be that MySpace or Facebook is a means of looking up these mens’ backgrounds, or they could be random victims. I wonder if the families or detectives looked at these sites to see if the victims announced where they would be on the evening of their drowning.

I also wonder about a female(s) being involved. A man would be less suspicious of a female that approached him on the street, especially if the female was asking for help. I still wonder about the high levels of GHB that was found in Chris Jenkins. Using this drug in high enough levels would make it much easier for an abduction or to maintain control of someone once abducted.

[Joe 6-pack]

"I also wonder about a female(s) being involved...I still wonder about the high levels of GHB...Using this drug in high enough levels would make it much easier for an abduction or to maintain control of someone..."

Very sound conjecture. I've also been batting around the thought that some in law enforcement may be involved. In some college towns there's a lot of resentment between local law enforcement and the, "snot nosed, rich college kids." A cop (or someone posing as a cop) could very easily stop a drunk college kid walking home and offer a courtesy ride. Once in the back of a patrol car, they're virtually caged. Likewise, passers by would think nothing of seeing a cop car pulled over to check on a stumbling pedestrian. Cops can generally move about freely in their patrol areas unquestioned, with only occasional checkups from their dispatcher.

IIRC, some of the victims had restraint marks around their wrists. It would be interesting to find out if these appear to be more consistent with a cloth, fabric or rope binding or handcuffs.

Likewise, even a regular street cop would have a fundamental knowledge of the degrading effects of long term immersion on forensic evidence.

Just a theory, mind you, but something is catching these kids off guard, in a very disarming and unsuspecting manner. I'm not suggesting, mind you, that this is a nationwide conspiracy among law enforcement, but rather that some individuals in law enforcement may be involved in a bigger conspiracy.

[Girlene]

I had not read that any of the drowning victims had restraint marks around their wrists. That would be REALLY curious.

The cop theory is interesting. I would think a police officer would be noticed by others. However, if it was someone posing as one (without a police car), that would be possible. What’s curious is how few police officers are interested in pursuing possible homicide. In the Wisconsin cases, there were too many, in too short a time period, for most local people to assume it was a coincidence.