Missing Adrian Lynch Found Drowned 9 Months Later

The body of long missing UK man Adrian Lynch has finally been found this month in a body of water previously scoured by divers using sonar.

The 20-year-old electrician disappeared from the island of Jersey in early December of 2015, after leaving a Christmas work party by taxi, shortly after midnight.

Lynch was later captured by surveillance cameras (and witnessed) heading on foot for his home located about a mile away from where the cab driver dropped him off.

An exhaustive months-long search for the missing youth officially ended in February 2016. It only produced his wallet and a coiled belt.

Then, this August, a passerby spotted semi-submerged human remains in a reservoir close to where Adrian Lynch was last seen alive and contacted authorities who retrieved the corpse.

Lynch's passport was reportedly found in a pocket of the victim's jacket.

The reservoir where he is thought to have drowned was well inside the "high priority" search area that police established during their multi-agency investigation of his missing-persons case.

His body wasn't there when those waters were searched last winter -- and, had it been, it would have surfaced by springtime when warming temperatures triggered decomposition and refloat.

A postmortem exam revealed that young Lynch suffered "no traumatic" injuries when he died such as might imply "third party" involvement or foul play.

Nevertheless, the coroner was unable to pinpoint his actual cause and manner of death.

The unexplained disappearance of Adrian Lynch is presented in the new and expanded edition of The Case of the Drowning Men, complete with photographs. Jersey officials have indicated their investigation into the matter is still active.

Eponymous Rox

Announcing Smiley Face Killer Interview #1 with Gannon and Gilbertson

KILLING KILLERS is pleased to announce our upcoming Smiley Face Killer interview with none other than former NYPD homicide detective Kevin Gannon and internationally renown criminologist D. Lee Gilbertson.

It was Detective Gannon who, in 1997, first identified Victim Zero -- 21yo Patrick McNeill -- in what would become a decades-long *drowning* spree by an elusive "group" dubbed the Smiley Face Serial Killers.

Nearly 20 years ago, Gannon promised McNeill's grieving parents he'd never stop hunting their son's murderer, and to this day he has kept that vow, at great cost and consequence.

In that epic pursuit, Gannon joined forces with St. Cloud University's acclaimed sociologist and criminal-justice professor, D. Lee Gilbertson, and together this duo became one of Smiley's most relentless and formidable foes.

Since the late 1990s, Gannon and Gilbertson have been throwing a wide net for Smiley; forensically and statistically proving beyond a reasonable doubt, that the missing young men being victimized weren't drowning in cold weather by "accident" or committing "suicide."

In 2014 though, frustrated with local authorities stomping on Smiley Face crime scenes and with coroners rubber-stamping suspicious water fatalities as "accidental," they published the definitive, 462-page death-by-drowning analysis.

Gannon and Gilbertson's Case Studies in Drowning Forensics painstakingly dissects over a dozen  high-profile 'Smiley Face' disappearances and murders in the last 19+ years -- with autopsy results, photos, phone records, GPS data, and other never-before-seen evidence, permanently debunking the official "accidental drowning" myth.

So, if you're independently hunting Smiley too, then don't take another step until you've read this major treatise. Because, yes, your hunch that the Smiley Face cases are actual homicides is correct, and Gannon and Gilbertson can show you why.

And don't miss our exclusive Smiley Face Killer interview with Kevin Gannon and Dr. Gilbertson this week!

MORE ABOUT KEVIN GANNON: Kevin Gannon retired as a Detective-Sergeant for the NYC Police Department after 20 years of service, 14 of which were in supervisory positions. In addition to policing, he has extensive training and experience in personal and physical security, investigation and surveillance, and disaster response, including biochemical warfare training with the Department of Defense. Gannon has held leadership positions in the personal protection of numerous international dignitaries and celebrities, and was an NYPD representative on ex NYC mayor Giuliani’s 1997 "Operation ICE" (Interagency Chemical Exercise) task force, which planned and coordinated emergency responses to any major chemical disaster in lower Manhattan. 

As a detective and sergeant, Gannon routinely supervised plainclothes personnel in anti-crime, narcotics and robbery units, and was second in charge of the NYPD's Missing Persons Squad. He also headed the Bronx Homicide Task Force 'Nightwatch' from 1999 until his retirement. During his distinguished career in law enforcement, Gannon has made over 1000 felony arrests for offenses involving narcotics, burglaries, robberies and homicides, and was awarded almost 100 medals for heroism in the line of duty. As such, he remains one of the most decorated members of the Special Investigation Division of the NYPD's Detective Bureau, receiving the Medal of Valor twice before retiring. In 2008, Gannon also received the Frederic Milton Thrasher award for his continued investigative work on gang crime, a field in which he's also considered an expert.

ABOUT D. LEE GILBERTSON: A three-time recipient of the Frederic Milton Thrasher award, Dr. Gilbertson holds a doctorate in sociology with a concentration in gang criminology and substance abuse, as well as a Master of Science in Criminal Justice focusing on criminology and victimology. His background includes 16 years of exemplary military service (signals intelligence and infantry) from 1976 to 1992. He also trained in and served as the unit Alcohol and Drug Coordination officer (responsible for substance-abuse prevention training and overseeing urinalysis collections), and as the unit Nuclear and Biochemical Warfare Defense officer.

Dr. Gilbertson currently teaches at Saint Cloud State University and regularly works as a law enforcement consultant, providing training in the areas of forensic victimology, crime analysis, and gangs. He has in fact studied gangs, militias, and extremist groups since 1995 and is a certified gang specialist as well as the executive editor of the Journal of Gang Research. He's also presented and taught at numerous national and international conferences and academic institutions, and is a staff member of the National Gang Crime Research Center, participating in all phases of its 'International Gang Specialist Training' conferences.

EPONYMOUS ROX

The Disappearance and Drowning of Henry McCabe

Long missing Minnesota tax auditor Henry McCabe (below) has been found drowned this week, two months after leaving a desperate voice-mail with relatives containing screams and growls.

 On Monday, a kayaker discovered Mr. McCabe’s body in Rush Lake, some distance from where the 32-year-old had been dropped off -- and promptly vanished -- after a night out with his friends.

Searchers have acknowledged they previously scoured that same area and found nothing. However, a law enforcement official said yesterday that the victim appeared to have been in the water “for quite some time.”

Henry McCabe was a salaried employee of Minnesota’s Department of Revenue and is survived by a wife and two young children.

Despite Mr. McCabe's bizarre missing persons case -- and his frightened two-minute message begging for help -- police are now suggesting there's “nothing suspicious” about his disappearance and non-recreational drowning…

Read my original missing persons report for Crime Magazine below:

The Henry McCabe missing persons case has taken a scary turn in Minnesota this week:

The 31-year-old Department of Revenue auditor mysteriously vanished almost a month ago during a night out with a friend.

He hasn’t been seen or heard from since then, but, this week, a voicemail recording from that evening has surfaced … and it’s a total fright:

The troubling call, which was placed from McCabe’s cell phone at 2:30 in the morning of September 7th, contains about 2-minutes of screams, growls and moans, then is punctuated with a few seconds of silence before someone says “stop it.”

The growls turn into high pitch moans, like he's moaning in pain,” an individual familiar with the Henry McCabe investigation and his last known voicemail message stated yesterday.

A police spokesman also told reporters that the FBI is now analyzing the recording.

Investigators believe this final call originated from the vicinity of Rice Creek Park which borders on the Mounds View and New Brighton communities, although a wide-scale search there produced no evidence.

Because that district isn’t where McCabe’s acquaintance reportedly dropped him off, loved ones of the missing man have expressed some doubts about the accuracy -- or truthfulness -- of this person’s account.

McCabe allegedly left a Spring Lake Park nightclub with his unnamed friend, who subsequently left him at a convenience store in Fridley.

The still-missing man is married with children and lives in Mounds View with his family. The Mounds View Police Department is therefore heading up the investigation into his disappearance and urges anyone with info about it to contact them at 763-717-4070.

The Fridley Police Department has also joined forces with the MVPD in an effort to solve Mr. McCabe’s missing persons case -- FPD detectives can be reached at 763-572-3629.

Eponymous Rox

R.I.P. Ken Gruno (missing found drowned)

Michigan's missing man Ken Gruno, 27, was finally located this week, three months after he vanished without a trace from an Otisville pub where he'd been celebrating Christmas with good friends.

His body was just found partially submerged in a shallow pond, and a medical examiner says the Air Force veteran "accidentally" drowned there somehow.

Young males like Ken Gruno, vanishing in the dead of winter and showing up drowned in an icy body of freshwater weeks or even months later, appears to be a scary modern-day phenomena now ... read more

Eponymous Rox

BREAKING NEWS: Paul Kochu Found Drowned

Paul Kochu has been found drowned, roughly three months after the 22-year-old nurse vanished during a night out with his roommates that left him mysteriously injured. 

Pittsburgh police say they were contacted about a body floating in the Ohio River and that it was positively identified as the missing man through dental records.

An autopsy was performed but the results have not yet been publicly released, and the cause and manner of death are still unknown.

The family of Paul Kochu had conducted numerous searches for him in the Pittsburgh area and even offered a missing person reward for help in solving his case.

They've released the following statement:

"It is with heavy hearts and unspeakable sadness that we learned today of the death of our beloved son and brother, Paul. These are circumstances no family ever dream of coping with. Though we are left with many questions, what we know for sure is Paul was the light of our lives, and we will not be the same without him.

"Paul loved Pittsburgh. Having traveled here repeatedly over the past four months as we held out hope in the search for Paul, it is clear to us why the community was so dear to him, In addition to family and friends, countless strangers embraced us and offered their love and support in helping us during this difficult time. There are no adequate words to express the gratitude we feel towards the Pittsburgh community."

Eponymous Rox

Shane Montgomery Accidentally Drowned - In Winter

Shane Montgomery accidentally drowned in a river, claims the medical examiner who just performed an autopsy on the previously-missing youth's corpse. Now the question that will forever remain unanswered is: Why in the world would he have gone swimming in the middle of winter?

With that weird official finding, however, Montgomery now joins a growing list of similar young men who, since the late 1990s, fatefully and fatally decided to do the same foolish thing.

Some were "intoxicated" or "on drugs" or "troubled" authorities have routinely ruled. But some were not, and yet they too disappeared and drowned anyway, including those who "misdialed" 911 in the minutes before they vanished without a trace.

Like many of the victims before him, Shane Montgomery mysteriously went missing after an altercation in a bar he had attended with friends this holiday season. It was a minor incident, the bar's owner and management now admit, but, whatever, it got him promptly thrown out into the cold that night, and thereafter he was never seen alive again.

More than a week into the community-search for him, police insisted they'd discovered surveillance video of Montgomery subsequently "stumbling" near the towpath of a nearby canal; vital evidence which, for some unknown reason, wasn't released to the public.

But this apparently rare piece of secret film footage helped to *connect all the dots* it seems. And therefore it made perfect sense to them to then assume they'd find Montgomery's corpse in the river or canal. With no signs of foul play on it, naturally.

So, who knows, perhaps young men these days are just more sensitive than they were 20, 50, 100, 200 years ago, and thus now become truly despondent whenever they're forcibly separated from their buddies, and a river, lake, pond or stream is close by... 

Eponymous Rox

Smiley Face International Kill Spree Underway?



Smiley Pandemic No Laughing Matter

Thomas Ducroo: On February 5th 2011, Thomas Ducroo, 26, was walking home from an evening out on the town when he vanished without a trace. The extensive search for the charismatic young man by family, friends and local police produced no clues until, finally, his body was discovered by tactical divers in the channel on February 23rd 2011. Where did Thomas Ducroo disappear from and drown? The city of Lille, France.

Austin Bice: On February 26th 2011, popular grad student Austin Bice, 22, suddenly disappeared after being denied entry to a busy downtown nightclub by one of its doormen. Bice, who at six-foot-five and 230 pounds was described as a "gentle giant" and extremely athletic, had accompanied five friends to the bar, all of whom said he wasn't that intoxicated. Bice's drowned corpse was discovered at the bottom of the nearby river eleven days later. Officials said he was inebriated, fell into the water, and had a heart attack as he accidentally drowned. Where did Austin Bice vanish from? Madrid, Spain.

Paul Bunbury: On March 13th 2012, the badly decomposed corpse of Paul Bunbury, 19, was discovered floating in the river near a downtown dock, almost six weeks after the university student had mysteriously gone missing. Bunbury, who was last seen on campus sometime around midday on February 2, 2012, was described as being five-foot-ten, 160 pounds, with brown eyes, long brown hair, and a beard. A popular student, his schoolmates launched a major search and internet campaign to find him. Where did Paul Bunbury disappear from and "accidentally" drown? Dublin, Ireland.

Paul Foster: On January 10th 2010, 28-year-old Paul Michael Foster and his truck mysteriously disappeared en route to a movie that evening. He was eventually discovered missing by neighbors because his dog, to whom he was devoted, had begun howling after enduring three days of his master's absence. Nine months later, at the beginning of September, tactical divers on an unrelated mission spotted Foster's truck rusting away in Hamilton Harbor. His remains were found inside of it. Officials emphatically stated there was "no sign of foul play" evidenced in autopsy, and "no reason to believe" that the young man wasn't in the water the entire time he was missing. Where did Paul Foster disappear and drown? Ontario, Canada.

Michael Jansson: On the night of March 9th 2001, dapper "Mikey" Jansson, age 21, was visiting the Biology Bar with a small group of friends when he was abruptly ejected from the establishment by bouncers. Shortly after that event both Jansson and the black Buick Sabre he was alleged to have been driving vanished without a trace. His cellphone, however, was retained for the personal use of various members of Biology's security team, until they disposed of it someplace where it was never to be found again. Partly due to the city police department's initial reluctance to search for him, Jansson himself was never found either. However, on December 15th 2012, over a decade after he was first reported missing, the fender of the young man's car was sighted in the nearby river...and inside the muddy vehicle was a human skeleton. Authorities are now awaiting the results of DNA tests on those bones before formally announcing that they belong to Jansson. Where did this luckless young man disappear from and presumably drown? Chicago, Illinois.        

"Hopefully he's alive," says the distraught father of 18-year-old college student Souvik Pal, missing now since January 1, 2013 when he was ejected at 11:00 PM from a nightclub during New Year's eve celebrations. Souvik's friends who were also at the popular Warehouse Project club say that, typically, the young man wasn't drinking very much, so they can't understand why security would have targeted him. Police have been searching all the nearby waterways, but so far he isn't in any of them. Where did Souvik Pal mysteriously disappear from? Manchester, United Kingdom. Will he too be found drowned?  *UPDATE: on January 22nd 2013, Souvik Pal was found dead in a canal near Old Trafford stadium in Manchester UK, a short distance from the nightclub where he was last seen after bouncers separated him from his friends. Outdoor surveillance video showed the student attempting to return to the premises immediately after being thrown out by security for a misunderstanding concerning the location of the bathrooms. Autopsy could not determine the cause or manner of death as Pal was evidently not intoxicated. It isn't clear if the club's bouncers responsible for this event were ever questioned by police, or are even still in town. *The tip for this status report was provided by reader 'Tuned_In'  (Thanks, mate.)

Just stumbled on the 'Smiley Face Serial Murders' for the very first time?

Learn about this famous case in THE CASE OF THE DROWNING MEN