Missing / Found Drowned (April 2013)

The following young males were missing / found drowned in the month of April 2013. Read May 2013's list here. Bookmark these posts if you are tracking and investigating the Drowning Men phenomenon too, and use the comment sections to send notice of any cases that have inadvertently been omitted:

Trevor James O'Brien, 28, went missing from Michigan in February. He was found drowned on April 23rd.
 

Ryhene Jamel Thomas, 25, went missing from Wisconsin in December 2012. He was found drowned on April 21st.

Charlie Geurts, 26, went missing from Wisconsin in January. He was found drowned on April 17th.

Sarath Kumar Potharaju, 35, went missing from Washington DC on Easter Sunday. He was was found drowned on April 11th.

Carl Austin Travis, 22, went missing from Ohio in February. He was found drowned on April 12th.

Nick Wilcox, 24, went missing from Wisconsin on New Year's day. A body was found floating in the Milwaukee body on March 29th and identified as his on April 1st.
 

Ryan Johnson, 28, went missing from Maine on April 17th and was found drowned the next day.

Jeffrey Woodruff, 25, went missing from Michigan on April 27th and was found drowned on April 30th.

Charles River drownings: On April 4th a cadaver was found on the banks of Boston's Charles River and identified only as a 22-year-old male. On April 26th another man's body was spotted floating near the Esplanade and ID'd via a wallet, although the victim's age and name has also not been disclosed.  This estruary has been the site of numerous cold weather drownings of male students and professionals over the past few years, the most suspicious by far being that of grad student Jonathan Dailey whose corpse was discovered by a rowing coach in October 2012 bound with chains and cinderblocks. The entire city of Boston itself is now a hot zone for missing/drowned young men and appears to have a new policy of not publicizing their disappearances anymore nor the identities of victims when finally located. Likewise, metro police are not following through with investigations either, even in dubious deaths such as 23-year-old Jon Dailey's and 21-year-old Franco Garcia's in February 2012. Therefore Killing Killers is urging all men between 17 and 30 to excercise extreme caution when visiting this metropolitan area and its numerous pubs, and to do so whether alone or with friends.

 

INVESTIGATE MISSING/DROWNED MAY 2013 CASE FILES HERE

 

*R.I.P. to Sunil Tripathi, 22, from Rhode Island who ran away from his family in mid March this year, leaving behind a cryptic suicide note. The despondent young man had dropped out of college a year earlier and was battling chronic depression for some time. His loved ones said if he did take his life that, based on previous discussions with him about this, they figured he would choose death by drowning and that is exactly what he did ... on April 24th a body was found floating in the Providence River and on April 25th it was positively identified as his. Thus brings a sad close to the search for him. 

(Note that the Killing Killers crime site does not cover disappearances and drownings by suicide, accident or hazing, but in the initial days the Tripathi case was presented by his family as a mysterious vanishing which closely resembled the bona fide ones regularly featured here. Use the comment section below to submit only suspicious disappearances and drownings, or use the contact feature on the side panel to e-mail me a tip.)

 

EPONYMOUS ROX

 

MISSING PERSON ALERT: Charles Geurts

UPDATE - April 18, 2013: R.I.P. Charlie Geurts, missing on January 15 2013 and found "drowned" in Wisconsin's Lake Monona in the city of Madison on April 17, 2013  MORE COMMENTARY HERE  (Post has been bounced to top of blog for ease of commenting.)

 

 

UPDATED 1/25/13 - STILL MISSING: Charles Geurts, 26, from Kaukauna Wisconsin was visiting the nearby city of Madison for an agricultural conference. He went missing early in the morning of January 15th after leaving his hotel room at the Sheraton.

 

Over the past 15 years, this northern U.S. city has become a hot spot for 'Smiley Face' disappearances and drownings of men between the ages of 17 and 30. Not incidentally, for that same length of time the Madison Police Department has shielded amongst its ranks a cop known for especially abusive treatment of young males he perceives to be inebriated.

 

Badged sociopath, Stephen Heimsness, has been written up a number of times for using excessive force -- beating, tasering, and even shooting to death unarmed and allegedly intoxicated men.

 

Recently suspended for the wrongful shooting death of 30-year-old Paul Heenan, officer Heimsness was cleared to return to work at the MPD just this month, ominous news for men like Geurts who was last observed to be drinking with friends.

 

Coincidentally, police say that someone in the neighborhood of the Sheraton Hotel had called the police about "a prowler" in their yard only 20 to 30 minutes after Charles Geurts left the hotel premises. Police say they have a "strong reason to believe" it was the missing young man, but refuse to elaborate on the basis for that hunch.

The MPD did, however, start searching for the 26-year-old almost immediately, which, as most people who follow these cases know, is an unusually swift response to a missing man report...
 

They have ended those search efforts now, and have also recently begun asserting that Geurts "fell into Lake Monona" and drowned, although this theory too they don't expound upon. As of January 23rd 2013, the MPD has still not released the name or names of the cops who responded to the 911 call on the evening the young man vanished into thin air...or thin ice.

Regardless of who the perps turn out to be, anyone with information about this case should contact the police at 608-266-4275. Charles Geurts is blond-haired, blue-eyed, and approximately six-feet tall and 180 pounds. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt, denim jeans, and boots when last sighted.

In that same now-notorious region Nick Wilcox, 24, still remains missing as well. Wilcox disappeared from downtown Milwaukee while celebrating New Year's eve with his friends. They last saw him being physically removed by bar bouncers for some yet unexplained reason, after which he too vanished in thin air. 

Nick Wilcox is described as a blond-haired, blue-eyed, six-foot-two, 180-pound Caucasian male. He was last seen wearing a gray shirt, dark pants and black shoes. Anyone with any information about this case is urged to contact the Milwaukee police at 414-933-4444, or their Sensitive Crimes Division at 414-935-7403. (Found drowned March 2013)
 

READ NEXT: An in depth look at the drowning death of actress Natalie Wood in November 1981. The "accidental" ruling in Wood's death has finally been overturned due to the recent determination by LA's county coroner that extensive bruising on the front and back of the victim's body is totally inconsistent with injuries derived in an ordinary ocean drowning. Wood's cold case is in the very early stages of a homicide investigation now, with her husband at the time, actor Robert Wagner, the prime suspect. Christopher Walken was also present the night that Natalie Wood--in the midst of a heated altercation with her soused spouse--disappeared from Wagner's yacht The Splendour. Wagner waited almost two hours after his wife went overboard before calling rescuers, during which time Wood perished. Of the two famous leading men on the luxury vessel that night, only Christopher Walken is cooperating with investigators; Wagner has gone into hiding at his mansion. In my examination of this famous drowning incident, I'll be comparing the Wood "accident" and her autopsy with the "accidental drowning" and autopsy findings of 22-year-old Joshua Swalls. Swalls' body was pulled out of a shallow retention pond in downtown Indianapolis this past November, a full three weeks after he mysteriously vanished. That pond had already been thoroughly searched by tactical divers within only days of his initial disappearance and his body is estimated to have only been in it for about a week...yet police have closed their investigation. How are these two suspicious water fatalities related? (Stay tuned for the answer.)

 

Eric Yoon "Not" Missing

New Jersey police claim that 20-year-old Eric Yoon, a sophomore at Rutgers University who disappeared from the campus in December 2012, "wants to be missing."

 

Accordingly, they've long ago ceased looking for him, although the strange case is still technically considered to be ongoing.

"He voluntarily decided not to return home," stated Englewood Deputy Chief Lawrence Suffern in March of this year.

Suffern declined to further elaborate. 

 

If the deputy's assertion is correct, then Yoon's been doing a rather awesome Houdini because no one has seen the young man ever since he *volunteered* to vanish in thin air.

 

Which probably explains why the unaccounted for youth continues to remain listed on most national missing-person databases as well...

 

No comment from law enforcement. No comment from officials of Rutgers University.

 

However, a fellow Rutgers student by the name of Michael Wexler (whoever that is) did hasten to assure the press that Eric Yoon likely hadn't met up with any foul play and is still alive and well *someplace*.

 

His proof? Wexler forwarded comments he collected from an anonymous online discussion concerning his absent classmate, half of which were purely speculative in nature, the others posted solely as a result of mistaken identity.

 

Evidently the name Eric Yoon is not uncommon for males of Asian ancestry. And neither are intermeddlers.

 

So, chucking all the chatter and hearsay aside for a moment, is this particular Eric Yoon missing or isn't he?

 

Well, by now it definitely appears to be the case. And since a number of other young males have also similarly gone missing within this same timeframe, to be eventually found drowned several days, weeks or months later, it's probably best to keep an eye on the Yoon disappearance, too.

 

Eric Yoon is approximately five-foot-eight, 170 pounds, with dark hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about his current whereabouts is urged to call the Englewood police at 201-568-2700. 

 

Eponymous Rox 

 

Family of Nick Wilcox Insists He was Murdered

Milwaukee's police insist Nick Wilcox "slipped" into the river and "accidentally drowned" after bouncers dragged him from a bar on New Year's day and he went missing for three months.

 

They've told his family he walked over there to "relieve himself" and "fell" in.

But "I don't believe that," Wilcox's father says. "I knew him. He would not do that...What was he doing over there? None of this makes any sense."

 

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

"While the rate of police officers officially charged with murder is only 1.06% higher than the current general population's murder rate, if excessive force complaints involving fatalities were prosecuted as murder the murder rate for law enforcement officers would exceed the general population murder rate by 472%." -  Cato Institute, which ranks Milwaukee's police force among the top twenty most violent and criminal in the nation.

 

 

Body Found in Milwaukee River Likely That of Nick Wilcox

NEWEST UPDATE: 4/1/13:  Wilcox funeral to be held April 6th. - 3/30/13: Medical examiner  rubberstamped "accidental drowning" as the cause of Nick Wilcox's suspicious disappearance and death. His corpse was retrieved from the Milwaukee River decomposed beyond recognition, yet the coroner claims there "is no sign of trauma or injury to the body." Toxicology reports are still pending; little doubt they will claim a "high BAC" reading, too.

 

CLICK TO READ MORE COVERAGE HERE

 

 

3/29/13: Body found in river is Nick Wilcox

[read original report below]

MANSLAUGHTER IN MILWAUKEE AND

ANOTHER CONVENIENT DROWNING:

 

The body of "a man in his twenties" was retrieved from the Milwaukee River last night, not far from the disreputable bar that 24-year-old Nick Wilcox was dragged from by bouncers on New Year's day 2013.

 

Wilcox vanished after the troubling event which was witnessed by many including his friends but not fully captured on any surveillance videos. The bar has since lost its operating license.

 

An autopsy will be performed on the "badly decomposed" corpse now in order to positively ID the victim, although the Wilcox family has already been notified by police that it's probably their missing young man.

 

If it is Wilcox, that's additionally suspicious because the inordinate length of time between his sudden disappearance and refloat suggests that the body was recently dumped or else had been anchored. Otherwise it would have surfaced much sooner than three months and, with the strength of spring currents, most likely would not have been found in the exact same area where the victim purportedly entered the water and went under.

 

Milwaukee is infamous now for missing/drowned young male patrons, like Wilcox, and, not incidentally, for police brutality too. As a result, Milwaukee's concerned citizens have introduced sweeping new reforms this year striving to take the hiring, firing, and disciplining of cops out of police hands permanently.

 

Unfortunately, since many bouncers are off-duty officers and work in conjunction with their uniformed colleagues, citizen activists will need to focus their efforts on these rogue enforcers next.

 

Nobody, not even a cop, has the right to just take the life of another human being, even if the victim was indeed intoxicated.

 

 

Bookmark - updates to this developing story will be posted here.

The "Sunil Tripathi is Missing" Hype

When there are so many young men whose suspicious disappearances aren't being investigated, why the costly hunt for a suicidal college-dropout who's made it clear to his wealthy family he doesn't want to be found...?

 

The beguiling 'Find Sunil Tripathi' Facebook campaign that instantly transformed a mundane family melodrama into a major missing-persons saga not only showcases the value of mastering social media, but also the disparity in the way rich and poor are treated by the press and police agencies.

 

To wit: From the start, 22-year-old Sunny Tripathi, the son of a wealthy software CEO, has been shrewdly marketed by his tech-savvy family as a "missing Brown student" who mysteriously vanished one brisk March morning while strolling his college campus.

 

In reality, however, this young man isn't missing, per se, and he's not a student at Brown University either...read more

 

The Ides of March - a Deadly Time of Year for Young Men

The Ides of March have arrived at last, and in particular Saint Patrick day festivities, so Milwaukee's notorious police force plans to be out in "full force" this year, they've already begun warning.

 

Considering their reputation for brutality, this could be interpreted as a serious threat or seen as a genuine promise to protect, but, whichever, it's mostly being done in the name of two prominent missing person cases--that of Tom Hecht and Nick Wilcox.

Both young men were only in their middle twenties when each mysteriously vanished while painting the town with their friends.

 

In Hecht's case he was found floating in the river a few days after he vanished during St. Patrick celebrations in 2012. But Wilcox, who was last seen on New Year's day 2013 being hauled out by security personnel from the ill-famed and defunct Irish Rec Room, still remains unaccounted for.

This, despite the Wilcox family recently posting a $10,000 reward for information that will lead to his return, dead or alive.

To prevent more such casualties the MPD will be beefing up their presence and patrolling the downtown section, in the hopes of making it "safer" for revelers this holiday. Especially for young male bar-patrons who seem to have a penchant in that city for being dragged out of pubs and clubs by bouncers and disappearing shortly thereafter.

 

As to what exactly the cops will be doing to prevent similar incidents this time around, "I'm not going to get specific as to what our deployment strategy is, but there will be a heightened presence out here," Milwaukee police Officer Jose Alba vaguely reiterated.

Well, that's cool then. Extra security for a 'Smiley Face Killer' hot zone like the city of Milwaukee can't be a bad idea.

Just one more question, though: Who'll be policing the police...?

 

MISSING PERSON REWARD: Nick Wilcox

$10,000 Reward

 

After numerous fundraising events, the family of 24-year-old Nick Wilcox is able at last to offer a monetary reward for information that will lead to closure in his disappearance last month.

 

"Bad case, good case, I hope to bring him home," the young man's sister, Andrea Wilcox, vowed when she announced the $10,000 reward to reporters this week.

 

Wilcox was last seen alive on New Year's day when he was being physically removed by unnamed bouncers from a disreputable and now defunct downtown Milwaukee bar, the Irish Rec Room. No explanation was ever provided for why his forced removal was necessary.

 

Additionally, police who were stationed in squad cars just outside the establishment that night claimed they witnessed nothing. They also say they have "no leads" regarding the Wilcox disappearance and have stopped searching for him.

 

Over the past decade or more, Milwaukee has been the scene of many similar ejections of young men from riverside pubs, which far too often has led to weird nonrecreational drowning deaths. Apparently with that in mind, police divers had immediately searched an area in the Milwaukee river where the "ice appeared to be disturbed" but reported that Wilcox wasn't in it.

 

The city of Milwaukee is also notorious for mysterious dash cam malfunctions in police cruisers -- an unbelievable 80% fail rate has been reported by patrol officers. That means valuable video feed from the specific units poised outside the Irish Rec Room to make arrests the night Nick Wilcox was ousted by security will likely never be retrieved.

 

Dash-cam failure and police brutality are two issues the residents of Milwaukee have finally decided to confront head on in 2013 as they seek once and for all to take the hiring, firing, and disciplining of cops out of the hands of police.

 

If successful,  they'd be the first in the land to implement this significant legislative overhaul -- for two  plus centuries law enforcement agencies throughout the United States have policed themselves and exercised sole discretion over who will or will not be members of the force.

 

Milwaukee citizen activists are hoping their sweeping reform proposal, combined with the mandatory installation in all squad cars of reliable dashboard cameras, will usher in a new era of 100% police accountability and guarantee greater public safety in their neighborhoods as a result.

 

In the meantime, Wilcox's loved ones will continue canvassing the particular Milwaukee neigborhood where he was last known to be in, as well as handing out and hanging up new fliers with reward information.

 

Nick Wilcox is six-foot-two, between 180 and 200 pounds, and has blond hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a grey shirt, dark pants and black shoes when he vanished. More details can be found at the Facebook page Find Nick Wilcox.

 

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

Autumn, Winter, Missing, Dead

Without fail, The Case of the Drowning Men always involves a specific type of victim and their inexplicable disappearances. And, as can be seen from this particular kill season, these cases periodically spike every couple of years.

Below are a few I've been following since autumn of 2012 alone. These are only for the United States; there are now many more overseas and across the border with Canada as well which are not (yet) included here.

Note also that, although the first 'drowning' deaths--beginning in 1997 with 21-year-old New Yorker, Patrick McNeill--were centered mainly in America's northland, they have of late been occurring in more southerly districts of the USA, too.

 

This is an active, chronological post and will be frequently updated as more names are added to 2013's fast growing list, and/or whenever missing persons listed on it are finally located (dead or alive) and a ruling is made either by coroners or other state officials. Bookmarking is therefore recommended to those readers also tracking these disappearances and developments. (Use the search box feature and tag cloud on the side panel to the right to find the original posts concerning each case.)

 

Harsha Maddula, 19, vanished without a trace from Chicago Illinois this past autumn 2012. Indian-born Maddula was a hard-working and popular honors student at prestigious Northwestern University. A light drinker, he was downtown with his friends in late September and when they turned around he was simply "gone." He was found weeks later drowned in the harbor some miles away. The cause of death has since been ruled an "accidental drowning" but the manner remains undetermined so far.

 

Tyler Blalock, 19, was out drinking with some college buddies in North Carolina when he went missing on October first of 2012. His body was found in a shallow creek shortly thereafter with a prominent head wound. Blalock's drowning was ruled "accidental." 

 

Jonathan Dailey, 23, was an architectural grad student living and working in Boston Massachusetts. He disappeared on October 2nd of 2012 and was found drowned in the Charles River about two weeks later. Although his legs had been bound with heavy chains and cinderblocks to keep his body weighted to the river bottom, police still theorized he may have "committed suicide." The cause and manner of Dailey's death has yet to be announced.

 

Walton 'Matt' Ward, 23, disappeared from Indianapolis Indiana on October 12th 2012. Seconds before Ward vanished he was in an altercation with a bouncer from a downtown pub named Landsharks during which he placed an emergency 911 call. His body was found in the White River on October 23rd by construction workers. Police say he "accidentally drowned" and his call for help was merely a "misdial." They never interviewed the bouncer and have informed Ward's parents that the individual has since "left town."

 

Joshua Swalls, 22, also disappeared from downtown Indianapolis where he was visiting a friend in early November 2012. Tactical divers promptly searched a retention pond near to that apartment complex a few days later when one of Swalls' shoes was discovered on its bank, but they found nothing in the small body of water. Weeks later, the young man's corpse was spotted in that same pond, however. Police say there is "no sign of foul play" in either his disappearance or death and have ceased investigating it.

 

David Gerken Jr., 26, was attending a Bills/Dolphin game at the Bills' stadium complex in New York mid-November 2012 when he was evicted at halftime while en route to the mens' room. He then arranged by cellphone to rondezvous with his brother and a friend at Tailgaters bar close by, but never made it. He was found by his father the next morning drowned in a creek at the bottom of steep ravine without a mark on his body. This case is quietly being investigated by the Bills' team and those findings have not yet been publicized.

 

Jack Culolias, 19, was out with his ASU college mates on the last night of November when he too vanished without a trace. Minutes before then, Culolias was observed being physically removed by bouncers from the Cadillac Ranch bar-and-grill in Tempe Marketplace Arizona, allegedly because he'd urinated from a balcony. His drowned corpse was finally retrieved weeks later from the Salt River basin, a waterway that had already been extensively scoured by members of his family, the community, and tactical divers armed with state-of-the-art sonar and other high-tech search capabilities. He "accidentally drowned" authorities claim.

Dan G. Thomas, 29, hasn't been seen or heard from since December 18th 2012 after departing from his family's home in Butte Montana for his own residence in Portland Oregon. It is not yet clear as to whether he was traveling by car, train or plane to get there, but the young man was last sighted in Missoula which is less than a hundred miles from Butte via Interstate-90. Dan Thomas is described as a Caucasian male, six-foot-two and 170 pounds, with brown hair. He was wearing a green Carhartt jacket and dark jeans when he disappeared. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is urged to call police detective Rhonda Staton at (406) 497-1151, or to email her at rstaton@bsb.mt.gov.

 

Prescott Wright, 23, and his friend Zachary Wells, 21, were last seen drinking beer together at Wells' apartment in Kennebunkport Maine on the evening of December 20th 2012. They've never been sighted again. Police say they found the young men's clothing strewn on a nearby island which is only a few miles away from the Bush compound on Walker's Point, but there's no clue as to how the articles might have gotten there. Both victims' families have already posted obituaries despite that they'd only been gone for two weeks. As a result, the case of these missing young men has now become one of Maine's biggest mysteries, at the moment second only to the question of whether Kennebunk prostitute/private-eye Alexis Wright, 29, will be convicted of the 100+ charges currently pending against her there. Wrights' list of arrested johns include many prominent male citizens and statesmen throughout the area, and even one client known only as "a cattle rancher", but, despite public disclosure laws, police are keeping most of those names confidential. It is not yet known whether Prescott Wright and Alexis Wright are related because no one will answer my inquiries.

 

Manuel "Antonio" Guevara, 26, was reported missing from Plainfield New Jersey a few days after Christmas. He was last seen alive around three in the afternoon on December 26th, 2012 at a Watchung lakeside establishment called Water & Wine where he was employed as a waiter. The young man's shoes and wallet were then discovered on Watchung Lake's shore on January 2nd 2013, so police drained the body of water to search for Guevara but found nothing in it they say. On January 5th, however, the young man's body was found frozen at the bottom, and an investigation immediately launched to determine if his death was a murder, suicide, or accident. Authorities are asking that anyone with information about this case call the Watchung Police Department at 908-756-3663, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Squad at 908-231-7100, or the Somerset County Crime Stoppers’ Tip Line at 1-888-577-TIPS.

 

Robert Steinbrecker, 24, went missing from the Milwaukee area on December 27th 2012 as he and his friends were walking home along Cedar Creek Road from a pub in Cedarburg at 2:00 AM. Those two friends say the young man ran up ahead of them and then completely vanished, but that about a half hour later they all made contact again via cellphone, whereupon a "confused" Steinbrecker admitted he was lost. At that point the three arranged to meet up again at Sheboygan Road, but Steinbrecker never made it there. Police are asking anyone with information to call 262-284-7172 or their own local law enforcement agency. Officially they have ended their search for him but, acting on a tip, renewed the effort on January 11th 2013 by sending a dive team in to explore the partially frozen waters of Cedar Creek. (Note: From the start there have been conflicting reports as to whether Steinbrecker walked onto the creek voluntarily which, if so, would indicate this is not a 'Smiley Face' scenario. Nevertheless, I advertised his disappearance on this weblog because it had very little coverage otherwise.) BREAKING NEWS January 11, 2013:  The body retrieved by tactical divers from Cedar Creek today is that of Robert Steinbrecker, police state. Allegedly a passerby spied the young man's gold and green cap in the water and recognized it from his missing-persons poster. An area newpaper has also reported that at approximately 3:45 in the afternoon one of their photographers "watched divers pull a body in a bag out of the creek." The corpse has been taken by authorities for formal identification and an autopsy. No official explanation has been provided for Steinbrecker's disappearance and drowning yet.

 

Nick Wilcox, 24, went missing from Milwaukee Wisconsin on New Year's day after being hauled out by bouncers from a downtown pub called the Irish Rec Room, a controversial pub already slated by December 2012 to lose its liquor license due to a sundry of neighborhood complaints and business failings. A massive search effort conducted by the missing young man's family and friends is still underway. Milwaukee police have recently announced that the body they fished out of the nearby Milwaukee River on January 10th "is not Nick Wilcox," but rather that of a middle-aged male. Any information concerning the Wilcox case should be phoned in to the MPD at 414-933-4444, or to their Sensitive Crimes Division at 414-935-7403.   

 

Ben Coffey, 27 and the son of Terry Coffey the CEO of Virginia Urology, is a Richmond Virgina resident. He too went missing on New Year's day and his van with his dog in it was discovered a few days later parked at the side of Tappahannock Highway in a well developed section of town that also contains a swamp. The vehicle was out of gas, police say, and Coffey had provided his pet with a supply of food and water before leaving it, but, oddly enough, he also left behind his cellphone and keys. Although the young man is said to live in that van from time to time, he is not believed to be a threat to himself or to others, and his lack of contact with friends and family is considered unusual. Ben Coffey is described as 5’6” and 150 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes. Anyone who has spoken with or seen him is urged to contact the Tappahannock Police Department at 804-443-3992.

Jeremy Walker, 29, from the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area, vanished without a trace on January 2nd 2013. An experienced hiker, Walker had informed his family he was going to trek the Ohiopyle state nature preserve on January first, a place he had frequented many times. The young man was last sighted walking in winter hiking clothes along one of the park's snowy trails, but on the following day when Walker was reported missing and his car located at the 'Train Station' rest-stop, park officials found that same hiking gear stashed in it and his cellphone...yet no clues as to where he went once he'd returned to the vehicle. Sniffer dogs traced Walker's scent on a footbridge over the Youghiogheny River a half-mile away, but the snow piled on the handrailings was undisturbed for the entire length on both sides of it. Underwater sonar has also yielded no answers to the mystery; there is apparently nothing in the waters that rush beneath the bridge. Rescue coordinators say this is the first time they've ever failed to promptly locate someone in Ohiopyle, dead or alive, and the police have no solid theory or leads either. They think the fact that Walker has been so difficult to find could mean anything, from intentionally hiding to suicide or foul play. But, they emphasize, every one of those likely scenarios leads to the river. Jeremy Walker is a white male, with light brown hair and gray eyes, and is estimated to be about five-feet-ten and 180 pounds. The quest to find him is ongoing and anyone with information that might aid searchers is asked to call the Ohiopyle State Park rangers at 724-329-8591.

Charles Geurts, 26, from Kaukauna Wisconsin was visiting the nearby city of Madison for an agricultural conference. He went missing early in the morning of January 15th after leaving his hotel room at the Sheraton. Over the past 15 years, this northern U.S. city has become a 'hot spot' for Smiley Face disappearances and drownings. Not incidentally, for that same length of time the Madison Police Department has shielded amongst its ranks a cop known for especially abusive treatment of young males he perceives to be inebriated. Sociopathic officer Stephen Heimsness has been written up a number of times for using excessive force -- beating, tasering, and even shooting to death unarmed and allegedly intoxicated men. Recently suspended for the wrongful shooting death of 30-year-old Paul Heenan, Heimsness was cleared to return to work at the MPD just this month, ominous news for men like Geurts who was last observed to be drinking with friends. Coincidentally, police say someone in the neighborhood of the Sheraton Hotel had called the police about "a prowler" in their yard only 20 to 30 minutes after Charles Geurts left the Sheraton. Police say they have a "strong reason to believe" it was the missing young man, but refuse to elaborate on the basis for that hunch. The MPD did, however, rather frantically search for the 26-year-old ASAP, which, as most people know, is an unusually swift response to a missing man report...however, they now claim Geurts "fell into" the nearby lake, but, yet again, don't say why it is they suddenly believe that's the case, and they still haven't released the names of the officers who responded to the 911 call that was made. Anyone with information about this case should contact police at 608-266-4275. Charlie Geurts is blond-haired, blue-eyed, and approximately six-feet tall and 180 pounds. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt, denim jeans, and boots when last sighted.

 

 

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Milwaukee's Missing Men

BREAKING NEWS 1/11/13: Body recovered by divers from the partially frozen waters of Cedar Creek in the Milwaukee area is that of 24-year-old Robert Steinbrecker, officials are now saying. Steinbrecker ran away from his two friends sometime in the early morning hours of December 27th 2012 and has not been seen nor heard from since.

Police state they received a tip sometime this morning from a citizen who allegedly spotted the young man's green and gold cap as well as other identifying items in the creek near where they happened to be walking. (Read the original report below or go here for this case update and any others currently pending.)


In addition to 24-year-old Nick Wilcox vanishing from downtown Milwaukee after being ejected by bar bouncers on New Year's eve, people are also desperately searching for a young man in nearby Ozaukee County's town of Cedarburg.

 

Robert Steinbrecker, 24, disappeared on December 27th.

Undersheriff Jim Johnson says on that day Steinbrecker and friends left a local pub named Maxwell’s at approximately 2:00 AM and were headed north from there along Cedar Creek Road when Steinbrecker decided to run up ahead and vanished from view.

However, his friends were able to make cell phone contact with him about a half-hour later at around 2:40 AM and at that point they all agreed to meet up again on Sheboygan Road. But Steinbrecker never made it.

“He wasn’t exactly sure where he was," the undersheriff explains. "They were trying to meet on Sheboygan Road, but they never met up.”

That was the last anyone heard from Steinbrecker. Since then several agencies have been searching the Cedar Creek locale for him, but say they've found nothing. They are now asking residents in this region to check their property for any signs of the young man, if only a piece of clothing or footprints.

Some locals familar with this stretch of terrain suspect that Steinbrecker probably lost his bearings in the dark and overshot Sheboygan Road, ending up on Highway 60 instead.

What happened to him after he reached that spot though still remains a mystery.

Robert Steinbrecker is described as a white male, about six feet tall and 170 pounds, with red, shoulder-length hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a dark-green, heavy parka, a Packers knit hat, black tennis shoes, an off-white button-up shirt with a black t-shirt underneath, and brown pants.

Anyone with information about Steinbrecker’s whereabouts is urged to call the Ozaukee County Sheriff's office at 262-284-7172. Callers are also asked to reference incident #12-35179.

_____ 

*NOTICE January 10th: Problem cited below has been resolved--I can once again reply to your comments -- WOOT!

NOTICE dated January 8, 2013: Google Blogspot is having technical difficulties with the Admin reply feature for certain browser systems this week, and is "working to correct this issue". This glitch does not deter visitors from posting here, however. Below is the answer to the reader comments posted prior to the disruption:

@ Anonymous websleuth

Great site--thank you for the invitation and for the compliments too. Maybe the admins over there are taking down your excerpts from Killing Killers because they think my content is too grisly...? There is usually a lot of forensic data attached to my work and writings.

If it's fear of infringement, that's unfortunate because I want the info I post on this blog to be public. The more knowledge that is shared here the greater the heat on the 'Smiley' crew.

(NOTE: Aside from my books, of course, the articles I do for Crime Magazine are the only ones where cutting and pasting into forum threads may be prohibited--I'm a paid contributor on CM and in return they have exclusive rights to online publication. I just retain the print copy rights to that content. Which is fair, I think.)

Hey, if you (and anyone else) downloaded THE CASE OF THE DROWNING MEN from Amazon, please consider writing a review of the book at that webstore so others interested in this case can more readily find my overview and analysis of it. The comments you posted above are perfect, by the way, and, once again, I thank you for them!

Also, there are important updates to the Matt Ward 'drowning' which occurred in Indianapolis October 2012. That info was compiled in an editorial piece titled 'BLOOD ALCOHOL' and has just gone live on Crime Magazine's front page yesterday. Think you'll be interested in the new revelations; click HERE and it should take you right to it.

@ Anonymous January 6 - Yes, it is indeed "evil", for sure, but if we all stay focused and unrelentingly give chase, we can put an end to these disappearances and drownings soon. And get all the smartass 'Smiley' killers behind bars as well.

Thank you, everyone, for your posts-- E.R.
 

MISSING PERSON ALERT: Nick Wilcox, 24, from Milwaukee

Another bar, another bouncer, another missing man:

UPDATE January 28, 2013: A fund has been created by family and friends of Nick Wilcox so they might continue their search efforts. Wilcox has been missing now for nearly a month without a trace, but his loved ones haven't given up the hunt for him.

A nonstop search is not only costly to conduct but can interfer with work schedules as well, quickly draining valuable resources. Yet, whether someone being sought is dead or alive, bringing them home is still vital for finding closure in all missing person cases.

Those who would like to contribute to the Nick Wilcox search fund may do so at any Associated Bank, or by mailing a donation to the Associate Bank branch located at 1456 Summit Avenue Oconomowoc, Wisconsin 53066.  

UPDATE January 23, 2013: Irish Rec Room's license revoked: It's rare and never an arbitrary or capricious move for a licensing authority to suspend a bar's right to operate. But that's what happens to those establishments who repeatedly fail to live up to reasonable expectations and who, instead, accumulate too many complaints and violations. 

Revocation doesn't come as any big surprise to Irish Rec's owner and management however, because well before their unfortunate patron, Nick Wilcox, disappeared within just minutes of being manhandled by Irish Rec's overzealous bouncers, its operators fully anticipated being ordered to shutter the establishment this month. They were merely limping along until that inevitable day, hoping to scrounge up a few extra bucks over the holiday season. It's too bad though that Wilcox and his friends didn't know about all this in advance of paying upwards of 60 bucks a piece to celebrate New Year's eve at the troubled nightspot...Nick Wilcox still remains missing. 

UPDATE January 10, 2013: Body retrieved from Milwaukee River "is NOT Nick Wilcox" police say: In a declaration reminiscent of the Marion County coroner's recent gaff in misidentifying drown victim Joshua Swalls this past November, Milwaukee police just announced that the body they pulled from the river today "is not that of Nick Wilcox." The corpse, which they say appears to be "that of a fifty-year-old man," was spied early this morning in the vicinity of the area Wilcox had disappeared from ten days ago. The original story is below. 


Nick Wilcox, 24, was celebrating this New Year's eve with his girlfriend Kelly McGonagil and about a dozen other friends at the Irish Rec Room in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

Sometime between one and two in the morning of January 1, 2013 the young man ran afoul of the river pub's security team, was physically ejected by them, and then vanished without a trace. 

"I watched him get carried out by the bouncers," McGonagil said. "That was the last I saw of him. I tried calling him shortly after and his phone was dead." 

Nick Vetta, a close friend of Wilcox who also had the opportunity to witness the event, substantiates McGonagil's version: “Nick was kicked out of the bar by the bouncers,” Vetta confirmed. “I’m not sure why. And we haven’t seen him since then.”

Security personnel for Irish Rec insist that, once he was outdoors, Nick Wilcox wandered off accompanied by "a man wearing a red shirt," and, as this individual resembled someone from Wilcox's group, it was initially presumed he was with that person and safe.

However, when the 'red-shirted' man in question was interviewed, he said he didn't remember being outside the pub with Wilcox even once during the entire evening.

Bouncers further claim that an image showing Wilcox alive and well and walking away from Irish Rec was captured on the bar's surveillance video.

But the missing man's sister, Andrea Wilcox, says that isn't so either--a closer inspection of the videofeed did indeed reveal a male patron heading down a nearby alleyway at that approximate hour, but it wasn't her brother.

“It was New Year's Eve. Everybody was drinking having a good time,” Andrea said in dismay, “and things went south.”

Other revelers at the Irish Rec Room report that, in addition to a security presence inside of the bar-and-grill, a few uniformed police officers had also been stationed outside throughout the New Year festivities. Nevertheless, the Milwaukee police are now asking for the public's help in locating the missing man.

In the meantime, police also searched in the vicinity of the Milwaukee River. They know to do this now because several other young men matching Wilcox's description have disappeared from this same district over the past few years, only to be found days or weeks later drowned in the river.

Last March 26-year-old Tom Hecht vanished without a trace. He and his friends had been celebrating Saint Patrick Day events in the downtown Milwaukee area near the waterfront neighborhood where Hecht both worked and lived.

Hecht's friends said one moment he was standing there with them and the next "he was gone." They eventually found his corpse floating in the river in a locale that had already been searched before.

Investigators then closed his case, ruling the young man "was drunk and accidentally drowned."

Nick Wilcox is six-foot-two, weighs between 180 and 200 pounds, has blond hair and blue eyes, and was last seen wearing a grey shirt, dark pants and black shoes. He majored in political science at Waukesha County Technical College and, after graduating from there, was attending the University of Wisconsin at Madison in order to pursue a teaching degree.

Wilcox was last seen on tape standing just outside the Irish Rec Room near State and Old World Third streets between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. on the first of January. Anyone with information concerning that night and his current whereabouts is asked to call the Milwaukee police at 414-933-4444, or their Sensitive Crimes Division at 414-935-7403.

 Eponymous Rox