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...?

 

Stop Smiley

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Joshua Swalls, David Gerken, Jonathan Dailey, Matthew Ward, Colin Gillis, Tom Hecht, Nathan Bihlmaier, Franco Garcia, Harsha Maddula, Michael Philbin, Eric Duffey, Philipp Patnaude, Tyler Blalock...

 

 

MISSING: Joshua Swalls, 22

Joshua Swalls, 22, vanished without a trace from a friend's apartment in Indianapolis where he was staying this month. He was last seen in the early morning hours of November 4th, 2012. Police say they recently found a shoe in the vicinity of the residential complex which they believe may belong to the missing young man. Divers then fruitlessly searched for Swalls' body in the nearby retention pond for approximately an hour.

 

How did they know to do that?
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE CASE OF THE DROWNING MEN

 

MISSING PERSON: $10,000 Reward

One of law enforcement’s major arguments against the popular theory of a serial killer targeting college-age men for death-by-drowning in the northern corridor of the United States is that, not infrequently, two or more victims in different states go missing in the same timeframe, or even within only a few hours of each other.

In the spring of 2005, both Todd Geib and Josh Snell mysteriously disappeared in this manner, each phoning a cryptic SOS to their friends before their cellphones went dead, and each later found drowned in nearby bodies of water.

So too, victims Sylvester McCurry (of Wisconsin), Eric Peterson (of Minnesota) and Jon Lacina (of Iowa) all vanished in early 2010 between the 19th and 22nd of January, and likewise perished.

This, however, just doesn’t fit a serial killer’s motif, the experts adamantly insist—serial killers don’t target able-bodied young males, they don’t drown their victims, they don’t kill more than one at a time, and they don’t operate in groups, either. A group of killers being implied in this case for these alleged abductions to be occurring simultaneously over such a broad region…

In March of this year, 26-year-old Tom Hecht of Milwaukee Wisconsin and 18-year-old Colin Gillis of Upstate New York vanished on the same night. Both men somehow becoming separated from their friends in the wee small hours of morning, and both exhaustively searched for by their loved ones, volunteers from the community, and police agencies, in the days and weeks that followed.

Tom Hecht was ultimately discovered drowned, as fits a troubling pattern in hundreds of these cases, but Colin Gillis was never heard from again.

The pre-med student from Brockport University had briefly come home from college to visit for Spring Break. His family said that Gillis was in typically good spirits and especially looking forward to seeing some of his old high school friends at a large gathering planned for the evening of March 10th, 2012.

According to eyewitness reports, Gillis eventually left that party on foot early in the morning of March 11th,  and he was last seen shortly thereafter walking on State Route 3 between the villages of Tupper Lake and Piercefield, where his family resides.

It was, in fact, an area newspaper reporter who happened to be driving his mother home who last spotted the young man “walking against the traffic” and “flailing his arms” as if signaling for help. It was a frigid hour to be walking but, because the reporter’s mother was elderly, the man didn't feel it prudent to stop and offer Gillis any assistance. He did however, promptly drive to the nearest police station to file a report concerning the incident.

Police state they then immediately drove out to the area in question and searched for the individual themselves, but they say by the time they arrived there the young man was already gone. Massive efforts to find Gillis began on the very next day, and, in the frantic weeks and months following his bizarre disappearance, thousands of volunteers and professionals scoured thousands of square miles of land and water, in hopes of rescuing him.

State Police have since downgraded the official search for Colin Gillis to “Limited Continuous” and say they have not ruled out foul play in the matter. They urge anyone with information about this missing person to telephone them at 518-897-2000. Additionally, the Gillis family is offering $10,000 for his return. To view the specific terms of this reward and to find more updates visit http://www.facebook.com/colingillissearchupdates

Gillis  is described as a white male, about 6 feet tall and170 pounds, with blond hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a white shirt with black stripes, blue jeans and red sneakers.  It’s now been over four excruciating months since the Gillis family has seen their loved one.  Help find Colin Gillis, and bring the young man home.