Voices for the Dead: Interview #2

"His dream was to have his own garage . . . He had a lot of passion for his job and took every opportunity to learn all he could.”

 

On November 4th 2012, Joshua Swalls, 22, mysteriously vanished from the city of Indianapolis while visiting a friend. Three weeks later he reappeared again in a nearby retention pond, drowned.

Dive recovery experts on the scene said Swall's body had been in the water for only about a week, but police have ceased to investigate his death and are suggesting he accidentally drowned while swimming. 

 

His family disagrees. They believe Josh Swalls was murdered. Eponymous Rox for Killing Killers interviewed them, and officially registered their voices for the dead.

 

Has Jack Culolias been found?

BREAKING NEWS

UPDATE December 28, 2012: Body of Jack Culolias has officially been identified this week. Police claim the young man "accidentally" drowned in the area of the nearby river that had already been thoroughly searched when he first went missing. They also say there is "no signs of foul play" in either his disappearance from the Cadillac Ranch in Tempe Arizona or in his subsequent death. Use the search box to find all posts concerning Culolias. [NOTE: I'd like to interview parties involved in this case for the VOICES OF THE DEAD feature. Please make contact via the comment section below or here if interested.]

UPDATE December 16, 2012: A dead body was spotted in the water this morning in the vicinity of where Jack Culolias first disappeared from Tempe Marketplace in Arizona on November 30th. Police are currently on the scene and attempting to retrieve the corpse, but have not confirmed if it is that of the missing ASU student.

However, Sgt. Mike Pooley issued this statement to the media: "We believe there's a good chance this is Jack Culolias," he said. "Right now, there are no signs of foul play."

That remains to be seen though, since the area in question was thoroughly searched before, not only by large search parties but with tactical dive teams equipped with sophisticated sonar, and Culolias wasn't there.

Asked about that Sgt. Pooley quickly answered, "What we're thinking is because of all the rain we've been getting, the water level has significantly risen just in the past couple of days...So, we're thinking if this is indeed Jack and if this body was down there it was obviously lodged in between something and the water level has brought it up quite a bit."

Of course, that's not exactly how it works--a submerged body "refloats" to the surface once putrefaction begins to set in, the gases in the gut literally lifting it up like a helium ballon. How quickly this happens depends on the water temperatures. Read more drown forensics here. 

This is the second corpse discovered in water in this area in as many weeks. Earlier last week, body parts and skeletal remains were found in a Phoenix storm drain located less than 10 miles from the Cadillac Ranch, the bar and grill where Culolias was reported to have been ejected by bouncers before vanishing. Last heard, medical examiners were trying to identify those remains too, but there has been no word on whether they've achieved this as yet.  (Updates, if any, will be added here again.)
 

ORIGINAL STORY:

Arizona State University student Jack Culolias, 19, is still officially listed as missing ever since the evening of November 30th when he vanished after being ejected by bouncers from the Cadilla Ranch bar-and-grill in downtown Tempe.

 

And, despite intense searches for him in and around the waters of the Salt River and the Tempe Town Lake where his sneaker was found, there have been no substantial clues as to his sudden disappearance and fate.

 

However, authorities have just found human remains in a Phoenix storm drain situated very near the Tempe water basin and less than 10 miles from the Cadillac Ranch where Culolias was booted from two weeks ago.

Maintenance workers spotted the body (and bones) at the bottom of an access shaft early Wednesday, and Maricopa County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Brandon Jones said police had to wait a few hours while crews determined if it was safe before homicide detectives could climb down 30 feet to the bottom of it.

Jones said detectives did not recover an entire corpse as yet and planned to re-explore the shaft again shortly. Investigators think it's not very likely the victim accidentally fell in there and may have been dumped at 43rd Avenue and Broadway Road.

If it is Culolias and perps relocated him to this site from the area a helicopter pilot had reported seeing a body floating in the water last week, then this is exactly why police are NOT supposed to publicize a crime tip BEFORE they actually investigate it themselves. (As the Tempe police seem to have done before thoroughly searching that remote locale in the Salt River basin.)

*This story is developing; more updates, if any, will be posted below.


Update #1 - December 13, 2012: Sources say body from storm drain is not intact and is that of an adult.  (NOTE: this does not necessarily imply that the deceased was dismembered--corpses submerged in water decompose rapidly, and when such a waterlogged body is additionally exposed to air it will begin to deteriorate at an accelerated rate.  See Drowning Forensics for complete analysis.

 

Post Mortem

 

Mayhem in the Morgue and Metropolis?
 

 

'DROWNING IN NEGLECT'

 

A Crime Magazine exclusive exposé of life, sudden-death, and business as usual in the fair city of Indianapolis, by Eponymous Rox.

(Look for it there now.)

Smiley Never Sleeps

The 'Smiley Face Killer' Epidemic Spreads

The disappearances and drownings of young men is a phenomena that is no longer limited to America's northland anymore, as recent years have seen this plague steadily seeping over the border with Canada, across the Atlantic into Europe, and, now, down into the southern parts of the United States as well.

 

 Since 1997 it's become a predictable pattern: September to April, anywhere there is a body of water, youths nearby go missing and are found in it days, weeks, or months later.

 

The Smiley gang never sleeps it would seem...and neither should we, until we catch them.

 

With that aim in mind, spread the word today that 19-year-old Jack Culolias from Arizona State University just vanished under suspicious circumstances on November 30, 2012. His family has flown to the area this week to search on their own for him and already discovered what they believe is one of his red sneakers near the shores of the Salt River basin.

 

As I write, police divers are scouring those waters for him, but have found no trace thus far.

 

Case Background

 

On Friday night November 30th, at approximately 11:00 PM, Jack Culolias was reportedly escorted from a popular bar named Cadillac Ranch in the Tempe Marketplace by a security guard and/or police officer. Eyewitnesses say he was then forced into a taxicab, but officials have not confirmed this aspect of the case yet. The California native left behind his wallet and his cell phone, and no one has seen or heard from him since.

 

Police reports were promptly filed by his fraternity pledge-mates at Sigma Alpha Epsilon on December 2nd 2012. They also began contacting local hospitals and jails, searching the area around Tempe Marketplace and communicating with his family and suitemates, in an effort to locate their missing frat brother.

 

Case Developing

 

Day six since Jack disappeared has seen hundreds of volunteers and police assembling to renew the search for him. Preliminary DNA testing of the red tennis shoe tentatively confirms it belongs to Culolias, so the primary focus of the search-and-rescue is on the riverbank where the article was found.

 

Controversies

 

1. Police assert that Culolias expressed concerns to his mother about an upcoming hazing event he was allegedly going to participate in, but the prospective fraternity disputes that claim, stating no such pledging events had been scheduled this term. They were at the bar in question on the night the youth disappeared and continue to swear that staff physically removed the youth for some unknown reason.

 

2. The Cadillac Ranch bar-and-grill has been criticized for its role in the ASU student's odd disappearance. However, management insist they are not culpable and say they are complying with police investigators to ascertain what happened  to Culolias and where he may have gone to. They issued the following press statement yesterday:

 

"We are fully and promptly complying with all investigation requests from Tempe PD and have been since day one. Our business has been open in Tempe for 5 years, it employs 65 good people, and has never had an incident like this. We are members of the Tempe and ASU community, and we are deeply sympathetic to Jack's family and friends. We hope that they find Jack safe and sound. Finding Jack is what is most important right now."

 

3. Police released a statement indicating they have "evidence" that the 19-year-old had been drinking and was thrown out of the pub because he was "intoxicated."

 

Culolias' mother is in receipt of a bar tab that apparently refutes this claim. "He had his credit card there and it had an $8 tab on it," she said. "I'm sure it was for only one cocktail."

 

Description

 

Jack Culolias has dark hair and brown eyes, and is six-feet tall weighing between 150 pounds to 170 pounds. He is also an identical twin.

Individuals with any information concerning this missing persons case are asked to contact either the ASU campus police at 480-965-3456 or the Tempe Police Department at 480-350-8311.

 

Follow and join the search for Jack with the Facebook group Bring Jack Home.




 

 

Voices for the Dead: Interview #1

“His legal name is Walton Matthew Ward. Growing up he was called Walton, after he moved to California he started using Matt or Matthew. I had always told him he had two great names and I thought at some time he might want to use Matt or Matthew, and that was alright with us.”

 

On October 13, 2012, althletic Walton Matthew Ward, 23, mysteriously vanished from the city of Indianapolis after an interrupted 911 call from the parking lot of a downtown steak-and-ale. On October 23, 2012, he reappeared again in the nearby White River, drowned.

 

Police are suggesting his death was an accident, but his family disagrees. They believe Matt Ward was murdered. Eponymous Rox for Killing Killers interviewed them, and officially registered their voices for the dead.

 

 

The David Gerken 'Smiley Face' Drowning

It's being hushed up and whitewashed as I speak, but, for all you fellow Smiley Face theorists, the David Gerken drowning in November 2012 behind the Ralph Wilson Stadium in New York, is the one to watch right now.

 

That's the disappearance and drowning death that could potentially bust THE CASE OF THE DROWNING MEN wide open, I believe. 

 

I've already provided comprehensive coverage of this matter for Crime Magazine where I'm a contributing writer, and since that website has exclusivity to the work in terms of online publication, I'll just provide the link to the article here for any cyber-sleuths who want to investigate all the suspicious events surrounding 26-year-old Gerken's case on their own. 

The title of the Gerken exposé is Wrongful Death, or Bloody Murder?  Feel free to share the piece too if you like; I'm pretty sure it can be read in its entirety there without a paid subscription.

 

Gerken's untimely (and thus far unexplained) demise is what's called "a quiet little murder" but, who knows, maybe the truth can still out before a hefty, hard-to-refuse cash settlement is offered to the family and a gag order puts the facts regarding his killing forever in the dark.

 

If the truth about it ever does come to light, however, it will very much resemble the same one floating just beneath the murky surface of similar fatalities which have been happening in America's northland these past 15 years. Hundreds of those would have to be revisited and reclassified as homicides as well.

 

And you'd be stunned to discover then who these 'Smiley Killers' really are.

 

On that note, Smiley Face victim Walton Matthew Ward's mother will join Killing Killers this week to help shed light on the circumstances of her 23-year-old son's recent drowning in October 2012. 

 

Her name is Julie Kvinge and I've posed her with about three-dozen questions which I think you'll find the answers to quite intriguing.

 

I've also sent her and her family on a mission to take some pictures of the Indianapolis area that Matt disappeared from, including along the shore of the White River where his body was found on October 24th.

 

It will be interesting to see if they discover any new graffiti down there...

 

The Ward interview, along with accompanying photographs, will be posted on this site shortly in the Voices for the Dead section, so look there soon for it.

 

 

Thanks for dropping by today--

Eponymous Rox

 

Sigg's New Digs

 

Over numerous objections from his lawyers, Austin Reed Sigg was reportedly transferred on November 30, 2012 from Colorado's Mount View youth incarceration center to an adult jailhouse facility where he is currently being kept in isolation from the general population and can be guarded 24/7.

 

The rabid video-gamer and death-obsessed killer of ten-year-old schoolgirl Jessica Ridgeway turns 18 in January and, since he would technically then no longer be considered a minor, would have required different housing anyway.

 

An ever present danger to children, and fearing for his own safety too, officials at the youth center had kept Sigg separated from the other juvenile inmates prior to yesterday's transfer. Extreme conditions of his residency there which they'd pleaded in court papers was becoming a serious drain on their resources and couldn't be maintained for much longer.

It was their idea to be rid of him, assuring the Court that their little charge was "very mature" and therefore much better suited to life in an adult prison environment.

The transfer request should come as no real surpise--the teen has been charged as an adult and will face trial as an adult as well.
 

Another mugshot, another psychotic stare

Sigg's new addy is a small dungeon room in Colorado's Jefferson County Jail complex which contains minimum, medium, and maximum security prisoners of both sexes. 

However, searching through the current inmate list for official confirmation of this repeatedly produced the following error message: "We're sorry, but we couldn't find anyone in custody with the information you gave us."

It seems then that inmate Sigg is in some kind of limbo for awhile, at least until his 18th birthday arrives and hits him like a ton of bricks.

 

Whatever cell or wing he's presently being held (or hidden) in though, Jefferson County officials say that in approximately 50 days they plan to try and fully integrate him with his fellow prisoners.

That's preferable to solitary confinement, of course, but it's doubtful Sigg will fare too well let loose among them because violent pedophiles are walking targets in such closed quarters and extremely difficult to protect.
 

Sigg could hardly defend himself against such attacks by claiming his innocence either, since he's already publicly and privately confessed to the abduction, assault, murder and dismemberment of his child victim.

 

Additionally, DNA links him to the crime, as well as to the previous attempted kidnapping of a female jogger months in advance.

 

Jefferson County's jail was originally designed for only 1300 inmates, but the facility has seen a steady growth in its numbers over the past few years and has been reported to house as many as 1500 inmates at times.

 

Crowded jails are notorious for increasing the likelihood of assaults and other cellmate offenses, so perhaps justice for Jessica will move much swifter than anticipated.

 

Pretrial predictions

 

Sigg's recent housing shake up should serve as a reality check of sorts for all the parties involved in his criminal case. Accordingly, it wouldn't be odd for Sigg and his defense team to hurriedly hatch a scheme that, if accepted by prosecutors and approved by the judge, might see him safely sentenced for life in the psycho ward instead.

 

This could also mean the teen will try to increase his bargaining strength by confessing to other similar, but yet unknown, violent crimes he's commited before the Ridgeway girl's slaying in October.

 

Revelations of that nature wouldn't exactly shock expert profilers who'd strongly suspected all along, based upon the coldblooded methodology behind the heinous act, that it wasn't Sigg's first kill and that, if he hadn't been apprehended promptly, it surely wouldn't have been his last.

 

Defense lawyers arguing Sigg is not guilty of that murder because he's insane is probably being contemplated too, just as a back up plan if all else fails. But with the prosecution holding all the cards so far, and insanity itself traditionally difficult to prove, it's not the surest legal route to be pursuing in their client's interest. Now, or during his trial...

 

Look soon for a plea offer then, accompanied by a few brand new and startling confessions.