Drowned UK student Souvik Pal "was murdered" says father

The father of a 19-year-old university student in Manchester England, who's corpse was just pulled out of a shallow canal already searched by divers weeks ago when he first went missing, has demanded authorities launch a murder investigation:
 

Souvik Pal, 19, was ejected by bouncers from the Warehouse Project nightclub in the city of Manchester on New Year's eve, apparently over a misunderstanding concerning the location of the bathrooms.

 

He was then observed on surveillance feed returning to the club only a few minutes later, hopeful of rejoining his friends who were still inside. However, security prevented him from reentering and after that the young man mysteriously vanished.

 

Police have begrudgingly obliged Mr. Pal's request for further inquiry into this troubling drowning, saying they will indeed go back to the Warehouse to interview revelers this weekend. Although clearly they are loathe to interrogate the overzealous bouncers themselves, the last people to actually see Souvik Pal alive and to interact with him. 

 

Here or abroad, that reluctance is typical of most police departments confronted with such cases because it's common practice for off-duty cops to moonlight as security for busy nightspots like the Warehouse Project. Thus, to thoroughly investigate a young male patron's sudden disappearance and inexplicable drowning would mean having to detain and possibly arrest one of their own in the process. 

 

That's the same reason why it's also become standard practice in these bogus "drowning" events for authorities to declare they found "no signs of foul play" involved. Even when the plot surrounding a young man's disappearance is thick enough to cut with a knife, and the perp in charge of guarding the pub door the night in question was seen returning from a quick trip to the river with bruised knuckles and damp trousers.

 

Initially, the Manchester police did try to convince Mr. Pal that there was no foul play involved in his own son's disappearance and drowning, but the distraught father showed he wasn't buying into the absurd theory. He insists his son was an excellent swimmer and, moreover, was hardly even drinking the night he went missing.

 

That assertion appears to have been officially confirmed by autopsy, the results of which compelled the medical examiner to list the cause and manner of Souvik Pal's premature death as "inconclusive." More detailed toxicology tests for drugs will have to be performed now, but these usually take weeks to be returned from the lab.

 

Likely those too will come back negative.

 

BREAKING NEWS: Joshua Swalls (Smiley screwed up again)

INDIANAPOLIS - Toxicology reports have just been released for Joshua Swalls, 22, who mysteriously vanished this past November and was then found "drowned" three weeks later in a nearby retention pond that had already been scoured by divers the same week he went missing.

 

No drugs or alcohol whatsoever in the body of this young man.

 

That new evidence, coupled with the recent toxicology finding concerning 'drown' victim Matt Ward, who like Swalls also disappeared under suspicious circumstances from downtown Indianapolis, means the typical "he was drunk and drowned" story officials always issue in these cases now has a zillion little holes in it. 

 

Despite police claims that Ward was heavily intoxicated when he drowned in October 2012, Ward's tox report showed him to be only slightly above the legal limit for driving an automobile. A fact which proves that the 911 call he made seconds before he went missing was not "just a misdial" as Indy metro-police are now insisting.

 

Matt Ward's emergency cellphone call was placed during a physical altercation in a parking lot with a bouncer from the Landsharks nightclub. The bouncer was never questioned by police and they say he has since "left town."

 

The Swalls and Ward reports are major achievements in The Case Of the Drowning Men. Normally medical examiners quickly rubberstamp investigators' assertions  that a missing young man simply drank too much and fell into the water and perished. Therefore, even when the evidence clearly points to foul play, they'll pull a high BAC reading out of their hat instead, so to support the bogus ruling. Rarely will a coroner's office perform comprehensive tox reports on Smiley Face victims unless they feel publicly pressured to...

 

So let's keep the heat on Smiley then. We're finally getting somewhere.

 

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

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.

 

 

Updated regularly - follow this weblog and/or bookmark the page
 

Smiley screwed up

It's a tragic tale police in America's northland have told to hundreds of heartbroken parents of missing young males many times throughout these past fifteen years: Their sons were drinking too much, completely lost their wits from inebriation, decided to go for a wintery swim in the nearby body of water to wear it off, and perished in the process.

That's what the parents of missing 23-year-old Walton Matthew Ward had to hear from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department in late October 2012.

There was just one problem with IMPD's story though: Matt Ward wasn't drunk.

BLOOD ALCOHOL

Read February's premier issue of HUNTING SMILEY

 

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