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

 

Steubenville Rape Scandal Broadens as Warrants to Search School are Issued

The Steubenville rape scandal is by no means over just because two convicted star players from Big Red's famed football team have begun serving their sentences.

As promised within only hours of the March verdict being read which pronounced both teens from the self-named "Rape Crew" guilty of sexual asault and other offenses, the Ohio state attorney general has continued his probe into the exact circumstances that led to an under-aged girl's drugging and prolonged attack in the summer of 2012.

 

As part of that ongoing investigation, a grand jury was convened on April 15th this year, immediately followed up by the issuance of search warrants to seize computers and electronic documents from the Steubenville City School district and its various school board members.

 

Boxes of paperwork and other physical proofs were additionally removed from the premises this past Thursday, in an inquery that's bound to extend far beyond merely identifying the students and parents who knew of and/or witnessed the girl's assault and failed to report it, but to those school officials who thereafter may have been involved in an active cover up.

 

The fact that a computer forensics firm was also said to have been served search warrants may imply the degree to which such illegal concealment was actually carried. Spokespersons for that company refused to answer repeated requests by reporters for them to elaborate on what police were looking for at their facility. 

 

In response to inquiries concerning the search of school grounds and offices, Steubenville's Board of Education said that: "Steubenville City Schools was issued a search warrant by the Ohio Attorney General's Office on Thursday, April 25, 2013. We have been from the beginning, and are continuing, to fully cooperate with authorities in this investigation."

 

But only time will tell whether this is a true or false statement.

 

The grand jury is scheduled to begin hearing testimony in the Steubenville rape scandal on April 30th. It is estimated that approximately 40 citizens so far can expect to be summoned to testify and submit to the jury's questioning.

 

For a town with a population of just slightly over 18,000, that's a lot of potential perps per capita. Will Big Red's illustrious coach, Reno Saccoccia, be one of them?  Read my predictions HERE.

 

EPONYMOUS ROX

 

MIRANDA WARNING: Gov't Removes Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from Hospital to Military Prison

Less than a day after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was finally issued the required Miranda Warning and thereby invoked his right to silence and legal representation, the government quietly removed the injured youth from the intensive care unit at a Boston hospital to a military prison 40 miles away.

 

Tsarnaev, an American citizen, is of course being charged as such for whatever his role was in the Boston Marathon explosions but has not yet been tried. So it isn't clear why he would be incarcerated in a facility run by the armed forces, and the move is likely to further call into question the unusual treatment of this teenager.

 

Prior to being read his rights, U.S. agents claim Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, now known as Boston Bomber Suspect #2, had been providing them with elaborate confessions. This, despite the fact that the boy's throat is half blown away from bullet wounds received while in the act of surrendering, and that he's also been heavily medicated for excruciating pain the entire time they were interrogating him.

 

But, regardless of this flagrant abuse, many Americans say they are pleased to see a fellow citizen unconstitutionally stripped of their civil liberties merely by being accused of a crime against the state. And, not incidentally, most cheering the dire terms of Tsarnaev's detention have also indicated they'd never even heard of Miranda.

 

In fact, "Miranda Warning" was one of the most popular search terms on Google, once civil rights advocates stood up and began openly criticizing the government's well publicized intent and refusal to administer Miranda rights to Tsarnaev.

 

  

A POWERFUL WARNING: The obligation of reading suspects their rights via Miranda was enacted in the 20th century to particularly address the unlawful practice at the time of officers beating, bullying and tricking arrestees into supplying incriminating answers during questioning. It is intended to expressly reinforce sweeping protections granted U.S. citizens under the Bill of Rights in the 1780's. 

 

America's founding fathers who drafted and ratified this important document, and who themselves proudly resorted to terrorist acts and geurilla warfare in order to overthrow a vicious tyrant, took great pains to add these extra protective clauses to the then-new Constitution.

 

Such inclusions were deemed necessary because, as formerly oppressed subjects of the British king, they recognized that certain rights, such as the right to remain silent when arrested, the right to an attorney, and the right to a fair trial by a jury of one's peers, was part of the "inalienable" rights of all human beings everywhere.

 

In the era of powerful monarchies and impoverished fiefdoms, leaders of the United States guaranteeing their constituents an unimpeachable Bill of Rights was groundbreaking and today still serves as the lynchpin to our first-world democracy. Many countries, awed by the humanitarian principles espoused in that bill have since adapted similar language to their own constitutions as well, including the concept of Miranda rights for police detainees.

 

WHO IS MIRANDA? In the 1960's Ernesto Miranda was detained by police and because he and his English was so poor, was deliberately lured into implicating himself by cunning investigators. Ultimately his conviction on that illicit confession was thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court and, thereafter, the Miranda Warning was implemented nationwide so that all those who similarly found themselves in handcuffs would clearly understand their civil rights ASAP.

 

Although a controversial exception was made to Miranda in 2010 concerning any and all prisoners accused of "terrorism" and "threats to public safety," this sidestepping maneuver is still widely regarded among constitutional law scholars as an unlawful intrusion, and as such is persistently being challenged.

 

If you or someone you know are ever arrested or detained in any way by authorities and you're not immediately Mirandized, be sure to inform your attorney of this as soon as you have one or one has been appointed for you. Often any statements you made under questioning will be quashed (thrown away as illegally obtained) and in many cases the charges also will be dismissed because of the gross violation.

 

And for all those Americans still unfamiliar with this crucial piece of legislation, a properly and timely issued Miranda Warning sounds very  much like this:

"You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer questions. Do you understand? Yes or no."

"Anything you do say may be used against you in a court of law. Do you understand? Yes or no."

"You have the right to consult an attorney before speaking to police and to have an attorney present during questioning by the police now or in the future. Do you understand? Yes or no."

"If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you before police questioning if you wish. Do you understand? Yes or no."

"If you decide to answer questions now without an attorney present you will still have the right to stop answering at any time until you are able to talk to an attorney. Do you understand? Yes or no."

"Knowing and understanding your rights as they have just been explained to you, are you still willing to answer police questions without an attorney present? Yes or no?"

 

EPONYMOUS ROX

Coroner Says Sarah Majoras Killed by Extraterrestrial

A New Jersey coroner who autopsied Sarah Majoras says "it's possible that a green Martian" is to blame for the suspicious disappearance and drowning of  the popular bartender in Lambertville's canal this winter.

 

 

Are you following the Majoras/Anderson case?

 read and share more here

(leave tips or links to other recent news coverage in the comment section)

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.)

 

Reddit Was Right: Boston Bombing Suspect WAS a Missing College Student

In hot pursuit of the Boston Bombers this week, the well-meaning folks at Reddit and Twitter managed to inadvertently (and truly) piss off the family of Sunil Tripathi. 

 

Tripathi is the 22-year-old runaway who Reddit members fingered as possibly being "Boston bombing suspect #2." Mainly because the man resembled various FBI wanted posters and, being suicidal, shy and withdrawn, possessed some traits consistent with the criminal profile of a potential mass murderer.

 

But the affluent Tripathi clan had taken great pains via social media to characterize their chronically depressed son as an endangered "missing college student." Presumably, resorting to this unusual approach so to enlist all branches of law enforcement and the press in hunting him down for them, as well as to obtain additional free assistance from concerned fellow citizens.

 

The Tripathis were, therefore, quite *baffled and offended* that millions of other social media users didn't regard their descriptions of "Sunny" as all that benign or harmless, especially in the wake of the Boston Marathon terrorist attack.

 

Even today the family of Sunil Tripathi remains deeply angry about the situation, insisting that all the rumors about him which went viral on Reddit and Twitter were unfair and unwarranted...regardless that Suspect #2 did in fact turn out to be a missing college student.

READ ON

 

Boston Blasts on Tax Day Look to be the Work Of Suicide Bombers

Should taxpayers demand a refund from Homeland Security?

4/16: early morning search warrants issued in Boston burb of Revere
4/16: Injured mounting: nearly 180 hospitalized now; many critical

Explosions going off in a crowded square, shrapnel flying, limbs severed, a blood bath...this sounds like a suicide bombing in some war torn country like Afghanistan or Iraq.

But it's not, it's Boston, on one of its busiest days of the year: The annual running of the Boston Marathon.

Once again, after a long lull, the terrorists--whoever these prove to be--have brought the battle home to America. In the present attack, apparently waiting to trip their bombs until all the professional runners from other countries had finished racing. 

No doubt, so the message of hate being delivered wouldn't be misconstrued or weakened.

Investigators from city, state, and federal agencies are now busy trying to piece together the crime scene in one of the nation's largest and most prosperous municipalities. But the truth is they haven't a clue who actually set off these blasts, or why they might have done so. 



And, sadly, since the United States has acquired so many deadly enemies over the past few decades, officials hesitate to even speculate as to who may be to blame.

In the process of searching for all the answers and trying to secure a frightened city as well as the terrified country itself, yet more incendiary devices have been dismantled, Boston's police now state. These found in various other locations.

However, despite earlier media reports, officials still insist there is no one actually in police custody, and nobody has claimed responsibility for the deed, either.

In the name of homeland security and the war on terrorism, an awful lot of money has been appropriated from the public, ostensibly to safeguard them from just this type of cruelty and carnage. In the process, constitutional liberties were sytematically undermined, a necessity, our elected representatives assured us...

But this event shows it was all largely for naught. Three citizens are dead, one of them an eight-year-old child, and about 150 more victims are currently in hospitals, a great many of these having had their mangled arms and/or legs amputated. 

People are still missing, others may yet die or already be dead, and survivors' lives are forever destroyed.

Why weren't these Americans safe? Why weren't they protected?

Eponymous Rox

Boston mayor's Hotline for victims' families: 617-635-4500

Boston police department's tip line for witnesses: 800-494-8477

ALERT: U.S. citizens are warned to use extra

caution in crowds and near trash receptacles

Sailor Drowns on Dry Land

After two long months, Carl Austin Travis has finally been found.

 

The 22-year-old sailor from the U.S.S. Halliburton was spotted in the Ohio River doing the Dead Man's Float, approximately seven miles south of where he was last seen in Marietta, Ohio.

 

The banks of the river and the water itself had already been searched before with sonar, probes and tactical divers, and the young man wasn't there.

 

Travis vanished from his Marietta hotel in the middle of February 2013 while on short leave from the Navy.

 

He told his family by phone that he was going out for the night with his friends, but was never seen or heard from again.

 

CLICK FOR ADDITIONAL COVERAGE OF THIS CASE
 

Murder Weapon in Coed's Slaying: A Bathtub Filled with Water

It has been a longstanding belief, widely held by law enforcement officials as high up as the FBI, that people don't kill people with water. Or they very rarely do, that is....

 

For months now, authorities have been hinting that pretty coed Julia Niswender was a victim of foul play, while never disclosing what evidence they'd found in the 23-year-old college student's off-campus apartment that supports such a grisly theory.

 

But at last, in what is bound to become a can of worms for the state of Michigan, where so many youths have been disappearing and drowning of late, police finally announced that the EMU student had been intentionally drowned in her bathtub.

 

read more here

 

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 

 

K-9 Cops Killed in the Line of Duty Fallen Heroes

This Easter holiday, Jaris, a K-9 working for the Fontana Police Department in California, was grabbed by a perp he'd cornered on the second-story of a house in San Bernardino.

 

The creep threw him out the window and nearly killed the valiant pup.

 

Jaris is but one of many fearless canines who've been injured or even slain in the line of duty.  Ivan over there to the right was deliberately shot to death by an armed carjacker in December 2012 while attempting  to apprehend the suspect and protect his fellow human officers from harm.

 

He bit the guy before he bit the dust...read more about these unsung heroes here

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.

 

 

Shain Gandee Asphyxiated: Mud, Booze and Stupidity a Lethal Cocktail

Buckwild, beer-guzzling reality star Shain Gandee has experienced a reality check himself this week. Unfortunately it's not a lesson the young man can put to any good use now, as it also cost him his life.

Sadly, two companions perished alongside the notoriously reckless 21-year-old, in one final act of drunken stupidity that can only be viewed as the fulfillment of a full-blown death wish or Darwinian destiny.

Gandee, his uncle and a friend are said to have all slowly asphyxiated when a truck they were ramming across off-road terrain sunk to its doors in a mud pit, inadvertently blocking the tailpipe and filling the vehicle's passenger space with deadly carbon monoxide fumes.

The doomed trio had been seen pounding down alcohol in a local bar until three in the morning before heading off to the backcountry for what would prove to be their last joyride together.

Obviously, their judgment and reaction time in such a catastrophic event was gravely impaired through intoxication.

Told you so

Critics have routinely slammed the popular MTV show 'Buckwild' which launched the now-dead youth to fame by capitalizing on the hipster hick's drinking and dangerous exploits.

Many have been concerned that the show not only encouraged Gandee and his friends to engage in a risky lifestyle that included drugs and lawlessness, but also negatively portrayed citizens of rural West Virginia in general.

The state's democratic senator, Joe Manchin, in fact was so offended by the series he demanded it be terminated, calling it "repulsive" and a "travesty" which "plays to ugly, inaccurate stereotypes."

Buckwild's promoters and fans alike shrugged off that criticism though, and the show's producers were in the process of filming a second season this year when the totally predictable predictably occurred.

In a sudden and self-conscious move, production and the show itself was then promptly canceled yesterday on the news that its star cast member had finally done himself in.

For the record then: mud, booze, carbon monoxide and sheer lunacy is not entertainment. It's a highly toxic mix.

Don't try this at home

Reporters have been pressing West Virginian authorities for details of the Gandee crime scene, particularly for descriptions of what condition the bodies were found in that would so quickly convince investigators no foul play was involved and that the deaths were indeed due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

 

But since the coroner just confirmed that's how the men met their demise, then it wouldn't have posed too big a mystery for first responders either: Swollen tongues, bloodshot eyes, blue lips, pink frothing, bright red cheeks—asphyxiation by this method is fairly easy to gauge, even without autopsies.

It would also be relatively fast considering the small enclosure the three were confined in, and, even sober, they likely wouldn't have been aware that the truck's cabin was filling up with the killer gas because it has no odor or taste.

Of course, if they hadn't been so blasted, then they would've realized the potential hazard existed and merely rolled the windows down to prevent it.

As to which of the deceased men was actually found in the driver's seat. It was Shain Gandee who commandeered their coffin on wheels.

 

 

Eponymous Rox

New Hope in Solving Lambertville Drownings

Hunterdon County's prosecutor and medical examiner say they will "leave open" their investigations into the sudden and suspicious disappearance and drowning death of 39-year-old bartender Sarah Majoras in Lambertville New Jersey this past January.

 

Officials had formally closed that inquiry on March 11th, but changed their minds after a recent request for access to their investigative documents by a reporter for The Trentonian revealed the startling fact that a full autopsy hadn't even been completed yet.

 

Read the full story here and, if you have been following this case and are concerned about its apparent linkage to the previous Lambertville canal drowning of Majoras' close friend, David Anderson, then share the article with whomever you can think of in order to give the matter more national exposure.

 

I will endeavor to provide more coverage of the Majoras/Anderson drownings on this website, and for other outlets I am affiliated with, whenever new information and evidence becomes available.

 

Eponymous Rox