Eponymous Rox - THE CASE OF THE DROWNING MEN: Investigating the Smiley Face Serial Murder Theory

Written and illustrated by EPONYMOUS ROX

Eponymous Rox 2012 - all rightsreserved

Distributed by SMASHWORDS INC.

Length = 200+ print pages, 42,500 words

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ADVISORY : The subjectmatter of this true crime investigation is derived from a varietyof public records and databases including police and forensicreports. It may therefore contain themes and content not suitablefor all audiences. The drown cases featured herein were originallyclassified by law enforcement agencies as accidents and, although afew have since been reclassified as undetermined or as homicides,all of them, per the date of this publication, remain unsolved andinactive. However, a number of victims families are solicitingsupport from the public to overturn prior accidental rulings sothe deaths can be reinvestigated as murders, and are even offeringsubstantial rewards for any information that will lead to thearrest and conviction of the party or parties responsible. Whereveravailable, active links to websites and other reading material forfurther study of specific victim profiles have been provided at theconclusion of each relevant chapter as well as in the comprehensiveresource index at the end of this publication. The views andopinions expressed in THE CASE OF THE DROWNING MEN are based onprivate, independent research and consultations. As such, thefindings and conclusions contained in it are considered speculativein nature and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions ofthe publisher, the individuals or agencies who have been quoted, orthe author. Some data/sources limited via fair usage percents areonly extracts.

This book is dedicated toall who have died in vain or too young. May you find, and rest in,peace.

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Justice delayed is justicedenied.

William Gladstone (1809 -1898)

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CONTENTS: THE CASE OF THE DROWNINGMEN

by EPONYMOUSROX

[forensicanalysis]

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Chapter 1: Dead Certain

Since the mid 1990s, in the northernmostdistrict of America where Interstates 90 and 94 merge to cut ascenic route toward the west, crossing nearly a dozen states alongthe way and skirting the border with Canada, scores of young menare vanishing every year without a trace. Only to turn up days,weeks, or months later in nearby bodies of water, dead.

Occurring mainly between the months ofSeptember to April, its the same story repeating itself everytime, with little variation: A young man goes out for the eveningwith his friends, gets separated from them some time aftermidnight, and, despite massive search efforts by his loved ones tofind out what became of him, is never seen alive again.

For local law enforcement officials the huntfor lost men over the past fifteen years has become an all toofamiliar tale of woe as well, not the least because its costly anddisruptive. But as far as police are concerned, even before theylaunch an investigation, even before a bodys been recovered fromthe water and an autopsy performed, its always a cut-and-dry case:No signs of foul play.

Young people are simply drinking too much,the authorities claim. Young people will do crazy and stupid thingswhen theyre inebriated. Theyll even throw themselves into an icyriver or lake and drown.

Seems a reasonable enough explanation on itsface, if only one or two fatalities occurring every once in awhile,and a scenario thats not totally impossible to imagine either. Butby the hundreds?

And why only males then? All matching thesame description? Washing up in places thoroughly searchedbefore?

I first stumbled upon the case of thedrowning men in early 2012, and quite by accident. Indeed, whateverit was Id originally been researching at the moment, it wasundoubtedly not related to death or dying, and Im also positive ithad nothing to do with H20 and its cold-weather hazards. But thebrain is an efficient machine and though its focus may be directedto one particular matter its still constantly processingeverything else on the periphery; sorting, analyzing and connectingall the data-bytes it comes across. Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.Like dots on a map.

Scientists say one of the things the humanbrain is very quick to detect is a pattern. If so, that must be thereason why, when I glanced at the February article concerning yetanother youth who had wandered away from his buddies and whosecorpse was found shortly thereafter floating in the Mississippi, Iblurted aloud, What, not again, and clicked on the news link.Before that day, before I began to consciously pay attention tothis issue, I can honestly say Id never known of anyone, young orold, male or female, to drink and drown in autumn, winter orspring. Not in all the time Ive lived in this, the affectedarea.

Like my fellow citizens who are alsolifelong residents of the Great Lakes regiongrowing up here, goingto school, working, vacationing, socializingI can attest thatthese two things, drinking and drowning in cold weather, have neverbeen synonymous with each other. Drowning after a night out on thetown with your friends during the chilly months of Septemberthrough April, with nobody else around to help, with no witnesses,just isnt as inevitable as the police would have us all suddenlybelieve it is. Its not, regardless of what age you are or yourclose proximity to the water, an ordinary way to perish.

This is probably because in these parts,even when people are drunk out of their minds, they dont usuallydrown outdoors unless theyre in the act of swimming, or elseinvolved in some other form of water recreation like waterskiing orboating. Activities which, because of our cold, northern climate,are only safely executed in rivers, lakes and ponds approximatelythree months out of the calendar year, in June, July, andAugust.

The rest of the time the waters simply toocold to go in, and most everybody (native and transplant alike)understands that if water is at or below 65 degrees Fahrenheit,its not only brutally uncomfortable, it can kill youa body coolsin water twice as fast as it does in air, losing an approximaterate of five degrees per hour. Death from hypothermia only takesabout three hours in 40 to 60 degree water; less than two hours at35 to 40 degrees; and less than three-quarters of an hour attemperatures below 35 degrees.

Those deadly equations are fairly easy tomaster and, in the land of lakes and rivers and ponds and streamsand brooks, youngsters are taught them early on. As for the rareand reckless few who fail to grasp the math, to be perfectlycandid, they dont usually make it to their early teens, let alonefull adulthood.

The average age of the males who go missingand are later found drowned in the Interstate 90 and 94 Corridor isbetween 19 and 23 years. In the entire grouping perhaps a handfulhave been only 17 and a few others as old as 30, although it mustbe said, in the case of the more mature victims, they didnt lookanywhere near their true age in posters or photographs.

Grown men drowning in cold weather on theirway home at night. Thats become a strange new fact of life and theweird new math those who reside in the northern corridor have nowhad to learn, based upon figures which have been accumulating fornearly the past two decades.