Need to add some clarification to Greg Lacour’s blurb about the Kyle Fleischmann case and any connection to the Smiley Face killer meme.
Backers of the theory that there is a gang of serial killers responsible for the sudden disappearances of young men out clubbing over the past decade would not be deterred by the known facts of the Fleischmann case. Thus when Lacour writes that “there’s no evidence that he was taken to or near water or any sign of a smiley face” they would say no, of course not, not yet. That only comes when a body is found in some body of water.
In fact they’d point to the case of Minnesota student Chris Jenkins whose cause of death recently was changed to homicide from an accidental drowning:
Jenkins’ body was discovered in the Mississippi River about four months after he disappeared in 2003. Police concluded he accidentally fell into the water and died after a night of drinking, but the retired detectives believe his death is suspicious in part because of how his body looked when it was found: encased in ice with his hands folded across his chest.
Having noted this, it is important to say that the Smiley Face theory has all the earmarks of a desperate attempt to bring reason — even crazed murderous motives — to a series of unrelated mishaps and violent street crimes. If we start with the notion that late nite bar hopping is an inherently dangerous thing to do — especially alone — then the need to find some greater cause of deaths and disappearances recedes.
But that is manifestly a hard thing for some segments of American society to do. They do not want to believe that they and their loved ones can make themselves vulnerable through dangerous behavior and so they are open to embrace sketchy theories about being the victims of a purposeful stalking and attack by very nearly supernatural forces.
