The Mysterious Truth Behind Smiley Face Murder Theory

The “Smiley Face Murder Theory” got its moniker because smiley face graffiti was frequently found close to these crime scenes.

A notion that linked the drowning deaths of several young men in the Midwest and Northeast of the United States to a serial killer emerged after their deaths. 

The theory first surfaced in 1999 after several journalists reported on drowning cases. 

These deaths were discovered to have a pattern, and soon after the reports, people started to suggest that they were all the work of a serial killer, or group of killers, who were deliberately targeting young men. 

What is the smiley face murder theory?

About 22 smiley faces were found to have been spray-painted close to the crime scene, and these “doodles” immediately became the center of the theory of serial killing, which connected the victims to a common killer. 

According to the explanation behind the Smiley Face Murders, the perpetrators kidnapped their victims, cruelly tortured them while transporting them in a van for hours, and then dumped their bodies in the water.

Many professionals in the field of criminal investigation dismissed the hypothesis as urban mythology, saying it was extremely implausible, including one reputable professor of criminal justice.

Who came up with the smiley face murder theory?

The Smiley Face Theory, according to detectives Anthony Duarte and Kevin Gannon, was developed following the 1997 drowning death of college student Patrick McNeill in New York City.

McNeill’s death was first declared to have been an accidental drowning brought on by alcohol consumption when his body was found and autopsied.

The hypothesis was made public by the group that created it in 2008.

Minneapolis police reclassified one of the instances that had been initially categorized as an accidental drowning as a homicide as the hypothesis gathered more and more traction. 

The families of other victims who were thought to have been connected to the Smiley Face Murderers were contacted once journalists became aware of the notion.

The controversies against the theory

The report detailed time-order issues in some cases.

Various smiley face styles in the graffiti that was being examined:

  • A lack of criteria for determining how close a smiley face should be to a crime scene.
  • A lack of victim trauma evidence in most cases.
  • A large number of incidents of intoxicated people drowning in nearby bodies of water.

Even the FBI issued a statement refuting the hypothesis, saying that they had “not yet uncovered any evidence to suggest ties between these terrible deaths or any evidence substantiating the theory that these homicides are the work of a serial killer or killers.“

While many of the drowning instances connected to this idea may share a number of similarities, it’s crucial to remember that there are roughly 4,000 fatal unintentional drownings in the United States each year.

While the happy faces that have been discovered close to these bodies may seem unsettling to some, they are common graffiti found even in places where there are no dead bodies nearby.

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