‘Smiley Face Killers’ linked to 40 deaths in US
In 40 cases over the last decade, police in several states in America’s mid-west and north-east concluded that the victims had drowned, often after student drinking binges.
But two retired New York police detectives last week went public with a startling and macabre alternative explanation for the series of apparent drownings. They say that they have evidence that a gang of serial killers is responsible for the deaths.
And in 22 cases across five states, they have found what they believe to be the sickening trademark signature of the psychopaths – either smiley face graffiti or distinctive sets of symbols daubed near the spot where the dead men’s bodies entered the water. Nine of the smiley faces had a particularly sinister twist – they were drawn with horns.