Eight drunken men have drowned in the Mississippi river in the La Crosse area since 1997. The rumors of a serial drowner on the loose in La Crosse are resurfacing again after the body of 21-year-old Western Technical College student Craig J. Meyers was found in the river the day before yesterday.

Meyers went missing after attending a wedding reception at a La Crosse bowling alley, and visiting two bars on Saturday night. He was found Tuesday in 25 feet of water, about 20 feet from shore. Many people blame alcohol for his and all other deaths, but some people think there has to be more to the story. Even though all the conspiracy theories about college age men that drown in La Crosse have gained national attention, the police doesn’t buy it – they’re treating all the cases as accidents. Other eight victims are: Richard Hlavaty, 19; Charles Blatz, 28; Anthony Skifton, 19; Nathan Kapfer, 20; Jeffrey Geesey, 20; Patrick Runingen, 23; Jared Dion, 21; and Luke Homan, 21.

The FBI has conducted a separate investigation looking for clues that link the deaths, but they say the drownings were a result of too much alcohol. An autopsy on Craig Meyers’ body is scheduled for Thursday morning and preliminary results are expected by Thursday afternoon. There are a lot of theories regarding those nine cases of deaths by drowning, but no conclusive evidence to prove any of these claims. If you want to read more speculations about every one of these cases, I suggest you to visit Missing drowning student mystery page.

And here is a two part video about news investigation into La Crosse deaths:

-article by Hart Van Denburg rewritten and adapted by admin-

Between 1986 and 1989, at least eight people (four couples) were murdered along a Virginia route known as the Colonial Parkway. All four cases involve the slaying or disappearance of young people who were traveling by car in isolated areas. Two people are missing or presumed dead. The person responsible for these murders has never been caught.

The FBI believes those crimes are related (they were all young couples in “parking” situations in secluded areas), and there is a serial killer on the lose who is responsible for these killings and that person may have been (or remains) in law enforcement, possibly a police officer or security guard. Even though the case was never closed, it got attention again after a series of crucial photo evidence reached the public.

The first two victims were Rebecca Ann Dowski, 21 and Cathleen Marian Thomas, 27. Their bodies were discovered On October 12, 1986, inside their car. The vehicle had been pushed down an embankment. An autopsy found rope burns on their necks and wrists, signs of strangulation, and their throats had been slashed. Their purses and money were found inside the car. Both women were found fully clothed and there was no evidence of sexual assault.

In September of 1987 the bodies of David Knobling, 20, and Robin Edwards, 14, were discovered in the Ragged Island Wildlife Refuge. They had been murdered. The area they were found was on the south shore of the James River in Isle of Wight County, near Smithfield, Virginia. They were discovered about a mile down the river bank. Knobling’s truck was parked at the Refuge several days prior to discovery of the bodies.

On April 9, 1988, Cassandra Lee Hailey and Richard Keith Call were reported missing after going on a first date together. Call’s 1982 red Toyota Celica was found, abandoned on the Colonial Parkway in Yorktown, Virginia the following day. Neither body has ever been found, but both are presumed to be dead.

In October 19, 1989, the bodies of Anna-Maria Phelps, 18, and Daniel Lauer, 21, were found in New Kent County by a hunter in the woods near a rest area on Interstate 64 between Williamsburg and Richmond. They were found covered with a blanket. They had been missing since the previous month.

Four slayings are being handled by the FBI: two people killed — and two who disappeared and are presumed dead — on federal property along the Colonial Parkway. Four others are being investigated by Virginia authorities: the Phelps and Lauer slayings and those of David Knobling, 20, and Robin Edwards, 14, both of Newport News, whose bodies washed ashore on the James River at the Ragged Island Wildlife Refuge.

Agents met this month with members of the families in the FBI’s four cases and state and local investigators have recently met with the families of the Ragged Island victims. Also, last month, the FBI announced that, among other things, it was sending 130 pieces of evidence from its two Parkway cases for advanced DNA testing not available earlier. But Corrine Geller, spokeswoman for the state police, said last week that, “at this time we have not resubmitted any evidence. I can’t get into why because it’s an ongoing investigation.” But, she added, “it has nothing to do with the cost.”

Whatever their reasons are, the justice must be served because these victims can’t be forgotten, and all four cases deserve closure. It’s been 20 years since the last murder connected to parkway serial killer, and it seems like all the new technology still can’t do much about it. If you’re interested to read more about this case, I suggest you to go here.

And if you have any information concerning the Colonial Parkway murders or any of the victims, you’re advised to contact:

Virginia State Police at 757-424-6850
and/or
Federal Bureau Of Investigation, FBI Special Agent Crosby Brackett at 757-435-4708 NCIC Number: M-871430466

At present time, investigators with the Bureau believe there at least 15 cases along Interstate 4 could be connected to a serial killer. So a report has been issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigations offering details on a serial killing initiative the agency has been compiling since 2004.

Thanks to a highway serial database containing information from law enforcements agencies across the country, the FBI has gathered details on more than 500 victims and 200 suspects. So far, ten people have been arrested — all truck drivers — accused of more than thirty murders since 2004.

Most victims in these cases are women who lead high-risk, transient lifestyles and are often involved in drug use, the FBI said. “They’re frequently picked up at truck stops or service stations and sexually assaulted, murdered, and dumped along a highway,” according to the FBI’s report.

“The suspects are predominantly long-haul truck drivers,” reads the FBI’s website. “But the mobile nature of the offenders, the unsafe lifestyles of the victims, the significant distances and multiple jurisdictions involved, and the scarcity of witnesses or forensic evidence can make these cases tough to solve.”

In light of the new date, the FBI warns everyone to be smart when it comes to stopping along highways.
You can read the whole FBI’s report: Highway serial killings – New Initiative on an Emerging Trend

-article by Kelly Joyce rewritten and adapted by admin-

The FBI suspects that serial killers working as long-haul truckers are responsible for the slayings of hundreds of prostitutes, hitchhikers and stranded motorists whose bodies have been dumped near highways over the past three decades.

In 2004, a somber group of seventeen law enforcement agencies gathered in Oklahoma City. A string of vicious murders along I-40, with most linked to the city, had raised the specter of death riding in the cab of a long-distance trucker.

A computer database maintained by the FBI has grown to include information on more than 500 female crime victims, the majority of whom were killed and whose bodies were discarded at truck stops, motels and other roadside locations along popular trucking routes crisscrossing the United States.

The database also has information on scores of truckers who have been charged with killings or rapes committed near highways or who are suspects in such crimes, officials said. Authorities said they do not have statistics on whether driving trucks ranks high on the list of occupations of known serial killers.

Ten suspects in 30 homicides have been detained, according to the FBI. One trucker was arrested in Tennessee and charged with four murders. The FBI office in El Paso said it can not comment on the map or specific cases because the cases are not being investigated by the FBI. The office said the FBI’s role is to provide the map for other agencies.

Michael Harrigan, who oversees the Serial Killings Initiative, said the program helps local police “connect the dots” to slayings outside their jurisdictions. He said most of the victims led high-risk lifestyles that left them particularly vulnerable.

Though many of the dots on the map now appear connected to one another by similarities — such as the killers’ MO – modes of operation — the majority are not connected to any known suspect.

They are potential serial slayings waiting to be solved, the FBI says.

-article by Scott Glover from Los Angeles Times, rewritten and adapted by admin-