-Evidence of being drugged. -Evidence of strangulation Conclusion: Accidentally drowned

I've walked that bridge countless times there's no way to "accidentally" fall off. I'm 6'1" and the railing comes up to my chest

A few years ago, my nephew was found at the bottom of a 33’ cliff. He lay there on the pavement all night long. A policeman found him early in the morning, barely alive. He survived but will never be the same. He went to a bar with friends, the friends said he just up and left without saying anything. He doesn’t remember anything after a few minutes in the bar. Police said he walked off the cliff, but we think he was pushed. We call him Superman now or Clark when he wears his glasses. I’m glad he survived!

About 11 years ago my stepbrother left a party. He was walking a path very well known to him to get to his cousin's. Along the walk he called his cousin then his mom. Then was never heard from again. Weeks later he was found in a small pond with head wounds. He was very tall and athletic and for as long as I knew him (his whole life) he would've never drowned in a such a small body of water even if he was completely wasted. But, it was figured that he climbed a fence, landed on his head from falling then stumbled into the pond. I've always doubted that. Never really wanted to go back to where he was found. But a lot of this adds up and makes me question things a bit more.

*arms and legs chopped off and body was left in the water* Police: “yup he definitely drowned”

*burns on his hands* Coroner: Must have been a drowning. *eyes removed* Coroner: Hypothermia, obviously. *body cut into 32 pieces, sealed in a garbage bag and buried in the forest* Coroner: Looks like a suicide.

Chris Jenkins' drowning in Minneapolis was classified by armchair investigators as a smiley face murder. He was also found in an unnatural position (on his back floating in the water with his arms crossed on his chest), his sandals were still on his feet, and the bruises he had from lacrosse when he disappeared had healed. Cops had originally said he accidentally drowned, having fallen off the Hennepin bridge Halloween night. However there was evidence of his entering a parking garage and getting in a vehicle. The cops had to reclassify his death as a homicide. I've always been fascinated by his case, it's tragic. From the research I've done, smiley face killer or not, there are just too many college age athletic men drowning in big cities like this and many of those deaths are suspicious like Chris's.

Someone: Dies with limbs cut off Police: "No wonder he drowned."

How to get away with murder: *Draw a smiley face*

I'm not really disturbed I'm just pissed that police left is as "accidentall drownings" even though there is clearly evidence that it was a murder

I live on the Southside of Pittsburgh. Not long after this happened, I arrived at work at 7:30 in the morning and I saw a young man wandering around the street without a coat or shoes (this was during winter). I asked him if he was okay, and he told me that he had been out drinking with friends the night before, but he didn't remember how he was separated from them. He said he had woken up in an unfamiliar room on the second floor of a seemingly uninhabited building. He said that the room was empty aside from a mattress on the floor, and his phone and belongings were all gone (aside from a subway giftcard, of all things, which he insisted on giving me as payment for my help). I called him a cab, and I suggested that he call the cops...but I doubt he did. I wish I had asked him for more details, but he was still a little bleary-eyed at the time.

Living in Pittsburgh most of my life, I remember this case vividly. Kept hoping and praying for his safe return. Rest in peace Dakota James.

This is honestly one of the scariest conspiracy theories I have heard of.

The video: “Then what is killing them?” That one ad that comes on that exact second: “Join our smile direct club”

So you’re telling me a person accidentally climbed or jump over a fence, chest high, and fell resulting in drowning? Thats like Saying: “he was walking and got abducted by 3 gangster aliens who later dumped him into the lake”. Actually scratch that. 3 gangster aliens makes more sense.

My parents were friends with Dakota’s parents. I remember when this happened and I took part in the search party they had looking all over Pittsburgh to try to find him. It’s still very strange how things happened. I appreciate how well you covered the case and others in this video.

"The victims are males, white, and are in college" Me: I have to skip college I guess. "They are also athletic, intelligent, and also somewhat popular" Me: Phew, thought I was going to become a potential victim. (Edit: Oh crap, because people try to take advantage of me being smart, I am somewhat popular. I need to never join any sports clubs or something.)

The daughter of the smiley face killer,actually killed a serial killer who was trying to kill her. That shit was crazy!

The condition of the body(ies) is why I give this theory any validity. I've seen corpses pulled from water, they are in bad shape within a very short time. A body decomposing for a week in water is usually completely unidentifiable... you can't even tell race or gender sometimes (until an autopsy is done). In 40 days, there's probably very little left of the remains.

y'know the reason that the police labels it as drowning is because it's much easier and cheaper to label it as drowning, instead of investigating an entire serial killer ring

Cops when someone has two grams of weed: 😳 Cops when there’s clear evidence to a murder: 😴

-dies with all limbs cut off *“aCcIdEnTaLlY dRoWnEd”*

Can’t believe this guys content is free, I feel like I’m stealing something, he should have a Netflix show. From the editing, info, production, ease of watch, not annoying, right pitch, open unbiased info, clips, images, straight facts….this guy is journalism & entertainment (I know that feels wrong to say entertainment given the context) at its finest. Seriously brilliant work! 🙌🏼

It's actually disturbing and disgusting what the law enforcement keeps out of the local media. I know, for a fact, where I live at, our police department makes sure certain stories are kept out of our papers. Not only that, but we really don't know how bad things are in our city......

That relatable moment when you accidentally fall off a bridge

my father actually lived dangerously close to one of these smiley face murders. since i learned that ive become pretty fascinated by these specific killings. this is probably one of the most detailed and interesting videos ive seen on it. fantastic work

these kind of videos give me anxiety but i cant stop watching them

I partied A LOT in Pittsburgh from 2012 through 2018. I have been to house parties at both nice and expensive as well as crappy abandoned homes, dive bars, high class bars, big raves, small raves, small metal/ shows, large music events, street/block parties and more. I closely fit the victim profile of the SFK during that time and have been in places where one can assume people could have easy access to GHB or similar drugs (especially in the Pittsburgh rave scene as there are lots of people that sell lots of trippy drugs and possibly have access to date r@pe drugs). I have lived in 4 major cities along the east coast and visited at least 2 times more and there was one thing I noticed people in Pittsburgh would do, a lot would willingly share drinks with others like others would share a joint. More often a man would ask before a woman would, if I was to guess I would say at a almost 5:1 ratio. I can’t tell you how many times someone has come up to me while I’m holding a bottle of water or soda (or as the yinzers call it, “pop”) and either make a hand motion on my direction asking for a drink (when the music/ rows is loud) or verbally ask. There is no shame when they do either, it’s not like a broke person asking a rando for a cig where you can tell they are feeling some embarrassment asking. It’s just a normal thing to do like asking the person next to you for a light or asking for direction to a nearby location. Never have I seen this type of behavior anywhere else in the places I have been in the US. They few times I did say yes I just gave them the rest of what I had and bought a new drink but one very curious thing I noticed was they almost never inspected what they were handed and just drank it. Knowing all that it’s very easy to see how a relatively young man could be unknowingly slipped something. If there is a SFK I could imagine them standing in the crowd near the dance floor holding a dosed bottle of water just waiting for their next victim to come to them and ask for a drink starting the first step in a twisted chain of events. Hopefully since we are now in a post rona world this behavior will no longer be common or accepted but I’m not that optimistic. I know that us humans are predictable creatures that fall into old habits when complacency sets in. I also hope that is not the case for this obviously reckless behavior. My final hope in this situation is that my theory is just that and no where near the truth. With that said, as we start to go back into the world and get back to normal stay vigilant and constantly minimizing any risks to your health whether that be contracting any illness or putting yourself in a position where you can be victimized. Just because we are young, strong, able bodied men doesn’t mean we won’t be targeted and victimized by a cunning perpetrator.

I thought it said "It is estimated that over 3000 people die from frowning" and accepted it

I'm white British, living in Manchester. One night my mate started acting really drunk despite only having a few drinks. I decided to persuade him to go home but first i'd get him some food. On the way I realised he was obviously drugged. As we were walking to maccies, two middle aged men approached us and tried to convince my friend that they would look after him. He was fully convinced they would and told me to grab the maccies and he'd stay with them. I just straight up told him I wouldn't leave him alone with strangers and he wasn't in the right state of mind. The men wouldn't stop following us I had to drag my friend away from them (I'm assuming the drug messed up his sense of judgement). Eventually I basically screamed for them to fuck off and threatenedto call the police. I guess the noise of my shouting must have scared them off cos they just ran off. I still remember that night and sometimes I wonder what woudve hapenned if they would've decided to fight us or if I would've been a bit more drunk and less alert. It really scares me. My friend remembers absolutely nothing, just getting home and having extreme muscle cramps. Manchester actually has a trend of drunk students falling in canals under suspicious circumsrances similar to the smiley face kileer in this vid.

This keeps happening to young men in chicago more recently too, another one just found a couple days ago in the lake...went missing after leaving a party at night.

This is so well put together. It is such a great short documentary for my crime fans out there.

Police when someone dies: 🙄 Police when someone decides to smoke weed in the car: 😮

The fact that the police wouldn't admit their mistakes even if it could help in 200+ cases because it could potentially shine a bad light upon them really irritates me

What a min, I just realized I watched your vid about the dyatlov pass. I love how you edit your vids!

Your videos are really well made , good job ,subscribing for sure !!!

**organs literally ripped out, left arm and right leg gone, moose antlers jabbed into their skull, and ribs broken** Authorities: “aight, this is an accidental drowning.”

My ex boyfriend died under suspicious circumstances, found under a bridge "accidently drowned", in Portland, OR a few years ago. He was missing for a few weeks before he was found, but had only been in the water for a few days at best. Same circumstances as listed here... Still have no answers...

"victims are almost always intelligent" *while the first shown victim just immediately does the same thing that got him nearly killed before*

can we just talk about how good the editing is in the beginning???

You darned emoji, accidentally drowning people intentionally like that

-Evidence of blunt force trauma -Evidence of being shot in the head -Evidence of of strangulation -FBI: *Im gonna pretend like that was a Accidental Drowning*

The entire intro just gave me chilling vibes. It’s so good..

Some of these cases might be connected with each other, but the smiley face seems like an arbitrary through line. It's probably the most common graffiti and graffitis are often found under bridges, which means they are close to water and drownings by necessity. The fact that the smiley faces look so different also means that it's not some cult or organizational symbol. At best it could be some distorted meme between serial killers, but I doubt it. It seems more like a way to draw attention to these cases than an actual credible theory. Aside from that, looking at the druggings happening in some of these cases, it's possible that there are malicious gangs of people out there spiking drinks and leading the victims into their vans. They could then make the victims transfer funds (as you mentioned with that one case) and dump them in the waterways in order to make it look like a drunken drowning. This is obviously just conjecture though. Whether the police are dismissing these cases due to negligence, not wanting to cause a panic, powerful people being involved or something else entirely is anyone's guess. Maybe the more mysterious cases can some day be solved, but I highly doubt every one of these tragedies falls under the same umbrella. Believing that they all must be connected could harm seeking the truth.

Except for putting a smiley face what if they put “Whoopsie”

Thank you for this. I had a friend who was speculated to be a victim of the smiley face killer and he didn't get as much attention. He went missing in downtown Pittsburgh a few years before Dakota james and he wasn't found for 4 years. It made my heart hurt. I wasn't super close to him but he was there for me at a crucial time. I had just gotten out of an abusive relationship and I was living with my friend (his cousin). The first time I met him he asked me for my favorite colors and made me a bracelet with them. One night we sat and walked for 3 or 4 hours about every bad thing that had happened in our lives. He opened up about his darkest experiences and made me feel less alone. I was shutting myself off from the world, from emotions and he gave me someone to open up to. He showed me how important loving and caring about one another is. I owe him so much for that, he was so special. I wish I had a chance to know him better but I'll forever be grateful. I regret not telling him how much it meant to me but at least I can make sure he's not forgotten. RIP Jake. You deserved so much better than what you got.

"They use smiley faces as a marking of their murder" Me, who's been using a smiley face to tag my work for years: Ah. Haha. Ha. Welp, time to change my signature! :'D

Dude your intro is FIRE though 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Could people be getting kidnapped for organ thieves? Maybe hired by a rich guy needing a kidney? This is a well done documentary

It’s funny how you “accidentally fall off a bridge”

We need a podcast... I could listen to your stories all day

Nick is slowly becoming my go to channel

My dad told me about this years ago and i thought it was just a bed time story

creepy but really good, love it.

*found with head cut off holding a note saying “this was not a suicide”* *coroner* “looks like a suicide”

All the tragic deaths aside, I truly am a sucker for this kind of content

*I will never look at a smiley face the same way again.*

Police when there’s no evidence: MURDER! Police when there’s clear evidence: oh it’s an accidental drowning

Congratulations on 1 million!!!

I just realized that I got addicted to these videos I've watched 4 videos of this channel till now 😶

The fact that the smiley faces are different, say ":)" or "=)" with circles for heads or no heads, shows that it is probably a group committing these crimes. Different artists have their own art style, and so do these guys..

Police are very bad at covering up things, y’know.

The fact that this went unsolved even now still terrifies me

Horror stories are the only thing that stops my blind rages so this was very entertaining lol

Mans head blown off Cause of death holding his own breath

Just imagine one day they found out that all the deaths were connected around the USA, and formed a Smiley Face.

The vibes I'm getting from this is that they're trying to make the crimes as natural as possible, using the most commonly used graffiti to make it seem less likely. Also, the dude had strangulation marks, how tf do the police think "Oh yeah he drowned, nothing else"

"Hey y'know we should start creeping people out" "What do you mean? How?" " *By drawing smiley faces* "

“Victims were athletic and popular” well looks like I’m safe. Edit: I’ve come to regret the most popular comment I’ve ever posted. Please end me.

Dakota James was my uncle, this tore the family apart for a while, the police refused to help in any way. We’re still convinced to this day that he was murdered. He wasn’t suicidal in any way. Kinda weird that this video ended up in my recommended

Anyone else here because of the Nashville kids body being pulled from a river recently?

"And if these college students aren't actually dying by drowning, then what is killing them?" Ad: DOMINO'S PIZZA WOOOOO

I live in Pittsburgh and this is still a big issue. There have been more “accidental drownings” that all seem sus af.

I feel like whoever is behind this is manipulating the police. There's literally no way they can look at some of these cases and be like; "Yep, he shoulda taken swimming classes"

Thank you Nick ! Your appreciated .

Also another possible motive for a string of killers could be fact that these killings look accidental, because they are college students, it can easily be said that they were intoxicated, but if it was say children or old people it would look very suspicious, and thus questions would be raised.

i rarely ever get disturbed, but this is one of those videos that actually did get on the limited list of "disturbing". just, the fact how there's an organization killing the type of person im going to be in like 4 years, and the police being unable to stop it, is both terrifying and dystopian. also, the 2 factors you mentioned holding the theory back seem rather insignificant. what's the big deal if a smiley face didnt ACTUALLY relate to the crime scene? theres so much more evidence of murder other than that. plus, they could very well have a motive, but it's secret. hell, like you said, maybe they just do it for fun. you need more viewers though, your stuff is criminally underrated.

So if someone wanted to get away with murder, they could just tag a smiley face next to the corpse and the cops will ignore it.

I know this is an old video, ironic that it came across my feed, but I am almost sure that my friend who is missing has unfortunately met with the smiley face. We are from the Pittsburgh area. He went missing very close in a college town and even though we are almost 30, we all look young. It’s been over a month since he has gone missing.

I hate when people say they have to have motive to kill directly tied to the person themselves. Motive is hands down the biggest reason people get caught and like you said, their motive could be to just kill which ties in no way to the person they are killing

Reasons why the police wouldn't say anything and it isn't a cover up: -They didn't want to cause panic/fear -They don't want to give the killers what they want, publicity -they don't have any suspects -they are actually working on it but don't want to give that away to keep the element of surprise on the killers

Me: So there was evidence of drugs in his system? Police: Yup Me: And also there is evidence he was murdered by strangulation? Police: Yup. Me: So this must a murder case? Police: Makes sense to me. Me: Then why is it concluded as an accidental drowning? Police: Well he accidentally fell off the bridge!

I've seen the smiley faces before. A friend and I were going on a walk in a nearby trail park kind of thing, and as we were walking, we saw a separate path and decided to go on it. It led to a boardwalk that seemed to go on forever. We went onto it, and I immediately noticed that every single "pillar" type thing was graffitied in smiley faces that looked almost the exact same as the ones in this video. Needles to say, it creeped me out. I didn't know about these murders back then, so I really just passed it off as nothing. One other thing we saw was very far away, there were strange looking people walking on the boardwalk, and they were coming closer to my friend and I. We both got scared and ran out of there, and I haven't gone back there since. Of course, it could just be nothing, but if not, then I don't know what to think about it.

Nick if i give sometimes remarks it's not that i don't like your channel, so just in case you ever wonder. Great job doing this.

>Date rape drug >Strangulation marks Accidental drowning Yeah, that makes sense.

Literally everyone: This person was murdered Police: it was an accident

I live in a small city that's pretty much at the center of many - if not most - of the Smiley Face cases and I was right around the age of most of the victims (luckily, that's where the similarities end). If these cases are truly coincidental, it's a stunning coincidence. The biggest argument for the killings here (4-5 of them, I believe) is that the street where 80% of the local university's students go to binge-drink each weekend is right along the river where most of the local victims have been found. Most of the cases have been closed with the official story being (and I paraphrase here) "drowning by intoxicated misadventure " But that fact could also be the strongest argument for it being an ideal spot for these killings. Sadly, I doubt any of this will be proven in the foreseeable future. At least in my area, public perception of the two retired detectives turned against them after some of the victims' parents spoke out against the two and how they were conducting the investigation. Here, even uttering their names has become something of a taboo that can result in anger; most would rather move on and accept the "official" story rather than cause the families any more pain by dredging it up again. If anyone ever does discover evidence that points to an actual murderer (or murderers as many theories suggest there may be an entire group to blame), there will be a fair amount of apologies in order. I, for one, merely hope that the interest in moving on from the incidents doesn't hinder any further investigations.

That one case you mentioned he was drugged the first time when with his co-workers then again the second time with coworkers before being murdered, I believe that it may have been one of those coworkers and the motive of envy would make sense here too if the man was popular at work or got a promotion it could make sense that a coworker would be jealous and envy him

It’s a group of incels trying to take out the chads

Hey Nick Crowley what happened to the Search For The Shadow People

I heard of this a while ago and was waiting for a vid about it

THE PRODUCTION THO MAN EPIC VIDEO

as someone born, raised, and still living in pittsburgh there is no way to fall off that bridge, and just recently we had another suspected murder possibly linked to the smiley face killer here in December.

Also the smiley face murders could just be individual people copying the motif and not even a group. If the police released info on this even more people will join in because people have bad humor and like to meme.

Plot twist: Nick is a part of these murderers and thats why he has so much proof on this theory

The 1st guy was found not to far from where I live. Crazy hearing about this many years later

i remember a couple years ago someone found a dead body in front of my old school (in Hudson river) and my classmates were all crowded by the window. and this year my bestfriend who was in the same school as me at the time told me about the smiley face killer. edit: i believe he was a young, white male possibly in his 20 but i don't remember exactly

Sounds like a massive coverup/conspiracy. Probably isn’t but red flags are waving wildly in my head

I live near LaCrosse WI on the Mississippi and we have had several cases like this over the years. There is even a volunteer river watch program that walk the river near downtown on weekends. Idk if we have any smiley face graffiti near but yeah shits crazy.

in a town I know, there was an "accidental drowning" and a few years later I may have found out that it wasn't totally and accident. it was revenge, but still pretty easy to get away with