Professor says river deaths may be linked
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Professor says river deaths may be linked
Study shows pattern in students' drownings
BY TODD RICHMOND
Vanishing students. Dead bodies. Fears something sinister is lurking in the
shadows.
A string of college student drownings across the Midwest has all the makings
of great mystery. Or does it?
Rumors have persisted for years that a serial killer is prowling Interstate
94, hunting young men in college bars and plunging them underwater.
Investigators, though, say there's no evidence of foul play. They say the
victims were so drunk they fell in the river and died.
Not so fast, says criminologist Douglas Gilbertson.
An assistant criminology professor at St. Cloud State University, Gilbertson
has spent most of the past year researching the drownings. He completed a
study this spring he believes shows patterns that indicate some of the cases
could be murders — and could be linked.
"We definitely do have some cases that are just not accidents. When you fill
in the patterns that are coming out, that's the next logical step,"
Gilbertson said.
St. Cloud police Chief Dennis Ballantine, whose department investigated the
drowning death of a St. Cloud State student this spring and concluded it was
an accident, called Gilbertson's study a collection of coincidences.
"It would make a great TV drama, but there's no evidence to support it,"
Ballantine said. "The only common denominator I'm aware of is young people,
alcohol and water."
According to Gilbertson's study, more than 20 college-age men from Minnesota
to Ohio have drowned after disappearing from a bar or party since 1997. One
of the hot spots is La Crosse, Wis., which sits on the Mississippi River and
is home to three colleges. Eight college-age men have turned up dead in area
rivers after vanishing from bars in the past eight years. Police have ruled
the deaths accidental.
The St. Cloud area has seen cases, too. In 2002, St. John's University
student Josh Guimond disappeared after leaving a party in Collegeville. This
spring, 21-year-old St. Cloud State student Scot Radel disappeared after
leaving a downtown bar. His body was later found in the Mississippi River.
In 2004, La Crosse police called a town meeting to allay that city's fears
but ended up getting heckled by people who insisted a killer was on the
loose. And talk of a possible killer is everywhere on the Internet.
The killer theory got a boost this fall when Minneapolis police abruptly
changed course in University of Minnesota student Chris Jenkins' death.
Jenkins vanished from a downtown bar on Halloween 2002 and turned up dead
along the Mississippi.
Investigators originally ruled Jenkins' death an accident or suicide, but
reclassified it a homicide in November.
The about-face caused other investigators to re-examine their conclusions,
but so far no links to Jenkins have emerged. Police in La Crosse have asked
the FBI to recheck their findings in the drownings, however.
La Crosse police Lt. Bob Berndt said he's aware of Gilbertson's study, but
his department stands behind its conclusions.
"As police officers, we have to deal with the facts," he said.
Radel's death spurred Gilbertson to dig deeper into the drownings. He and
two graduate students scoured the Internet, newspaper stories and police
reports. They found 22 victims who went to college within 50 miles of I-94
between Moorhead, Minn., and East Lansing, Mich.
The victims fit a profile: white or Asian men in their early 20s, generally
around 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds and athletic, with good grades. No victims
were women.
They also found nearly 94 percent of the drownings took place within 100
miles of I-94. Nearly 82 percent of the drownings occurred during the first
two weeks of the month, and three-quarters of the disappearances occurred
when the moon was less than half-full.
Gilbertson said he can't judge some cases because he doesn't have enough
information. He also acknowledges some are accidental. But others could be
murders.
If the drownings were all random, there should be greater racial and
academic diversity among the victims and they should be scattered all over
the map, Gilbertson said.
Amanda Presenger, one of the students who worked on the study, said the
findings support the idea of a killer who travels the Midwest, perhaps for
business.
"He's traveling back and forth, maybe at certain times of the month or
certain times of the year. Maybe he travels closer to the beginning of the
month for his job," said Presenger, 26.
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