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The Smiley Face Murder Cases In Duluth The suspected Smiley Face Killer cases connected to Duluth, Minnesota are of particular interest to this investigation. This is because it is believed that the killers left behind so many more graffiti clues in Duluth than in any other known case. The four suspected Smiley Face victims directly connected to Duluth are: Ken Jason Christiansen (age 19) was a white UM-Duluth student who died in Duluth's Chester Creek on 04-13-2001 after leaving a college drinking party. "Why he chose to cross [Chester Creek] there and his buddy didn't, I don't know if you can explain it." (Duluth Police Chief Scott Lyons) Grant Edward Geiselhart (age 21) was a white UM-Duluth student who died in Duluth's Chester Creek on 10-10-2004 after leaving a drinking party. "I don't have anyone who had contact with him between 2 and 5 that morning." (Bob Shene, Duluth Police Department) Nathaniel Edison Williams (age 21) was a white UM-Morris student who vanished in northern Minnesota (northeast of Duluth) in 2004. "It's one of the strangest [cases] I've ever had." (Lake County Sheriff Steve Peterson) "It's as if he was here one day and then dropped off the face of the Earth." (Jim Beauregard, Morris Police Department) Sylvester "Sly" McCurry (age 18) was a black Duluth East H.S. student who vanished after leaving a Superior, Wisconsin nightclub on January 17, 2010. His body was found in the St. Louis River on May 22, 2010. The Duluth Cases Nathan Williams told his college roommate that he would return home from his trip by October 10, 2004. The location that he apparently traveled to would almost certainly put him traveling through Duluth while going to and from his trip location. Notice that the date Williams said he would return by, is exactly the same date that student Grant Geiselhart died in Duluth. Williams is still missing. The exact date and circumstances in which Williams disappeared are unclear, but his truck was located in Lake County near Kawishiwi Lake Road. In Ojibwe, Kawishiwi means "jealous-sour". Nathaniel brought with him some equipment including fishing rods, a shotgun, and a blanket. Nathaniel and all of his equipment completely vanished. The area has been thoroughly searched several times. If he had simply had an accident and fell into a body of water, it is very unlikely that all of his equipment would also go into the water. Williams did not have a boat, so he would have only been fishing along the shore. One thing that seems to be a repeating pattern with the Smiley Face killers is the use of parts of the victims names in the clues. Spray painted phrases were left at the Chester Creek death location that include parts of the Duluth victim's names. The phrase "Flow on with the Fishes God Grants Pure Wishes" was left at the Duluth death location. Nathaniel Williams was known as Nathan "Fish" Williams. Anyone including a stalker would have been able to know this nickname because it was posted on his former school's web site. Web Site Showing Nickname Notice that this short phrase contains the words "Fishes" and "Grants" Remember that Nathan "Fish" Williams was supposed to return from his trip on the exact same day that Grant died. Notice also that this phrase is similar to a line in the movie The Godfather, "Swim with the fishes". This line means to kill someone by throwing them into the water. In 1973, actor Marlon Brando won an Oscar for Best Actor for his roll in The Godfather. He refused the award in a protest against the government's treatment of Native Americans, especially at the Wounded Knee standoff that was happening in South Dakota. He sent Native actress Sacheen Littlefeather to make a speech at the Academy Awards in his place. Brando became involved with the American Indian Movement (AIM). This may explain why the killer took the line from this movie. Both Williams and Geiselhart were first mentioned in the 10-11-2004 issue of the Duluth News-Tribune. This is an important clue because this is Columbus Day. The killers may have been timing the killing in order to get Columbus Day headlines. The same person who wrote the phrase with the two victims names also left a clue that is similar to what the Zodiac killer drew in 1970. There are two extremely strange coincidences about this clue. The first one is that three elements of the clue match the Brian Shaffer case from Columbus, Ohio. Notice the cryptic connection Columbus Day and Columbus, Ohio. Besides the Columbus connection, this clue matches the Brian Shaffer case because it uses his college colors red and gray, and shapes the "U" in the word "Ugly" to resemble the horseshoe shape of OSU Stadium which was near where Shaffer was last seen. Also the use of the word "ugly" is important because Shaffer was last seen at the Ugly Tuna bar in Columbus. The other strange coincident is that the 10-11-2004 date happens to be the exact 35th anniversary of the Zodiac killer murdering a white male named Paul Lee Stine (age 29) in San Francisco. This also happened to be Columbus Day (10-11-1969). Ken Christiansen died in Chester Creek on 04-13-2001. This happens to be Friday the 13th as well as Good Friday. A cross was left as a clue likely because Good Friday was the day that Jesus died on the cross and because of Ken's "Christian" sounding name. Note also that suspected Smiley Face victim Jared Dion (age 21) died in La Crosse, Wisconsin on (04-10-2004). He was drinking with friends at a bar on Good Friday and was last seen early Saturday morning. La Crosse means "the cross" in French. The killers seem to be very anti-Christian and likely cryptically planned both of these "Good Friday" deaths along with the cryptic cross related clues. East Dubuque, IL In another strange coincident, Jared Dion knew and went to school with suspected Smiley Face victim Matt Kruziki (age 24) who died in Illinois on Christmas Eve 2005. Kruziki died near Sinsinawa Avenue. Sinsinawa is a cryptic clue that was spray-painted at the death location of yet another suspected Smiley Face victim in Michigan. In the Ojibwe language, Sinsinawa means "to lay somebody down", which usually refers to a grave. Gary Snyder Quote in Duluth A poem titled A Curse on the Men in Washington by author Gary Snyder was left in Duluth as a clue. This poem is about the deaths of young white males and has a threatening tone. The phrase "The 'Christian' has long been dead" is contained in this poem which I believe is a cryptic link to the Christiansen name. Here are some interesting phrases from this poem: "So surely I hunt the white man down...I won't let him live. The 'American' I'll destroy. The 'Christian' has long been dead...their own naked bodies, swimming...As I kill the white man the 'American' in me...To trample your throat in your dreams. This magic I work, this loving I give That my children may flourish And yours won't live." This poem speaks for itself. To have this at the Duluth death location is a strange coincident. Another strange coincident is that this poem was originally published in the San Francisco Digger in August 1968. Just a few months later, the Zodiac killer would go on a murder rampage in the San Francisco area. In 2007, detectives from Nationwide Investigations discovered several cryptic clues near the location of two deaths in Ames, Iowa. One clue they found was a smiley face inside the letter "D". Another clue was a monkey with the date of 2001. 2001 Monkey Clue in Ames, Iowa One repeated pattern that the Smiley Face killers seem to use is leaving clues related to newspaper stories about the victims. I discovered that the Ames, Iowa monkey clue matched Ken Christiansen's obituary which was published in 2001. Ken Christiansen's 2001 Obituary Notice that there is a crown above the letter "E" in monkey. Several different Smiley Face death locations have had smiley faces inside letters and at least two had crowns on top. Another strange coincident is that in Ames, the smiley face was left in the letter "D" and clues were left related to Duluth UMD student Ken Christiansen. In Duluth, the smiley face was left in the letter "O" and clues were left about Ohio OSU student Brian Shaffer. Smiley Face in Duluth, Minnesota Another reason for the killers to leave cryptic clues in Duluth about the Brian Shaffer case is because of the shocking similarities surrounding the deaths of the two victim's mothers. "Before Christiansen was found, the victim's father said the past several months have been an incredibly difficult time for the family. The teen's mother, Carol, 53, died this past December of breast cancer." (Duluth News Tribune 04-17-2001) "The month had been emotionally exhausting, largely because of the death of his mother. One of his closest confidants, Renee Shaffer lost her fight against cancer on March 6." (Columbus Dispatch 10-01-2006) This may be evidence that the killers have targeted families who recently had a tragedy. It is too strange of a coincident that Christiansen's and Shaffer's mothers would both die from cancer shortly before their son's would become victims and that cryptic clues related to one death would be found at the scene of the other death. Sly McCurry Vanishes: Another Pattern? In late October 2009, private investigator Mike Flaherty predicted that the Smiley Face Killer would likely strike at a hotel near Lake Superior. This prediction was based on the death of Matthew Paul Schneider (age 26) in Chocolay Township, Michigan on October 17, 2009. Schneider was found in the Chocolay River, which flows into Lake Superior. This was near a road called Hotel Place. Chocolay means Chocolate in French. Old treaties with the Chippewa Indians used the word Chocolate rather than Chocolay. Map of Chocolay Township, Michigan Within a nine month period, there were three cases that fit a date and race pattern. 04-17-2009 Jelani Brinson (Anoka, MN) Black race 10-17-2009 Paul Schneider (Chocolay, MI) Chocolate river 01-17-2010 Sly McCurry (Superior, WI) Black race The Smiley Face Killer(s) often use newspaper articles as cryptic clues to other cases. Ten days before McCurry vanished, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on the strange case of Jelani Brinson. This was the first line of the article: "It's been nearly nine months since the baffling death of 24-year-old Jelani Brinson, who disappeared and whose body was found a week later in a shallow pond on an Anoka golf course." Then on the exact nine month anniversary, Sylvester McCurry, a black victim like Brinson, vanishes. His scent was tracked by a police dog to the back door of the Superior Inn hotel, where he had planned to spend the night. McCurry was the first in a series of young male victims who all vanished within a few days of each other. Each victim was near I-35 going south of Duluth to Ames, Iowa. 01-17-2010 Sly McCurry (Superior, WI) 01-19-2010 Eric Michael Peterson (Bloomington, MN) 01-22-2010 Jonathan Lacina (Ames, Iowa) The body of Sylvester McCurry was located in the St. Louis River near the Midwest Energy terminal in Superior, Wisconsin on May 22, 2010. His body was near a coal pile, much like other suspected Smiley Face cases. Coal or Carbon is a clue that has come up in other cases. Carbon is also known as 666 due to it's atomic structure. This case is still under investigation. Lacina's body was found by police on April 14, 2010 in an abandoned college farm building. His death has been ruled an accident. Police believe he fell down several steps and died of hypothermia. The investigation was unable to explain how he ended up in the building. When he left the party he attended, he was described as being about sober and said that he was going home. For some unexplained reason, he ended up dead and alone in that abandoned building, in the dark, which was in the opposite direction from where he said he was going. We may never know whether he accidently fell or was dumped at that location. Eric Michael Peterson is still missing. Other Duluth Clues The following are some other cryptic clues left at the Chester Creek death location in Duluth: The Freedumb clue comes from the music group Suicidal Tendencies. I suspect the killers left that clue because of a quote in the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "'There's no indication of any crime, violence or suicide', said Duluth police investigator...'I think it's just going to turn out to be a tragic accident." The Star Tribune also mentions that Grant Geiselhart was from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The green "RND" clue also seems to indicate Eden Prairie because RND is the name of a "green" company located there. Both suspected Smiley Face victims Grant Geiselhart and Chris Jenkins were from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. They were close to the same age and might have possibly even known each other. The Jenkins death was ruled a homicide by the Minneapolis Police. The phrase "Thy Kingdom Come" originally came from the Bible. Notice the satanic pentagram along with this clue. This is similar to the logo of the music group Morbid Angel. A song by this group titled Thy Kingdom Come has some interesting lyrics: "Angered fury in their eyes Solemn rage, a need to kill Feasting on holy hordes... Preying on those who seek the cross Let none be pardoned for their crimes Feeble race will die Scripture burns in infamy Tortured souls have been set free Taunting he who sits on high Pray thy kingdom come". Note the phrase, "Taunting he who sits on high". Some of the Smiley Face victims died or disappeared on or near a street with the name "High", including Brian Shaffer from Columbus, Ohio. The God Loves Ugly quote is the title of a song from the Minneapolis group Atmosphere. Whats interesting about this is that the Zodiac style shape of the words in Chester Creek are not at all like the way they look on the album, so whoever wrote this, intentionally shaped it like that, which happens to match the Zodiac killer and the clues in the Brian Shaffer case. The creepiest thing about this song is self-explanatory: "Caught up in the mix of a bottle full of fix I'ma hobble down the street till I reach Knob Creek It's not that I dont like you, I just dont want to speak You fucking freak, now keep your days out my week The world keeps a balance, through mathematics Defined by whatever you've added and subtracted I'm pushin on the hammer to trigger the brain Embrace how I live, cause God loves ugly... I keep steering us into an area that's shallow Talking to my shadow, he advised me not to worry Said, I should plant my tree and let it rise out of the fury So give me some light, a little love and some liquid, I'ma creep through the night and put a plug in the spigot And when the water grows, and the dam starts to overflow I'll float on top the flood holdin' on to my ugly". Quote Clue in Duluth The Kottonmouth Kings song Rest of My Life is quoted twice in Chester Creek. Part of John 3:16 is also mixed in with this quote which I believe is the killers way of mocking Christianity and refers to God "gave his son", or in other words, the son died. The phrase that contains the Duluth smiley face is a quote from this song, "You can't see what your not lookin for". The other quote from this song is "My creator had a vision in the things he saw". These song, movie, and poem related clues are similar to what the Zodiac killer left in his letters. Zodiac once left a poem at Riverside College where he murdered a woman. Zodiac also talked about the movies The Exorcist and Badlands and quoted from the song The Mikado. There are just way too many references to dying in the water for the graffiti to be some random coincident. Three of the quotes specifically refer to dying in the water and a fourth quote talks about killing and "Preying on those who seek the cross. Let none be pardoned for their crimes Feeble race will die". Note the phrase "the cross", that is exactly what La Crosse means. La Crosse, Wisconsin is the location of where nine possible Smiley Face victims had died. Below is a photo of very similar graffiti found at the Duluth death location compared to graffiti found near the 2008 death location of college student Nick Garza in Middlebury, Vermont. Mike Flaherty discovered the Duluth graffiti on May 3, 2008 and this calcium deposit was over the writing. This calcium is evidence that would remove the possibility of a hoax because this dates the writing back well before the April 2008 news release involving the Smiley Face cases. Calcium on Duluth Graffiti Bridge with Duluth Graffiti Leave An Anonymous Tip Anonymous Tips