Awareness=Answers

 Right now, there are two active missing person cases in Portland, Maine and Portland, Oregon. This isn’t the first time two young men have gone missing from cities with the same name in different states. 

Ken Christiansen was last seen in Duluth, Minnesota on April 13, 2001. His body was recovered in Chester Creek. Justin Gaines was last seen in Duluth, Georgia on November 2, 2007.  Gaines is still missing. 

Scot Radel went missing after a night of hanging out with his friends in St. Cloud, Minnesota. He was last seen on February 2, 2006. When James Beasley didn’t return to his  St. Cloud, Florida home, his parents called police.  He was last seen in 2007 at a 4th of July house party in a nearby town. His body was found in a retention pond. 

In Portland, Maine, police are using boats and cadaver dogs to search for Ezra Milan. He was last seen on March 10, 2009. A new tip has led police to search the water below Veterans Bridge. According to a newspaper reporter, few people walk along the busy bridge. Ezra’s home was in the opposite direction of the bridge.  Police are not saying much about the new tip or the search.  In Portland, Oregon, Juan Garcia is listed as a missing person. He was last seen on March 15, 2009. Juan was a freshman at the University of Portland. He left campus and was reported missing when his personal belongings were found in the downtown area. 

Kristi Piehl Connection or Coincidence

First of all, I pray that Brad, Tony, Franklin, Nathan, Keith, Kyle, Jesse, Josh, Brian and Justin can find their way back home. I’ve included them on the list of potential victims to bring awareness and publicity to their stories and to show the similarities between their disappearances and the drowning victims.

The families of Kyle Fleischmann and Justin Gaines have been waiting for answers since November 2007. Justin was last seen on November 2 at Wild Bill’s in Duluth, GA.  He was outside of the bar trying to get a ride home. No one has heard from him since. Click here to report a tip or for more information on Justin Gaines.

Exactly one week later, Kyle Fleischmann was at the Buckhead Saloon in Charlotte, NC. After his friends left, Kyle walked uptown and bought a pizza at Fuel Pizza. He left the restaurant and hasn’t been seen since. Click here to report a tip or for more information on Kyle Fleischmann.

The anniversary of Brian Shaffer’s disappearance is this week.  He was last seen at The Ugly Tuna Saloona near The Ohio State University campus in Columbus, OH on April 1, 2006.  He was recorded by a surveillance camera walking off an escalator.  Brian had been out drinking with friends to celebrate the beginning of Spring Break. They stopped at several bars including Brother’s Bar. Click here to report a tip or for more information on Brian Shaffer.

**On a strange note, Nathan Kapfer had drinks at the Brother’s Bar in LaCrosse, WI and Josh Snell had drinks at the Brother’s Bar in Eau Claire, WI on the night they were last seen. Kapfer and Snell were each found drowned. 

In March 2009, two young men have disappeared in Portland – Ezra Milan in Portland, Maine and Juan Garcia in Portland, Oregon. Click here to read their stories.

* Jessica, thank you for your dedication to Brian Shaffer and your encouragement to write this post!

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Patrick McNeill

Larry King on CNN featured the case of Patrick McNeill and new evidence that a famed pathologist says proves Patrick was murdered in 1997.  Click here to watch the Larry King interview. This is the first time that former FBI Profiler, Candice DeLong and Dr. Wecht have commented on the case. I want to highlight the new information they shared, but I encourage you to watch the segment that also interviewed Patrick’s parents, former detectives Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte and Prof. Lee Gilbertson. 

During the segment, Dr. Wecht said that fly eggs found on McNeill prove the Fordham College student was dead before he went into the water. 

WECHT: I’m saying that the fly larvae have been laid in the groin area. It’s an indoor fly, could not have been an outdoor fly. It was an indoor fly. And the larvae were there, did not move ahead into the later stage. So we have a body that was already dead before it was placed in the water. 

KING: I got you. You’re saying he was murdered? 

WECHT: I would call it a homicide, yes. 

KING: Were you impressed with what Dr. Wecht had to say? 

CANDICE DELONG, FORMER FBI PROFILER: Yes, regarding that particular case in New York, that certainly does sound like it was a homicide. I, however, fail to see the connection between the New York case and these other midwestern cases. Perhaps we could learn. 

A couple of other interesting things DeLong and Dr. Wecht said on the show:

DELONG: Well, the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit looked extensively at this, in addition to using their violent criminal apprehension program, which is a computerized tracking system. And they don’t see any links. I don’t know if the two New York detectives have met with the profiling unit or not. And unfortunately, it’s sad but true.  Now notwithstanding the Patrick McNeil (sic) case, sadly, a lot of young people do die of accidental deaths, many times drowning, on our college campuses throughout the nation. 

WECHT: Larry, first of all, if I may say from a forensic, epidemiological stand point, as you pointed out in your introduction, the statistics are so stacked against this number of men, young men, Caucasian males, found in bodies of water in that cluster of states, within that period of time. Of course, there are statistical aberrations, I realize. I just wanted to point out that to the epidemiologist, it would be a weird case. 

WECHT: From the forensic pathology standpoint, with regard to Patrick McNeil (sic), we have a young man who is found — he has a blood alcohol level of 0.16. Probably a third of that is postmortem putrefaction, a quarter to a third of that. So we have a relatively low level of alcohol. There’s no way in the world that this man then accidentally is going to fall into a body of water, because he as a 0.1 or a 0.12 level of alcohol. 

Click here to read more about the increase of BAC after death.

Click here to read more about drinking and drowning statistics. 

Kristi Piehl In the Press

 The number of similar drowning deaths and disappearances is hard to comprehend. During an interview yesterday, the host made the point that the size of the case is daunting. He asked me, “Where would you start?”  

All it will take is for one case to get reclassified as homicide and for an arrest to be made. The suspect can lead investigators to another suspect and down falls the house of cards. (Note – the Chris Jenkins case in Minneapolis was reclassified as homicide. It is unsolved and open.) If I were going to select a starting place, it would either be Josh Szostak’s case or Todd Geib’s.

Todd Geib

Todd Geib was last seen on June 12, 2005.  He was walking home from a house party in Casnovia, MI.  The cause of death was ruled “drowning.”  The manner of death was ruled “undetermined.”  The Michigan State Police closed Todd’s case. 

* The couple who found Todd thought he was standing upright in the water because his head and shoulders were out of the water. They took photos and called police. In the official autopsy report, it states that Todd was “floating in a prone position with head and shoulders out of the water, no noted anchors or ligatures were found on or near the body.” The definition of prone position is “lying face downward.”  (Note -drowning victims are typically found floating face down)

* Was he drugged?  According to the autopsy report, more than one prescription drug was found in his system. According to Todd’s family, he was not taking any medication at the time of his death.   

* Almost all of Todd’s jewelry (including a plain neck chain) was recovered. His cross neck chain is missing.

* BAC .12

Josh Snell

NOTE: Todd disappeared the same night as Josh Snell. Josh was last seen in Eau Claire, WI. Each of the men made a strange cell phone call to a friend on the night they went missing. 

Josh Szostak

 Josh Szostak was last seen on surveillance outside a bar in downtown Albany, NY on December 23, 2007.  His case is closed and the Albany Police maintain that Josh’s death was a tragic accident.

* On the tape, Josh walks outside the bar and is talking calmly with a friend. All of a sudden, he rips off one of his shirts and struggles to tie it around his waist. Then Josh doubles over, stands up and can barely walk. He struggles with his phone and stumbles down the street and is never seen alive again.

* There are surveillance cameras recording all along the streets between the bar and the water.  According to a police report, Josh was NOT seen on any of them.  Detectives have not explained how Josh got from downtown Albany to the water.  

*  The pants that Josh was wearing on the night he disappeared appear to be different than the ones he was wearing when he was recovered.  All of Josh’s clothes were returned to his family. However, the pants are missing. None of the investigating agencies can account for the whereabouts of the pants. 

* The celtic cross neck chain that Josh always wore is missing.

* BAC .12 (studies show BAC increases after death – click here to read earlier post about BAC)

recovery photo of Josh Szostak's cell phone

* Josh’s cell phone had 8 voicemail messages on it when it was found. The police report says there were no text messages on his phone and does not specifically reference the voicemails.  When it was returned, Josh’s parents say the phone didn’t have any messages on it.

Kristi Piehl Connection or Coincidence

On March 23, Kristi and Bill were interviewed on Good Morning America. They shared new evidence and continued their push for justice.

Here is a link to the story:  http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7148355

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You’d expect drunken accidents to happen on random dates.  You might see a   peak on holidays associated with rowdy parties – like New Years Eve.  

So are the dates of the disappearances significant?  

New Year’s Eve Parties : 1997 Ryan Getz (12/31/97) –  1998 Larry Andrews (1/1/98) –  2000 Brian Welzein (1/1/00) – 2009 David Martinez & Kambili Moukwa 

January 20: 2003 Jeremy Stienkeoway – 2007 Brad Olsen – 2008 Tommy Booth

February 2: 1997 Franklin Gottschalk – 2006 Scot Radel 

March 1: 2001 Patrick Runningsen – 2003 Jeremy Houk

March 10: 2001 Justin Hayduk – 2007 Matthew Grendel

April 1: 2006 Brian Shaffer – 2008 Huaijun Meng

April 13:  1999 Jeff Geesey – 2001 Ken Christiansen – 2005 Keith Ryan

June 12:  2005 Todd Geib & Josh Snell

Halloween parties: 2002 Chris Jenkins – 2003 Matt Schiess

November 5: 2000 Ryan Katcher – 2008 Trevor Boehm

November 9: 2002 Josh Guimond – 2007 Matt LaCrosse & Kyle Fleischmann

November 21: 2006 Jesse Ross – 2007 David Reilly

December 23: 2005 Matt Kruziki – 2007 Josh Szostak

 ** 18 victims went missing within 1 day of another victim

** 23 victims have a unique date of disappearance

Kristi Piehl Connection or Coincidence

A year after Nicholas Garza disappeared from Middlebury College in Vermont, the case is officially closed.  The police put out a final report yesterday and ruled Nick’s death “accidental.”  Natalie Garza, Nick’s mom, found out from a news reporter.

Conclusion:  No evidence of criminal activity or third party involvement in the death of Mr. Garza.  The manner of death is classified as accidental.  

According to the report, there were no signs of violence on his body and no reports of suspicious activity on campus.  Nick’s cause of death and blood alcohol content couldn’t be determined.  Based on Nick’s size and his alcohol intake, one professor estimated his BAC could  range between .240% and .330%.   Click here to read the full police report. 

A couple of points that I found interesting: 

**  The investigating agency did request an inquest to continue the investigation.  The police report states, “The request for an inquest was denied due to the State’s Attorney’s determination that a lack of information existed to indicate that a crime had been committed.”

**   The FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit was brought in to consult on the case.  According to the police, “Per the FBI BAU, Mr. Garza’s victimology profile indicates it was unlikely he would be the victim of a random violent crime or sexual predator.”  

NOTE:  There was graffiti found in the area, but it was determined by police not related to Nick’s disappearance.  Among other things, the graffiti was a smiley face with a three-pointed crown.  A different shaped smiley face, but also with a three-pointed crown was found in the Tommy Booth case. He disappeared in Ridley Township, PA less than a month before Nick. 

Kristi Piehl Case Updates

Several of you have asked, “What is the FBI doing?”

Jan wearing her son's lacrosse jersey in a KSTP interview

Jan Jenkins’ son, Chris, was last seen in a Minneapolis bar on October 31, 2002. She posted the following response to a question that someone posted on this site. 

“The FBI has received the information several times. They work quietly, but we have no indication of any interest in these cases from the FBI at the current time. As a mother of one of the victims in 2002 who has worked tirelessly to expose what looks to be organized crime, imagine how I feel. Any of your sons, nephews, grandsons, friends could be next.”

For more answers to your questions, click here to go to the Q & A page.

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