Another Missing College Student in La Crosse
February 15th, 2010
Craig Meyers
The search is on for another missing college-aged man in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Craig Meyers, 21, was last seen early February 14, 2010 after spending the evening at a wedding reception and a couple downtown bars.
Just before 2:00 am, a relative dropped Craig off several blocks away from his girlfriend’s house. Police say a set of footprints lead from the downtown area to the ice-crusted river.
This is certainly difficult for people in La Crosse. I’ve received many emails and comments from people in the area. Since 1997, 8 college-aged men have been found drowned in La Crosse. Officials blamed each on alcohol and an FBI review found no sign of foul play.
DandyID
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Think about it….why aren’t there any female victims? Don’t they get stinkin drunk too? It’s not the drinking. It’s not suicide or lacrose must have the highest incidence of that method of suicide in the country.
With 9 victims now, don’t you think there would be a bunch of motion activated video cameras installed by the waterfront by now? My goodness theyre on every stoplight, and no one seems to be dying at them.
It is a little “coincidental” that Craig disappears teh same day that they cover this story again on Coast to Coast. Maybe it was planned that way.
I know, right? You would think there would be some high quality cameras installed near the edge of the river considering how many times this has happened.
Craig’s death was tragic and terrible, but i can’t help but reject the idea of a serial killer. There was only one set of footprints found. I don’t know whether they are assuming these are Craig’s or not, but if they are there is evidence enough… one set, not two. Some will say he could have been chased or the serial killer could have carried him. Maybe the serial killer made the footprings himself. But if he was chased, i think the footprints would be different for someone running then walking. And if he was carried and dropped in, wouldn’t there be footprints leading back? And then there are those of you saying ‘How could there not be drownings anywhere else?! it’s only happening in La Crosse!’ But it ISN’T only happening in la crosse. There have been a reported 40 deaths across the midwest. But that doesn’t even satisfy anyone. No one is stepping back and saying, maybe it is just a binge drinking problem among men or terrible accidents. People have somehow linked the deaths into a shape of a smiley face… Honestly, humans can analyze anything to what they want it to be. So if you continue to think it is a serial killer, you will find ways to make it a serial killer. Just some thought.
@Hal
Yeah kind of like that maybe. I suppose that if it were a fraternity there would have to be a great deal of secrecy as well as some sort of deeper bond to keep any kind of murder kept covered up. I guess a good idea would be to look at the colleges where the students are turning up missing more, Ask students about any groups they have noticed. Also looking at any schools with fraternity’s that are in competition with them. Anyways just a thought, I think these cases should be looked at and examined from every angle.
The idea that the killer / killers could be female has crossed my mind in addition to a homosexual male / males.
Something is going on. Maybe not all of these deaths have been murders, but it just does not make sense. How could people walk multiple blocks in the wrong direction, through Riverside Park(in LaCrosse) and right into the water?
In LaCrosse there is no reason to go by the water in the winter or late at night. I have drank too much at the bars before and I have also walked home by myself(which is never a good choice) and I never went the wrong way or thought about going to the river. It’s not like people are walking home along the river and trip and fall in. The river is multiple blocks in the opposite directions of where students live.
I don’t know enough about all the cases or about the theories, but I know what makes sense and what doesn’t.
This is the second time this has happen while I have been in school here and both times when the person went missing it was presumed by everyone I knew that the person had drowned in the river. Why are there not motion lights and cameras by the river?
Could these drownings be simply someone being intoxicated and being lead to the river area by someone thinking it is a sick joke? I can imagine many “boys” I went to college with that would find it funny to play jokes on people that were too drunk. It would not surprise me if a male walking down the street, looking intoxicated, asking for directions found a group of “boys”. One of them may say, “sure just walk down that way”,while pointing toward the river. There are many cruel people in this world. Do you think any of them will come forward and admit a cruel joke like that?
I work with law enforcement and have heard over and over agian how all of the drownings have been suicides or accidental drowings. I think they do not want to look into it further. Many people have brought up many different suggestions but very little has been done. There have been numerous rumors of an african american detective, with a chip on his shoulder,having comversations with some of the Lacrosse victims within days before they are found in the river. He has since left the police department,(2007 or 2008??)Anyone that has lived in a smaller town can understand the politics that really go on in the city. They shot down the camera idea becuase that would require more man power and money. The Riverwatch idea started off great, so why were there not people sitting in a car watching the area?? This is a great example of how the lack of communication between law enforcement, the community and the officals can lead to someone falling in the river agian.
In our community, which is near Lacrosse, we have had several murders that still remain unsolved. The uneducated detectives simply reply “This isn’t CSI”. If they would work together and dig deeper than it would be like CSI. Maybe now, since the last victim was a police officer’s brother, they may. Come on guys… go above and beyond.
@Renee Martel
The problem is that in LaCrosse the police force is so worried about catching underage drinkers and busting house parties that they are not focused on the real problem. “Human life” LaCrosse would have cameras down there if it didn’t cost them money. we are too worried about getting our bs new jail built and new colored police cars and other “useful” stuff. I am from LaCrosse and we do have so many police officers on duty there should be a not officer on duty at the waters edge. Investigating the case would also be costly, so finding the body was key. Now they know he was drinking and found in the water so they can just say it was accidental, or suicide. I know Craig and he was in no way suicidal, maybe one of the happiest people you ever meet. They blame drinking but death increases your BAC by 1/4 to 1/3. All of these peoples BAC wasn’t that high especially if you consider this fact. This city needs to spend a little of there funds on some motion cameras or stop harassing 20 year old adult drinkers that are safely drinking in their home and put some cops on patrol at the annual crime scene.
P.S. How about some investigating and releasing all of the info that is known so people know what is really going on.
My condolences to you Dustin on your friend Craig. It seems like the police (especially in Lacrosse) chalk it up to “crazy drunk college kids” and end it there. No further investigation needed. This is very sad and bordering on inept in my book. Yes, there are accidents, but this many?? I don’t think so. Something needs to be investigated further. Talk to the bartender and people who were with him. Did anyone see his behavior change dramatically from ok to falling down drunk? This could be a symptom of Rohiphinol or other date rape drugs. Do you happen to know if anyone was with Craig the night he was drinking? Did anyone notice if his drink was tampered with?
@BossCash Thanks for showcasing Souptown’s response, I had been looking for it but with the flurry of postings and sneaking looks at it while at work in a small window, missed it I guess. (No worries Souptown, you taught me something as well becuase i did not know the blog meaning of ‘troll’–of which I think we have some on here from time to time.)
I have often thought before that the perp’s gender is male with same sex tendencies. AND that females are assisting in stage one, selecting and possibly drugging the victim-in the situations where the victim went missing from a ‘public drinking establishment’.
@Dustin O Monique pointed out earlier that police are looking on Facebook for underage drinkers to bust, which I doubt there is any precedent in the courts for and is on the police department’s part, an exercise in poor judgment. The article indicated the kid was tagged and that it wasn’t actual photos he had posted himself, drinking. With Photoshop and all the other photo edit tools, it would be easy to frame someone if you wanted to.
My opinion is that cameras, to be effective would have to me numerous to be effective and someone has to monitor those. Studies in Britain where there are numerous cameras installed indicate that lighting is just as effective if not more than the clearup rate of 20-21%– and probably less costly.
@WOW
I found this article showing the awareness of racism in our area:
oh and yes that detective is in it too;)
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3652/is_200407/ai_n9442506/
i think ic remember hearing of a case uo in kingston ont. CAN. same mo story and didn’t not fit, the personality of this particular college student.
Has anyone really taken a look into how many times groups of young men/ college males have gone missing over an extended period of time. The research I have done since my friend has gone missing in mid January has been massive. I found out that in the midwest there was a string of missing college men that followed a pattern, but police ruled out a serial killer because there were no real signs of foul play. Over 2 dozen students between the ages of 18-25 went missing during 2005-2006 and all in the midwest. they usually range in weight between 165-185 lbs and when found, are found in a body of water that people pass on a regular basis. This doesn’t seem coincidental. Craig is found, but Sly, Eric and Jon are still missing. All of which disappeared shortly before Craig did. If anyone has any input on this it would be most helpful.
Has anyone ever noticed that the dates of these happenings occur around Satanic “Holydays”
I don’t care if you think it’s a serial killer or not……it IS a serial killer. If you actual do a bit of research on all of these “accidental” drownings, you’d see why these aren’t just coincidental. Why authorities won’t come out and admit that is beyond me.
These serial killers are very clever indeed. It is the method of murder that lets them keep getting away with it and they will never be stopped. Drunk male accidentally falls in water or jumps in and commits suicide. So there really is the perfect murder after all….very very clever.
@Brittney Jacobsen
I sincerly do believe its a serial killer. In my belief I think the police dept should be checked out first as to who was on duty that night. Then an absolute drug test be done for other drugs in the system. I think this guy is roaming the country side when he has the money to take the focus off of LaX for awhile. Here is also a theory: What if someone drugged them. They watched when they were leaving. Found a shortcut to the river where he could see the person walking. If you cried for help wouldnt it echo enough where the guy would actually think someone was drowning and tried to help not realizing his condition himself? Therefore, jumping or crossing? Its a hypothetical.
Or maybe he was offered a ride by a kindly cop and told he was being dropped off where his girlfriend lived and delibertly led in the wrong direction towards the river. The motive is to once again create controversy and put La Crosse back in the spotlight while the focus is taken off the last three I-35 missing men, making all of they seem like victims of drunken stupidity.
I definitely agree to full disclosure on which LE was on duty that morning, though that probably isn’t in the public record. I would think those in La Crosse who are suspicious would start some citizen inquiry of their own, starting with LE who refuse even to consider the possibility. BUT it looks like the last victim’s own family DOES think it to be an accident.
@Hal
Your idea about females assisting would make a lot of sense. My own little idea is that maybe it could be something like revenge killings. Like the killers are female and they are targeting and taking advantage of intoxicated male college students. It would not surprise me if some if not all of these schools had incidents of date rape at one point or another. Ive thought about looking around for old news articles on sexual assaults at these schools but haven’t had the time. Just to see if the dates these students turn up missing match and assaults in past years.
A female version of Ted Bundy?? creeeepy…
If Ted Bundy had found his victims in bars and then dumped them in the river, would he have gotten away with it? Would they all have been ruled as accidental drownings?? “no foul play involved”?? College aged women with long brown hair parted in the middle, as sheer coincidence?
Hi all – I agree, it is a serial killer – I was reading about the 2 former NYPD detectives who agree and have been working on the cases – this just makes me sick – currently there is man missing from Iowa State University as well and remember the kid from St.Thomas who went missing last year… his body has not been found. Those of us who grow up in the mid west DO NOT go walking around major river bodies drunk and “fall” in… I mean, really!
I think this is a person or people who fit in at the bars and parties that these men go to… not a stand out, someone who travels around alot..in the mid west… It just makes me mad that area police and FBI do nothing it has been over ten years now, as this all started in 1997. Someday they will figure it out and it will be a big story like the Kansas City serial killer… whatever his name was… BTK (?) and Jeffery Dahlmer from Milwaukee…
No way these are random, coincidental drownings. Give me a break. It makes me so angry that the “authorities” just dismiss these cases due to their own ineptitude.
I think maybe a cop picks them up under the guise of arrest for public intoxication or whatever, and then leads them to the water or forces them to walk into the river at gunpoint. It’s either take your chances with swimming drunk or get shot.
Craig Meyers was dropped off by a family member…I wonder if they were being followed? Surely, some city cameras would reveal that information.
OK, I can’t stay silent any longer. First, to the question why women are not being found dead in the water after a night of drinking: women tend to stick together. I know when my friends and I went out for a night on the town, we would never let anyone leave alone or with a stranger. Second, the idea that Craig Meyers is a victim of anything except his own bad judgement is ridiculous. The coroner said his BAC was 3 times the legal limit! He was beyond trashed. There is video of him walking (alone) that night toward the river. The volunteers that watch the river in LaCrosse said in an interview after Meyers went missing, that they have had to redirect many drunk college kids away from the river. Kids who beleived they were going to their dorm rooms, but were actually going in the complete opposite direction. Also, in reading the information from this latest drowning, I found out that the city of LaCrosse redid the trails and walkways around the river in 1997, so instead of having the river closed off by fences, they made it much easier to get straight to the river. Interestingly, this was when these drownings in LaCrosse began. Yes, there was one set of footprints to the river-because he was alone. At least in this case, there is no one that killed him; alcohol was the culprit. The problem with screaming ‘SERIAL KILLER!’ every time someone ends up drowning is that it becomes hysterical and crazy. Seriously, I have read that it is a Hmong gang, Somalis, satanists, Trane employees, priests, witches, Goth kids, athiests, and gay people who are killing these people. The investigators have even said that only about 17 or so of the ’smiley face murders’ are actually related. This hysteria needs to stop and be replaced by factual information that can be used to solve those that are actually murders. Not this crazy idea that every death in water is a victim of a serial killer
Well, gaga if LE can’t do their job, then, WE, the concerned citizens, will have to do it for them. Nothing can be ruled out, everyone is a suspect. Every theory must be analyzed, and all available evidence be onsidered, to get to the truth. So in fact it is not, hysterical or crazy, or ludicrous. Young men are in fact dying, and we are here to help solve these mysterious deaths. To not investigate would be ‘insane’. If he was so ‘trashed’ that he unknowingly wandered into the water to his certain death, would he have not fallen or stumbled along the way? If he was able to make those footprints, then he was not trashed enough to drown.
@PsyWitch
What? How exactly has LE not done their job? Because they don’t believe this was anything but a tragic accident? What evidence and I do mean real evidence, evidence that could be brought to a grand jury for indictment, do you have that it is anything but? Saying because others that have drown under possibly suspicious circumstances is not evidence, it is speculation. And why exactly is ‘everyone a suspect?’ Who exactly? Every citizen of LaCrosse? And that doesn’t sound crazy? Saying things like ‘we are here to help solve these mysterious deaths’ is a nice idea but, this is not mysterious, this is an accident. What exactly is there to investigate? You honestly believe that because you see ’straight’ footprints, he wasn’t ‘drunk enough to drown?’ And you base this ‘fact’ on what? His BAC was three times the legal limit. Do I believe that some of the young men that went missing and were found in water possibly were murdered? Yes, but certainly not this poor soul, and certainly not every drowning victim.
Could you share your list of names of the 24 Midwest men between ages 18-25 that were reported missing and found drown between 2005-2006?
If you are referring to the St. Thomas student, Dan Zamlen who went missing last year, his body was found in the Mississippi River.
I read many of these stories of missing and then mudered people. that state that they were driven (as in the case of Craig Meyers) a few blocks from his girlfriends house. If these people have the kindness to drive their friends, why do they not just drive them to where they want to go, instead of a few blocks away? If you do your research, a lot of people would not have been missing or murdered if they were just driven to the place they wanted to go to. I would never dream of driving someone *close* to where they wanted to go.
@ron
Many of these men weren’t driven anywhere as college men don’t want DUIs. Many were on foot along with the rest of their friends. One man in La Crosse went missing from his friends while waiting for the Safety Ride Bus.
Many men went missing when they were about to be picked up by someone (girlfriend, friend etc.) and disappeared while waiting. Other men went missing after being asked to leave a bar and left the bar/party on foot and then went missing.
The general theme is these men were asked to leave bars or left bars on foot and went missing.
While men opting to walk rather than drive intoxicated keeps them from getting DUIs and having deadly accidents, it subjects them to another danger being on foot.
Thank you Kristi for your relentless efforts in bringing this serial killer to the public’s attention. Could this person be an interstate truck driver along highway # 94? It is very disturbing that these colleges you’ve mentioned have not done ALL that they can to help in the investigations. I suppose alot of parents would not want their sons to attend, therefore these colleges would lose lots and lots of money…
Yeah especially not in the winter. Its just common sense.
I’ve also wondered about truck drivers, I get creeped out every time I see one driving anywhere.
Anyways the main reason why I continue to keep checking this site is to see if there have been any updates in Sly’s case. I think I posted on here somewhere before that I know him. I guess I am more convinced at this point that he is a victim of foul play because of the circumstances of his disappearance. But I still am not completely convinced that it is the work of a serial killer. The media kind of paints Sly as a perfect happy young man but I can tell you it is not 100% true. From what I know about him he did have some connection to gangs, I can confirm if he was a member or not. I think there are 4 other scenarios that could have happened. 1. He got into a fight at stargate with the wrong person, 2.He might have been in possession of drugs or money that made him a target for robbery, 3. He was already in trouble with somebody that got word of him being there, And they got him when he left the club, Or 4. He was lured by somebody who drugs or money. Also when Ive searched for him on google I have found old court documents about his dad and his mother. His dad is currently out of prison on parole as a result of a domestic disturbance he had with Sly’s mother. If you look up Sly’s Full name you will find it. You can look his fathers record up by typing “mn doc offender locator” and then searching the doc site.
The trucker theory is elusive…the white van theory holds more merit, as there have been reports of white van sightings in at least 3 or 4 different scenarios that I’ve read about (Ames, IA and La Cross, WI, including the night that Craig M. went missing), one being a near miss (Ames, IA shortly after Jon Lacina went missing).
Joseph Dado- the victim that was missing from a frat party in State College PA. Witnesses at the frat party saw a white van circling the block asking people if they wanted a ride.
^Frightening. And that makes the 5th time I’ve heard about a white van sighting…the universities should sound the alarms to their students and the media should do similarly on a national scale if necessary. Only problem is that runs the risk of them altering their methodology (at the very least, using an unsuspecting vehicle).
I understand it is easier to justify each drowing as accidental, because society would be able to accept it. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the white males drowning in the river, no obese black males, is not an accident. There are many theories to look at and many that people may have not thought about. Deflecting the blame on “the river” location is not going to help solve the real issue at hand. Why not take a proactive approach and help, not hinder, the progression of the real problem. Just a question, would it make sense if all the men found in the river were black?? Then would it give you enough evidence to atleast look into it? or should the river be gated of? One more question, what was the exact number of the “group” of people the riverwatch sent away from the river? Males and females? If they riverwatch volunteers had not been there, do you really think a group of people would have been in the river that same night?? Try to think outside the box, if you want to help.
@GAGA
Could it be a coincidence that Craig Meyers went missing the same night Kristi was on Coast to Coast AM talking about the very same subject?
Maybe if there is someone involved with this they were letting us know.