Bryan Barker – Facts Don’t Add Up
Bryan Barker
Bryan Barker, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee student, was last seen leaving a Milwaukee bar early July 4th. He’d been celebrating a friend’s birthday at Sullivan’s on Water Street. According to Bryan’s friend Zac, Bryan may have been kicked out of the bar after a fight. Bryan told friends he was walking to a nearby bar. The media is reporting Bryan left to walk home. Click here to read more about Bryan.
On July 6, Bryan’s body found in the Milwaukee River about two blocks from where Bryan was last seen.
People who live nearby continue to write on this blog and email me because they say the facts don’t add up. The location where Bryan was found is in the opposite direction of his house and the other bar he may have been going to. Read more from Bryan’s friends in the comments section of this post.
Police say Bryan’s death is a tragic accident and there is no sign of foul play. The medical examiner ruled drowning as the cause of death.
Here’s how a local newspaper linked Bryan’s death to others, “Barker’s death will be added to a growing list of college-age drinking fatalities. According to a 2007 Associated Press story, nine college-age men have drowned since 1997 in La Crosse-area rivers after drinking heavily.”
While I normally don’t add my personal comments – I can’t help myself. How many young men have to die before people take time to look at the facts, learn about the victims and use critical thinking skills? Why isn’t this happening to women? Why do these drowning deaths continue to happen in the same states? When will reporters stop drinking the kool-aid some police pour after a victim is recovered in the water?
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@Tenneguy
If you don’t mind me asking, why are you not going to devote any more time to researching?
@Monique777
I did not say I would not .I just don’t intend to spend much time on it.
My primary goal was to make the case for murder here. To do that I had to show how he fits in the pattern and I did that. I found the band names the victims that disappeared at the time that spelled out sane.-the word left near the bridge. There really is not any more to do that I can think of. I don’t want to get into newer cases because I don’t want to give any possible copycats attention
The hack thing and initials repeating are creepy but I can’t say what is and is not coincidence.I just don’t believe everything is. There are multiple patterns with just a small number of the victims.With the 3 Northeast victims that disappeared in 43 days ,two were disc jockeys.There just was not one thing that got my attention,it was multiple things.Arm was also spelled out and then you have the map patterns to go with one of those victims. If the name of the girl(Drew) and guy victim(hack) was spelled out it would not be so easy to dismiss as coincidence. I can’t say one way or another. Maybe there is more they have in common.
One thing I don’t understand though is why the killer would leave names that don’t match the same names as the sane victims.Maybe it is all weird coincidences or maybe they did not even leave those names near the smiley face or the smiley face for that matter. I have not been able to make sense of the other graffiti and what it could mean.
I am curious to how boo got on Gerald Smith’s twitter page though.
@Tenneguy
Okay, good, glad to hear you’re still hanging in there. I struggle with patterns and mirroring. I listed all the rivers and lakes on the Smiley Face link and wonder if you could take a look and tell me if you see a pattern or anything.It bothers me I don’t see anything other than a high percentage of rivers, mainly the Mississippi. I think I am overlooking something so could you please just check it out?
Well, people will say Boo is a complete coincidence and has nothing to do with anything BUT do you remember a while back where the drownings of Native Americans in South Dakota was mentioned where they were are ruled drunken accidents? Those cases strongly reflect what is happening today only now they are mainly white men. One of the Native Americans that drowned had Boo in his name and in 1995 “The Justice for Boo Committee” formed. If you haven’t checked the article out it is at:
http://www.geocities.com/lakotastudentalliance/lsa2_
lurieharvestofdeath.html
Then there is Boo graffiti, Boo on Gerald Smith’s Twitter (I think it’s Gerald in the picture), and then Kristi pointed out in a picture of graffiti there is Booy15.I just am not ready to write these off so quickly even though it may appear as a coincidence. I can’t say they are connected but I’m not writing it off. I guess the question is, does it all relate back to Boo in South Dakota in 1995.
Graffiti may sound crazy because who knows who put it there and when but I’m being careful not to just dismiss things so easily.
It’s interesting you see the copycats too. It is very obvious to me so yes, it is understandable how you don’t want to go into that area. And you have done a ton of work and it does get tiring. One day it will pay off- my biggest hope and prayer is all of the time people have invested in trying to understand what is happening to these men will pay off by having justice and most of all for it to stop.
So, if you could check the listings of Rivers and Lakes I would really appreciate it a lot. Thanks.
@Monique777
I don’t see any pattern. You give me too much credit. I know a lot of details having read so much but if it were not for the patterns Mike came up with I probably would have given up. It was that NEMEC word that got me working on this again and reading through the details more.
And,no, I would never bring “Boo” or any graffiti to the authorities.It just helps us determine which victim to pursue the details on. Just 20 solid cases with out any logical explanation as to why they were even near the water would be enough, I hope, to cause a public outrage.
@Tenneguy
No, I don’t think I give you too much credit. I think you have an eye for this stuff. If you don’t see anything than I’ll accept nothing is there to see. Then I’ll attribute the bodies of water to be random and convenient as the killers seem to operate out of certain cities. So, the city may determine which body of water they use and the name of the lake/river may be irrelevant.Just wanted to make sure. Thanks!
Some of the cases are still open. I don’t think they brushed off the drowning here as an accident like they did in Wisconsin ,upstate NY or ST Paul.I don’t think they will pursue it though without a suspect .I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. I Know there were rumors about him leaving with girls.Did he leave with them or was he lured away by them to a phony cab? I don’t know if they talked to the search party.Maybe they saw some graffiti before it got painted over. I suspect people were told not to talk. I don’t know if they investigated the graffiti either.I was told not to say anything by the detective I talked to.The detective I talked to said his death was suspicious but I don’t know why.
This is not a cult. People can think and question. She is not spreading doubt, she is wondering where he went in relation to where he lived.
Is the police investigation still open? I thought it was closed.
I think what Monique is trying to figure out — from what is known it sounds like Bryan and his friend were in an altercation earlier. Could his death be the result of those who were in that altercation — instead of being related to SFK?
The local police seem to think he fell in and drowned. That seems possible only if he walked a good ways upstream and fell in. There could be reasons for doing so– such as if he wanted to smoke weed and wanted to do so where the main crowd would not smell it.
Two were disc jockeys? Radio or party DJs or what? Jesse Ross, who disappeared from a hotel in Chicago, was a radio DJ about to start a new paying job.
According to footprints at the rivers edge Garza and Sozstak were DJ’s.I could not find the info about Garza being a DJ any where else and don’t know where she came up with that.
here is a link that works on boo many horses and the indian drownings
http://www.geocities.com/lakotastudentalliance/lsa2_lurieharvestofdeath.html
@Zorro’s Pal
It was Leadly that went to chicago to start a new job.The company he went to work for sells parts for Trane air conditioners.Like with Jameson, a cab was called but never located.They could not see Leadly getting into the cab.He approached the cab then walked away.Jesse worked at the Vibe radio station and less than 2 months before him Homan disappeared and he was last see at the Vibe bar. Homan played for the eagles. Jesse Ross’s brother was an eagle scout and the symbol for the 101st division is the eagle.That makes 3 victims in 2 months that can be associated with an eagle.Jesse played for the celtics and the investigation started with Mcneil that had a celtic tattoo.Jessiah and jesse disappearances were 5 days apart.jesse was from belton.Jessiah was from bellingham.McNeil went to Fordham university.Jesse’s nickname was opie cunningham. In November and December of 2006 the first letters of names of bands the victims can be associated with starting with Jessiah,than Jesse spell sane.Jessiah’s name is jameson which fits into the map pattern.Sozotak was part of a map pattern and he went to college at the address of 101.The same name of the band Jameson can be associated with also shows up in the map patterns.Josh parked on delaware avenue where he first went to a bar and only 5 streets connect delaware to the name of the band Jessiah can be associated with and one of them is james.
Of all the victim on footprints Jesse Warren Ross is the closest to matching the initials of wilma rudolph. He is also the closest to matching the first name of jesse owens. They are the 2 best known black olympic runners and possibly the 2 most famous of their genders ..Chicago and Glen can be associated with Owens and Jesse Ross.jesse Ross had worked at the east Glen Theatres. Owens had lived in Glenville.Clarksville where Jessiah disappeared is the home of Wilma Rudolph. The Gary Snyder quotes could be an indication the killers identify with minorities. There is a pond behind the grave of Jesse Owens in Chicago
When jesse was working at the east Glen theatre it was in Lees Summit.Summit Avenue(starts the sane band pattern) is the name of the band jameson can be associated with and the same name that is on the map and connected by a james street.At least 3 people that were part of the sane pattern were on myspace. This was also late 2006 and during this time Ross,Rossini and someone that attended a party on the Donald ross road disappeared.One of those was Steffy that was found in Owen Hall.In 2005 Snell disappeared after making a strange phone call and his belongings were found in Owen park.Summit also repeated again with the graffiti in St Paul
according to footprints garza worked as a dj at the college
The myspace connection is also on this page.
http://footprintsattheriversedge.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-04-26T16%3A29%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=4
For a birdseye view of the North Water St. area go to maps at Bing.com and enter and search the address where the body was found, 1470 N Water St. Milwaukee, WI. It’s easy to pan over the entire area. What strikes me the most is how desolate the area seems, being so close to downtown. It’s nothing but parking lots and vacant lots and a few industrial and office complexes. The perfect setting for a crime. At that hour nobody would have noticed or heard anything unusual. There are some condos in the area but as I remember it was an unusually chilly weekend. People would have had windows shut and car windows rolled up.
@Doug
It seems like it was a crime. But a crime that is not being investigated.
The thing that bothers me is he looks like a body builder who one would think could adequately swim even if he had been drinking. This is very tragic.
@Tenneguy
Shutting down my research efforts as well – got me nowhere except investigated and harassed (which continues even now). For any interested parties – no more research coming on my part.
@anononymous
I do a lot of research but don’t post much of what I find. There has been a certain person who jumps on me for asking questions that I need answers to so I can collect data because I continue to find ways through the geography that show these drownings are NOT randomly distributed around Universities near rivers. Up until 2007 there is a very clear pattern and there after it appears SFK changed markedly or a copy cat entered the picture.
I would say, don’t give up researching and don’t let one theory blind you to all the available facts and bias your findings.. But you say you were investigated? By who? People on blogs or some outside agency? If it was some agency that sounds pretty severe! But if it’s only people here just continue on…these victims deserve justice!
And people will always question and throw out other possibilities-that is a good thing. Then again I’m not sure what you have all been through.
I don’t worry about being investigated. I am too far from most of the victims. It seems to me a copy cat could have entered the picture after the midwest drownings around ST Paul got attention.That could also be the time a game started.The FBI knew someone that was in the same locations and was signing threatening e mail messages with the same initials of the victims.Also Lilly mentions Jeff Dahmer who has the same initials as Jenkins and Dalquist(went missing same time) .Though they may be unrelated it could be part of a game.The FBI said then they were giving the deaths low priority.The game may or may not have involved murders at first but became one that involved murders.Since words don’t just spell themselves out and contain names similar to the victims, we know that we probably have a real serial killer out there.If it were not for things like that I would not be convinced the game and murders were related.Someone could have written sane on the bridge after the fact for all I know,but since NEMEC was already spelled out and sane was in the headlines at the time,I doubt that it was just another coincidence someone playing a game took advantage of.Also the band names in a 2 month period spell out sane.NEMEC could be a coincidence but the sane pattern afterwards would have been real murders.
Visited some people in Milwaukee this weekend and also walked Water St. from the area of the bars to where Bryan lived (around Lyon and Humboldt)
I can’t post the link-way too long but if you mapquest the following I think you’ll come to the same conclusions I did; that he was walking North on Water to get to Lyon St, to head East to go home. It seems along the way he met up with foul play (abducted) as the area is pretty desolate. I think SFK then put his body at the Plesant St. Bridge where there is a huge, unfenced vacant lot where no one would see and no condos across the river. There were also small broken tree branches along the SE corner of the bridge leading straight down to the water-no fence and very private. I think he then sunk, and surfaced and floated to the 1400 hundred block of water street. If you mapquest the following, it really appears he was abducted as the area is well fenced, and any open areas he would have had to have walked way over to the river and it would have been out of his way.
Mapquest:And add then add locations:
1. E Juneau Ave and N Water St,Milwaukee,WI (Trinity Bar)
2. 1433 N Water Street Milwaukee WI (hundred block of where his body was found)
3. E Pleasant St Bridge and N Water St Milwaukee, WI (suspected location his body may have been put in water after abduction)
4.1500 Humboldt Ave Milwaukee, WI (where he lived)
It would have seemed unlikely for him to have gone into the river (either by falling or being pushed. It seems more likely he was taken by some very strong men, held for a period of time and then put in the river. This is just my opinion-but it would have been way out of the way for him to find an opening in the fence along North Water and then walk over to the river-there would be no point. The area is desolate.
If he had been drugged, as everyone seems to think is probably the case, the people who took him didnt have to b all that strong.
I think people who are intoxicated/drugged still have strength when something bad is happening to them. Bryan was a huge athletic guy.I would think just moving him at all would take stength by at least a couple of guys. But strength IS a relative term. I just think the guys who do this have to be lifting heavy weights (whatever that poundage might be) and keeping in shape-otherwise the victims would get away.
Even if they used chloroform, can you imagine picking up 200 and some pounds of dead weight?
And as far as a gun, I think most people know never to get in a car by gun point-run and scream-but if you get in the car you can bank on ending up dead. If you run and scream you may get wounded but your chances of living are better.But if they ambush a guy, and they are strong, he probably won’t get away. I’d be apt to think they ambush their victims.
@Monique777
Ambush sounds right. That is what is so often done to women — ambushing and pushing them into vehicles.
Reading all this stuff is so scary but really makes me more on my toes when I am out walking. It is so sad that as people, we have to worry about other people who, for some reason, are bad.
UPDATE? Does anyone know of any update? Are Milwaukee police in any way investigating or is Bryan’s death considered simply an accident?
@ ZP – according to everything that I can find, Bryan’s case is closed, ruled accidental drowning and police are done working it – some of Bryan’s friends don’t buy it
I can understand why the police have closed the investigation. There is no evidence of any crime and no apparent motive to drown this young man. The police will say some people drink and drive the wrong way down the freeway or drink and tumble down a flight of stairs. Some drink and fall in the water and drown. Their judgement is impaired due to alcohol It happens all the time. Case closed. But do the facts add up? In this case, I don’t know, I agree with everyone something is wrong with this picture. Instead of an ambush as someone suggested, I think it possible that he was lured down to the river. Perhaps a pretty young woman offered him a ride home. He would have trusted her if he was drunk and perhaps drugged. In my mind’s eye, for a long time, I kept visualizing the smiley face killer as sort of looking like the way Heath Ledger portrayed the Joker in Batman. Maybe the killer is a woman.
@Doug
Hey, not a killer…killers
He had the equivalence of about two drinks in his system. He was NOT drunk by any means…it was very misinterpreted by media.
@AB
Or the media was fed the wrong information. I have not heard what Bryan’s BAC was at autopsy however I believe he was abducted and put in the river at a later time (intoxicated or not). It doesn’t surprise me if we have been misinformed.And I do believe you. It is very convenient for them to have the public believe Bryan was very drunk so we all think an accident was likely to occur so his death evades investigation. But in Bryan’s case, his level of intoxication has nothing to do with where his body was found-it doesn’t make sense for him to have been so far north in the river.
And there is just no way one woman (or one man) could have physically gained control over a huge guy like Bryan. He could have possibly been lured by a woman, but there is no way she acted alone.
@Tenneguy
I’ve been following this case on and off, more intrigued/saddened as it spreads out to Boston where I live…excuse the novice’s question but what is significant about the word NEMEC? It happens to mean German as in the language or a German(person)in most Slavic languages; Polish, Russian, Czech etc..many Slavs in the Upper MidWest…just a thought.
@Doug
Heath Ledger? Interesting.
@JR
Mike came up with the nemec pattern. It is the first lettter of city names.He thinks they may have made a connection to Cory Stayner,the Yosemite killer.
After researching the many cases of accidental drownings of young men ages 18-33 years old and majority are white, I have found there to be over 200 cases since 1997 and very few before that time. Not a Coincidence! Not to mention the similarities of each case. I have thought about this and I would love to try to set these killers up somehow or someway. If the police can catch one they can probably find out what is going on and these drownings will be ruled as homicides and finally law enforcement will be looking for these killers. I am just unsure on exactly how to do this.