Yes, and I think it might have to do with pure practicality more than anything. That is, if these men are being drugged with some sort of substance (like GHB, which has been found in some victims) the ones doing the drugging have to make sure the dose is right and corresponds with the victim's body weight and such. So they just pick victims with virtually the same build every time - less work for them. Or maybe not. It's just that I don't see a clear M.O. here. It's been theorized by different people that this is the work of anti-Christians, or men-hating feminists, or some group of disenfranchised outsiders/"geeks" taking vengeance on their physically fit, socially successful male peers. But if any of those were the case, I would think the perps would want it to be known these were murders. We might get some clear messages, some letters sent. Politically motivated crimes usually have that kind of vocal, boastful quality by the perps. If the Unabomber never wrote a word to go along with his bombs no one would have a clue what was going on.
Anyway, more generally. I think what's difficult about these cases is that because it's so under-investigated, because we know so little, it's easy to classify some deaths as being related when they might not be at all.
A lot of the cases in WI, MN, IA, IL, etc. seem connected, especially when you've got guys disappearing from the same bar. But to connect ones from CA or NY or PA... we'd have to assume either a very prolific serial killer team, or some sort of inconceivably devious government/CIA involvement like that which was theorized on another thread here.
Let's start simple, though. Occam's razor. What these cases need is a thorough examination from the very beginning, focusing on the most suspect ones, like Chris Jenkins or all the ones from La Crosse. If the victim didn't disappear from a bar, after being suspiciously separated from friends or in other strange circumstances, tentatively rule it out. Rule out anything outside of the Midwest, at least for now. Look at the dates of disappearance. If any happen on the same night, in different states, rule out (for now) the less suspect one. While I'm interested by the idea that this is some sort of extraordinarily elaborate cross-country crime, it just isn't the most likely.
More likely is that a good number of these are accidents, but there is also a killer/team of killers operating within a fairly specific tri- or quad-state area clustered by the Mississippi who are conveniently disguising their murders as accidents.
The M.O. for all this is still very mysterious, of course - no indication of sexual sadism, usually no marks left on the victim's bodies, etc. But look at, of all criminals, the Zodiac killer. There's a person who showed little interest in doing anything to his victims other than killing them - collecting "slaves" for his afterlife, as he said. Perhaps we are looking at something somewhat similar here. The crucial difference is that the Zodiac craved attention, needing to write the papers to not only confirm himself as the murderer but to taunt, threaten and baffle LE and the general public for decades to come. By contrast, the whole name of the game with these river murders is, well, to make them not look like murders at all... let alone calling in to report them immediately after, or writing the Chronicle with a series of cryptic ciphers.
By the way, does anybody know what happened to http://smileyfacemurders.com/?
It's been down for a while, marked private, and I have no idea how one would get in now without some prior authorization by the site owner. I hope he/she is just doing some site renovations or something. That site is one of the very few frequently updated resources on the web about these cases, and I'd hate to see it gone.
After being interested in this for about 4 years now,I've read many different theories from religion to some sort of homosexual angle...I just don't know what to think but I do not believe that all are accidents.
Has anyone read Jan Jenkins book? I have not but I have heard she says that Chris was held for a period of time and tortured and that a van was involved. I have been meaning to buy the book but just haven't gotten around to it yet.
I believe some are accidents,some are possible od's and then maybe friends cover it up...or maybe they aren't accidents and the friend(s) HAVE to cover it up. Am I making sense??
But there are too many strange clusters,so close together and within days. I don't know why I get the disturbing feeling like some sicko(s) are involved and them being so close and within days(sometimes 2 days) I wonder if they could at some point be held together. But my mind wanders and I tend let my imagination go wild...
I wonder if fraternities could even play a role in a few.
But there are many that are so perfect...I mean,one second they are there and someone is seconds away from picking them up and then they are gone like a vehicle is there waiting,maybe a team working together to abduct the victim.
Maybe a particular type of person is searched for ahead of time and then researched or followed(like through fb or any type of socal media)...maybe they excell in a certain sport or club in school and they are in the papers a lot like Chris Jenkins or any of the other wrestlers that I mentioned before.
I wonder if any of them are gamers? Neo Maximus (the one who legally changed his name) was a gaming GOD,I mean he was famous to all the gamers...look him up.
For a while there was talk of the cross necklaces that were not being found with the bodies,I guess there were quite a few. I have also read that cell phone jammers could be involved.
Please don't mind me. All just MOO.