I'm afraid you're so wrong. Smiley face killer theory is much less about the graffiti as it is the victim's all fitting the same description and BMI. It's real for over 20 years and over 200 victims. Keep an open mind and do some reseach on your own and you will become a believer.
I wouldn't disregard the SFK theory as "total nonsense," but I really don't think there is an individual or any kind of organized group of killers targeting drunk young white male college kids in the midwest.
I'm not a big fan of mathematics, but the last math class I took was "statistics for psychology majors" roughly a decade ago. One of the things I took away from the class was that a researcher will try to use a set of data in a way that correlates with the outcome they want. The same set of data could be analyzed by someone else and use it to "prove" something totally different from what the other researcher "proves."
The professor didn't really go into this in class, but I also realized that many things that happen in this world are simply coincidental. A coincidence can't really be proven or disproven. They just exist.
Now that I'm done typing all that, I don't know if it makes any sense or is just a long ramble.
I think
eric136 (post #639) basically said what I meant in a shorter and simpler fashion...
Correlation of events does not imply causation. Two events occurring in close proximity or commonality to each other does not imply that one caused the other. It is called Affirming the Consequent. It is common & tempting when faced with the unknowns to attribute events to a conspiracy or some runaway serial killer.
Some LE agency somewhere could make a press release that says "
Within the past year, more than 50 black females in their twenties were found deceased within 5 miles of a Walmart."
Does that mean that Walmart often employs racist and misogynist murderers?
NO. And the deaths are just deaths as stated (homicide isn't noted).
Does that mean that murderers like to hang out at Walmart?
NO.
Does that mean that most US citizens live within easy driving distance of a Walmart?
NO (or at least not based on the facts stated in the announcement).
Does it prove that the deaths near the different Walmarts are anything other than strictly coincidental?
The facts may point in one direction or another, but they don't prove anything.
I think that many people
want there to be a Smiley Face Killer. Not because anybody wants any more boys to die. But an elusive serial killer would make sense of something that just doesn't make sense. Namely young, healthy guys winding up dead in rivers after leaving a bar.
Does anyone know if any other purported SFK victims were (openly) gay? In reading about some of the victims over the years, I didn't really remember any.
That wouldn't really change anything about their demographics in terms of being a SFK victim. They'd still be a young male college student. Just gay.
