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The accused Highland Park Fourth of July gunman painted a chilling mural of a smiley-face figure brandishing a rifle on the wall of his mom’s home, The Post learned Wednesday. The revelation of the creepy image emerged as Robert E. “Bobby” Crimo’s mom, Denise, was spotted looking downcast outside her Highland Park home Wednesday afternoon — just days after her son’s alleged Independence Day slaughter. The eerie mural, painted on the outside back wall of the house, shows the character with a yellow happy face for a head clutching what appears to be a high-powered rifle. It wasn’t immediately clear...

TERRE HAUTE - Indiana State University officials hope increased public awareness will lead them to missing student Gerald Smith of Avon. Wabash Valley Crimestoppers has agreed to use its resources to spread the word about Smith's disappearance via television public service announcements, billboards and a reward of up to $1,000. In addition, the Indiana State University Foundation is accepting contributions for an additional reward fund.

DETECTIVES: Chris Jenkins murder connects dozens around country Could there be a calculated, cross-country plot to kill young college men, including some in Minnesota? It seems a little hard to believe, but two New York detectives say they can prove it. Now, they are revealing years of their evidence for the first time to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS... GO DEEPER INTO THE INVESTIGATION:

DETECTIVES: Chris Jenkins murder connects dozens around country Could there be a calculated, cross-country plot to kill young college men, including some in Minnesota? It seems a little hard to believe, but two New York detectives say, they can prove it. Now, they are revealing years of their evidence for the first time to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS... University of Minnesota college student Chris Jenkins was found in the Mississippi River in February of 2003. Minneapolis Police began investigating the case, which also caught the attention of two retired NYPD detectives. Turns out, Jenkins' death was the missing part of the...

Searchers in La Crosse have pulled a body from the Mississippi River near where a college student disappeared a few days earlier. The La Crosse Tribune reported that police have not confirmed the identity of the body, which was pulled from the river just before 5 p.m. Tuesday. But the spot is very close to where they believe Craig Meyers fell into the river early Sunday.

Dozens of young college men gave found dead across the country and their deaths ruled accidental drowning. But they had one connecting symbol a smiley face found at the scene—and for the families they left behind it seems anything but accidental. It’s a chilling story we first brought you last spring in a 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS investigation. On Monday, there's new evidence more suspicious deaths may be linked to the so-called ‘Smiley Face Killers.’ Bill Szotak says surveillance video shows his son, Josh, inside a New York bar after a couple drinks, seemingly fine. But minutes later video from outside...

Could there be a calculated, cross-country plot to kill young college men, including some in Minnesota? It seems a little hard to believe, but two New York detectives say, they can prove it.

SCRANTON – Near the creek where Matthew Grendel’s body surfaced two years ago, sinister graffiti glared back at a retired detective on the trail of suspected serial killers. The 20-year-old college student’s disappearance sounded eerily similar to the other cases Kevin Gannon and his team investigated. The similarities brought them to Grendel’s house in Minooka and to Roaring Brook by the falls under the Harrison Avenue Bridge in 2007. The killers they were tracking left a crudely painted smiley face at the spot where some of the victims’ bodies were put in water. “We did find a smiley face down...

New details have emerged in the search for missing 19-year-old Middlebury College freshman Nicholas Garza that could link him to the so-called "Smiley Face Gang," which a group of retired detectives believes is responsible for the apparent drowning deaths of dozens of young men across the country. Searchers have found smiley-face graffiti near Garza's campus like that painted near some of the locations where about 40 bodies have been discovered across 11 states, FOX 44 News reported. Garza’s mother thinks that discovery could link her son's disappearance to the deaths of the other mostly college-age victims. Volunteer searchers have come...

Possible break in the 'Smiley Face' murders case

TERRE HAUTE — After more than a week of worry and searching, the body of Gerald Smith, an Indiana State University business student who was set to graduate this weekend, has been found in Knox County in the Wabash River. The Knox County coroner contacted ISU Police around 7:30 p.m. Friday evening, said Bill Mercier, director of ISU Public Safety. “He advised me they had a body in the water,” Mercier said. The body matched the physical and clothing description of Smith, he said.

Over the last decade approximately 80 young men attending college in relatively rural communities along I-94 -- the northernmost east-west interstate highway -- have mysteriously disappeared after leaving a party or bar alone, and many of them subsequently have been discovered as drowning victims in nearby rivers, ponds and lakes. Their deaths routinely have been classified as accidental drownings but former Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter Kristi Piehl, with the help of a team of experts including a forensic pathologist, a former federal agent, and a former New York District Attorney, believes that at least some of the deaths are homicide....

At least 40 young men who drowned may have died by far more sinister means — serial killings at the hands of a national gang that revels in murdering young men and leaving smiley-face markings at the scene, a team of retired New York City police detectives and criminal justice investigators said Monday. They believe the victims, including University of Minnesota student Chris Jenkins and Fordham University student Patrick McNeill, didn't accidentally drown but were actually killed by members of the so-called "Smiley Face Gang," KSTP in St. Paul reported. A smiley-face symbol was found painted at some of the...

TORONTO - There are still no leads in the case of an eastern Ontario scientist who disappeared without a trace last month, leaving his colleagues mystified. Lachlan Cranswick hasn't been seen since Jan. 18, when he left work at the National Research Council's Canadian Neutron Beam Centre in Chalk River, northwest of Ottawa. His nearby Deep River house was reportedly left unlocked and his car was in the garage. His wallet, keys and passport have all been accounted for......

Investigative Journalist Kristi Piehl Still Stands Behind Her Story that the Deaths of 80 Young Men Are Linked: The Smiley Face Killer case has come to the front of the news again as Good Morning America did an extensive story on the rumored serial killer case. The story includes dozens of young men located in 25 cities in 11 states that were all declared accidental drowning. Many parents that Smiley Face Killer Back in the News Through Good Morning America Story believe their kids have been the victims of murder rather than accidental deaths have begun working with an investigative...