Secrets of the City

wcco says 2002. kare says 2003.

huh?

Had to be 2002. His body was found Feb 2003.

I’ve googled this periodically over the 4 years because sometihng didn’t sound right about his disappearance. I’ve seen people on internet discussion boards offer theories that his death resulted from anything ranging from a suicide, to a serial killer, to a gang initiation, and one or two individuals even suggested some sort of police conspiracy tied in with the bouncers @ the Lone Tree. I sincerely wonder if they do have the right guy, or if the police just want the family to leave them alone already and have found a convenient scapegoat to face the murder charge.

Why isn’t SOMEBODY investigating all these strange “suicides” that have occcured involving young college boys (18-22) who leave bars very drunk (GHB?) ALONE and wind up drowning in the river?

There have been nearly a dozen cases. You can’t tell me these are not related. It souns like a serial killer to me.

Jderusha you’re on the case. Let’s see what you have on this by 10:00pm.
Move boy!

my sources say there might be something to this police conspiracy…

More at 10!!!!

well, theoretically, there had to be some physical evidence on the body that lead to changing the status of the case, right?

what’s up with this conspiracy theory bullshit?

I walked home WASTED 3 times a week for 3 years. (over 150 walks). Thanks god there were no bridges, streams, etc. My drunk ass would have slipped, jumped, went for a swim, etc.

Stand outside a college bar at closing time. It’s a goddamn miracle anyone gets home.

On a sort of related note, has anyone heard what happened to the kid who was murdered down by the river off of West River Road near the Minnehaha Academy

While the serial killer theory is interesting, I have to agree with Russ. This would happen a lot more often if the downtown Mpls bars were a little closer to campus.

That’s the problem with Eau Claire and LaCrosse – lots of student housing within walking distance of student bars. With a river nearby.

Perhaps the serial killer is named Jack?

That’s the problem with Eau Claire and LaCrosse – lots of student housing within walking distance of student bars. With a river nearby.

Yeah! Let them drive home from the bars like everyone else! (Sorry, just a little bit of snark for a Monday.)

His sister’s statement regarding what happened.

I offered my theory once before:

When one gets so completely intoxicated, essentially rational thought s turned off, ther is something in the physiology of the body that demands water, due to the severe dehydration experienced by the drunkard. So in a staggering senseless jaunt, the primoridal physiological/subliminal urge for water overpowers the mind, which is why these kids even end up by the shore of the river in the first place.
Brilliant huh?

I was in Milwaukee when this happened, and came to Minneapolis to cover it when they found Jenkins’ body. This one seemed different from the others. I imagine the cops had someone confess… as I find it hard to believe there’s physical evidence that’s new. But we’ll find out at 4:15 p.m. tonight, at a police news conference.

I remember my station in Milwaukee did stories about the I-94 corridor of college deaths. That a serial killer was driving the highway, looking for kids to kill. It’s always hard to know the truth about these things. Parents have no idea what their kids are like at college. So all the: “He wasn’t depressed” ” he seemed so happy” “he’d never kill himself” quotes are not the most reliable statements.

I hope this family gets justice. It’s been a long road for them.

I still think it is suspicious and Russ sounds like he spends a lot of time hanging outside bars waithing for drunken college boys…suspicious indeed…

But let me ask you – is it really reasonable for SO MANY young men to “go for a drunken solo swim” or “Trip and fall into the water” or “commit suicide”?

All of them alone?

The coincidence is too much for me. If you guys want to dismiss it and let a killer walk, then the blood is on your hands Lieutenant, NOT me!

(I’ve been watching “The Wire”)

I hear The Wire is excellent.

But let me ask you – is it really reasonable for SO MANY young men to “go for a drunken solo swim” or “Trip and fall into the water” or “commit suicide”?

All of them alone?

It seems like this is a bit of a logical fallacy–if they weren’t alone, then chances are we would know the circumstances that lead to their death.

The Wire is the best show on TV right now.

The Wire is the best TV show ever, actually.

I thought that was Thundercats?

really, richg? i thought it was spongebob.

Dressing as Tonto for Halloween may not have made him to popular with certain downtown denizens.

I’m just sayin’.

Bud jr. is the PC Police?

Spongebob is just a blatant rip-off of the Snorks.

What the heck is a snork?

Just sayin’.

You wouldn’t dress up like Rerun and hang around Block E would you?

But while we’re at it, let’s all just give a pass to Chris Stewart, the racist school board member.

ummm…nobody killed Chris Stewart and dumped his body in the river…I know you’d like to see it, and all.

It’d be nice to keep politics off of a board about the homicide of a young person. Come on, people, have some class.

Henry…don’t address trolls as people, and you won’t be disappointed.

Actually, ReRun would be a pretty sweet halloween costume. Plus, you could do do that crazy dance all night.

Jenkin’s death is all ABOUT politics.

The police, the bar owner, the ‘costume’, the other mystery deaths, etc.

Just wait….

I just added bud jr. to my suspect list.

He certainly fits the profile.

The plot thickens!

How odd.

His sister said the bouncers at the Lone Tree send her brother out the door without his belongings – wallet, phone, coat. Did the family take legal action against the bar?

The last time I was at the Lone Tree a guy (who in my opinion was high on a lot more that booze – the crazed, glass eyed look) was startled when a waitress behind him dropped a drink. He swung around and hit the first person he could focus on. He was on a roll and was preparing to take his next swing. The bouncers were busy watching girls dance, so the waitress (all 95 pounds of her) jumped up on the puncher and tried to slow him down (she was literally dangling from his neck like a giant necklace). He pulled her off of him and ran out the door. Fortunately the waitress wasn’t hurt.

The bouncers finally became aware of something going on. The punched guy, who was bleeding and totally in shock because he’d done nothing to provoke the altercation, was than grabbed by a bouncer, scolded for his involvement in a fight, and pushed out the door.

“The plot thickens!“

- – -

Plot?

Man-boy stumbles in an alcoholic haze over the poorly-lit bridge, refuses a request by the waiting group for his wallet, verbal altercation, physical altercation, man-boy tossed over the railing? *

That plot?

Seems pretty simple to me.

(* : just guessing, but I doubt I’m far off.)

.

…not poorly lit enough to miss the faux tonto outfit…

Seems pretty simple to me.

You seem to be missing a key point. They tossed him out of the Lone Tree without his wallet and phone. He couldn’t have given them up if he tried.

What are his friends saying who were there with him that night, have they gone on record with anything? Does anyone know why he got the boot from the Lone Tree?

The PI doesn’t buy the MPD’s version of events. There seems, also, to be physical & circumstancial evidence that contradicts the MPD’s version. Maybe he’s got an ax to grind, or maybe he’s right.

Carrie, you should be hanging in some more upscale environs than that.

bud jr, I don’t know where my current hang outs rank, but I haven’t been back to the Lone Tree since that night.

Time to outsource the Minneapolis PD for good! Rybek and the rest of the crew at city hall are just totally worthless when dealing with new leaders on police force! Nothing has gone right in the last decade over there.

PS: They should have pick that Moose guy from Washington D.C., rather than that McMannus dude several years ago! What the heck was R.T. thinking?!

The suspicion of a serial killer is very attention grabbing… enough to make almost anything in the case seem like and obvious clue. With saying that… the almighty Mississippi has claimed (to my calculations) 6 males (Charles Blatz, Tony Skifton, Nathan Kapfer, Jeff Geesey, Jared Dion and now Chris Jenkins) ages 19-28, dating back to 1997 all with significant levels of alcohol in their systems and last seen at a nearby bar. While obviously alcohol impairs your judgment, the notion that these kids decided to go for a little swim in the Mississippi alone is highly doubtful. Accidental death can be ruled out just as easily. If you trip, slip or hit your head, you’re not going to fall or slide much farther than the initial accident. In a number of these cases, to even get to the water you have to navigate a concrete staircases and walls, stretches of pavement and anywhere from 5-10 foot areas of rocks and pebbles. I live in Winona, MN which is DIRECTLY along the Mississippi and it’s safe to say that we have had no drunken drownings. We have 7 bars located 3 blocks or less from the river. Maybe we don’t party hardy as much as these boys, but I find that highly unlikely. In the area of the river nearest to the bars there is only a single set of railroad tracks and a paved ramp preventing access to the river. I have (many times) jumped and ran along the planks drifting next to the shore in this exact area I mentioned. Accidents and coicidences can only rule out so many things. Suicide is also a little weak of a theory. If any of these kids were going to commit suicide, they would have chosen a different venue. Only one of the males I’ve mentioned has shown previous tendancies towards depressive and suicidal behavior. If these kids were going to commit suicide they would choose a different way out. The police (4 years later) say they have a suspect in custody for another unrelated crime. In my opinion… male, mid-30s, has asfixiation fetishes and fantasies (i.e. holding people underwater), has spent time in MN and WI and is aware that neither states have the death penalty, with previous convictions related to sexual assault of young males. If not… what a fricken coincidental chain of events. Thank goodness the Jenkins’ family stuck with this one.