Did Police in La Crosse, Wisconsin Cover Up a Serial Killer?

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Lacrosse, Wisconsin is home to 50,000 people, three universities, and a host of mysterious drownings of young men. Among them was Luke Homan, a 21 year old basketball player at the University of Wisconsin - Lacrosse. After a night of partying in late September of 2006, Luke vanished, and the story just gets weird after that. Many have asked if there is a serial killer stalking the streets of Lacrosse, and some have suggested it's a nexus point for the alleged Smiley Face Killers. Was it a simple accident, or was there something more sinister at play? Welcome back to The Lore Lodge...
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0:00 - Intro
1:15 - Fum Ad
3:10 - Local History
9:22 - Disappearance of Luke Homan
32:58 - Connecting the Dots

Пікірлер: 1 500

  • @TheLoreLodge
    @TheLoreLodge7 ай бұрын

    Go to TryFum.com/LORELODGE and use code LORELODGE to get a discount off your order today!

  • @leethetree264

    @leethetree264

    7 ай бұрын

    fuck that stupid shit. love the vid but that shit super dumb and will do nothing to kick a smoking habit. its not the oral fixation that causes addiction its the nicotine that product is a stupid toy.

  • @washingtoncommandcenter5541

    @washingtoncommandcenter5541

    7 ай бұрын

    If you aren't connecting the last potential victim because he doesn't fit the attractiveness level did you consider that a potential female killer was 10 years older at the time and possibly just not able to pull the same caliber of victim? It being on V-Day could be her pulling out the big guns to really get someone lonely and desperate

  • @justinj1560

    @justinj1560

    7 ай бұрын

    Damn straight that stuff isn't pizza

  • @sasha1mama

    @sasha1mama

    7 ай бұрын

    Once again, a Ü (U with a diaresis) is an "oo" sound, as the diaresis denotes a doubling of the letter and therefore also its sound. This means the name of the product is pronounced "foom", not "fume". The manufacturers likely aren't even aware of this and simple chose an umlaut to be edgy. But their mistake need not be yours. Correct the pronunciation as you make it, and do your part in combating inaccurate information. For gods' sakes, *please* listen to me.

  • @post-centrist666

    @post-centrist666

    7 ай бұрын

    @TheLoreLodge 7:35 😂 Love how Quick you are to easily Gloss over the Ra*e, M**der, & Gen**ide by European Kleptocratic Settlers.

  • @finnie9223
    @finnie92237 ай бұрын

    As far as his body not floating, if the water is cold enough, bacteria wont be able to grow and a body wont float at all. Hence the common phrase “Lake Superior never gives up her dead”

  • @user-cz9wg1ks2e

    @user-cz9wg1ks2e

    6 ай бұрын

    Lake superior whole lot colder body of water and stronger currents than u realize

  • @fafarms

    @fafarms

    6 ай бұрын

    Actually bodies almost always sink when they drown they pop up after gas buildup inside the body

  • @cheeseeygamer2997

    @cheeseeygamer2997

    6 ай бұрын

    ​@@fafarmsthat gas buildup is from bacteria during teh decomposing process

  • @fafarms

    @fafarms

    6 ай бұрын

    @@cheeseeygamer2997 even in cold water bodies pop up very deep water is different. Also sometimes animals eat the body causing the gas to not form or be contained

  • @fafarms

    @fafarms

    6 ай бұрын

    @@user-cz9wg1ks2e plus the fish eat dead people

  • @mcsquizzieee
    @mcsquizzieee7 ай бұрын

    I live in lacrosse and have for 29 years. This is so neat to see this covered. We do definitely have a drug and alcohol problem here.. however, our "homeless camp" is set up right on the river at a different park, drugs and alcohol are rampant there, yet people aren't continuously falling in the river.

  • @andywagoner4869

    @andywagoner4869

    7 ай бұрын

    That’s a great point. I think the camp has moved from Houska park now inland and north a bit. But I think it’s right on the black river behind the south side fest grounds.

  • @FoulMouthFishing666

    @FoulMouthFishing666

    7 ай бұрын

    So because people arent generally dumb enough to walk into or onto a river wasted, it's likely a national serial killer? Lol yall want this so badly to be a killer when in reality these kids are dumb and drunk.

  • @This_is_not_taylors_verion

    @This_is_not_taylors_verion

    7 ай бұрын

    We have shit cops. Racist too. They hung a noose on their black co workers locker.

  • @Bob-and-Robs-asylum

    @Bob-and-Robs-asylum

    7 ай бұрын

    I live in lacrosse too it has very rampant drug problem and alchohol problem and the homless shrlter is in a very wrong place

  • @sadderdazehaze

    @sadderdazehaze

    7 ай бұрын

    It’s made its way into google maps. If you go on street view you can see our homeless encampment

  • @mcbamm5683
    @mcbamm56837 ай бұрын

    I know you mainly cover American stories, but something incredibly similar to the smily face killer is happening in Manchester, England with the “Manchester Pusher”. It looks like an urban myth about a serial killer pushing people into the canals has possibly incited real copycat killers. It would be really cool to see you cover it.

  • @darkstonefire

    @darkstonefire

    7 ай бұрын

    Thought that was Bristol? Maybe similar story there

  • @cyan_2877

    @cyan_2877

    7 ай бұрын

    @@darkstonefire BRINDLEY!

  • @cdurkinz

    @cdurkinz

    7 ай бұрын

    Thanks I've heard about this with the Missing 411 stuff these are super bizarre cases.

  • @goddammitalana

    @goddammitalana

    7 ай бұрын

    It's already in missing 411 about young men being found in water with mysterious/unsolved circumstances

  • @j.griffin

    @j.griffin

    7 ай бұрын

    @@darkstonefire Bristol has had a lot of these cases- Manchester has had even more. One thing is undeniable- the cases are pretty much all men… no women. Demographically speaking, that is irrational.

  • @joelpaprocki85
    @joelpaprocki857 ай бұрын

    I actually grew up with Luke in Brookfield, and knew him up until we went to college. This was a very shocking incident for us all. Miss him, he was a great guy.

  • @thataytay

    @thataytay

    7 ай бұрын

    My condolences for your loss. I hope you're doing better ❤️

  • @RealJuiceWrld

    @RealJuiceWrld

    6 ай бұрын

    I hope he’s not lying on the internet for attention

  • @joelpaprocki85

    @joelpaprocki85

    6 ай бұрын

    @@RealJuiceWrld funny that your mind goes to that (and spending time posting it on here) as opposed to a simple internet search. My user name is my name and out of the two of us that exist, my LinkedIn shows Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Similarly, my furthest back listed education on there lists Brookfield central high school, class of 2003. I then suggest you look up Luke Homan, and from this you could likely deduce that I am not lying. Did you try any of that before making your statement?

  • @J-Rush

    @J-Rush

    5 ай бұрын

    I grew up in Brookfield too

  • @user-ws5di9ln1r

    @user-ws5di9ln1r

    5 ай бұрын

    Hi my name is Evelyn Wells this case reminds me of the happy face killer,Keith Jesspersen.

  • @user-qg7vj7nb9c
    @user-qg7vj7nb9c7 ай бұрын

    You nailed it bud alot of people around the lacrosse area think it's a female killer too

  • @user-ll1ot6qo6o

    @user-ll1ot6qo6o

    7 ай бұрын

    What other evidence points there? I'm genuinely curious.

  • @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    7 ай бұрын

    @@user-ll1ot6qo6o she appears to have a type and someone is luring these guys down by the river I live 35 miles from there we are warned to stay away from the river if we go to downtown lacrosse to drink everyone knows to stay away from the river literally either a woman luring them with sex or a cop forcing them with a gun alot of people think it's a cop too some people think it's a couple maybe truckers

  • @FoulMouthFishing666

    @FoulMouthFishing666

    7 ай бұрын

    Water is genderless and the wasted idiots drowned themselves. The one here in Stevens Point walked out on the river ice which is never fully safe and there was one set of footprints. This conspiracy has been disproven by other credible youtubers, this dude and the tiktoker are idiots

  • @Mike-es2yg

    @Mike-es2yg

    7 ай бұрын

    Could be a short male, also.

  • @3765racer

    @3765racer

    6 ай бұрын

    i used to live there and frequent the bars regularly most thought it was someone in law enforcement. i think it was a man who was jealous of athletic good-looking men who got all the girls when he was in college while he being a dork couldn't score with any. i have a suspect in mind someone in law enforcement who was ran out of town for being a creep.

  • @HolldollMcG
    @HolldollMcG7 ай бұрын

    Fun fact I learned in my French class: the reason the language has so many unnecessary letters is because the monks who were tasked with transcribing the language into a written form were *PAID BY THE LETTER*.

  • @056561022

    @056561022

    7 ай бұрын

    Is the word "queue" French? It's a Q with four silent letters following.....

  • @eosapienrancher4045

    @eosapienrancher4045

    7 ай бұрын

    Sorry to burst your bubble, but....this feels like a folk explanation. I learned some real stupid bullshit from teachers growing up that I later realized were simply not true.

  • @Mophony

    @Mophony

    7 ай бұрын

    That's genius on their part

  • @eosapienrancher4045

    @eosapienrancher4045

    7 ай бұрын

    @@francinesmith1889 That is almost always the case with odd spellings - they used to once reflect the actual pronunciation. People don't realize how much language changes. Do you know why the word "knight" has so many silent letters? In Old and Middle English, the K used to be pronounced, and the "gh" too. If you've ever heard a German pronounce "Nacht," the "ch" is what the "gh" in knight once sounded like. Eventually those consonants were dropped, and the vowels changed too, and the spelling never caught up. So we were left with a bunch of silent letters and words that don't sound like how they're spelled.

  • @LiTTleGaBi21

    @LiTTleGaBi21

    7 ай бұрын

    @@056561022it is but that’s not how it’s pronounced in french, the other letters are not silent

  • @JennJenn_86
    @JennJenn_867 ай бұрын

    As someone whose lived in and around La Crosse for over 35+ years, the police are horrid and would rather spend time catching/ticketing people 2 mins over on 2 hour parking than deal with the actual problems in the city...

  • @1travstone

    @1travstone

    7 ай бұрын

    Pretty much just like every where

  • @loudd

    @loudd

    7 ай бұрын

    Yeah thats what cops do lol they are a gang

  • @Mike-es2yg

    @Mike-es2yg

    7 ай бұрын

    Nj same.

  • @sadderdazehaze

    @sadderdazehaze

    7 ай бұрын

    Then you clearly have not met any of the officers in La Crosse. Stop breaking the law and maybe you will actually have a good experience. Idk just a thought 🥴

  • @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    6 ай бұрын

    @@sadderdazehaze there's no such thing as a good experience with a cop

  • @alexpeltier3330
    @alexpeltier33307 ай бұрын

    I’m a LaCrosse alum. We had a student die in winter 2009, I think it was, from drinking and drowning in the river. Always thought it might not have been an accident. Seeing the drinking culture there kept me from overdoing it.

  • @yiocho220

    @yiocho220

    7 ай бұрын

    I remember that being on the local news.

  • @danilecashin4126

    @danilecashin4126

    7 ай бұрын

    It was t a accident there was a serial killer up there the police covered it up. Never once did any Guy in la crosse say after bar hopping say “ ya hey lets go hang out by the river “ BS never happened.

  • @timmouthyannouncing151

    @timmouthyannouncing151

    7 ай бұрын

    What you weren't here for was the string of them through the 90's. Lots of similarities between the crime scenes where the people went into the water. One guy actually came to in the river around when you should have been attending.

  • @RexM-od1vt

    @RexM-od1vt

    7 ай бұрын

    ​@@danilecashin4126 people do chill at rivers, I chill by the Cape fear river all the time, we also had a marine get drunk and jump in a few years ago, which is a bad idea because the current pulls you 40ft straight down took a month to find his body. However I agree it probably was a serial killer, I'm just pointing out that people do chill at rivers and drunk people do jump in sometimes.

  • @user-ll1ot6qo6o

    @user-ll1ot6qo6o

    7 ай бұрын

    True but it usually happens in the winter. Being from the midwest - we are just trying to survive the cold. Not sitting by the river. @@RexM-od1vt

  • @cw-ol3gv
    @cw-ol3gv7 ай бұрын

    Weird how there have been ZERO similar cases 25 miles upriver in Winona where there is equal drunken college intoxication problems and the bars are even closer to the river 🤷🏼‍♂️

  • @ardyrc4531

    @ardyrc4531

    7 ай бұрын

    What if it’s bouncers throwing drunks into the river after kicking them out

  • @Sacredshade

    @Sacredshade

    7 ай бұрын

    I lived in Winona and was wondering the same thing. In high-school, we basically lived at the river during summertime and lots of partying. No murders.

  • @andywagoner4869

    @andywagoner4869

    7 ай бұрын

    @@ardyrc4531 the downtown bar scene is not that close to the river.

  • @Lynsey17

    @Lynsey17

    6 ай бұрын

    I've never been to either place, so this comment might not apply but proximity to water is just one risk. Infrastructure plays a huge role in how likely people are to go near the water & how easy it is to accidentally fall in. Like, I grew up in a sea-side town & went to university in another one. While the water was very close to bars in both places, accidental drownings were basically unheard on. One town the bars were oriented in a way that naturally pointed people away from the water. The other, there was a boardwalk with good barriers built-in that would have required significant effort to cross.

  • @sidewayseyesglazed

    @sidewayseyesglazed

    6 ай бұрын

    The bars in winona are NOT closer to the river.

  • @CharlynP
    @CharlynP7 ай бұрын

    Born and raised in this area, the river is NOTHING to mess with, especially after drinking. Our town has been incredibly strict about creating as many barriers as possible between downtown and the river. Awesome to see this discussed more fully.

  • @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    7 ай бұрын

    Agreed were you warned to stay away from the river when you went out drinking in lacrosse like we used to in those days I grew up going to see shows at the lacrosse center and I remember my parents making it a point to warn us to stay away from the river and don't trust people we didn't know was a weird time

  • @RipOffProductionsLLC

    @RipOffProductionsLLC

    7 ай бұрын

    Yeah, and after seeing some of Donut Operator's videos covering police bodycam footage from LaCrosse Wisconsin, I could buy the idea that drinking/drug related drowning accidents could be a tad higher than average...

  • @timmouthyannouncing151

    @timmouthyannouncing151

    7 ай бұрын

    That they have. I got questioned one night by Riverside when I wasn't aware of the rule change. Cops came out of nowhere and scared the crap out of me. Lol

  • @missmay713

    @missmay713

    7 ай бұрын

    If I may ask, A) Is the current strong enough to get caught in? and B) Is it rocky in this area? I'm only wondering because some of the injuries they describe occurred while Luke was alive. Would it be plausible, to you, for him to have been caught in the current and hit rocks before tragically drowning? This case is so heartbreaking, I hope for everyone's sake that it truly is a case of horrible accidents, but I think it's worth questioning.

  • @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    7 ай бұрын

    @@missmay713 possible but if that's the case he wouldn't have had ligature blisters cause water would prevent friction rash likely and the potential lady shoe print I mean I don't think the investigators would have said shoe print if they werent seeing a tread pattern and not just random bruising you'd likely get from falling onto the rocks along the river or getting tangled in brush and people swim the mississippi frequently so its not super dangerous to that end there are places with undertow and drop-offs that are dangerous but every river has that

  • @kitkat108
    @kitkat1087 ай бұрын

    Very interesting theory! Women as serial killers is something that's often overlooked in police investigations because it's so rare (something like 15% of cases, less the more violent the murder is), but I definitely think it's the most likely possibility here.

  • @PrincessNicEssus

    @PrincessNicEssus

    7 ай бұрын

    Yes, very true and they’re also responsible for drawing people/children away to be trafficked, beaten up by boyfriends and killed.

  • @brutusthebear9050

    @brutusthebear9050

    7 ай бұрын

    I mean, is it overlooked because it's rare or is it rare because it's overlooked

  • @theamazingcowlet

    @theamazingcowlet

    7 ай бұрын

    Yes

  • @kitkat108

    @kitkat108

    7 ай бұрын

    I mean, my intent was overlooked because it's rare, but it does kind of go both ways lol.

  • @firepixie3820

    @firepixie3820

    7 ай бұрын

    Wouldn't you think the woman would be more like the honey pot to get the man to the killers? or maybe it's not a woman but a tranny ....

  • @thatgoblin5739
    @thatgoblin57397 ай бұрын

    I love to see Aiden continually picking fights with States, Countries, languages.

  • @DneilB007

    @DneilB007

    Ай бұрын

    Someone needs to call out Chicago for the savoury cheesecake that they call “pizza”.

  • @juliaj6152
    @juliaj61527 ай бұрын

    Can you look at the serial killer in Chicago? A CPD officer told me that they know there’s a serial killer, they’re just keeping it quiet. Young men keep dying in Chicago after leaving concerts and they find them in the Chicago River.

  • @dominicschiro9939

    @dominicschiro9939

    7 ай бұрын

    And at least one was from the Great Lakes naval base as well. I totally think cover up

  • @kylleepstein6954

    @kylleepstein6954

    7 ай бұрын

    ⁠​⁠@@dominicschiro9939that kid was a good friend i played lacrosse with my whole life in florida. Knowing him it doesn’t seem like its open and closed like they had it

  • @dominicschiro9939

    @dominicschiro9939

    7 ай бұрын

    @@kylleepstein6954 I completely agree with you

  • @rottingpotatoes2483

    @rottingpotatoes2483

    6 ай бұрын

    Yo that just happened at the Gizzard concert last year

  • @wyrdweary
    @wyrdweary7 ай бұрын

    I don't always watch the local history segment (though most of the time I do) but I wanted to say how awesome it is that you cover it. I hope you always keep this part of your research in, because it's really nice to have regional context.

  • @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    7 ай бұрын

    Agreed it's honestly one of my favorite parts also love his take from the drunk cannibal episode at the end The statement about the value of native folklore and the information contained within them I often find myself screaming get out of my head you f ing warlock

  • @CleoHarperReturns

    @CleoHarperReturns

    7 ай бұрын

    Totally agree. It's really a unique and contextually important feature of this channel. My mom has the attention span of a gnat and I forced her to listen through the episode with the Michigan State Police. She hates history. By the end of the episode she was subbed and addicted. (If you see this, Sorry Mom, but you know it's true😅).

  • @bighuncho1435

    @bighuncho1435

    7 ай бұрын

    I feel like he said that so we could also skip his ad at the beginning, good man

  • @CleoHarperReturns

    @CleoHarperReturns

    7 ай бұрын

    @@bighuncho1435 Seriously? That's my favorite part.

  • @lauren3173

    @lauren3173

    7 ай бұрын

    I love how he values and respects native perspectives and history because it provides so much context to a lot of the subjects he covers.

  • @Pedro-ud2yn
    @Pedro-ud2yn7 ай бұрын

    A thing to consider, if this was during oktoberfest, there would have been anywhere from 25-50k more people than there usually are in lacrosse. We have one of the biggest if not the biggest Oktoberfest in the us. A lot of out of towners come

  • @TheLoreLodge

    @TheLoreLodge

    7 ай бұрын

    It seems like it’s similar to State Paddy’s. Every year State College has like 20k extra people show up for that.

  • @Pedro-ud2yn

    @Pedro-ud2yn

    7 ай бұрын

    @@TheLoreLodge it’s also set up basically right on the water. Not a good combo for avoiding drowning deaths

  • @jbug9936

    @jbug9936

    7 ай бұрын

    I live about 5 hours from La crosse maybe I’ll check out October fest 2024

  • @johnriley-wr7cg

    @johnriley-wr7cg

    6 ай бұрын

    @@TheLoreLodgeu seem to be anti police

  • @TheLoreLodge

    @TheLoreLodge

    6 ай бұрын

    @@johnriley-wr7cg nope, just holding them accountable for their failures

  • @NanaBren
    @NanaBren7 ай бұрын

    Five extremely similar drownings isn’t a theory, it’s a pattern. There is a reason that Riverside Park is a location where items belonging to the victims were found. As for the idea that a pretty girl lured them there, it seems very plausible. However, I think lifting, tying, dragging and throwing the victim into the river would require more strength than a single female could muster. I’m leaning toward either a male/female couple or multiple females with a vendetta against nice looking drunk young men. As @cw-ol3gv pointed out, Winona, a similar demographic town upriver has had no similar cases. Why do they only occur in LaCrosse? The police and coroner are withholding information for some reason and they are quick to label these deaths as accidental drowning. I’m very suspicious of this place and these deaths. Thanks for looking into this Aidens, Brenda P

  • @andywagoner4869

    @andywagoner4869

    7 ай бұрын

    They even started operation River watch where college students would patrol riverside park all night on the weekends. I know they did stop some really drunk young men who had no idea where they were.

  • @NanaBren

    @NanaBren

    7 ай бұрын

    Thank you Andy for the reply. I’m so glad that they are trying to be more proactive. If there are patrols, then anyone with nefarious intent should be scared off, I hope. I was young and had a great time with my friends, and I drank with them. Nothing wrong with that. I’m old now, and I think it’s lucky that I didn’t do something stupid. I hope that these people continue doing patrols for a very long time. 😎

  • @commentor3485

    @commentor3485

    7 ай бұрын

    Winona's water front wasnt as easy to get to as La Crosses was. Eau Claire (similar geography) had way less than La Crosse

  • @NanaBren

    @NanaBren

    7 ай бұрын

    Okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the info. 😊

  • @victory8928

    @victory8928

    7 ай бұрын

    The patrol would help regardless of there being one or more killings plus well. You have no idea who the killer is, what if there is just female killer who used whatever is at her disposal to transport and dispose of her victims. As for why the examiner would hide this information. If it was really something to hide, then it would make more sense for a potential killer to be an influential member of the community (see the boys on the train tracks incident where a prosecutor killed 2 boys for seeing his drug smuggling operation and worked with government officials to get an examiner under their thumb). So if it is an influential figure, yeah it could very well be a case where multiple people are involved and we would have no idea. This isn’t the first time similar things happened in America.

  • @CamBoone
    @CamBoone7 ай бұрын

    Mentioning the chapters bar right before the ad and having the ad as a chapter so I know where to go… Legends

  • @user-yc6pt6wu7o

    @user-yc6pt6wu7o

    4 ай бұрын

    I used to run wing night there back in the late 2000's. Lol

  • @DeployedN

    @DeployedN

    9 күн бұрын

    ​@@user-yc6pt6wu7o yo i found an alcoholic

  • @foolsenigma
    @foolsenigma7 ай бұрын

    The "female killer tricks drunk men into going to the park and then drowns them" angle definitely makes a lot of sense, and it also explains the timing of the deaths - they happen during times when theres guaranteed to be a lot of college boys getting drunk at the bar and looking for dates. It would also explain why all the victims are drunk, since an inebriated victim cant put up as much of a fight

  • @troywakeman

    @troywakeman

    6 ай бұрын

    You're an idiot if you believe that. How many female serial killers have there ever been in all of history? You could count them on one hand and you'd still have fingers left over. This was clearly a case of kids getting way too drunk and accidentally drowning. Occam's Razor. Google it.

  • @michaelhill6451

    @michaelhill6451

    6 ай бұрын

    Yeah...What doesn't make any sense is the idea that a female serial killer would be able to even move a 6'3" male athlete much less "prey" on them. It's dumb.

  • @foolsenigma

    @foolsenigma

    6 ай бұрын

    @@michaelhill6451 i mean, im a 5 foot 8 female and i can definitely drag my 6 foot 3 former athlete brother across the ground. And im not an athlete. Woman athletes also exist and they can get pretty strong too. Not to mention that, if theyre in the park and on the waterfront to begin with, you dont /have/ to move them far, just get them to the railing and then over it. Theres also the fact that, when women commit these kinds of crimes, they usually have an accomplice, and 2 people could definitely lift a guy over a railing. If it was a case of a female killer tricking guys she picked up from the bar into going to a secondary location, then probably she just lead them to her accomplice/s and then they did the rest together.

  • @michaelhill6451

    @michaelhill6451

    6 ай бұрын

    @@foolsenigma Serial killers with accomplices are really rare (only about 10% of all serial killers have accomplices), as are female serial killers to begin with (less than 9% of serial killers in the U.S.). I don't like your chances in a fight against a 6'3" tall man even if he is drunk, despite the fact you are 4" taller than the average woman. I also don't think you understand how hard it is to pick up a 6'3" tall man who is unconscious to throw them over a railing. I guarantee you aren't picking up an unconscious 6'3" tall man off the ground. It's a pretty dumb theory IMHO. I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm saying it is just about the least likely explanation of any of the explanations under consideration, which is probably why the Police don't think it is likely. I'd like to see statistics for alcohol related drowning deaths in College towns with similar proximity to a large river. I would bet there is no statistically significant difference between La Crosse drowning deaths and drowning deaths in similar towns.

  • @user-jh5dq9vc1v

    @user-jh5dq9vc1v

    6 ай бұрын

    @@michaelhill6451 Perhaps they are rare because they rarely caught. If some group of street kids have habit kicking to death local hobos - no one even investigate such shit, you don't even hear about it, no one care. Perhaps those kids grow up and decided to kill someone else, someone who annoyed them by being more successful than they are.

  • @Lo-fi_Hi-brow
    @Lo-fi_Hi-brow7 ай бұрын

    I lived in La Crosse and went to college there at the time of a few of these "drownings." Many, many people believe that there was more than alcohol at play.

  • @I_AM_HYDRAA

    @I_AM_HYDRAA

    7 ай бұрын

    like drugs or foul play?

  • @paulyskudder4490

    @paulyskudder4490

    7 ай бұрын

    Rogue cop...

  • @TheMattTrakker

    @TheMattTrakker

    6 ай бұрын

    Many people believe that about everything, though. Everyone wants to see true crime in every death.

  • @pwade4061

    @pwade4061

    5 ай бұрын

    No offense but many people believe lots of things. That 5g gives causes cancer. Simple facts are that it's a college town in Wisconsin where binge drinking is a cultural norm.

  • @thewildfolk6849
    @thewildfolk68497 ай бұрын

    This was going on while I was in school at University Wisconsin Milwaukee, shortly after there were also a number of mysterious deaths near rivers there! Would you please cover that as well? I feel like it doesn’t get enough coverage! Edit: holy cow, I just rewatched and realized some of the friends came into town from Milwaukee!

  • @StNorthgateRecordings

    @StNorthgateRecordings

    7 ай бұрын

    We actually lost a few acquaintances and friends in the river these past three years. One friend of mine lost a friend who was found in the river and was last seen on brady st. and that case is still open. Its scary here. We lost a friend after he ran off while tripping on LSD, and was found days later in the river. That river is toxic asf.

  • @wintersking4290

    @wintersking4290

    7 ай бұрын

    We have a lot of similar stories about mysterious deaths on the U of MN campus in Minnesota. There have been something like 26 drownings where it is completely undetermined where the person entered the Mississippi river.

  • @roefane2258

    @roefane2258

    7 ай бұрын

    I grew up near the twin cities in MN, and I remember people writing off the drownings as “out of towners trying to take a swim in the unforgiving waters” And as an adult I find that explanation…odd?

  • @stumpf9938

    @stumpf9938

    7 ай бұрын

    @@roefane2258I think you may find that explanation odd as a local. People that didn’t grow up around rivers have no idea just how dangerous they are.

  • @wintersking4290

    @wintersking4290

    7 ай бұрын

    @@stumpf9938 you don't get it. Simply accessing the river in the twin cities is incredibly difficult. Most areas have high safety railings or are literally 50-100 feet above the water, the only reason to jump off that is suicidality.

  • @JMMidwest321
    @JMMidwest3216 ай бұрын

    I’m born & raised, and still live in La Crosse, WI. Thank you for covering this. This town definitely has an alcohol problem, that’s no debate. This is coming from first hand experience and observations. People do get drunk enough where they don’t know where they are going. Several years ago, the La Crosse Police Department added cameras along the river, and even fences/gate’s to prevent people from falling in. Seems to have helped. No one just seems to walk in now. Sadly, if we see an alcohol related death in public, it’s often in the winter and a drunk will slip and fall. Unfortunately they hit their head and freeze, that’s happened more than once. There’s obviously more to it than what I’m mentioning, but this is part of it.

  • @danielrn133

    @danielrn133

    5 ай бұрын

    I live in Onalaska. I went to college at the Univ. of South Carolina. Is there any town/city in the US that doesn't have a drinking problem? I feel a lot safer here than Columbia SC. La Crosse has rough areas....just like every other city. Eau Claire has bad areas. Madison has bad areas. Rochester has bad areas . I think it is just society at this point.

  • @dumpstercast-refuseradio8429

    @dumpstercast-refuseradio8429

    5 ай бұрын

    @@danielrn133 This country has a drug problem in general. Really, a despair problem.

  • @flamingturnip
    @flamingturnip7 ай бұрын

    I went to a college that was right up against a river, and as far as I know, no one has ever drowned. Granted, the river is basically on campus which makes anyone under 21 try to stay away from public safety (near the river) and it's a small college. So, not the best comparison but still. My anecdotal evidence also points to wow that's a lot of drownings.

  • @CleoHarperReturns
    @CleoHarperReturns7 ай бұрын

    So excited for this series!! As a retired female bartender and (unfortunately but still experientially) a semi-retired major alcoholic I have NEVER thought these cases were just drunk boys accidentally drowning. I've lived for 30+ years in the state of Florida and I cannot remember a single instance where someone just walked/fell into the water and drowned due to alcohol. And that's in warm water where you can walk into, just about anywhere. Growing up in Michigan (sorry) the only instances I've ever known of accidental winter drownings were when the ice broke underneath them -- and still, alcohol was not a major contributing factor. Alcohol does not a hydrophilic make. However, many have claimed accidental drownings (looking at you, MSP). I don't know where I stand on a serial killer(s) theory but I do not doubt for a moment that cops cover things up, and for a myriad of reasons. They also treat their jobs as a 9-5 instead of committing to the always-on-duty lifestyle such a career requires. Yes, there are a few good cops here and there, and a few bad cops here and there, but the majority lie in the below average category. Don't take the job unless you're willing to commit. Grumblers: This is my decades-long, educated opinion and you won't change it. I don't have a record but I've *still* been faced with the ineptitude of cops my entire life. Lying is second nature; they're trained to do it FFS. Sadly, they receive little to no training in mental health awareness. From tip to tail our municipal/penal system is all fucked up. Fight me.

  • @thing_under_the_stairs

    @thing_under_the_stairs

    7 ай бұрын

    Hey, I both went to uni and tended bar for a long while in Toronto (also female), and encountered more than my fair share of drunk-off-their-faces college boys while doing so. Never had a problem with drinking due to a dodgy stomach, but we've got great weed here, so... Anyway, in spite of being right on Lake Ontario, I've never run into any cases of young drunk guys wandering into the lake and drowning either, apart from the Oshawa 6, a well known case where a few guys got loaded at a party and decided to steal a small boat and a water bike (you read that right) from a marina in cold weather after midnight, and were never seen again. I'm not entirely sold on the serial killer(s) theory either, but I agree on the lazy/corrupt cops angle. They're like that everywhere. And you're right about their lack of mental health awareness - I work in that field now, and so many people in the trauma and crisis groups I work with have scary cop experiences in their history because the police just don't understand or care about mental health or addiction related issues. As for the idea of a possible female killer(s), I haven't heard this theory before, but I'm not surprised. I know I'm going to get grief here from ever guy on the internet, but have you ever watched how a lot of these guys act toward girls when they're loaded? *I'm not justifying murder here or saying that drunk college girls act wonderfully (they don't, they're awful too), just suggesting a possible motive.* It's part of why I stopped tending bar - I'd been attacked on my way home too many times by guys who thought a woman out at night was a free target. Maybe someone who was sick of it decided to move the target.

  • @CleoHarperReturns

    @CleoHarperReturns

    7 ай бұрын

    @@thing_under_the_stairs I couldn't possibly agree more! Understanding the origin of a motive and agreeing with it are two separate things. That said, many of my thoughts are contingent on a lot of If's. For example, if the television documentary was onto something: I was thinking either a network of traumatized females, or even a network of incels, if all the cases are to be linked. I hear there are even cases in the UK. To be fair I've never gone anywhere that there wasn't a happy face spray-painted somewhere. That would have to be one hell of an organized club with the only group of tight-lipped individuals known to modern humanity. Not impossible, but definitely improbable. *However* if they're not linked, I can totally see a female (or incel) serial killer active in the Midwest for the better part of 10 years. Pointy boots and neon orange nail polish (if that's what it was) scream insecure female to me, after a certain age. Not that there's anything wrong with it (I'm 50 and have pink hair😆). Just saying if it were the same fashion-oriented woman for all the killings it's very possible she got emotionally stuck at a certain age as a symptom of trauma. Or I'm self-referencing. But sometimes. I make a damn good reference. There's also the mundane reasons -- that bodies placed in water are well known to offer far less in the way of DNA, mask times of death, are never discovered or simply overlooked by cops, intentionally or otherwise. It might just be a local way of hiding bodies, like Florida is with swamps and lobster traps (if you like lobster, don't ask). In this regard, very few of them could be related. There's also the possibility that these victims get so much attention because they're males. To be honest, when there's a female victim people tend to think, Again? It doesn't arouse a lot of interest unless it hits super close to home. Conversely, male victims are an unusual curiosity so we look for ways to connect them. Anyway, I trust Aidan's research more than most and if anyone can find an overlooked connection it's him. I can't wait to see what he comes up with. I LOVE Toronto. Honestly I haven't been there in years but I always loved trips to Toronto, it's truly an awesome city. I've never heard of the Oshawa 6 but I'll be looking it up in a minute. Seriously, water bike?? I don't work in mental health but I am sometimes a patient -- nothing exciting, just your typical cPTSD/social anxiety/avoidant PD. I most certainly do not have a formal education in psych but I like to think I've done my research better than most. Also, I try to be a sort-of, informal advocate. If people feel comfortable talking to me then they may feel more open to hearing someone in their daily life, and that's how change comes about -- grindingly slow and in tiny increments. Anyway, it was refreshing to talk with you, I really enjoyed it. And I just love your name; I can relate. It also reminds me of an Edward Gorey novella.💜

  • @jadebeason7552

    @jadebeason7552

    7 ай бұрын

    ⁠@@thing_under_the_stairsI’m willing to bet a fair number of the ‘drowning’ victims in these sort of cases has been being aggressively drunk towards a group of girls, and the group in an effort to defend a member accidentally ends up causing the guy to drown. Not a majority, but more than most people would think.

  • @user-cz9wg1ks2e

    @user-cz9wg1ks2e

    6 ай бұрын

    This is a serial.killee on the loose u damn circus clown

  • @toddsummerwind

    @toddsummerwind

    6 ай бұрын

    Since 2009 there have been between 349-465 alcohol related, non-boating, drownings in FL per year.

  • @MsAirnation
    @MsAirnation6 ай бұрын

    I do have to say, there was a student where I was at uni who went missing and was later found dead, reportedly having drowned in a stream after having fallen in drunk. But I always thought it was very weird that he somehow went miles away from the city centre where he'd been with his friends, in the opposite direction of where he lived, and the little more information that came out only made it more confusing about what had actually happened.

  • @benniebarnett9944
    @benniebarnett99447 ай бұрын

    i swear every video i go okay time for some true crime, and after 10 minutes of native lore i’m like dam that’s interesting. then he brings it back to the topic and i’m like awesome now i have a better understanding

  • @leanna9290
    @leanna92907 ай бұрын

    Thank you for the local Native American history, I’m not huge into missing person cases so the native history bit is my favorite part and I’m extra happy about this video because I live in Madison on Ho-Chunk land. Fun fact about the glacial period in this area, at UW madison arboretum there are a line of rocks that are from where the shore was during the glacial period

  • @0.-.0

    @0.-.0

    5 ай бұрын

    Me too!

  • @Thor-Orion
    @Thor-Orion7 ай бұрын

    37:30 people always say this, but honestly as someone who has serious ideation and keeps it to myself, there are plenty of people who you just wouldn’t know were feeling some kind of way because they’re stoic about it.

  • @jacqueline373

    @jacqueline373

    4 ай бұрын

    very true! stay safe buddy

  • @alexanderhaile6196
    @alexanderhaile61967 ай бұрын

    I was born in La Crosse and moved back there for just over a decade after leaving the Army. I worked with a former sheriff of one of the nearby counties, and he told me that while a lot of the Smiley Face killer stuff ended up being overblown, there was (or still is) a consensus among the local law enforcement that there was a killer in the La Crosse area they missed because they got misdirected. He also pointed out that La Crosse has a small FBI office, despite being a county of only 50,000 people (primarily university students) which he claims was originally set up to track a potential serial killer, but became permanent to address cross state criminals between Milwaukee, the Twin Cities, and Chicago who often end up passing through La Crosse.

  • @user-qg7vj7nb9c
    @user-qg7vj7nb9c7 ай бұрын

    Glad to see you covering this i live 35 miles from lacrosse and there are a ton of people who think this is the case lacrosse has a drug and alcohol problem i mean its got the largest six pack in the world there are deffinately gang elements to not very large but they exist but there has been talk of a serial killer for atleast 2 decades

  • @Lezzyboy87

    @Lezzyboy87

    7 ай бұрын

    Drunk people drown, smily graffiti is everywhere. There's no conspiracy

  • @briantomcollins

    @briantomcollins

    7 ай бұрын

    Puncuation woulda made this sooo much easier to read. Correct spelling as well....

  • @avstraffelse

    @avstraffelse

    7 ай бұрын

    My friends who grew up there thinks it's a cop.

  • @rainydaze1313

    @rainydaze1313

    7 ай бұрын

    @Lezzyboy87 people are murdered all the time too

  • @Michel411

    @Michel411

    7 ай бұрын

    @@briantomcollinsThat was my first thought as well.

  • @MrTockTick
    @MrTockTick4 ай бұрын

    The bodies taking longer to surface because of the water temperature is consistent with what I've heard about Lake Superior. In Gordon Lighthouse's "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," he describes Lake Superior by saying, "The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead." Apparently, it just stays too cold for bodies to decompose enough to float.

  • @nathanschave3471
    @nathanschave34714 ай бұрын

    Lived in La Crosse during this period. Spent many nights at the Vibe. Scott sponsored my pool and dart teams. My GF worked there part-time. He was a good guy and got a lot of hassle over the band fight story. 3rd Street was the weekend binge district. All the 20 somethings. Witnessed constant bad behavior by young kids unaware of their limits. The city was cracking down on DUI. It was unwise to drive and park nearby. Most people had to walk some distance. This made for a relatively safe and fun experience to bar hop, meet people, and have a good time. The west bank of the river in that area was dredged long ago for shipping. It has a deceptively wicked current. Even a sober strong swimmer could get in trouble. The city failed to address the poor lighting and lack of safety barriers but rather focused on the overserving and tavern responsibility. Once some common sense was used, frequent drownings were no longer an issue. As for the foul play rumors, I never once heard the lady killer theory. Some thought it was a bad cop or someone impersonating one, others would whisper about an evil cab driver. It was inexperienced drinkers in an unfamiliar place with bad lighting, inadquete safety measures, and a river that will kill you.

  • @thomassimple8356
    @thomassimple83567 ай бұрын

    As a 21 year old man I can 100% confirm that I would ignore all my survival instincts if a cute enough girl (or guy for that matter) asked me to, ESPECIALLY if I was wasted.

  • @dacrosber

    @dacrosber

    7 ай бұрын

    Little fruity I see

  • @theroyalleroyel4202

    @theroyalleroyel4202

    5 ай бұрын

    A little tooty I see

  • @pennymichaels7449
    @pennymichaels74497 ай бұрын

    I think it's also important to note that a lot of human trafficking rings target areas where young people will be vulnerable, drinking etc. To your point could be that women were used to lure these men to a specific area, then overtaken by a group of men. Perhaps they didn't fit what these criminals were looking for, and so got dumped in the river. If there's already a lot of accidental drownings, it's an easy cover. Rest in peace to these people that passed❤

  • @user-ll1ot6qo6o

    @user-ll1ot6qo6o

    7 ай бұрын

    Interesting theory but there are not a lot of missing college aged men in LaCrosse to fit the pattern here.

  • @DaddiDrako

    @DaddiDrako

    Ай бұрын

    @@user-ll1ot6qo6othere are a lot of them around the USA tho particularly in the Great Lakes/North eastern/ eastern coast like a crazy amount of very suspicious drownings that have this same victim type and show up the exact same

  • @botanicalraven7150
    @botanicalraven71507 ай бұрын

    This was an interesting listen. I went to college just across the river and visited Lacrosse and Onalaska many times. My ex had started visiting those very bars around 2007/2008 (when he was single, we met a few years after that). It’s a fun visit, but there’s definitely a lot of problematic issues there including the police being negligent towards civilian safety and concerns. Grateful my ex and his friends never joined the death count, I don’t think many of them were even aware of that trend, so thank you for covering it and increasing the awareness about this suspicious trend.

  • @WileyCylas

    @WileyCylas

    4 ай бұрын

    Was just in Onalaska 😮

  • @itsMBWAAA
    @itsMBWAAA7 ай бұрын

    Donut Operator has taught me that lacrosse Wisconsin is a wild place lol

  • @alexmanson284
    @alexmanson2847 ай бұрын

    I love that you guys are covering more police coverups.

  • @DroneBeeStrike

    @DroneBeeStrike

    7 ай бұрын

    covering coverups? or uncovering them? while going undercover? no cowering while covering the undercover uncovering of these coverups by the cove.

  • @user-xn6dw6tt5x

    @user-xn6dw6tt5x

    7 ай бұрын

    Covering cover ups hahahah.

  • @user-xn6dw6tt5x

    @user-xn6dw6tt5x

    7 ай бұрын

    ​@@DroneBeeStrike Well if he is covering cover-ups, then it will just lead to more questions. If uncovering cover-ups, it will lead to more answers.

  • @sadderdazehaze

    @sadderdazehaze

    7 ай бұрын

    It’s alleged and untrue until proven otherwise

  • @liminalcriminal_

    @liminalcriminal_

    6 ай бұрын

    @@sadderdazehaze That’s not how truth works.

  • @bobknull7502
    @bobknull75024 ай бұрын

    I live in LaCrosse. Oktober fest is one of three drinking festivals here. A couple of things that you didn't cover are as follows. 3rd and 4th streets have lots of bars. They are BOTH one way streets running in the opposite directions. 3rd St. runs south and 4th St. runs north. If a disoriented drunk thought they were on 4th St. and they were walking with traffic they would turn right to go toward campus. But if they were actually on 3rd street, that right turn would head them toward the river. The river is down hill from the bars and drunks tend to stumble downhill. If they stumbled into the park and had to pee, they would probably go to the river to do that. As far as meeting a girl at Riverside Park, the park closes at 9 PM. It is NOT known as a place to meet up with college girls. There are two downtown parks in the direction of campus. Drunks falling into the river from the park is so common here that we now have a group of volunteers known as "River watch" who patrol the park on nights with a lot of drunks downtown.

  • @r33s3s_
    @r33s3s_7 ай бұрын

    I wish they taught more of this Native American history in schools. The way you tell history in addition to these crazy events is so interesting. We need more people like you teaching in schools brother!

  • @guyunknown6224
    @guyunknown62247 ай бұрын

    I’ve heard of lacrosse Wisconsin not only from you but from donut operators videos covering all the absurd arrests they have to make there and all the repeat offenders who pop up in these videos so I’d have to agree that they do have a substance issue

  • @Gixsir

    @Gixsir

    7 ай бұрын

    Noah the 🦖 T-Rex 😂

  • @TheLoreLodge

    @TheLoreLodge

    7 ай бұрын

    Did not expect this many donut operator comments but I would love to meet the guy 😂

  • @guyunknown6224

    @guyunknown6224

    7 ай бұрын

    @@TheLoreLodge he would be interesting to have on the show but I dunno how that would work considering he mainly covers chest cam footage but you and Aiden could always go shoot guns with him , he has done it with a lot of other KZreadrs and I even think wendigoon

  • @itsmevvacle6510
    @itsmevvacle65107 ай бұрын

    Not sure people realize just how messed up anything over .12 (much less over .20) makes you.

  • @PandorasFolly
    @PandorasFolly7 ай бұрын

    Drunk people can do Incredibly and unreasonably erratic and unexpected things. Had an incredibly drunk friend we tucked into the upstairs futon, we gound him downstairs disassembling our toaster. We have no idea where he got the screwdriver from. Another time we had a friend show blind stumbling drunk at 5am at the same apartment with mud to his thighs. From what we could piece together he left another friends house at 1am and walked 5 miles, partially cross country, to our place which he had only been to once.

  • @amandak3198

    @amandak3198

    2 ай бұрын

    It's so true 😂 so back in my party days I also went thru a period of meth use, and I remember hanging out with friends and a friend of a friend had come along and was SO DRUNK, like falling down passing out drunk. Not really what you want when everyone else is doing meth. Well at any rate, he ended up doing some of the meth and then we drove him MILES on rural winding roads back to his home so we could get rid of him and he could sleep it off. Several hours later, there he was on the porch again! He had walked all the way back, to a home he had only been to that one time, because he wanted more meth 🤦‍♀️ it definitely tripped all of us out lol.

  • @marktaylor9975
    @marktaylor99757 ай бұрын

    I’m impressed You coverage of the native lands is almost completely covered. So much is missed and since it’s a topic I love to study. I am impressed with your research style. If everybody started and finished close to this or better our history could retain more color than the black and white or old history. I’m from the area (or was.) and indigenous as well. French island has a spot for me as I was a Engineer for the local railroad here. CMStP&P, then Soo now CP. Coffee hound too. Well done Well played And well executed.

  • @TQFMTradingStrategies
    @TQFMTradingStrategies7 ай бұрын

    This happens a lot in Boston also. And I’ve almost walked into the river after having a few downtown. The Charles River isn’t shallow near the edges and long stretches of it are docked on the side for quite awhile, so good luck climbing up while drunk AF and all cold and shocked from the water. If your walking on the paths it’s not always straight and there are not always gates along the edge, when the lights play off the water and the path looks straight and open and well lit, you are possibly drunkenly shambling towards a 90 degree bend in the bank of sorts.

  • @AndyOamo
    @AndyOamo7 ай бұрын

    During Octoberfest 2008 I was at who's on 3rd street with a group of friends. There was a small group of young women that were being flirty with us. I was at the bar and getting one last round of drinks for us and we were planning on moving on after that round. One of the girls sat next to me with a shot and the bartender asked me what I wanted, I ordered the 5 beers for me and my buddies and she said get him a shot too. I said I'm good, but she talked me into doing a shot with her. After we finished our beers we were leaving and the same girl asked me if I would help her find her friends. While I was helping her, my friends assumed that I had went to the library so they left. We never found her friends so we started bar hopping to try to find her friends or my friends. At some point I remember smoking weed behind a bar with her and doing more shots. I must have blacked out for quite awhile, and the next thing I remembered I was walking down state st towards the river. The girl was about a half of a block in head of me talking on her phone. I heard her say that she's heading towards the park and will be there in a couple of minutes. She kept on encouraging me to hurry up and to keep following her. When she wasn't paying attention I took a left in a ally and started heading south. I sat down behind a dumpster not far down the alley, I heard her yelling my name and arguing with someone on her phone. After that I blacked out again and woke up on a couch behind a bar and walked home. I don't remember large portions of the night, because I'd gotten way drunker than I intended on. I barely spent any money either, so I assume that the girl was buying most of the drinks, and I do remember her pressuring me to stay out and to keep drinking when I wanted to call it a night. Who knows what it all means, but I know as soon as I realized that she was leading me to riverside park that I needed to nope right out of the whole situation.

  • @TheLoreLodge

    @TheLoreLodge

    7 ай бұрын

    This was 08? Can you recall anything more?

  • @settergroomer
    @settergroomer4 ай бұрын

    It’s incredibly common for drunk college students to end up in the river, there’s a huge homeless camp on the river in La crosse, if there was a serial killer there would be way more bodies being pulled out of the river

  • @chadsummers7981
    @chadsummers79817 ай бұрын

    Please never stop the content. You have some of the best content on yt. I look forward everyday to watching your videos. Unparalleled quality and research. You’re the man Aidan.

  • @Poisoneaterr
    @Poisoneaterr4 ай бұрын

    I went to undergrad here. The drinking culture is insane but comparable to other UW schools (osh Cosh is called slosh cosh) but when I was there starting in 2015, one of the frats had what was called a River Watch where they'd take shifts each weekend who'd stay sober and stand along the river to make sure no one went in. There was also an article in the LAX times that was like "yeah there's a serial killer here, it's alcoholism". There were always jokes we had a serial killer running about but I don't think many actually took it seriously unfortunately

  • @pimpchimp5182
    @pimpchimp51827 ай бұрын

    the smiley face theory is one of the only things I don't believe it's a sense of correlation and causation

  • @FaerieFen
    @FaerieFen7 ай бұрын

    I adore your videos. You remind me so much of Cayleigh Elise with the level of respect you show the victims (and that she also covered folklore topics as well). I think that's why I have so much affection and respect for this channel. When Cayleigh left it felt like losing a friend. Finding you guys was like seeing that friend again after years apart.

  • @xandradoll

    @xandradoll

    7 ай бұрын

    I’m so glad someone else feels this way, I miss her so much ❤

  • @thedeathlysmile3938
    @thedeathlysmile39387 ай бұрын

    I’ve lived in La Crosse my whole life, and let me tell ya it is so surreal to hear a KZreadr as big as you talking about places and events that took place in my little Wisconsin town lol

  • @thedeathlysmile3938

    @thedeathlysmile3938

    7 ай бұрын

    Also, a little bit of context about La Crosse: bar hopping is very very common here, with many downtown blocks being 80-100% bars. Alcohol is a big problem here. Anyone who has seen the riverfront in the Riverside park area could see how easy it is to just fall off or be pushed off. There is one area in Riverside that is an embankment covered in jagged, unsteady rocks for 20 or so feet, but most of it is a dock and a walkway that just goes straight into the water. With how popular Oktoberfest is here, it’s a wonder there aren’t way, way more accidental drownings here.

  • @paulywalnuts24

    @paulywalnuts24

    5 ай бұрын

    Shower shanties? Your username “The Deathly Smile” seems a bit odd with that avatar and all the creepy ass shit on your channel

  • @monahawk
    @monahawk3 ай бұрын

    I played in nightclubs for a living for almost 30 years. I can tell you that I could see who was doing what drugs, who was drinking, who wasn't drinking or taking drugs, etc. The band sees everything just like a 1st grade teacher sees the kids passing notes. That is why the cops would have wanted to talk to the band.

  • @Eccentech
    @Eccentech4 ай бұрын

    I live in Kenosha in SE Wisconsin (almost 4 hours away from La Crosse) and this is all new to me lmao. I know friends that’s in La Crosse a lot, but every time I watch a bodycam video from Wisconsin a lot of time it’s a La Crosse video 😂

  • @bholdr----0
    @bholdr----07 ай бұрын

    I've heard that this was a thing, but I have no idea about the particulars... so I'm watching the premier. Also, as a history fan, I really enjoy the historical context that is a big part of each post, particularly because the history included often covers topics that I otherwise would not have been exposed to (or even thought about.) Cheers! (Good so far...)

  • @karisbarfield8948
    @karisbarfield89487 ай бұрын

    I am so glad that you include the history segment. Please, don't stop.

  • @rebelliousgrayfox
    @rebelliousgrayfox7 ай бұрын

    Love this channel. Found it by chance, binged a bunch and now I eagerly await each new episode.

  • @blemarr1691
    @blemarr16917 ай бұрын

    I love the history section it’s my favorite segment in your videos! It adds some realism to some of the more outlandish topics

  • @ravenm.5577
    @ravenm.55777 ай бұрын

    Another addition to the Lacrosse cinematic universe

  • @p.k.5455
    @p.k.54557 ай бұрын

    It's a very good thing that people like you bring these possibilities to light. And the fact that you present only facts that you verify is rare! Plus the fact that you still leave all possible outcomes open to discussion only using actual facts to lean any direction is also not seen often. Please keep up the awesome work! The world needs more like you two!

  • @Jk-xs6wi

    @Jk-xs6wi

    Ай бұрын

    Well said! Couldn't agree more!

  • @user-qg7vj7nb9c
    @user-qg7vj7nb9c7 ай бұрын

    Man im so glad you covered this i havent thought about this in ten yrs really brings me back in fact it reminds me that people used to joke around here that if you went drinking up there in that era people would say stay away from the river half seriously making reference to all the strange happenings

  • @jasonvahl9770
    @jasonvahl97707 ай бұрын

    I'm abiding by the Long Haul Trucker theory. Major interstates passing through La Crosse with very active rest stops within walking distance of the river/bars. Easily believed that these kids just got drunk and fell.

  • @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    7 ай бұрын

    I believe theres a theory that thinks that it's a trucker couple that travels the I90 corridor or something like that I think there may be Merritt to that theory for sure like she lures em and he kills em

  • @dacrosber

    @dacrosber

    7 ай бұрын

    @@user-qg7vj7nb9cThat sounds more likely than that many “coincidental drownings”, everyone near the Mississippi knows how powerful the current is and to never swim in it unless they were all just on another level of drunk……. I’m wondering if anyone has considered a supernatural explanation at all either….. there’s many Native American stories of spirits that lure people into waterways to drown them

  • @user-ll1ot6qo6o

    @user-ll1ot6qo6o

    7 ай бұрын

    @@user-qg7vj7nb9c The trucker couple theory is interesting and plausible. Question I have is how does she keep doing it? If it started in 1997 and she was 25, she'd be 51 by now and probably not as "good" at luring in college kids. I've also thought the killer was targeting guys who were secretly gay or bi because they'd cover their tracks, not tell people where they were going, etc.

  • @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    7 ай бұрын

    @@user-ll1ot6qo6o there's a theory that it's two different killers Aiden mentioned he thought it was two sets of 5 I kinda think it might be gang related like punishment for crossing the cartel or the Asian crips they both have a presence there

  • @user-rr6zc6dy1o

    @user-rr6zc6dy1o

    4 ай бұрын

    wow serial killing cartel or asian crips there?@@user-qg7vj7nb9c

  • @AlexanderOster
    @AlexanderOster7 ай бұрын

    Doughnut operator covers Lacross quite a bit in his police videos.

  • @jerarddeal2736
    @jerarddeal27365 ай бұрын

    I’m a La Crosse native so it’s insanely cool seeing a 45 minute video on some of the town lore

  • @strawberrypuddin8919
    @strawberrypuddin89196 ай бұрын

    Ryan, Nick, Brian, Scott, Zack.... These are the most frat bro names I've ever heard 😂

  • @avstraffelse
    @avstraffelse7 ай бұрын

    Can't believe your covering this. Some locals believe it's a cop.

  • @Hanna-rv8wy

    @Hanna-rv8wy

    7 ай бұрын

    I feel like this could be very possible unfortunately.

  • @user-ll1ot6qo6o

    @user-ll1ot6qo6o

    7 ай бұрын

    Wouldn't be surprising. Have access to tons of drunks. Would have to be smart and opportunistic though - not something you could plan.

  • @nyxen8712

    @nyxen8712

    6 ай бұрын

    Would also make sense with how the men got to the river from miles away.

  • @commentor3485
    @commentor34857 ай бұрын

    i am from this area. I lean more towards serial killers due to the frequency of deaths in La Crosse. One actually happened in Febuary 2022, Hamud Faal. But the river front pre 2006 was very easy to enter the river near riverside park. Post 2006, a lot of fences went up plus there is more people watching the river front at night. Reports from that show a lot of drunk people getting close to the fence are saved by the river watch program. When i ask friends from La Crosse about this case, you get mixed views. 1/3 saying serial killer, 1/3 say no idea, 1/3 say accidental drownings.

  • @jamesknapp64
    @jamesknapp647 ай бұрын

    I loved your take on this and all the cases. Yeah its not 10 connected ones but maybe 5 that actually could be. And like you said it could be nothing as well we just dont know

  • @Emm-wi2lu
    @Emm-wi2lu7 ай бұрын

    i’m sick at the moment so seeing that you posted a new video just instantly made my day a thousand times better!

  • @WorldOfTess2024
    @WorldOfTess20247 ай бұрын

    My day is MADE when I see a video or live from you. Thank you so much for the quality content.

  • @Tallen79
    @Tallen797 ай бұрын

    I always like you videos, but wanted to drop a comment that i really really enjoy the history lesson parts as much as the headline story. Your well thought out, well researched videos scratch multiple itches for the kind of content i enjoy.

  • @WerewolfAtTheMovies
    @WerewolfAtTheMovies7 ай бұрын

    Man oh man, your videos are great! I stumbled onto your channel yesterday and I've been watching them non-stop. As a Canadian, I don't know a whole lot about your Native American history, so the learning bit of your videos is exceptionally interesting. I appreciate the fact that you can seamlessly work the history and the story in together. This is super cool!

  • @johnnycaldwell8281
    @johnnycaldwell82817 ай бұрын

    well if you cross check LeCrosse Wisconsin with Donut Operator you may find why i am now less shocked.

  • @XxTheRealArceexX
    @XxTheRealArceexX7 ай бұрын

    This is the first video I'm watching from you, and I am LOVING the history you give. I would 100% watch videos of you just talking about history

  • @JJ-zr6fu
    @JJ-zr6fu7 ай бұрын

    Wisconsin has a huge drinking problem just walkthrough their airport.

  • @Lezzyboy87
    @Lezzyboy877 ай бұрын

    This is the worst of all conspiracies. Whats with all the smiley face graffiti with no murders...

  • @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    @user-qg7vj7nb9c

    7 ай бұрын

    I live 35 miles from lacrosse and I disagree and fact is you don't know chit about it so just stfu

  • @ReconPro

    @ReconPro

    7 ай бұрын

    That's how the pattern/MO started off with connecting these cases, however there are other factors that puts them into this category. Only reason it's called "Simely Face Killers" is becasue that's how it was known as from the start & is still mostly known as. Though tbe actual smiley faces aren't an important factor in the cases

  • @jameshobbs7365
    @jameshobbs73655 ай бұрын

    You and your team go so in depth and the history lessons at the beginning are like the cherry on top of a well crafted narration.

  • @pokemonblue-zy7qj
    @pokemonblue-zy7qj3 ай бұрын

    I moved to Wisconsin several years ago and took a job working for a tribal entity that serves the Ojibwe people. I just wanted to thank you for including a short history of the Ho-chunk because Indigenous history is something that tends to be ignored, but more people should have the chance to learn about it. Thank you.

  • @joshuaspencer3436
    @joshuaspencer34367 ай бұрын

    For those who watch donut operator Lacrosse Wisconsin is also known for a different kind of criminal

  • @cjboyo
    @cjboyo7 ай бұрын

    Luke was in water that was likely 40 degrees MAYBE a little warmer. It fully makes sense to me that he wouldn’t have decomposed. It also makes sense that his wounds would be before his death. He likely fell in and died from striking rocks or debris. Edit: you did address some of this, sorry I made the assumption you were going to push the smiley face killers thing, which lowkey is ridiculous. I think this case is a lot more sus than I suspected, but more in the “maybe he was murdered” way than “maybe there’s a gang of serial killers with no suspects ever found” way

  • @I_AM_HYDRAA

    @I_AM_HYDRAA

    7 ай бұрын

    tbf sometimes he does take things/push things is a bit of weird direction

  • @Bravetrain13

    @Bravetrain13

    7 ай бұрын

    @@I_AM_HYDRAAor maybe you all are a bit closed minded. I bet you think there’s nothing strange about the missing 411’s growing list either

  • @PanzerIVAE

    @PanzerIVAE

    7 ай бұрын

    @@Bravetrain13 You really are going to put stock in the idea made by Paulides when he's some bigfoot and UFO enthusiast who's work has been proven to contain a lot of inaccurate and wrong details and facts.

  • @I_AM_HYDRAA

    @I_AM_HYDRAA

    7 ай бұрын

    @@Bravetrain13 no agree that some are weird but I think we underestimate the stupidity of humanity and panicking does to humans.

  • @TheLoreLodge

    @TheLoreLodge

    7 ай бұрын

    We do try to be as rational as possible given the information available/provided to us

  • @organfuneralcovers
    @organfuneralcovers4 ай бұрын

    I lived in La Crosse in 2012 and 2013. There was a murder in a parking garages top stairwell but police blocked off the top level. You could still get in by climbing exhaust up the side. When My friend and I got inside there was writing in blood all over the walls and a 5-7 ft. Splatter along the wall where the victim was thrown over the stairwell railing. The police said it was a suicide.

  • @RS.8184
    @RS.81847 ай бұрын

    Winning line out of all the yt vids I seen this week “If you don’t want me to pronounce the letter DON’T put it THERE!’ 😂

  • @Thor-Orion
    @Thor-Orion7 ай бұрын

    Fitz Gerald (a sports writer from the 20’s) coined the term Big Apple, it’s likely from jazz culture, where a saying goes “there are many apples on the tree but only one Big Apple.” Fitz covered horse racing and he heard a couple black stable hands down in New Orleans calling New York City the Big Apple to refer to the city as the biggest and best city in the country at the time.

  • @Thor-Orion

    @Thor-Orion

    7 ай бұрын

    Previously a writer named Billy Tucker for a black newspaper in the 20’s that had national distribution called both Los Angeles and New York as a big apple, referring to them being the biggest and best cities around. So the saying “there are many apples on the tree but only one big apple” being popular with black entertainers - specifically jazz musicians- and then gradually seeping into pop culture to describe premier cities (and possibly other top of the line things) from there, over time coming to exclusively be used for NYC is the most likely reasoning for why it’s called that.

  • @Thor-Orion

    @Thor-Orion

    7 ай бұрын

    41:49 doesn’t have to be a female killer, just a female accomplice or a team including a woman.

  • @user-wb4mf1de2h
    @user-wb4mf1de2h7 ай бұрын

    If you don’t want me to pronounce the letter, don’t put it there. Truth.

  • @mecahhannah
    @mecahhannah7 ай бұрын

    Awesome as always thanks

  • @charliefullwood4522
    @charliefullwood45224 ай бұрын

    As someone who lives in the county, it's kind of awesome to be seeing anyone talk about it in any light. I always saw it as a small town, so it's cool seeing this :)

  • @CouleeCosmonaut
    @CouleeCosmonaut7 ай бұрын

    I was wondering if the Smiley Face Killer would get some love in LaX with your recent pivot into the topic. Happy to see as a La Crosse native. There's a space in LA____CROSSE tho.

  • @namhead140
    @namhead1407 ай бұрын

    On December 8th, 2023, police responded to allegations of a serial killer in Lacrosse Wisconsin.

  • @angeladetrizio9522
    @angeladetrizio95227 ай бұрын

    Love all your older and newer videos. Excellent job. ❤❤❤❤

  • @lakesidesusan6745
    @lakesidesusan67454 ай бұрын

    I love the little history info you provide! You have great hair & eyebrows!💖

  • @CWKnudson
    @CWKnudson7 ай бұрын

    U of M Minneapolis, and Winona are both on the Mississippi. Winona and LA Cross party together. All 3 have similar problems.

  • @CWKnudson

    @CWKnudson

    7 ай бұрын

    Also... Cowboy Boots are popular in the area, with farmers. But think meat packing. Tied up in a cooler... Boot print on forehead.

  • @klane0069
    @klane00697 ай бұрын

    As someone whose been there alot as a kid it really wouldn't surprise me at all. I've seen alot of interesting stuff there lmao.

  • @isabeldilkey1975
    @isabeldilkey19757 ай бұрын

    my cousin went to school, and currently lives in La Crosse and when he first told me he was going I was like "oh no". Thank you for talking about Ho-Chunk history too, my family has deep Wisconsin roots that extends to Winnebago ancestry.

  • @steelytemplar
    @steelytemplarАй бұрын

    Some things to consider about why law enforcement don't necessarily share everything they have on a. case with independent investigators: - In some cases, they want to keep evidence out of the public so that they can use it to verify witness or suspect testimonies. - If an investigation is in any way active, then they probably don't want the perpetrator(s) to be able to find out exactly what law enforcement knows or what leads they might be following. - This is probably the biggest single reason. *Personally identifiable information*. Law enforcement gathers a lot of data during an investigation that, if it were made public, would essentially be doxing people. Bank records, phone records, medical records, full names, addresses, employment histories, arrest records, sealed juvenile offense records, and more can all be found in law enforcement case files. And that's not even getting into the fact that some completely innocent people are very likely to be investigated even just for the sake of ruling them out and those people probably want their identities protected. So, if law enforcement wants to release case information and especially case documents, they have to go through the process of deciding what can and cannot be disclosed and redacting anything sensitive. They might have time or staff to do so, but it's not a given that they would. It would be better if all law enforcement agencies could provide more robust information to the public. It would probably require more funding for those agencies. In the meantime, not releasing case documents isn't necessarily incompetence or malicious intent.

  • @dominicschiro9939
    @dominicschiro99397 ай бұрын

    Being from Wisconsin it wouldn’t surprise me if there was a cover up. There has been lots of mysterious deaths along the river as well.

  • @marichu899

    @marichu899

    4 ай бұрын

    Like?

  • @adi_Iastname
    @adi_Iastname7 ай бұрын

    i live in a college town in sw pa that has a river running through it and no one has ever drowned. to be fair our school is WAYYYY smaller than state college but has a similar size to uw- la crosse

  • @deadlegato
    @deadlegato4 ай бұрын

    I will say that, due to a bizarre choice of one-way streets and dead ends because of the large park along the river, LaCrosse CAN Be difficult to navigate with a car if you're unfamiliar with it. However, that shouldn't affect someone walking. I'm not surprised the police wouldn't cooperate, they get SUPER SALTY if anyone even slightly hints at the Smiley Faced Killer theory. That park along the river is a nice enough park in the daylight or at Christmas, but late at night or in the dark otherwise? It's got one heck of a creepy vibe. ETA: It can also get insanely bitter cold along the river at night, IDK if that plays into things.

  • @Weenie_slaya
    @Weenie_slaya4 ай бұрын

    I love as the more I watch your channel, the closer the killers get to me. There was a murder in my county that ended up going cold. It’s really crazy

  • @zifny3035
    @zifny30357 ай бұрын

    If this is indeed a female serial killer, one thing that I'd be curious about is the victims wounds. Oftentimes female killers use guns or drugs/poison to kill, and don't rely on things like knives, blunt objects, fists, etc. While a gun wound wouldn't fit with the wounds described in this video, something like drugs or poison could make sense (assuming it didn't get picked up by toxicology)

  • @RLKmedic0315

    @RLKmedic0315

    7 ай бұрын

    It may not be a solo female killer. It could be a dominant killer with a subservient female partner, or even a group. But, personally, I lean more towards the male/female partnership. Note: I'm fully aware that a female would not necessarily need a male partner if she decided to be a killer, Ailenn Wournos is a prime example, but looking at the victims and the wounds sustained, I think male involvement has a higher probability than a single female.

  • @user-ll1ot6qo6o

    @user-ll1ot6qo6o

    7 ай бұрын

    I'd wonder what the medical examiner tested for actually. Because if they weren't thinking to look for something, and didn't test for it, it would be easy to slip it on. Also could be a male and female together. Guy shows up thinking he's going to hook up with the woman and the man shows up.

  • @izzisart

    @izzisart

    6 ай бұрын

    ​@@RLKmedic0315 I could see it being a couple- maybe the woman acts like bait to get the person to the right place, and then the man jumps them.

  • @tonics7121
    @tonics71217 ай бұрын

    Great job, clearing up several unanswered questions from way back, and once again contributing to my growing fury toward LE. They routinely hide facts they dislike and refuse to keep public and families in the loop.

  • @Ludachrissy
    @Ludachrissy4 ай бұрын

    I worked with Coach Pearl starting in 2013 and remain friends with him today. He was incredibly active with the foundation that Luke’s family started in his name. And while I may have misunderstood, thought it was important to share: I do believe that the coach who said Luke was last seen at Coconut Joe’s was Ken Koelbl, who was Luke’s current coach when he transferred (after Coach Pearl‘s left for Tennessee after the 05-06 season)... Just a small detail but I thought it was worth mentioning. Love the channel. I respect the honesty, analysis and extraordinary research in your coverage of each and every case.

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