Many College Students Went Missing in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Is There a Serial Killer?

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5 days ago

It's a story all too familiar to people in La Crosse and Wisconsin: A young college student going missing after a night in a bar with friends.
The latest college student to go missing was a 22-year-old Viterbo graduate student named Eliotte Heinz. A massive search ignited to find Heinz, who disappeared while walking home from a bar in La Crosse on July 20, 2025.
Tragically, she was found dead in the Mississippi River on July 23, according to Viterbo. The cause of death is not yet clear; her body was located in the river in Brownsville, MN.
For years, dating back to 1997, a string of missing college students turned up dead in the Mississippi River, the victims of apparent drownings. Those students were all males. The full list can be found at the bottom of this article.
In La Crosse, authorities have repeatedly attributed the previous deaths to alcohol, not a serial killer. They have not released any details about how Heinz died, though.
However, the serial killer theory got a boost by two former New York cops who advanced the belief several years ago that a gang of "smiley face" killers was at work.
"Between 1997 and 2006, La Crosse experienced tragedy after tragedy as eight separate college students were found to have drowned in the Mississippi River," the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse's website says. "The deaths, contrary to some 'serial killer' theories put forth, were determined to be the results of excessive drinking combined with a close physical proximity to Riverside Park, bordering the Mississippi River." Another drowning death occurred in 2010.
Separate theories have also emerged about a young woman from Platteville, WI, named Emma Jacob, also 22. A Reddit thread asked whether there could be a connection between the two cases. Some people on social media are also bringing up the murder of Kelly Nolan in Madison, WI, from 2007.
The College Students Found in the Mississippi River
The earlier deaths of young men in the Mississippi River, which date back to 1997, sparked years of persistent theories that a serial killer could be operating in the area. The former New York police officer, Kevin Gannon, went on television to push the "smiley face serial killer theory" - that a gang of killers was murdering young male college students throughout the Midwest and leaving smiley faces at the scenes. He was assisted in the research by another officer named Anthony Duarte and a professor, Lee Gilbertson. The "smiley face" serial killer theory got new life in an Oxygen series, which explored it. Some of the drowning deaths extended to the East Coast.
Authorities in local jurisdictions have pushed back at those theories, which have never been proven. A gang called the "Dealers of Death" was allegedly linked to some of the deaths, a theory that traces to a mysterious river death in Minneapolis that was later reclassified by police as a homicide, according to Milwaukee magazine. Whether that gang really existed is in dispute, however. The story says there were more than 40 river deaths throughout the Midwest.
The Minneapolis case was the death of Wisconsinite Chris Jenkins, found in the Mississippi after a night out. No one has ever been charged in it. According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, investigators spoke of two "possible male suspects: one a possible eyewitness who was already incarcerated and another suspect police were looking to talk to at the time."
"After three months of research into the case, Milwaukee Magazine has learned a gang called the 'Dealers of Death' claims involvement in the deaths of some of these men," the magazine wrote in 2008, noting that a convicted murderer "who is also a suspect in a river death that police now believe is a homicide, (allegedly) told the FBI last year that the gang had murdered 40 of the men."
"In a letter obtained by Milwaukee Magazine, the FBI said there's no evidence the gang exists, but admits" that the inmate "discussed the gang," the magazine found, noting that "both the FBI and the New York cops" talked to the man.
"Milwaukee Magazine also has discovered documents from the New Brighton, Minn., police department in which two men associated with (the inmate)...admit belonging to the Dealers of Death," that report says.
A professor named Douglas Swanson wrote a detailed report on the previous disappearances, exploring the theories that a "River Killer" was at work. The report documented the prevalence of taverns and alcohol in the rust-belt city of about 51,000 people that lines the Mississippi River.
His article argues that two frames have emerged around missing college students in La Crosse: Frame A holds that alcohol is to blame and that the deaths were tragic accidents, and Frame B argues that a serial killer might be at work. "All the evidence, applied logically, points to the perspective identified here as Frame A," he concluded.
The Disappearance of Eliotte Heinz
Heinz, who was born on June 8, 2003, "was last seen walking southbound on the 500 Block of Front Street South at approximately 3:22 a.m. on July 20th, 2025. Her family, friends and police have made several attempts to locate her with no success," La Crosse police wrote in a statement.
Heinz was at Bronco's Bar in downtown La Crosse with friends "less than an hour before she disappeared," Fox News reported. After closing time, she set off on the .4 mile walk to her home, but she never arrived.
Heinz's cellphone "was later recovered by her friends close to the hotel," a source told the Daily Mail.
"Sunday morning, we tried to reach her, and we were unable to get a hold of her," Amber Heinz, Eliotte's mom, told Fox News Digital.
"We talk all the time. We talked to her that week. We were texting back and forth, but on Sunday morning when we couldn't get a hold of her, we knew that something was going on," she told Fox.
The La Crosse serial killer theories centered around the disappearances and then deaths of young college-age men, whereas Heinz is female. The FBI eventually deemed that the deaths were accidents in a report. But the theories tore up the town.
Police "were heckled when they held a community meeting to assure the public the drownings were accidents," the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. "People accused them of ignoring obvious connections between the deaths—all men, all white, all disappeared downtown."
Authorities have taken a number of measures to improve safety along the Mississippi River and the city's famed bar district. Among other things, they "have enacted a public intoxication ordinance and spent about $60,000 on fencing in Riverside Park," the Pioneer Press reported.
The Emma Jacob Case
The details about Emma Jacob derive almost entirely from a post by a woman named Sydney Wiltsie, who wrote on Facebook on July 22, "My little sister Emma Jacob has been missing since around 9:30 this morning. Her last pinged location was near the mound, or the 'big M' in Platteville, WI. Her car, phone, keys, and purse were all found there. Police are involved and we ask that everyone in the Platteville area keeps an eye out for her and that she is found safe."
Platteville police said the Jacob case is being handled by the University of Wisconsin-Platteville police, who told Men's Journal on July 23 to contact the university's public relations spokesperson for details about Jacob. Men's Journal is awaiting a response from the spokesperson.
The Lafayette County Sheriff's Department confirmed to Men's Journal that Jacob died, but could not provide additional details on any cause of death, other than saying she was found in "rural Platteville" and that investigators "don't think it's related" to the disappearance of Heinz. The cause of death is not clear; nor is there any publicly known indication of foul play at this point.
In an update, Wiltsie wrote of Emma Jacob, "She has been found. At this time we ask you please respect our families privacy as we grieve the loss of our daughter, sister, and auntie. Thank you."
Although La Crosse and Platteville are both college towns, they are not very close together, being located about 2.5 hours and 101 miles apart. Some people online have also mentioned the unsolved murder of Nolan, also 22, who disappeared after a night out on State Street in Madison, WI; her body was later discovered in the woods. However, Madison is also not very close to La Crosse or Platteville, and Nolan's death occurred in 2007.
Once Missing La Crosse, WI, College Students
Here are the other cases of once-missing La Crosse, WI, college students:
Richard Hlavaty
Hlavaty, 19, drowned "after a street brawl in July 1997," according to Swanson's report.
Jared Dion
According to the paper by Swanson, on April 15, 2004, "the body of college student Jared Dion, 21, was pulled from the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The discovery of the body ended a five-day search for the student, who had disappeared from a crowd of his University of Wisconsin-La Crosse peers while waiting for a bus outside a local tavern."
Dion "was the sixth young man and the fourth college student to have drowned in this stretch of the Mississippi River since 1997, and the 23rd such victim since 1974," Swanson wrote.
Luke Homan
According to the La Crosse Tribune, Homan, a basketball player at UW-La Crosse, disappeared on Sept. 30, 2006, after a night at downtown bars. His body was discovered in the Mississippi River on Oct. 2 of that year.
Patrick Runingen
Runingen, 23, of West Salem, was seen walking outside Nutbush City Limits (an establishment) on March 1 or 2, 2001, and his body was found in the Black River on March 8, the Tribune reported.
Jeffrey F. Geesey
The 23-year-old was seen in a bar in downtown La Crosse on April 11, 1999, and found in the river a month later, the Tribune reported.
Nathan Kapfer
Like Heinz, the 20-year-old Kapfer was a Viterbo student. He disappeared on Feb. 18, 1998, and his body was found in April by a fisherman, the Tribune reported.
Anthony D. Skifton
Anthony Skifton, 19, was "found drowned after leaving a house party two days after (Charles) Blatz's death," in 1997, Swanson's report says.
Charles Blatz
According to Swanson's report, Blatz, 28, was "an out-of-town college student found drowned during the city's Oktoberfest celebration" in 1997.
Craig Meyers
Meyers, 21, drowned in the Mississippi River in La Crosse in 2010. His blood-alcohol concentration was three times the legal limit, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. That story says his father did not believe there was foul play..
Many College Students Went Missing in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Is There a Serial Killer? first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 23, 2025