22-year-old Todd Geib decided he had enough of the kegger and set out on his own to make the short walk home. Between 12:47 and 12:57 AM on Sunday, June 12, 2005, Todd made a series of calls to loved ones, the last one stating that he was "in a field". The call was cut off, and no one would hear from Todd again.
At the time, Todd was living with his cousin at 291 Moon Court in Casnovia, Michigan, located just off North Newaygo Road (M-37) at Half Moon Lake. By all accounts, Todd was a smart and capable young man who happened to be an avid outdoorsman. He delighted in sports and spent time dirt-biking, fishing, and hunting. He was employed at Hager Distribution, Inc. in Wyoming, which is about 30 miles south of Casnovia. He was also a religious man who put stock in the afterlife. Earlier in the day on Saturday, June 11, Todd had spent time at his parents' home in nearby Ravenna. Afterward, he returned to the home he shared with his cousin before leaving for Half Moon Bar & Grille at around 7:30 PM, where he met his best friend, two other male friends, and two female friends. The group left the bar together at roughly 9:30 PM. That night, an annual kegger was being hosted in an abandoned orchard about two miles north of White Road, and Todd's group was in attendance. It was a large party, consisting of over 50 people. As was later reported by those in attendance, there was supposedly a fight that broke out around 12:45 AM and that there had been a gaggle of guys from Kent City there looking for a fight. Whether or not Todd was involved, it was apparently around this time that he decided to leave the party and return home. At 12:47 AM, Todd called the friend who drove him there to tell the friend he'd "had enough" and was leaving. A few minutes later, he phoned a contact and told them that he was "in a field." The last person to hear from Todd was his sister. After that, it was as though Todd had vanished into thin air. Even a search party 1,500 volunteers strong could not find him over the course of three different searches. Todd was simply gone. That is, until a couple saw him 21 days later, seemingly standing upright in Ovidhall Lake, which is located just to the north of the intersection of Peters and White Road. (Ovidhall Lake is less than two miles away from Todd's home on Moon Court.) Todd's head and shoulders emerged from the smooth surface of the lake, but Todd wasn't going for a swim. Todd was dead. Fully-clothed, wallet in his pocket, and partially submerged, Todd looked as though he had simply gone for a swim and somehow died. In fact, a police officer told Todd's mom Kathy that they suspected Todd had gone swimming (... Fully clothed WITH his wallet on him?! You'd have to be pretty drunk to do that, right?) and accidentally drowned due to being intoxicated (as he had a .12 blood alcohol level). The thing is, the autopsy revealed that Todd had no water in his lungs. Typically, when a person drowns, they will have a collection of water in their lungs. They also tend to float face-down. Guess what else complicates this case? The time-frame and time-of-death. At a 2009 medical examiners conference, Dr. Michael Sikirca presented crime scene recovery and autopsy photos to other forensic pathologists, and everyone who saw them agreed that Todd had only been dead two or three days before his body was found. So, what does this mean? It means that Todd Geib could have been the victim of foul play. Homicide. And not just plain old homicide, but kidnapping and unlawful detainment by an unknown captor... Or group of captors. Todd Geib wasn't a little guy. At 5'11" and 180 pounds, even an intoxicated Todd would've been tough to disable and kidnap. As an athlete and avid outdoorsman, Todd had physical strength and survival know-how. He likely wouldn't have spent three weeks wandering around, lost in an area so close to home. And he probably wouldn't have gone swimming fully-clothed after having been missing for so long. Someone killed Todd Geib. And, if you ask some of the conspiracy-minded folks online, they might just tell you that Todd was a victim of the same world-wide group of killers that have taken the lives of well over 40 college-age young men over the past few decades. I'm talking about the Smiley Face Killers. Law enforcement officials will tell you that this group is a fabrication, that the deaths are just eerily coincidental. And maybe, just maybe, they're right. It would be better if they were. But I don't think they are. I first learned about the Smiley Face Killers from watching this docu-drama a few years ago. At first, I thought it was merely a clever twist on the found footage genre, which it is... But it deals very much with real cases. While there are some differences between each of the deceased men, there are some striking similarities. For one, the profile (just take a look at the cover photo of this Facebook group) of the victim is consistent: young adult males (many of whom were in college), predominantly white, and reported missing by loved ones after going to bars or parties. Many of these victims had been missing for several weeks and, after their bodies were found, were discovered to have only been dead for a few days. All of these victims were found in or near bodies of water, and most of them were possibly staged to look like accidental drownings. The killings started just about 20 years ago, in 1998, and appear to be ongoing. While the largest concentrations of these deaths have happened in the northeastern Atlantic and Midwestern United States, similar reports have been circulating the world over. Now, if you ask Todd Geib's family what happened, they also don't put much stock in the official report and ruling of accidental death. In fact, back in 2012, his mother, Kathy, told mLive that she believed - as did many professionals - that Todd had been killed elsewhere and his body dumped in the lake, staged to look like an accidental drowning. Kathy has spent a lot of time fighting for the truth, for justice. In 2012, she formed a rally in Ravenna called Justice For Todd in hopes that it would inspire police to re-open the investigation. However, it appears that Michigan State Police have been hesitant to do so. Who is responsible for Todd Geib's bizarre and tragic death? Surely, someone must know something. Casnovia is a small town where you end up knowing your neighbor's business, whether you meant to or not. Yet it seems like Todd's story was just a blip on the radar when it came to local news. Todd is not going to be forgotten, nor are the dozens of other young men who've met similar fates. References Case Studies in Drowning Forensics - Kevin Gannon & D. Lee Gilbertson "Drowning the Smiley Face Murder Theory" - Drake et. al, for the Center for Homicide Research Footprints At The River's Edge "Mother of Muskegon County's Todd Geib hosting rally urging police to reopen death investigation" - mLive "The 'Smiley Face Killer' Theory That Connects 40 College Students' Deaths" - Jim Goad, for Thought Catalog
2 Comments
Samantha
3/2/2018 10:17:31 am
Thank you for bringing this topic to light. Sometimes things are twisted around in the media to find the "easier" result than the actual truth. I hope someone can resolve what has been happening if indeed something sketchy is occurring to help everyone in the future.
Reply
Sandi Haustein
3/2/2018 11:19:54 am
I'm sorry to hear about this story. I hope that someone will come forward with some information because it's certainly suspect.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |