Former detective says string of Houston deaths may be linked to alleged ‘Smiley Face’ killer network

Bodies keep surfacing — and so do questions.

There’s a dark current in Houston’s bayous this year, with 16 bodies recovered, five of them in the same week last month.

City leaders are downplaying speculation about a potential serial killer, but retired NYPD Sgt. Kevin Gannon, who has long espoused the theory that a group known as the “Smiley Face Killers” is responsible for hundreds of suspicious drowning deaths around the U.S., says he believes the deaths may be connected.

“We’ve never seen drowning numbers like this before, especially with a drowning occurring every other day in the same location,” he told Fox News Digital.

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Houston fire and police personnel recover a body from White Oak Bayou near the Heights in Houston, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (Jill Karnicki/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Gannon examines dates, times and locations along with other details when judging whether he believes the Smileys may be involved. And the pattern fits in Houston, for the most part, he said — except for the fact that some of the victims were in their 60s.

“This is an aberration and not the normal age of our 700-plus ‘potential victims,'” he said. “But that doesn’t mean they couldn’t be involved in killing these older individuals also, as they feel like they are pretty invincible right now and can act with impunity due to the police response.”

Under the controversial “Smiley Face Killers” theory, a mysterious but organized gang of serial killers is believed to target young men, many of them in college fraternities, and dump their bodies in the water. As the theory goes, they mark the scenes with graffiti. It places most of their activity in the Midwest and Northeast, in big cities and college towns near the water.

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The Bayou running through Piney Point Village on Friday, April 18, 2025, in Houston. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Houston authorities have said they have uncovered no signs of a serial killer in connection with the bodies pulled out of the bayous so far this year.

Police have said the bodies belonged to both males and females, and ranged in age from their 20s to their 60s.

“There is no evidence, and I repeat no evidence, to suggest that any of these incidents are connected,” Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz told reporters last month.

Two more bodies have washed up since then.

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Houston Mayor John Whitmire called the deaths alarming but said that drownings in the city’s 2,500 miles of bayous is “not a new phenomenon.”

HPD Police Chief Noe Diaz listens as Mayor John Whitmire comments on a recent number of bodies found in Houston bayous during a news conference in Houston, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

He urged patience as police investigate and suggested drug and alcohol abuse among the homeless could be a factor.

“Unfortunately the homeless, when they pass, often end up in the bayou,” he said, suggesting that some are thrown in by others living on the streets.

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Retired NYPD Sgt. Joseph Giacalone, a criminal justice professor at Penn State Lehigh Valley and a skeptic of the Smiley theory, said the mayor’s remarks were premature.

“You have 16 bodies, you can’t just say everybody’s dying and getting thrown into the river and everybody’s homeless,” he told Fox News Digital. “You don’t even know if they’re from your town.”

The Sims Bayou Greenway near the Houston Botanic Garden and the Glenbrook Park is shown in Houston, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Each case, he said, should be individually investigated.

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“You need an individual autopsy and full toxicology on each one of these bodies,” he continued.

Forensic pathologists can also determine whether the victims were dead before they went into water — or if they drowned, he said.