Retired Detectives Suspect SLU Student’s Drowning Death Was No Accident
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Two retired New York City police detectives believe the 2004 drowning death of a St. Lawrence University student is connected to the deliberate drowning deaths of 40 young men - usually high-achieving college students - in 25 communities in 11 different states.
The information came to light following an investigative report by KSTP-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
According to KSTP, Detectives Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte have been tracking the suspicious drowning deaths of men across the country.
“I think it is a serial killer, but not one individual. I would just say, a group of individuals, probably located in more than one state,” Duarte told KSTP.
The case of 20 year old SLU soccer player Adam Falcon is among the cases the detectives have been examining.
Falcon died after a night of drinking at a residence hall at St. Lawrence University and at the ‘Tick Tock Inn,’ a bar frequented by students.
He was last seen leaving the bar on November 13, 2004.
Police said Falcon later fell in the Grasse River and drowned.
Searchers pulled Falcon’s body from the river on the night of November 18, 2004, six days after he was reported missing.
Police said there was no evidence of foul play.
According to the autopsy report, Falcon’s blood alcohol content was .22 percent.
The legal limit is .08.
Canton Police Chief Alan Mulkin told 7 News Monday that there are no plans to reopen the investigation into Falcon’s death.
Mulkin said he’s confident that a thorough investigation was conducted by his department and the state police.
County Coroner R.B. Lawrence said theories that Falcon may have been the victim of a group of nationwide serial killers is nothing more than speculation.
“The probability is incredibly low or almost non-existent. I feel very comfortable in what we did,” said Lawrence.
Gannon and Duarte said that in each case they investigated, the alleged victims were young, male, athletic college students.
Most of the time the deaths were ruled accidents.
In some cases, a smiley face symbol was found drawn near the scene.
Canton police said they found no smiley face in Falcon’s case.
For more information on the KSTP investigative report, click here.
See our team report with Andrea Freidman and John Friot:
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16 Responses to “Retired Detectives Suspect SLU Student’s Drowning Death Was No Accident”
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I have always maintained that Adam Falcon was murdered. I never thought about a group thing, but that someone did murder him. For years it has been said that if you want to commit murder, do it in St. Lawrence County. Because you will never get caught.
This statement was stated 35-40 years ago when Cookie Emerson was murdered. They never found her killer.
Then back in 70’s several young men were killed. Their murderers were never caught.
I hope the family of Adam Falcon never give up finding his murderer.
I live in the town of canton NY and i was on the bridge the night they found mr. Fulkin was found. I knew that when they found him that something wasn’t right. i’m well known around here and i know just about everything that happens in this town i’ve lived here all my life. i knew SLU students on campus that new adam and they were heart broken. i talked to them about it and they told me That when they were with him that night he Yes ofcorse was intoxicated very much but he was fine enough to walk back to the dorm. They also knew something was wrong when the report came that it was an accidental drowning.. it’s not that hard these college students are extremly smart and no when they should stop most of the time. questions asked are, Why was his cellphone found somewhere differnt than his wallet..and then his body found across in the river. There’s no reason for himself to be down on that path to go to St.lawerance, and everyone knows that that leads u way down by the pavillion. “You Can get away with murder. Just come to St.Lawerance county”. I’ve heard that so many times and it’s True because you can.. But the truth is and the cheif knows it himself that it wasn’t an accident it’s just they have no evidence to lead them in a differant direction. And that his wallet, cell phone, and adam were in 3 diff places but thats all they could go on. Another Problem i looked at was they found him right in the swimming hole where i’ve swam for years You don’t just drown and sink to bottom and aspecialy in that fast of water.. You move with the water. So obviously he wasn’t killed there but somewhere up River .. I never saw one Police officer within 60 yards of where they found Adam.. Something is wrong Everyone knows it but The truth shall never heard from because..as i hear “you can get away with Murder, Just Come to St.lawerance County.
Tommy D
.22 is intoxicated. Adam could have very well became confused or sick and fell into the river.
to get away with murder , wow sounds like a horror movie. .i do know that there are preditors out in this world , and if there has been murders committed in st.lawrence and nobody gets caught , then of coarse you should look from the top and go down the list of people in charge . maybe there to proud to accept they dont how to look for a murderer. maybe they dont want to alarm the city . maybe it is a serial killer . or just circustance. as vague as it may be if one feels like there has been a murder dont stop asking question revisit the crime scene use logic and maybe there might be something overlooked. i dont know ,im not a detective nor anyone of significance. but if there is a serial killer out there he or she is still there . and might just be someone you know.
I dont know much about solving crimes, but i do think its a little weird that that the chief of police is being so defensive about the first investigation…you’d think he would be more open-minded and helpful with the situation…and props to the two retired dectectives….they only want help.
The young man in question had a blood alcohol level of 0.22. That’s almost 3 times the legal driving limit. At that level he could have stopped to tie his shoelace and fallen over into the river.
No body is responsible for his death but himself. Its a tragic shame for someone of his age to die, but he did. There is no sinister gang of killers lurking in the shadows.
As for unsolved crimes in St Lawrence County, I’d wager that percentage wise it’s no different than any other.
I’ve always wondered if there wasn’t more to Adam Falcon’s death than police suspected. Now that this has been publicized the family may be able to get more answers. I’ve been around drunks and rivers all my life. Drunk people don’t usually fall in a river and drown. They hit their heads or have a boat accident or suffer some other foul play. They often have friends around as well. This was suspicious from the beginning. I’m glad it’s been brought back up.
KJ:
Why don’t drunks fall in rivers? Is there some kind of mystical force that repels them? Drunk die for the simple reason that they lack the capacity to control themselves. Why do you think we have laws against drunk drivers.
People seem to want to find an alternative reason for this young mans death. I’m sure his parents have had a tough time accepting the fact that it was simply a tragic accident brought on in part by youthful indiscretion. But its pretty straight forward: While in an extremely inebriated state he fell into an ice cold river and subsequently drowned.
It is reprehensible that local authorities and SLU officials did not at least strongly consider something other than an accident when this happened. I remember as the events unfolded, almost as soon as Adam was pulled from the river, it was deemed an accident. People were saying at the time to AT LEAST do a real investigation but nothing was done. Now, three years later, look what his family must be going through because local authorities didn’t do their job and alleviate all suspicians!!
Why would the detectives deem Adam’s death suspicious but not Al’s? Al wasn’t even drunk when leaving the Cantina, Adam obviously was when leaving the Tick Tock (if you remember, the bartender who served Adam had charges brought against her). Al had no reason to be by the river since he just lived down Main Street. Of course, we will never know now what happened. There is a newly constructed building next to the Cantina, and the town has painted over the graffiti on the bridge, which had sported a freakish smiley worm.
My last comment: If you can’t use proper punctuation, capitalization, grammar, or spelling, whine all you want, but no one is going to take you seriously.
I myself have experienced the refusal of St. Lawrence Countys law enforcement to look at the questions regarding a death in my family. I spent four years trying to find what really happened to my husband and have records showing questions they refuse to find answers for. I also was told easy answers that were not true. They seem to take the easy answer and thats that. To this day, I do not know what really happened. Murder does seem to be easier to get away with there!
I’ve been following a similar case in Middlebury Vermont where I live. It’s the same story with the police, and when Nick Garza is finally found, I won’t be surprised when they rule it an accidental drowning. How do you tell the difference between an accidental drowning in which someone falls into the water and one in which the person is bound up in something, like a straight jacket, so he can’t swim, and dropped in the water. They could attach the body to a rope so that after he drowns, they can pull him up and remove the bindings.
Both in Nick Garza’s case, as well as Joseph Szostak, the boy who went missing after leaving a bar in Albany NY on 12/23/07 and was only recently pulled out of the Hudson River, all assumptions were that drinking caused their demise. Nick Garza had left a gathering in a Middlebury College dorm on February 5 saying he was going back to his dorm (a 7 minute walk away). Yes he’d been drinking, although no one seems to be able to determine how much, but the fact that he has totally disappeared from the sprawling campus and surrounding neighborhoods doesn’t fit the behavior of a drinking, but well mannered, athletic, high achieving college kid. The police assumed he had passed out in the snow, and since no one knew he was missing for five days and they’d had two feet of snow in between, that assumption continued until it all melted (two weeks ago) and Nick was not on campus. In both cases, the parents do not believe their sons walked to a river and fell in. If they were that drunk, then they’d have passed out before getting as far as the river.
If you don’t think these deaths are suspicious then your are naive. Umm..anyone wonder why it’s always a college male? Never any college women drowning? Because drunk college kids don’t fall in rivers and drown. I don’t care if .22 is intoxicated. I’ve been .22, yes, intoxicated. But that doesn’t keep you from walking/stumbling home. Those of you that think otherwise have never been in that position, so you have no basis for comparison. Again, just naiveity. Think about this. Again, no women drowning. No 50 something drunk men drowing. Why? Because drunk people don’t fall, or wander aimlessly into rivers and lakes. It’s because serial killers target specific victims…..always have.
There are very wicked permutations of possibilities occurring out there in the world. People vanishing, staying vanished for a few days or weeks, and then their bodies turning up in rivers. Strange, to say the least. I would like to see a concerted investigation of these killings. If those two retired detectives are at all credible (and not just attention-seekers) then they should be able to make a compelling case to the FBI.
The river is the opposite direction of campus coming from the Tick Tock… he didn’t just stumble in or decide to take a swim in the freezing water of the north country especially if they believe it all happened up stream… and why label it a suicide just cause of a lack of evidence?