The Case of the Drowning Men (7 page)

As
to the subject of
proofs, t
here
are mountains
of evidentiary facts
in
this
fifteen-year
-long
case
an
d I
compiled and
pored over
as
many different sources
as possible
:
missing person
posts
,
v
ictim profiles,
police
statements
,
eyewitness accounts,
medical exams, autopsy
reports,
toxicology findings,
newspaper articles,
televised
interviews,
public
databases,
online
discussion threads, photographs, CDC statistics,
expert opinions
…a
nything I could think of that would enlighten
or
help to
qualify a remark
that was made
. Anything that
might
support
or
defeat
a
conclusion.

Alt
hough the ending would still be just as sad, this is
a story in
desperate
need of conclusion.
However,
without much doubt,
it
begins
in 1997
with
the inexplicable disappearance and drowning of Patrick McNeill.

"Circumfer
entially around the neck there is a pattern which consists of numerous vertical lines evenly spaced (
1/16
") around his neck as if to suggest some type of binding."
from the McNeill autopsy report by Dr. Charles Hirsch, then Chief Medical Examiner for the city of New York

“Yes, regarding that particular case in New York, that certainly does sound like it was a homicide.”
Candice Delong,
career
FBI Profiler
,
speaking of
Patrick McNeill’s drowning

“Patrick's death was not an accidental drowning. He was stalked, abducted, held for an extended period of time, murdered, and disposed.”
Kevin Gannon, NYPD homicide detective
investigating the
McNeill case
since
1997
.

NEW YORK CITY
, NEW YORK.
-
April 17,
1997
:
“
The Fordham University student whose body was found floating near a Brooklyn pier last week died from drowning, New York City's chief Medical Examiner ruled yesterday
…
he said that the level of alcohol in the body of the student, Patrick McNeill Jr., was
‘
more than a little and less than a lot
’
...
What remains unclear
then
is how Mr. McNeill, an athletic 21-year-old, wound up in the river and drowned. The manner of death was listed as undetermined in the autopsy report.
”

- - -

There are conflicting accounts regarding the last time Patrick McNeill was
ever
seen alive. Some people said he was only a little bit drunk
,
and some said he was a lot. Some said he accidentally
fell
in
to
the East River
and drowned
himself
, and some
said
he was
murdered.

What is agreed
upon
and substantiated by
numerous witnesses and
video surveillance
is that
the
21-year-old
was last
observed
on the evening of February 1
6
th
1997
at
a
n uptown
Manhattan
bar
called the Dapper Dog
where
he’d
been drinking
with
some of his
peers
.

The Dapper Dog
at that time
was a small, narrow
college
dive that
local
university
students
would
frequent
on the weekend
s
when school was in session
.
Popular for its f
r
at-like atmosphere
, loud music
and free-flowing booze,
th
is
small pub
also attracted
its
young
er
patrons with a “guest bartender” night,
routinely
appointing a popular student
to bartend
for
the
evening in hopes
he
might
persuade
his
circle of
friends to
stop
by
for a
drink
and
loosen their wallets
.

By 1997
when McNeill and his classmates made the Dapper Dog their
official
watering hole
,
its owners
had
already
racked up a
considerable
number of citations for
their laissez faire
serving
policies
.
A
mong the
most
notable violations
,
selling
alcohol to minors and
continuing
to serve
customers
who were
visibly and seriously
intoxicated
.
Noise violations
were also
included
in the list of complaints
against them
,
these
filed by
various
neighborhood
residents
.

One of his college suitemates was the” master of ceremonies” o
n th
at
February
night
Patrick
McNeill
visited
The Dapper Dog for the last time in his life
.
Colleagues
of
McNeill
say he
was aware
this particular young man didn’t
care for
him
very
much, but he felt he
would be
lending some support by showing up anyway.
McNeill was
a
well-liked student otherwise and famous
for going out
of
his way to help
people
, at the time
,
involved in at least a half dozen altr
u
istic
groups
and
related
activit
i
es.
A popular
social
organizer
as well
, he
was also in charge of booking the entertainment acts for Fordham University
, so showing up at a place where he may not have been wanted,
is
probably best viewed within this context.

T
here were
seven roommates in all
sharing
the
Fordham
campus
suite that
McNeill
lived in
,
and
more than one
of them
had
openly
professed to disliking
the 21-year-old
intensely
, criticizing him
to his face and
behind his back
for
being
a
“
womaniz
er
”
and complaining that he was always preening himself, that he cared to much for his
personal
appearance
and
was obsessed with
his academic status
.

Standing
about
six feet tall and weighing in at
a
well-toned
1
9
5 pounds, McNeill was
in fact
a good-looking,
clean cut,
athletic guy,
and even those who counted themselves among his
longstanding
friends
admitted
, “Pat’s a real ladies man
,
”
a
dding
,
“
w
e’d tease him about his clothes, his cologne, how he had to be perfect
.
”
As for
McNeill’s
pride in his
collegiate accomplishments,
one of his
professor
s
at For
d
ham
con
firmed the third-year undergrad was
firmly
“on the path for the accounting honor society. It’s a step in the direction of his dream,” she
disclosed
, “working for the FBI.”

Lofty
and reasonable aspirations
f
or
a young person
to have
,
especially
for an ambitious
one
who seemed
so
totally
cap
able
of achieving them
. If
he had not
,
somehow
,
been
otherwise
prevented
.

In the early morning hours of the day
McNeill
went missing, after h
aving
just
bid
everyone
goodnight
at the Dapper Dog
and
announcing
he
was headed for the
nearby
subway
station
to
return to
the Bronx campus
,
Patrick
McNeill
was
observed
linger
ing
out front
of the bar
for
awhile
. Allegedly he was
waiting
there
for a
female friend
who was
still
inside
using the ladies’ room
but, w
hen she fail
ed
to materialize
in a timely fashion
,
he
then
proceeded
down
the
sidewalk
alone,
slowly
navigating two city blocks
until
eventually
he turn
ed
the corner
at 90th
Street
…
and disappear
ed
into thin air
.