The Case of the Drowning Men (31 page)

“Police have stressed that the priority of this investigation is to determine what happened to Alexander Grant. Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy has offered immunity from prosecution for anyone who may have information relating to what happened to Alexander Grant but fears being arrested for minor disorderly conduct or alcohol related charges.

“Police have located the source of the alcohol for the Church Street party, which was legally purchased by someone over 21 years of age. Police were first notified of the party on Church Street at about 11:50 PM, nearly 20 minutes after Alexander Grant is captured on surveillance video at the train station. Patrol units were eventually able to respond, and arrived at 12:25 AM on the 6th. Police had a difficult time controlling the unruly crowd and dispersing the partiers. While doing so they were unable to build enough probable cause to arrest anyone for furnishing alcohol to minors at the party. None of the occupants at the time of the party currently reside there.

“As for the drinking that occurred in the dorm room at Skidmore College. None of the participants was of age. Police do not know how the alcohol was obtained, but do know that alcohol was consumed in the room, including by Alexander Grant. Again, the source of the alcohol at the dorm room was a secondary consideration during the early phases of the investigation. By the time police were able to focus on this aspect of the case, potential witnesses were uncooperative and police were not able to locate independent evidence of the source of the alcohol in the dorm room. In consultation with Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy and in consideration of court decisions and the facts of the case, a decision has been made not to charge any of the occupants of the room with a criminal offense.

“Police do not know how or why Alexander Grant came to be at the train station at 11:31 PM. Based on the time of the video, Grant was at the party on Church Street for considerably less than one hour. He appears in the video, walking alone and apparently intoxicated. Police have been unable to locate anyone who saw or had contact with Grant between the time he left the party and the time he appears at the train station. Several phone messages and text messages were sent to his cell phone between 11:37 PM and noon of the following day, however Grant never answered and his cell phone was never recovered. It is important to note that no one and no vehicles approach the train station for a considerable amount of time before or after Grant appears on the video.

“
By the time Alexander Grant appears at the Care Lane location, he has not only shed some of his clothing but he appears quite disoriented, probably suffering from the effects of hypothermia. In addition, on March 9th an employee of 7 Care Lane found Alexander Grant
’
s Boston College ID in the snow next to the door. The door to 7 Care Lane has a swipe card lock system similar to the system at the entrances to the buildings at Boston College. Along with the footprints in the snow that enter the woods and circle dense brush repeatedly, this indicates that Alexander Grant was considerably disoriented.

“
At this point the Saratoga Springs Police have no more active leads. However the case will remain open in the event that someone comes forward with information about the critical time period between when Grant leaves the party and he arrives at the train station. Grant
’
s shoes and cell phone were never recovered and if found may give police additional information on his route of travel and therefore additional possible leads. Police will leave the investigation open in the hope that someone or some item of evidence will provide the critical information needed to complete the investigation.

“
The family of Alexander Grant will continue to be advised of any developments in the case. Once again, the Saratoga Springs Police offer their condolences, and their support to the Grant family.”

At present
,
over
one
year later,
the Grant case
still
remains
open
as
was
promised,
but
it
is
not
being
active
ly investigated
and no one who witnessed Grant’s final hours have furnished
any
testimonies
.

In the time since his passing, b
ecause the young man was involved in
so many
philanthropic activities
in his
short
life
, h
is family created a scholarship memorial in
his
name
. The Alexander Maxwell Grant
Foundation
provide
s
funding to
disadvantaged
students
studying
the
visual and
music
arts
.
Visit
www.AlexGrant.org
for more information about Alexander Grant and this charitable organization.

“The statistics are so stacked against this number of men, young men, Caucasian males, found in bodies of water in that cluster of states, within that period of time.”
Dr. Cyril Wecht, forensic pathologist

"The probability is virtually zero that five intoxicated students just happened to walk similar or even different routes and end up on the riverbank."
Dr. Maurice Godwin, criminal investigative psychologist, commenting on the La Crosse Wisconsin
drowning
cluster

"They could have been murdered but the person was just so good at doing it that they didn't leave any physical evidence…[they] could sedate and drown him in a tub or something like that and then throw him in the river."
John Kelly, psychotherapist and profiler

Serial Drownings, Serial Murders, or Other?

Th
anks to private investigators and
a vigilant
public, the
re has been more attention paid to the disappearances of young men in the I-9
0
and I-9
4
corridor in recent years. While this hasn’t put an end to the 15-year phenomena of drowning deaths
,
spotlighting the issue
is
definitely
progress
of some kind
, even if a consensus
about it
hasn’t been reached yet
.
E
ven if
it
’
s
discourse
presently
dominating
the discussion
, and
official
attempts at silencing it
.

Many
working
theories have sprung from this
interest
, many
more
are still in formation
, b
ut only one
of these
will eventually
solve the
drowning
riddle and, hopefully,
when acted upon,
stop
the dying
. Only one can restore
our rivers and lakes to
the
playgrounds
they
once
were
, instead of
the
killing fields
they’ve become since 1997
.

The ruling theory will be that
which
, after a thorough debate, answers every question
in the conundrum
and holds up to a rigorous statistical inquiry. Measuring any theory against statistical probabilities is the prime method for determining its integrity. Within this
will be
a margin of error, quite small generally, which takes into account
the influence of
chance and coincidence
, and other extraordinarily rare
occurrences
.

From most popular to fringe, this chapter will examine
and rate
the
prominent theories of the day concerning
t
he drowning men syndrome
in
the
northland
.
While i
t
won’t be
possible to
analyze
every single one currently in existence or
in
creation
,
all of them
will be
sorted and
encompassed
to some degree
in
two
distinct
categories: Serial Drownings
and
Serial Murders, and
then
this section will
conclude with Other
less considered possibilities that the
overall
statistics might
logically
lead
to
.

We begin with
the
official explanation: accidental drownings.

SERIAL DROWNINGS
:

This is the prevailing theory offered
every time
by law enforcement officials
,
and
the only one
widely supported by
crime
agencies
and committees
such as
the FBI and the Center for Homicide Research
. T
hat being the case, it’s gotten plenty of airtime already and I won’t belabor
a
description and analysis
of it
here
.
In short, the serial drowning theory is a blood simple explanation—people are
becoming profoundly intoxicated
and somehow end
ing
up
in nearby bodies of water and
drowning
. However,
as has already been demonstrated
,
this theory
isn’t statistical
ly
supportable
and neither is it
backed up
by
all the
evidence
, the primary reason why
the
idea
of serial drowning is
constantly
being
challenge
d
.

Plain and simple,
America has a diverse population and
we have
no laws preventing
anyone
from freely socializing
in public or in private
.
Thus,
“
p
eople”
drinking
in
U.S. clubs,
bars
, and taverns
equals men and women, young and old, popular and unpopular, academically successful and scholastic
ally
inept
, athletic and out of shape,
light-skinned and persons of color,
tall and short,
thin and
overweight
, etc
.

Additionally, Americans have become
very
mobile,
almost
nomadic if you will, in the past few decades
. R
egularly relocating for employment or training opportunities
has
becom
e
routine
for us
. That means, r
egardless of region or climate
,
this
diverse
population mix
now
exists everywhere
and anywhere
one goes
in the United States, college towns included.
F
o
r police to
adamantly state, year after year,
that a clear and definable victimology doesn’t exist along the Corridor of Death is
therefore
quite a stretch.
And for them to
also
adamantly insist
that alcohol is the real killer,
when most of the victims
’ BAC test
levels
show they
weren’t profoundly drunk or on any other mind-altering substance
when the
y
died
, is equally farfetched.