The Case of the Drowning Men (9 page)

So
, naturally,
Detective
Gannon
pressed for
a “lawman search” to be conducted
in order
to determine the rest of the numbers on the
suspicious vehicle’s
license plate
—standard operating procedure
for a
suspected
murder
.
To
his
surprise
,
however,
the department declined
his request
, insisting th
e
price tag of
$1200
, the cost at the time
for such a search
,
was
much
too costly an undertaking
,
and
especially
not warranted
where a
body
exhibiting no
major
signs of physical trauma greatly diminished the chances of
there having been
foul play
.

It
was to be the first of
a string of
similar
investigative setbacks
the homicide detective
would encounter
in trying to solve the McNeill
mystery
, and when,
on April 1
6
th
1997
, New York City’s chief medical examiner ruled
the death
a
n accidental
drowning
with the
manner
of death still
unknown
,
Kevin Gannon
realized
he had a
diabolical
case
on his hands
he
w
ould
never let go
of
.

L
ittle did he know
,
within just a few years time
,
he
’
d
have
many
more just like it.

“I could tell you about how much interference has come our way from members of MPD…I suspect some serious questions might be brought forward to the Mayor of Minneapolis.”

Private Detective
Chuck Loes
c
h,
commenting on
his experience investigating the
Chris Jenkins
2002
drowning/murder case
in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
- February 28, 2003
:
“
Authorities pulled the body of missing University student Chris Jenkins from the Mississippi River on Thursday, the family
’
s private investigator reported. A spokesperson for the Hennepin County Medical Examiner
’
s office said two pedestrians saw the body under the Third Avenue Bridge and called police shortly before 4 p.m. Police recovered the badly decomposed corpse approximately two hours later.

“
Jenkins, a Carlson School of Management student and lacrosse team captain, disappeared from the Lone Tree Bar & Grill at Fifth and Hennepin avenues in downtown Minneapolis on Halloween night. His body was found on the Mississippi River
’
s south bank less than a mile from the bar.

“
Jan Jenkins, Chris Jenkins
’
mother, thanked the University community for all its help in searching for her son, but called the police investigation
“
a serious slap in the face
”
after they told her Jenkins probably jumped into the Mississippi because he was depressed.

“
Minneapolis police would not comment Thursday. Sources said the department will make a public statement on Friday.
”

- - -

In
late October of
2002, according to
various
newspaper and
eyewitness accounts, the 21 year-old athletic and popular honor student Chris Jenkins spent Halloween night in full Indian regalia celebrating at the Lone Tree Bar
in downtown Minneapolis
with his new girlfriend.
It
appear
s they may have had
some kind of
a
minor
falling out there
which
seems to have
gotten
him
ejected from the premises
shortly
ther
e
after
,
two
closely
related
event
s
which
are
alleged to have
occurred
around
midnight
.

It happens sometimes that couples don’t
see eye to eye
and
they
quarrel in public places
,
especially if
it’s late, they’re tired, and
they’ve
both
been drinking. B
ut that’s no reason to
toss
a
young man
into the cold without his
keys,
wallet,
and
cell phone.

T
hat’s no reason to kill him.

One of the
bouncer
s
in charge of
keeping
things
on the up and up
at the Lone Tree
grill and the adjacent bar
on Halloween
night
was
a
n
off
-
duty Minneapolis
cop.
It is
said
that
Jenkin
s’ love interest,
also an
employee of the
establishment
, was wearing
key
elements
of th
at
officer’s
official
uniform as her
own
costume
,
elaborately
described in a police report dated November 10, 2002 as consisting of “fishnet shorts, a blue police uniform shirt with patches and badge, and a police hat”
.
Coincidentally, i
t was to be this
same plainclothes
man
that would
end up
driv
ing
the
girl
home
once the festivities
at the Lone Tree
had ended
and the bar
shut
down
for the evening
.
A
s to
Chris
Jenkins, himself,
he
would
never
be
seen alive again.

The record of his brief
existence
before these
ominous
events
played out
painted a picture of a
responsible
youth
with a lifelong dedication to
his
scholastic
studies and
a
n equal
devot
ion
to
his friends and family who he kept in
touch
with daily.
On the fast track to getting his
business
degree,
the
University of Minnesota
confirmed
that
Jenkins
had a bright future a
waiting him
,
having
earn
ed
high
honors in his classes
at their Carlson School of Management
and
that he was
scheduled to graduate
within
only four years
of his
beg
i
nning
attendance there,
as opposed to the
standard
five and a half.
Even his girlfriend who’d only known him for two months
testified to the same
at the Minneapolis police station where she was questioned on November 6th 2002
, stating
that Jenkins “was driven
when it came to his schoolwork and his devotion to the UofM
l
a
c
rosse team where he was co-captain.”

Everyone who reported him missing
directed
the Minneapolis Police Department
to the above facts,
further
assur
ing
the
authorities
it was
totally
out of
the ordinary
for
Chris Jenkins
to be away for even 24 hours without
making
contact
with them
and express
ing
their
fears for his safety and wellbeing because of
the
unusual absence.

Y
et
the
MPD
declined to
commence
a
n immediate
search for him
,
asserting
to the Jenkins family
that not enough time had lapsed to consider
it
a missing person
s case
.
Additionally
,
the MPD
told the
young man’s parents
right off the bat that
the
re
didn’t
appear to be
any indications
whatsoever
of foul play
in the matter
.
D
ays later, when the
police
finally
did launch
their
investigat
ion
i
nto
the
whereabouts of
Chris
Jenkins, they
seemed to
go about it
in
such
a
deliberate
ly
offhand manner
that it
threatened to
allow
the
trail
to
grow cold
as
they
hemmed and hawed
with the Jenkins family about
certain
aspects of the victim’s
character
and
bas
i
cally
dawdled.

So the Jenkins
did the only
other
thing they could
think of
to find their son
ASAP
:
T
hey
set up headquarters in the
city’s
downtown section where Chris was last seen,
assembled a posse
of approximately 100
volunteers
to help them search it
,
and
hired a private investigator.