June 15, 2005

6/15/05: Todd Geib, 22, Casnovia, MI

Todd Geib, 22, was last seen at a keg party and bonfire in the early morning hours of Sunday, June 12, 2005. The party of 100 people was held behind an apple orchard in a rural part of Casnovia, Michigan, a marshy area containing 6 miles of hip-high grass. Geib apparently left the party to walk to his cousin's home at 291 Moon Court, where he rented a room. He lived near Half Moon Lake, about a mile and a half southeast of the party site and may have been seen walking along Moon Road.

Geib was last heard from during a series of cell phone calls between 12:47 a.m. and 12:57 a.m. on Sunday. At 12:47 a.m., he called the friend who had driven him to the party to say that he'd "had enough" and was walking home. He then called a friend at 12:51 a.m., but all he said was, "I'm in a field," before the phone call cut off. The friend called back and heard only what she thought was either breathing or the wind before the call ended. The phone was then used twice over the next few minutes in an attempt to call the friend back with the last attempt ending at 12:57 a.m. Geib's phone was not used again after that. Neither were his credit cards.

The area where Geib was last seen was thoroughly searched three times. During one of the searches, an estimated 1,500 volunteers as well as aircraft searched the area around the party site. Nothing was found.

Three weeks later, on July 2, 2005, Todd Geib's body was discovered in a remote pond near the party. It was reported, "according to the couple who found Todd, he was standing upright in Obenhall Lake. They remember it distinctly because his head and shoulders were sticking out of the water. With a blood alcohol content of .12, the cause of death was ruled “drowning.” The manner of death was ruled “undetermined.” The Michigan State Police closed Todd’s case." (Piehl, 6/12/09).

One police officer initially provided speculation to Geib's mother, Kathy, that her son had gone for a swim. But it didn't make sense. Geib was found fully clothed with his wallet in his pocket. (Piehl, 6/12/09).


Geib's family does not believe the official ruling. They believe Todd Geib died as the result of a homicide.

In 2009, Geib's autopsy report and recovery photos were reviewed by Dr. Michael Sikirica, a board certified Forensic Pathologist and CEO of Forensic Identification and Profiling Labratory. He showed the file to his team, other investigators and also shared the data at an international convention of Medical Examiners. All agreed with Dr. Sikirica’s conclusion--that Todd Geib who had been missing for three weeks, had been dead 2 – 5 days. (Piehl, 3/3/10).

Despite these new findings, the Michigan State Police refused to reopen Todd Geib's case.

In March 2010, Kathy Geib told WZZM13, "We can't bring him back with an investigation, but Todd deserves justice," said Kathy Geib. "It's almost like saying Todd's life is worth nothing when we have all this evidence and no one turn back to see what happened." (Brenzing, 3/18/10).


Kathy Geib is still fighting to get the case reopened. A small rally--Justice for Todd--was held June 10, 2012 in Ravenna, Mich. to help urge police to change their minds.

“There was no water in his lungs,” she elaborated in an interview with Heather Lynn Peters of MLive on June 6, 2012. “From what we have found from the professionals is that he had been placed in the water after he was dead. They are 100 percent in agreement that in this case there were clues missed.”


She hopes it will be enough for police to open a case.



Case Details

Name/age: Todd Geib, 22
Hometown: Ravenna, Mich.
Last seen: 6/15/05 Casnovia, Mich.
Recovered: 07/02/05 Obenhall Lake
Investigating Agency: Michigan State Police


Sources
Barwacz, Sarah. (June 11, 2012). Mother of Todd Geib hopes to convince police to investigate her son's death. WZZM13. Retrieved June 24, 2012 from http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/214718/2/Mother-of-Todd-Geib-hopes-to-convince-police-to-investigate-her-sons-death.
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=41028.



Brenzing, Bob. (March 18, 2010). Kathy Geib wants more answers from her son's Todd's death in 2005. WZZM13. Retrieved June 24, 2012 from http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/119626/0/Kathy-Geib-wants-more-answers-from-her-sons-Todds-death-in-2005.

Fleszar, Chris. (June 15, 2005) Police Suspend Search, Family Continues to Look for Missing Man, WZZM13. Retrieved July 2, 2009 from

Malavolti, Jon. (June 14, 2005). Family, friends, searchers hunt for missing Casnovia man. Michigan Chronicle. Retrieved March 13, 2012 from http://ccadp.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=victims&action=print&thread=6744.

Peters, Heather Lynn. (June 6, 2012). Mother of Muskegon County's Todd Geib hosting rally urging police to reopen death investigation. MLive. Retrieved June 24, 2012 from http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/06/mother_of_muskegon_countys_tod.html

Piehl, Christy. (March 3, 2010.) Despite New Evidence Officials Refuse to Reopen Case. Retrieved June 24, 2012 from http://sfkillers.com/?p=1150

Piehl, Christy. (June 12, 2009). Date and Death Connect Two Families. Awareness=Answers. Retrieved July 2, 2009 from


Published 7/2/09. Updated 06/24/12.
http://sfkillers.com/?p=843.

16 comments:

Bridger78 said...

There's a Todd Geib who graduated from high school in Inver Grove Heights, MN in 1986. The name of the high school is Simley High School.

http://www.classmates.com/directory/public/memberprofile/list.htm?regId=8705079774

Mbaz said...

Disorientation? Having trouble breathing? Sounds like this man was drugged. .12 Alc level is barely over the legal limit for driving. Ignorant society chalking up every person whos drunk and dies to an accident. Its just sad

likakilo said...

worth adding that the lake Todd Geib's body was found in is near Half Moon Lake where both Michael Noll and Craig Burrows were found -- "Geib left the party and was apparently walking home to the room rented from his cousin near Half Moon Lake." http://ccadp.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=victims&action=print&thread=6744

Anonymous said...

Police and other authorities are embarrassed and afraid to tell us what we already know:

They don't know the answers.
The medications found in Todd's system were placed there by someone or something other than Todd himself.
Supernatural variables are involved.
This is one of the most chilling and bizarre cases of mysterious disappearance and death in existence.

D_Train said...

This case gives me the absolute creeps. Definitely more to this story than what we know

Anonymous said...

Its definitely a missing 411 case

Unknown said...

There was amitriptyline found in his system.

Unknown said...

There was amitriptyline found in his system.

Anonymous said...

If there is no water in the guys lungs he didn't drown. These poor people that this situation happens to are somehow drugged into confusion. He said "he'd had enough" when on the phone to his buddy that he called. Whatever killed him, was with him,in that field when he made those bizarre calls.

Rich Oshea said...

Does anyone know if Todd's body had the "lacerations" as other missing 411 people?

Unknown said...

So sad. Way too many of these mysterious deaths.live in Holland, Michigan and I recall this case well. Have a good friend who knows the aunt of Eric Munsell who drowned in Boston Harbora few years back in February and wasn't found until April. He had been kicked out of a bar without his coat, and was never seen again until they found his body. Agai , no water in his lungs. These cases are so scattered,fro. Wisconsin to New York. Smiley Face or not I have a difficult time believing this is a gang. Perhaps it is,or there are scads of copy cats out there. Prayers for all families involved.

Really Want To Help said...

Hello Followers, I watched the episode on "Smiley Face Killers" last night. I am not from the area and only know what the one hour show revealed. So, as an outsider, I have a few questions.

Could he have decided to hitch hike home the rest of the way once he got to highway 35? Maybe he was tired by the time he got there. Maybe the drugs found in his system had started kicking in. The pharmacist had said it would take about an hour for symptoms to start with the combination of the two drugs found to be in his system at autopsy. How long would it have taken him to walk from the apple orchard to highway 35? Is it possible that once getting into a car from the highway he was taken advantage of because of his state and condition? You know there is some truth to nothing good happening during the witching hours of 12:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. The type of people that are out and about during this time leaves something to be desired for.

Was Todd depressed during this time? Could he himself have taken the pills? Moms are a good place to start with, but they do not always have all of the information at their fingertips about their sons especially when they are in the teenage years. A mom will never say anything bad about her son no matter what happens. For some reason it is like they hold on to those toddler days and remember them always.

Was he suicidal at this time? Did he himself set out to commit suicide after the party disappearing into the woods for some days while trying to figure out how and when to do it or get the courage up to do it? Living out in the woods for "X" # of days of the 21 and committing suicide that night after everything went quiet and got dark? He could have survived by hunting small animals from the woods and grilling them up with a camp fire out in the middle of the woods. No one would have heard him. No one would have seen him. He would not have known that anyone was looking for him isolated without modern technology around him.

Could he have been selling drugs and owed someone a lot of money? They then being responsible for his "staged" drowning. Could he have been in this too deep or deeper than he wanted to be thereby wanting out and then causing a loose end to be dealt with ending up with this ultimate scenario? On a particular show that I watched one time this party was taken out to a fabulous "last meal" at a restaurant and served beer to get him buzzed or drunk with the intention of killing him after he was all relaxed and happy. It just reminds me of this scenario ... Out on the lake with a boat and cans of beer with a buddy and then found floating in the lake the next day. Did he know something that got him killed? Did he know too much? The odd thing about this scenario is that they did not seem to find any alcohol in his blood at the autopsy. So, whoever threw him into the lake stayed behind to watch to make sure that he was really dead while having the beers? Was Todd mixed up in the drug world as a drug dealer or something?

It is a very remote quiet area with access from a highway to dispose of a body with hopes that no one will find it or that nature will take care of it before someone does find it.

In 2005 they already had the satellite dishes that they could use as CCTV cameras. Did anyone think to check them for activity within those 21 days or days before the body was discovered? Would that help the Michigan State Police take this further?

Really Want To Help said...

Do I think that this was the Smiley Face Killers? No! It could have been a local crime or someone from the surrounding area that knew the area that it was quiet and remote. Do I think that there was foul play involved in this incident? Yes, but it could have been one of those scenarios that you were at the wrong place at the wrong time and lurking in the dead of the night found you. Who walks around in the dark woods at night by themselves? Has common sense left all of these males? If anything it has been proven time and time again with these stories one after the other that even as a male you are not invincible from the evil and the bad that lurks out there. Whatever happened to the buddy system? Where were his friends? They all let him walk home alone? How did all of the rest of the partiers get home that night? Did they all walk that same dirt path? Did they drive? From 100 people at the party no one was around Todd when he was walking this dirt path home? Isn't that odd? With such a big party you would think that someone would be around. Maybe one of those partiers even picked him up while he was walking along the path??? There has to be someone who knows or saw something and they are just not saying anything. Where any of these partiers ever interviewed? Nothing about that was mentioned in the show either suggesting that it just never happened, but why? They could all be covering it up making up the story that he walked home along the dirt path. Something is very very fishy here!!!

Unknown said...

Im sure they questioned as many people as they could that were there. Probably not too many fessed up that they were there for fear of getting in trouble. Hopefully one day someone will come forward and give this family closure.

Jason Buth said...

If his blood alcohol level was .12 when they found him 21 days latter its not from The night at the party so it is a complete set up cover up job and I garrentee the killer lives on or near that lake I am from revanna and am very firmilliar with 2 track parties I had just graduated high school in 2005 so my prayers go out to his family and loved ones I wish I had the resources to help with the family investigation did anyone check property owners on and nere that lake to see if the owners take those drugs in his system or if any property was sold or put up for sale around that time ?? If incan help in any way please reach out this is a case that should be solved

Thechaoz said...

People do walk and hike at night by themselves. The safety place is the woods away from humans frankly.

That being said it was a damn mile to his house? That's a brisk 15 minute, maybe 20 if it's not as the crow flies.

It's also a small town area and he knew it will.

Someone took him, feed him drugs and booze and discarded Jim.

Probably were stalking the party. Very sick