Brian Welzien, 21, and two friends, Nick Young and Mike Wittrup, drove to Chicago to attend a private New Year's Eve party where a former NIU student, Reid Cain, was the disc jockey. After returning back to their hotel, his friends went up to the room leaving Welzien behind near the hotel entrance. His body turned up in Lake Michigan two months later.Timeline
After checking into the Ambassador East Hotel (1301 N. State Pkwy), where the three were sharing a room with Cain and two of his friends, they went to Irish Eyes pub at 2519 N. Lincoln. Welzien, who according to Young, “wasn’t a big drinker,” had four or five Long Island Iced Teas. At closing time (2:00 am), Welzien was ready to go back to the hotel, so he rode back with Cain and his two friends. Young and Wittrup decided to go to another bar with a 4 a.m. closing. Cain stopped outside the hotel to let the men out before he went to park the car, and Welzien "just sat there, then he threw up twice," Cain said. The two other men were already into the hotel before Welzien recovered enough to climb out. Cain pulled away to find a parking spot two blocks away. When Cain returned, Welzien was gone, so he went up to the hotel room. "I never even thought about it. I had no clue till we woke up in the morning," Cain said.
While Cain and his friends were up in the hotel room, several people reported seeing Welzien getting sick near the hotel entrance: the doorman, a bartender, a man parked on Goethe waiting for his girlfriend (a waitress at the Pump Room). Welzien leaned on the man's car for support, police said. When Young and Wittrup got back to the hotel sometime after 4 a.m., Welzien still wasn't in their room, so they began to search the area around the hotel, but soon gave up and went to sleep. When they awoke around 1 pm on New Year’s Day, they saw that Welzien still hadn’t returned and called the police.
Recovery
On March 17, Welzien's body was found by someone strolling on a Gary beach some 25 miles from downtown Chicago. According to a written statement, the cause of death was listed as asphyxia due to drowning. However, police called the circumstances of Welzien's disappearance suspicious,'' and one investigator has said it is ”the most perplexing case'' he has ever handled.
Unlikely victim
Welzien was on the dean’s list, never used drugs, rarely drank, called mother a few times a week.
Perplexing Questions
Police also wonder whether he could he have wandered the few blocks east to Lake Michigan. Crossing eight lanes of traffic on Lake Shore Drive to get to Lake Michigan would be a formidable task even for a sober person, police say, though he might have found the tunnel underneath the drive at Division Street, which is more plausible. A few steps down, a short walk and a few steps up could have landed him on the banks of the lake. To his right, a spectacular skyline view; to his left, a treacherously icy, downward sloping concrete surface, leading to a 15-foot drop into cold water. It happened just two years before when a young man fell into the water off Navy Pier.*
* Note: I have received comments from people living in the downtown area that there is not a 15-foot drop off in this area as reported in some news stories at the time.
Robbery was always considered a strong possibility, especially given Welzien's drunken state, but he his wallet, with money in it, was still on his body. And there were no obvious signs of struggle or foul play, supporting the notion that he fell into the water rather than being pushed or dumped, police say.
Private investigator Don Johnson, who was hired by Welzien's mother and has worked closely with police on the case, wasn't ready to dismiss foul play. "Who's to say he didn't go down there and somebody didn't give him a shove? Did he go down and slip and fall? Who knows?" Johnson said. Brian’s mother said she hopes police will continue to investigate. "It would be nice to know what happened."
Facts of Interest in this Case
Name/age: Brian Welzien, 21
College: Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, IL), finance student
Physical description: athletic (soccer player)
Last seen: 01/01/00, Irish Eyes Pub, then Ambassador East Hotel, Chicago, IL, 2:00 a.m. Recovered: 03/17/00, Lake Michigan
Cause of death: asphyxia due to drowning
Injuries: no information
Blood Alcohol Content: no information
20 comments:
I have just heard this story on Coast to Coast AM. We lost a dear freind the same way, it never made any sense. The police said it was a suicide, but we just couldn't understand it, it made no sense. Below is the story that ran in our local rag.... Man, 22, drowns in Leland River
LELAND - Leelanau County sheriff's officers are investigating an apparent drowning death of a local man after his body after was discovered in the Leland River.
Leelanau County Sheriff Michael Oltersdorf identified the victim Sunday as Chris Hansen, 22, of Traverse City. His body was found in the Leland River by boaters just after 3:15 p.m. on Saturday.
A county sheriff's detective said Hansen apparently fell by accident in the river late Friday night or early Saturday morning. The body was discovered near a state Department of Natural Resources boat launch along River Street, near the Bluebird restaurant where Hansen worked as a cook.
Hansen attended Suttons Bay High School and had worked at the restaurant around five years, the owners said.
The investigation is continuing but authorities said they've found nothing suspicious about the incident.
"There's nothing that would lead us to suspect foul play," Oltersdorf said.
10-28-2005
He had left the bar drunk to walk a short distance home. He had an athletic build, was a computer keek (very intelligent), white man with dark hair walking alone. He fits the profile to a T.
To the author of this blog:
My name is Harry Hitzeman. I am a reporter for the Daily Herald newspaper in the Chicago suburbs and I cover Elgin, Brian Welzien's hometown.
I am working on an article for the paper about how Brian might have been a victim of a possible serial killer ring.
I am hoping to speak with the author of this blog to find out his/her interest in the case(s) and whether the "Smiley Face" theory could be true.
I can be reached at (847) 608-2719 or email hhitzeman@dailyherald.com
More info can be found here:
http://kstp.com/article/stories/s421846.shtml?v=1
I remember when Brian went missing. I never thought he walked into Lake Michigan. He was too drunk to walk, he was in a strange city in the middle of the night and he wasn't wearing a coat. Someone picked him up and he was too drunk to fight back. It wasn't a robbery. Most likely a gang initiation.
BTW, it's Navy Pier, not North Pier.
Did autopsies show death by drowning?
I sensed that at least one of these guys was either smothered or suffocated, so when I read the cause of death was 'asphyxia per drowning' I become worried.
Does this mean there is no water in the lungs? What's the difference between drowning vs. asphyxia per drowning?
They should check out where this Reid Cain has been.With so many missing being disc jockeys,he is an obvious suspect.
The Ambassador East Hotel is not owned by the Omni, at least not at this time. It is confusing when you read the first portion of the article that states "Omni Ambassador East". The tip off was the street name Goethe. This hotel is located in the Gold Coast area of Chicago.
Harry,
did you ever write that article? There have been many more deaths since this one
@Jessica,
I believe this is it:
https://prev.dailyherald.com/story/print/?id=186815
The most telling issue in this story, as in most of the disappearances in which the victim is found months later, is that there is no mention of how long he had been deceased when he was found. Had he been deceased for 2 months, or 2 days? No mention.
When a person dies via drowning during the autopsy they find water aspirated into the lungs. If it were asphyxiation by smothering there would not be water or fluid present in the lungs.
In the case of Brian Welzien, Det. Gannon and experts assert that Welzien’s body could not have been in the lake for 77 days due to lack of decomposition. Welzien’s friends state that he had not had that much to drink and autopsy test indicate a BAC level of 0.084. We know that alcohol is processed out of the body in 24 to 36 hours. If Welzien was captured and kept alive for most of the 77 days he was missing, as supported by the lack of decomposition, how did his body still have any traceable BAC?
My Heart and prayers to the mom. She wants answers. Gee I can't help but think this is a band member or a band follower. Just seems to be after bar hours? I hope just comes to All .seen the Episodes of the Smiley face Killer.
Has anyone made the connection? Does anyone find it strange that the bars name was "Irish Eyes" and that he was recovered on March 17, 2000 (Saint Patrick's Day)? Is the killer trying to leave a clue and be cute?
Would there have been any reason for Brian to commit suicide? The mom mentioned that the dad had died a year earlier in his sleep. Was Brian depressed from his father's death? Did he take something before he went out drinking that night that then made him sick along with the alcohol consumption?
Not sure what kind of friends these were. They just leave him behind and run off into the building without him? Cain the driver was not mad that he threw up in his car? If he only parked the car two blocks away from the hotel, then how long was it before he walked into the room at the hotel? If it was 10 minutes then he parked the car and went to the room. If it was 45 minutes (just an example for making the point) later when he walked into the room what was he doing the other 35 minutes? It would not take that long to park the car, walk two blocks and walk into the room. He could have done something with Brian in that time period. Like walk him back the two blocks and throw him in the trunk of his car. Brian is now passed out in the trunk.
The fact that all three friends do not immediately go to find their sick friend upon Cain's return to the room.??? They didn't ask him, hey where is Brian? He didn't tell them that he got sick and the doorman wouldn't let him into the lobby? If that were my friend, wouldn't you immediately want to go and help him out and get him and bring him to the room? Instead they wait 2 hours until his best friend returns to the room from another bar and then they go out to look for him at 4:00 a.m. Were they that drunk that they didn't get it or was there something more going on? How do we know that the three of them did not have something to do with his disappearance? After all, they did have about a 2 hour window until the other friend returned to the room after 4:00 a.m. They already knew that he was in sad shape when he started walking outside of the bar at 2:00 a.m."It was as if he had turned to jello." So, why run ahead of him into the hotel? Why not help him walk through the lobby back to the room? They knew he was going to need it, right?
Did his best friend check the car at 4:00 a.m.? They just mentioned that they looked for him around the hotel and couldn't find him. Was he in the car at that time and that's why they couldn't find him around the hotel? A gut feeling tells me that the boys know more than what they are saying.
Autopsy report mentioned something about the body laying on it's back for an extended period of time. One of the guys on the "Smiley Face Killers" show mentioned that he would have had to have laid there for at least 12 hours on his back for it to be mentioned that way in the autopsy report. What if they locked him in the trunk of the car on his back and he suffocated from throwing up? He was still sick and he was still throwing up and he vomited again and choked on his own vomit? They forgot about him because they themselves were drunk. The next day when they wake up they go to get him and find him dead in the trunk of the car? They did not know that he could suffocate on his own vomit. That would be one way to explain his lying on the back for a 12 hour period! They could have dumped him in the lake right then and there. He could have gotten hung up in spots of the lake for some time period and then floated on again. Getting stuck again and floating on again until he washed ashore on the 77th day. After all a body with arms and legs is much bigger and more complicated than a duck that can easily float over, under or around debris. The arm, the leg, the trunk of the body is too big to be able to clear tight spots that way. Or they kept him in a storage unit until they could figure out what to do with him??? Or something like that. There could be many more scenarios. An accident??? The aftermath to drinking??? Not planned, but do to impairment the brain not functioning correctly??? Joke gone bad??? Prank gone bad???
Those are all very interesting points. I am a mother of 3 grown boys, & agree above all that those boys have to know more than they told police. They are scared.
Look at the facts. No robbery,injury. I know there's a lot of crime here but ppl don't snatch grown men off the street (& NOT beat/rob them). Last I heard, gang initiation doesn't work this way either. I was born & raised here, done lots of partying in city, with Chicago cops too. This is not a random thing. Guys this age are not considerate of each other or very mature either, I find it odd he dropped them at door. They would park/walk together (drunk & being suburbanites too). And wait for their buddy. Did police check hotel/nearby surveillance? Did they give Cain/boys lie detector tests? If he did drop them at door, why does he put himself last to see him? And what, POOF he disappears? NO. LOOK THERE. Did they test his car for vomit/decomposition? This story doesn't add up because I believe they are looking in the wrong direction.Most likely he died in the car.That explains the (blood pooling after death that took 12 hrs) time boys were sleeping. One or all panicked. One or all took him to lake. One or all will take it all to their graves because they fit the profile of good kids---meaning they know better & are scared. This is just my opinion, & my heart aches for Brian's mother. Love & Light to her.
Giving themselves an alibi? Doorman sees him alive at the time that they arrive. Bartender sees him getting sick in the street. Guy in the car waiting for his girlfriend to get off her shift sees him by his car holding on for support. All these witnesses supposedly saw him and how sick he was. Guys exit the car and go into hotel while he is still alive and being seen by everyone. Strange isn't it that all of these people happen to see him while they are arriving and then he vanishes without a trace and no one is around to see anything or him anymore???
They had a car. With that it would have been very easy to drive down to Lake Michigan and get around the navigation issue of crossing the busy highway. However, smack in the middle of the city even at that time of night, wouldn't someone have seen them, the car, maybe even a camera picking up the activity??? It still doesn't seem like an ideal spot for them to try and dispose of him there??? Maybe why Gary, Indiana was chosen??? Small town, more quiet, more remote than the hustle and bustle of a big city as well as also further away from the main road as opposed to being right up to it from the street. Or even a point of entry somewhere in between that was more remote ...
Brian could not have gotten very far on his own from the front of the hotel if it was truly him leaning on this guys car for support. Did he collapse and pass out somewhere close to their then??? Because the drug in his system had kicked in 100% by this time now. Is it possible to be lying around on the sidewalk or in an alley in that area at that time of the day without being seen by anyone? That day was a holiday. People would have been sleeping in (like the boys did), staying home and hanging out with family or friends. There was definitely some extra time for sleeping off the drug, but January in Chicago gets pretty cold at night doesn't it? Would you be able to survive the night out in the elements in that state? In which case, how would he have gotten from there to the lake on his own. Again someone would have had to have moved him from that spot down to the lake.
This would help out him being dead already before being dumped into the lake. Frozen body being dumped into the lake sinks to the bottom because of the weight. Maneuvers around the lake getting hung up in places from time to time staying frozen in the cold water thereby preserving it from the decomposition. Then in the spring as things start to warm up it starts to defrost and continues floating in the lake to wash ashore in Gary, Indiana. Not sure though how this plays in with the science of what his body should have looked like at this point in time with these new circumstances. Would this scenario have preserved the body enough to make it look as though it wasn't in the water for 77 days?
Whatever the scenario. Bottom line ... someone knows something and they have yet to come forward and share their information. What really happened??? It's been long enough. The mom wants to know what happened to her son. She needs closure. Please be so kind to offer her that! Share the story.
Still think Chris was murdered. So sad
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