March 7, 1997

02/16/97: Patrick McNeil, 21, New York City, NY

Patrick McNeill, 21, was last seen on the Upper East Side of New York City on February 16, 1997. He had been bar hopping with some friends, and one police source said he was incredibly drunk. He was last seen at 2nd Ave. and 92nd St. walking outside The Dapper Dog, where he left shortly before midnight. He had told friends he was tired and had an early class and would take the subway back to the Bronx campus. A friend said she would join him for the subway ride to Fordham's Rose Hill campus in the Bronx after she used the ladies room. He agreed to wait, but when she returned he was gone.

Search and Recovery
On Wednesday, February 26, 1997, the NY Times reported that more than 600 volunteers reported to the Port Chester Middle School auditorium in preparation for a massive search for Patrick McNeil. Westchester and New York City detectives said they've scoured hospitals, soup kitchens and even Rikers Island. Volunteers hung more than 10,000 flyers from the city to Yonkers.

Ultimately, Patrick McNeil was not seen again until April 7, 1997 when his body was found 11 miles down river floating near a pier in the East River near the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, over 12 miles from where he was last seen.

The medical examiner ruled Patrick's death an accidental drowning, adding that the young man had a moderate amount of alcohol in his blood but was not overly inebriated when he died. Dr. Charles Hirsch, the chief Medical Examiner, said his office does not release the precise numerical blood alcohol levels, which change depending on how long a person has been dead. But 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.' The final autopsy report also showed that Mr. McNeill suffered no broken bones, head trauma or other physical injuries, a finding that makes foul play less likely. He also showed no traces of drugs. What remains unclear 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. The young man's body had been in the water since he disappeared, Dr. Hirsch said.

Aftermath
On May 31, 1998 it was reported that the owners of The Dapper Dog bar in Manhattan agreed to pay an $8,500 fine for serving alcohol Patrick McNeill. The Dapper Dog bar, at 1768 Second Avenue, now known as the Quiet Man under the corporate name of Rugby Joe's, had five charges pending against it -- including the sale of liquor to a minor, sale of liquor to a visibly intoxicated person and noise complaints -- reported Stephen D. Kalinsky, deputy counsel for the State Liquor Authority. The owners of the bar did not contest the charges and suggested the fine, Mr. Kalinsky said. Hearing rules permitted the owners to propose what the counsel called a 'fairly substantial fine.'

Mr. McNeill's family has filed a $20 million lawsuit against the bar, its owners, the bouncer and the bartender, who was a Fordham roommate of the drowned student. The lawsuit alleges that the parties knew Mr. McNeill was under the legal age to drink but served him alcohol even after he became so intoxicated that he fell down in the bathroom.

More about Patrick
Patrick volunteered for the Fordham Ambulance Corps in the Bronx. He was a junior at Fordham University studying accounting. He grew up in Port Chester, the second of three children, and was captain of Port Chester High School's football team. He worked driving a school van from the Fordham campus in the Bronx to the Lincoln Center campus. In his spare time, he booked acts for TOPS, a university entertainment lounge.

Detective Kevin Gannon, who initially worked on Patrick's case in 1997, subsequently formed an investigative team, Nationwide Investigations, to uncover more facts about Patrick's death. You can read their report here.

Quick Facts
Name/age: Patrick McNeill, 21 (from Port Chester, NY)
College: Fordham University
Major: Accounting
Last Seen: 02/16/97, Dapper Dog bar (1768 2nd Avenue)
Physical Description: 6', 190 pounds, athletic (former football player). He was last seen wearing dark jeans, a green-and-white plaid shirt and brown engineer boots when last seen. His tongue is pierced with a silver stud, and he sports a Celtic cross tattoo on his right bicep.
Recovered: April 7, 1997, East River
Cause of death ruling: drowning
Manner of death ruling: accident
Blood-alcohol content: .16

Links
http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/1997/02/26/1997-02-26_search_for_lost_student__600.html
http://wcbstv.com/local/serial.drownings.murder.2.710715.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE7D7133FF934A25757C0A961958260

13 comments:

Ethan the serial killer investigator said...

I wonder if he can be associated with the lincoln Center campus at Fordham University.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Housefly eggs/larva were found on the groin region of Patrick's body.

Ligature marks and burn marks were also found on the body.

This means that the death was a homicide and that Patrick was deceased prior to be being placed in the water.

CNN Larry King Live Patrick McNeil New Info Clip
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2009/03/27/lkl.smiley.face.killings.long.cnn

New Evidence In 1997 Drowning
http://sfkillers.com/?p=494

Anonymous said...

I wonder what will happen now - if the NYPD will reopen the case based on the autopsy report. It boggles the mind how this was ruled an accident by them (the NYPD) considering that the ligature marks and larvae eggs were present in the autopsy report from the beginning. It's very sad.

Anonymous said...

By the way, the Forensic Pathologist on the show said that Patric had low levels of alcohol in his system - not enough to account for him "accidentally" falling into a body of water. He thinkgs it was a homocide - NOT an accidental drowning. Crazy.

Here's the quote:

WECHT: From the forensic pathology standpoint, with regard to Patrick McNeil (sic), we have a young man who is found — he has a blood alcohol level of 0.16. Probably a third of that is postmortem putrefaction, a quarter to a third of that. So we have a relatively low level of alcohol. There’s no way in the world that this man then accidentally is going to fall into a body of water, because he as a 0.1 or a 0.12 level of alcohol.

Anonymous said...

Nationwide Investigations now claim to be closing in on people of interest and have significant documentation of similiar reappearing names from coast to coast. The team will soon be announcing the motive and the organization to the public.

http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=10128018&referralPlaylistId=deacb58e617aac33e5a9f48f0bf3ad61baaffd1a

Kevin Gannon now claims "Patrick McNeil was not only murdered but [Patrick McNeil] was abducted, held for a period of time, tied to a chair, and BURNT TO DEATH."

Mbaz said...

I read that a credible witness saw a couple driving suspisciously after him, even going as far as saying that they were following him. Wasnt Lacrosse talking to an older couple at the bar before he was found dead??

Anonymous said...

David Paulides has peaked my interest from Coast to Coast with George Noory, and I am baffled by all the facts and details about these cases.. my heart goes out to this young man's family and friends.. Very thankful for David Paulides covering and investigating these cases that seem to have demonic influence as the causes of death and strange placement of all these victims.

gamblour said...

Patrick was a friend of mine since grade school; we grew up together in Port Chester. His death haunts me to this day and I hope before I see him again in heaven we learn the truth of what actually happened to him.

Unknown said...

I have only read 2 cases so far with the prior being Patrick McNeil. In regards to this case my big question is has the passerby who yelled "99 Nashua Street." come forward? I mean this would be the last person to see him alive right? He asked where he was so this person obviously saw him. This Charles River, is it instantly deep where if you trip and fall in, it`s passed your head or is there some shallow area to it? If he were to hit his head falling in I would think blunt trauma would be found right? When a case logically does not fit right like this one I can`t help wonder if any info given is incorrect. All it takes is one witness to mislead us with a false statement and it becomes difficult to put facts together or draw the right conclusion. Facts we know of are he went to the game, how he arrived to the game and who he arrived with. Fact is he told people he was tired, too tired to stay. That could easily bee just an excuse to leave for any number of reasons. My wife yells at me to come home I don`t so much say to a group of people that I`m whipped and gotta go..lol Just saying he used being tired as an excuse to leave this does not make it fact that he was indeed tired. We can`t make logical sense out of this case because something is missing or something is incorrect for logical theories to take place.

Alyosha Karamazov said...

I've been following David Paulides and his investigations for awhile now. Your friend Patrick's case is definitely not solved. Any new info you can share?

Alyosha Karamazov said...

I've been following David Paulides and his investigations for awhile now. Your friend Patrick's case is definitely not solved. Any new info you can share?

Dickwannasuckitoff said...

Wow. Over 335 good guys are dead and the fbi says its nothing. Right. Well thats why indont trust anyone. It has to be connected!!! May their families find closure soon. God bless them all.