Recent Drownings Just Accidents - or Something More Sinister?

"This is creepy." ... "It's time for someone to start seeing this as a pattern and not just college- age men falling and meeting their death in the water." ... "Can someone please catch this twisted (person)?" ... "The Boston Police may not find anything suspicious about this, but I sure do!" ... "So I'm not at all into conspiracy theories... Until now."

BOSTON, MA - Minutes after divers pulled Zachary Marr's body from the Charles River, Facebook users breathed new life into an old rumor: the 22-year-old's death marked not a tragic accident, but further evidence of a serial killer or murderous syndicate who target young men in Boston, possibly nationwide.

Even after the Suffolk County District Attorney's initial report, which found no evidence of trauma to Marr's body, scores of Facebook users continued to circulate conspiracy-minded questions. How do so many young men wind up in the waters in and around the city? Does the information the authorities won't disclose show some connection?

• Missing Southboro Man Latest to Be Recovered from River
  

Although police have not reported evidence of wrongdoing in any of the cases, Marr's death is not the first to fan the flames of conspiracy in Boston. This is how the theory spread, why it stuck, and its real-world consequences.

Origins of a Conspiracy Theory

Incidents in Boston have provided plenty of fuel for those inclined to see a trend.

In the past seven years, the bodies of at least 10 young men have been found in waterways in and around the city, sometimes weeks after their disappearance. Law enforcement has separately attributed those deaths to alcohol, drugs, accidental drownings and suicide.

Parts of the Internet see a much darker trend, and believe Marr's death bolsters their case.

• Sign up for free local news alerts and daily newsletters for your town

Marr, from Harvard, Mass., was last seen leaving Boston's Bell in Hand Tavern Feb. 13, in the wee hours of the morning. Based on unreleased video footage, police believe Marr then wandered to the Leverett Circle area and, later, fell into the river.

As distraught family posted Facebook pleas to be on the lookout for their lost loved one, another post bearing Marr's smiling picture made the rounds.

When Buell, a former investigator on the A&E show Paranormal State, posted it, over 1,000 users shared it.

Buell was far from the first to share the "mysterious vanishing men" story, published just one week after Marr's disappearance. The blog argues the case of Marr and the other men in Boston goes beyond coincidence, suggesting something "more sinister."

"I can’t claim to know just now what any of this might mean. (A)ll I can do is present the puzzle pieces that we currently have, but I know we are still missing far too many," writes the blogger, Brookline resident Elise Soper.

Soper's post does not overtly speculate about a specific killer or motive, but does run through a detailed list of the similar Boston cases to date. In the blog's comments and on Facebook, readers connected the dots, tying Marr's death to the urban legend of the "smiley face killer gang," the occult, and other bodies discovered in waters from Wisconsin to Philadelphia.

The blog went viral with Buell's link, later dissected on Reddit and other online forums.

It also reached the friends and family of victims mentioned in the post.

When Theory Meets Reality

Seeking connections, dispelling ambiguity, and finding explanations are common if not ubiquitous responses to tragedy, from the JFK assassination to the Sandy Hook shootings. Boston saw it firsthand in 2013, when competing theories arose in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Social media enables an unprecedented spread of these theories. That reach can cross the line between online speculation and families' real life pain, for good or for ill.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which took the lives of 20 students age seven or younger, "Newtown truthers" harassed parents whose children had died with claims the shooting never happened.

Soper says she isn't one of those types.

The 24-year-old said she drafted the blog in part because the missing men reminded her of her little brother, also in his early 20s.

"I see him in a lot of the men that I researched for my post," she told Patch via Facebook. "There was a kind of innocence to these men, it made no sense that they would end up the way they did. It's one of my greatest fears to lose him."

In a follow-up post, Soper seemed taken aback by what she described to Patch as the "surreal" reaction to her initial post -- including, she said, from family members of two of Boston's "vanishing men."

According to Soper, those family members thanked her for the post, while others around the country reached out asking her to investigate other mysterious deaths. Still others accused Soper of sensationalizing tragedy for personal gain, something she vehemently denies.

Police Mistrust

Soper's post repeatedly mentions how hard it is to find the truth when police do not release all of the information. It mentions video footage and other evidence reportedly seen by police, and notes it may never be released.

Nor should it, argue police.

"If it's not a threat to the public, our job is to protect the privacy of the victim and the victim's family," said Rachel McGuire, officer and spokesperson for the Boston Police Department.

As McGuire notes, the BPD regularly shares information about criminal suspects, serving to both protect the public and assist police in their investigations. When they deem information is not pertinent to public safety, officers are under no obligation to share it, she said; decisions are made with an eye toward protecting the integrity of the investigation.

Police take into account tips from the public, and investigators are aware of the theories circling Marr's death, McGuire said.

"Detectives go where the evidence and the information they receive takes them," she said. "They go with the facts, and not rumors."

Although McGuire could not comment on the specifics of Marr's death or other bodies found in the Charles River, the subtext is clear: if detectives saw a pattern or suspected a murder, they would warn the public of potential danger.

Why Theories Persist

With or without Ryan Buell and Elise Soper, the suspicion would linger.

Patch found more than 100 Facebook posts accusing the police of hiding information in Marr's death or sniffing out what they believe to be a suspicious trend, none of which linked to Soper's blog post.

The theory sticks for a reason.

Multiple studies suggest people inclined to believe such explanations are not inherently irrational. Rather, they conform to human nature.

In November 2015, psychologist Rob Bretherton summarized those findings.

"We are drawn to the idea of conspiracy because it resonates with us; we understand the idea of people being self-interested and not having our best interests at heart, and having hidden motives and getting together to do shady stuff," he told The Guardian. "Conspiracy theories extend upon that and tap into these assumptions and fears we have about the world. But we all have them, that’s why conspiracy theories make sense to us all."

In short, nobody wants to believe a healthy young man, let alone several, could die so suddenly and senselessly. They gravitate toward an explanation.

For her part, Soper said she doesn't want to suggest Boston police or other law enforcement are failing to do their job. She said she respects the police and acknowledges they may have information to which the public is not privy.

Still, "Things don't add up," she said. "There are certain hot spots for these events. It's not random. Or it doesn't appear to be."

Even if there is no dark motive behind the deaths, Soper advocates for caution. In her second blog, she calls for a safety campaign that targets bar policies and secures waterfront "hot spots" she has identified.

"My ultimate point is, even if these are just accidents, I feel they are preventable with better safety measures," she said. "And why not make the city safer?"

>> Photo by Alison Bauter, Patch Staff; Photo of Zachary Marr courtest of WHDH, 7-News

>> Quotes at top of story are pulled from public Facebook posts reacting to news of Marr's death