FOX44NOW.COM - Burlington/Plattsburgh News, Weather and SportsSmiley Face Found During Search For Nicholas Garza

Smiley Face Found During Search For Nicholas Garza

New details in the case of a missing Middlebury College student.  Nicholas Garza's mother tells Fox44 News volunteer searchers came across smiley face graffiti she believes could link her son's disappearance to dozens of other deaths around the country.

The utility shed door a little ways from the river in downtown Middlebury has been scrubbed clean, but's it's where searchers say they unknowingly took pictures of the smiley while combing this bank for clues a week and a half ago.  It wasn't until days later they realized what they may have seen.  Two New York detectives went on "Good Morning America" to tell the country their theory about a nationwide band called the "smiley face killers".

"When you're walking around you notice there's graffiti but you're not paying attention to what's out there," Nicholas' mother, Natalie Garza said.

Tirelessly, Natalie has been scouring the Middlebury area since mid-February, looking for any signs of her missing son.

"It was here...the picture was here," Natalie said.

Now volunteer searchers have come forward with pictures of a haunting picture.  A smiley face nearly identical to graffiti found near a drowning in Penn, and similar to other markings found near where more than 40 bodies have been discovered across eleven other states.

"I feel it's a possibility I know the police have no clues what-so ever to me it's just unbelievable," Natalie said.

But Middlebury police discount the graffiti, saying it's an old mark that's been on the building at least two years.  Still Natalie keeps looking for answers and following new trains of thought.

"Nick didn't walk off this campus and he was in his right frame of mid and I believe some body knows what happened to my son that night," Natalie said.

Middlebury police say they're still following up on all leads, even if they don't think this smiley face means anything.  But they are focusing their search efforts on the water -- after an airplane took pictures of what looked like a body a few weeks ago.

The searchers who took the pictures are now working to put up a website about missing persons in Vermont.