Detectives Chase 'Smiley Face' Murder Mystery
Retired NYC Detectives Spend 11 Years Connecting the Drowning Deaths of 40 Young Men Across the Country
By KRISTI PIEHL
April 28, 2008 —
Chris Jenkins was a popular student at the University of Minnesota who disappeared one night in 2003.
Four months later, he was found dead in the Mississippi River. At first police thought Jenkins was just a drunk college kid who accidentally fell into the river and drowned after a night on the town.
But for two retired New York City Police detectives, Jenkins' death became the link that connected the drowning deaths of 40 young men usually high-achieving college students in 25 cities in 11 different states.
Chilling Discovery
Detectives Kevin Gannon and Anthony Duarte have been tracking the suspicious drowning deaths of young men across the country ever since they investigated the death of college student Patrick McNeill, who drowned in New York City in 1997. Gannon made a promise to McNeill's parents that he would never give up on his case.
When the detectives took a look at Jenkins' death, they discovered that the position of his body and other physical evidence proved that the college student didn't drown accidentally. The cause of death on Jenkins' death certificate was changed to "homicide."
While most local investigations focus on where a body was recovered, Gannon and Duarte wanted to know where the body went into the water. If they could figure out that location, the detectives believed they'd be able to gather evidence from the actual crime scene.
In city after city, the detectives found a smiley face painted somewhere at the crime scene. The color of paint used and the size of the faces varies, but the detectives are convinced it is a sick signature claiming responsibility for the homicide.
The detectives found the smiley faces in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa.
Gannon and Duarte also came to the surprising conclusion that more than one person is involved in the murders.
"Because there's such a wide range of states the killings are through," Gannon said today in an exclusive interview on "Good Morning America." "Besides the fact that we have multiple victims on the same night."
At the crime scene of a drowning in Michigan, Gannon and Duarte discovered grafitti that they believed was written by the killers, but were puzzled by a word they hadn't seen before.
"We found 'sinsiniwa,' which was very suspicious at the time," said Gannon.
Then the detectives found the strange word in Iowa, where they were investigating the drowning death of 24-year-old Matt Kruziki.
Bloodhounds tracked Kruziki's scent to an intersection near the Mississippi River. The detectives believe that is the location where the killers slid Kruziki's body in the water it was at Sinsiniwa Avenue.
"We believe they were specifically leaving a clue for us or anyone who was paying attention to these drownings, that the cases were ultimately linked," Gannon said.
Paul McCabe of the FBI office in Minneapolis said the bureau investigated some of the deaths late last year and concluded that they were accidental drownings. He said an FBI behavioral analysis, requested by a Wisconsin police chief, concluded that there was probably not a serial killer at work.
McCabe said his office is not actively investigating any of the deaths but would be interested in seeing any new information that Gannon and Duarte had discovered.
Gannon said they were publicizing their conclusions now because they are looking for help.
"Right now really we're out of finances and really can't do any more on the cases. In fact, we looked at 89 cases in totality. We knocked out 30 right away and there was 19 cases that we haven't even done yet and out of those 19, they look like at least 10, 15 of those could be connected," Gannon said.
Chris Jenkins' mother, Jan, like the McNeills and other families, want answers about how their son died.
"The people that murdered Chris have murdered before him and they've also murdered people after him and those people are still at large," Jan Jenkins said.
Tags: Detectives Chase Smiley Face Murder Mystery
Hunting Humans: Serial Killer Stalks Homes Along Highways
FBI Believes There Have Been at Least 500 Such Murders in Past 30 Years
By PIERRE THOMAS and ROXANNA SHERWOOD
May 14, 2009—
Darlene Ewalt of Harrisburg, Pa., was sitting on her patio at 2 a.m., talking on the phone to a friend about an upcoming cruise. She did not know it, but on that hot summer night of July 13, 2007, she was being watched, hunted.
Then, out of the darkness, came an assailant wielding a long knife.
As Darlene's husband slept upstairs, the killer slit Darlene Ewalt's throat, and stabbed her so violently she died in minutes.
"She screamed, 'Oh my God, Oh my God,'" her husband Todd said.
Darlene's family was devastated.
"I don't go outside alone anymore at night," her 21-year-old daughter Nicole Ewalt said.
Nick Ewalt, 24, said he is also haunted by the tragic memory of his mother's death.
"A lot of nights I don't go to bed, I don't sleep," he said. "I just lie in bed thinking about all that happened."
Darlene Ewalt's husband, Todd, said the murder of his wife "devastated my life. I've never felt anything close to that. I felt like someone ripped my heart out of my chest."
This was no ordinary homicide. The FBI suspects it was done by a serial killer, a truck driver using the highways to randomly target victims, to hunt them, kill them and then escape.
The agency believes the man charged with murdering Darlene Ewalt is just one of hundreds of killers who may have gone on similar killing sprees undetected along the nation's interstates.
Police believe Darlene Ewalt's killer calmly walked back to his rig parked at a nearby truck stop and drove away, leaving the crime in his rearview mirror.
Evil Comes to Bloomsbury
Four days after Ewalt was killed, a York, Pa., woman narrowly escaped a shadowy figure slashing at her neck as she was startled out of sleep on her couch.
But 11 days later, on July 28, 2007, in Bloomsbury, N.J., 38-year-old Monica Massaro would not be so lucky.
Around midnight, the killer pulled into a truck stop near her home. He hid in the shadows, moving silently down the picturesque streets in the middle of the night, looking for unlocked doors.
Detective Sgt. Geoffrey Noble of the New Jersey State Police told "Nightline" what happened at the scene of the crime.
"He walks up these front steps and this front door, the door was unlocked, and he walked right in through her front door," Noble said. "He went through her house. He spent time in her house. At some point he ends up in her bedroom on the first floor."
Massaro Dies Alone
According to the police investigation, Massaro was sleeping in her bed when the killer came into her bedroom, but while he was there she woke up. She turned on her light and he attacked her with a knife, police said.
"The first significant wound was a cut to her throat, a fatal wound," Noble said. "The severity of the wound was such that she bled out and died very quickly. After her death, he continued to stab her multiple times."
The killer returned to his truck and left town, not leaving a trace of evidence linking him to the scene, Noble said.
"She died alone in the hands of this monster," he said. "She didn't have time to call for help or run. She was cornered. She had nowhere to go."
First Glimpse of the Killer
Less than 24 hours later, more horror began to unfold in Chelmsford, Mass.
At around 11 p.m. on July 29, 2007, a woman in an apartment complex there saw a man hiding in the bushes and called police. When officers arrived, the man had disappeared.
But a few hours later, Chelmsford police received a frantic 911 call. A man was trying to get into a woman's home in a trailer park.
Kathy Crowley said her daughter thought she saw someone staring into their home, so she went outside to see if anyone was there. She found a man dressed all in black, wearing a mask.
"Looked like a ninja," Crowley said. "Turned and look at me; just wasn't right. He followed me back. Banging on the door. I was totally freaked out. How could this be happening?"
The police arrived in minutes, but again the suspect had vanished. Ninety minutes later, at 4:30 a.m., police believe the same man showed up at Kevin and Jeannie McDonough's house about a mile or two from the trailer park.
While the couple was asleep, their 15-year-old daughter, Shea, was woken up by a masked man standing over her with one hand over her mouth and a knife in the other.
Shea's crying and other noises woke her parents, who came running to see what was wrong. Kevin McDonough was able to overpower the attacker and Shea called 911. "He's big he's like a big guy," Shea told police dispatchers in the call. "He is in my room, he came into my room and held, he put his hand over my mouth and held a knife to my throat and told me if I screamed he'll kill me. & My dad is holding him down, my parents, until you guys come."
Fighting for Survival
"She was told not to make any sounds, she began to whimper and cry. Fortunately her parents were in the next bedroom, the adjacent bedroom," Chelmsford police Det. George Tyros said. "And they heard the whimpers and cries and a few other noises coming from her room, they immediately jumped up and ran to her aid." "We were just fighting for our survival that night," Jeannie McDonough said.
When police arrived, they found the intruder being held down by Shea's parents,. When they pulled off his mask, they found Adam Leroy Lane, a truck driver from North Carolina.
Evidence found at the scene even scared the police.
"There were a couple of knives, large hunting knives, and there was a fanny pack belt that had the knife sheathes hanging from it," Tyros said. "There was choking wire, a Chinese throwing star, and there was a leather mask with the eyes cut out and the mouth cut out, just a horrifying leather mask."
What police found in Lane's truck stunned them even more. They found what appeared to be trophies from past victims and a videotape.
"He had several DVDs, one of them was actually inside his DVD player, which was titled 'Hunting Humans,'" Tyros said. "This DVD is a story of a serial killer that hunts humans."
The killer in the video hunted his victims with a knife.
As he handled the case, Tyros decided to contact the FBI, which kept a database of 80,000 unsolved, apparently random, violent crimes from across the country called the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, or ViCAP.
The Main Suspects: Truckers
The FBI has recently started collecting information about serial killings and assaults happening along the nation's major highways. There have been 500 such murders over the last 30 years, and the FBI worries there are many more cases out there that have not been brought to their attention.
"We were surprised at the number of bodies," said Supervisory Special Agent Mike Harrigan, who heads ViCAP. "When we look at the highway, the highways in particular, and saw 500 out there. That causes some concern, and we think there's many more that just need to be put into our database that just aren't identified yet."
Roughly 200 suspects have been identified, and the overwhelming majority are truckers, he said.
Most of the cases involve truckers picking up young women at rest stops, killing them and burying their bodies hundreds of miles away from where they were murdered.
The FBI's program helps police with baffling, unsolved crimes to link cases that are sometimes half a country away.
Adam Lane: The Missing Link
"It seems to me sometimes suspects are using the distance as a smoke screen to cover their trail," Harrigan said. "When they are dumping a body and getting two or three states away, it gives them a comfort, or maybe a security that it will be difficult to identify them.
"The first thing we do when a case comes in, we look for specific characteristics of the case that we can search on. Let's say that the person was strangled," Harrigan said. "The search would run and it would pull up all the cases."
While prostitutes are often the victims, the Adam Lane story proves that is not always the case.
After getting calls from police in Massachusetts and New Jersey about unsolved stabbing cases, an FBI analyst determined they were shockingly similar, and both weren't far from major highways. The FBI analyst suggested that the detectives in those two locations talk.
After learning that Lane, who was eventually convicted of attempted murder in the attack on Shea McDonough, had attacked a girl in Massachusetts near a truck stop, Noble discovered that Lane was in Bloomsbury on the night of Monica Massaro's death, at a truck stop less than a mile from her home.
He decided to drive up to Massachusetts to confront Lane about Massaro's killing. The interview was videotaped.
During the questioning, Lane confessed to killing Massaro, but he spoke about the murder in a way that Noble will never forget.
"He described those events in detail without any kind of remorse, with callousness," Noble said.
And police had more than Lane's confession. One of the knives recovered in Massachusetts had blood on it. DNA analysis proved it was Massaro's. He eventually pleaded guilty to the murder.
Police in Pennsylvania say Darlene Ewalt's blood is on one of the knives Massachusetts police found when they arrested Lane. In that case, Lane is awaiting trial, charged with her murder.
Her husband just wishes he could have saved her.
"I wish I could have been there. I wish I could have stopped it," he said. "We were just short of our 23rd wedding anniversary."
Tags: Hunting Humans Serial Killer Stalks Homes Along Highways
Here is the info for using the Freedom of Information Act:
Using the New York State Freedom of Information Law
You can obtain the records of NY state and local government agencies (including the NYS Department of Labor and its Public Employee Safety and Health bureau), by using the New York State Freedom of Information Law. This page explains how.
The New York State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) establishes the right of the public to obtain information from agencies of New York State government and its local entities, including New York City. Modeled after the federal Freedom of Information Act of 1974 (FOIA, which applies to information controlled by the federal government), New York State FOIL creates a specific procedure through which members of the general public can exercise their right to see and copy most state and local government records in New York State.
According to FOIL, "government is the public's business and the public, individually and collectively and represented by a free press, should have access to the records of government". FOIL is intended to give them that access. To see the complete text of the law, click here.
This page is designed to help individuals use the law as it relates specifically to New York City, but it can be used for records of any government agency in the state, except references to NYC regulations should be omitted.
What part of government is covered by FOIL? FOIL applies to any agency, office, or department of New York State and its political subdivisions, such as cities, counties and towns (for example, the New York City Office of the Mayor, the NYC Department of Health, or the Bronx County District Attorney). It applies to any administrative board, bureau, committee, or commission (for example, the New York City Housing Authority, the Landmarks Preservation Commission or the City Council) and quasi-governmental corporations (for example, the Health and Hospitals Corporation or the Port Authority).
FOIL includes a separate set of rules concerning public access to the records of the state legislature. FOIL does not apply to court records.
What information can be obtained under FOIL? A. Agency Records
The law refers to all "records" of an agency. Records consist of any information kept, filed, or reproduced by or for an agency, in any physical form. A record may be a document, file, book, photograph, drawing, computer disk or tape.
An agency is not required to create a record if it doesn't already exist at the time a request is made. However, all agencies are required to maintain three specific records in addition to all others:
1. A record of the final vote of each member in every agency proceeding in which the member votes;
2. A record stating the name, public office address, title, and salary of every officer or employee of the agency;
3. A reasonably detailed current list, by subject matter, of all records in the possession of the agency, whether or not available under FOIL.
All agency records must be released to a requestor unless they fall under one of the ten specific exemptions stated in the law. If requested information falls under one of the ten exemptions, the agency may deny the requester access to it. Even if a record falls under one of the ten exemptions, an agency may release it, if it chooses to do so.
The ten categories of information that may be withheld from disclosure:
1. If it is specifically exempt from disclosure under another state or federal law.
2. If disclosure would be an undue invasion of personal privacy. The law specifies what would be an invasion of privacy, but states that other matters may also be covered:
a) Disclosure of employment, medical, or credit histories or
personal references of applicants for employment;
b) Disclosure of items involving the medical or personal
records of a client or patient in a medical facility;
c) Sale or release of lists of names and addresses, if such lists would to be used for commercial or fund-raising purposes;
d) Disclosure of information of a personal nature when it
would result in economic or personal hardship to the
subject, and such information is not relevant to the work
of the agency maintaining it;
e) Disclosure of information of a personal nature reported
in confidence to an agency and not relevant to the
ordinary work of such agency;
However, the release of records containing such information will not be considered an invasion of privacy when identifying details are deleted, the person to whom the record refers gives written consent, or the records pertain solely to the person requesting them.
3. If disclosed, it would interfere with present or imminent contract awards or collective bargaining negotiations.
4. If it constitutes trade secrets and disclosure would cause substantial injury to the competitive position of a company. Anyone who submits information to any state or city agency may request that the information be exempt from FOIL because it is a trade secret.
5. If it has been compiled for law enforcement purposes and:
a) Concerns a current investigation or judicial proceeding;
b) Would affect a person's right to fair trial;
c) Identifies the source of confidential information
relating to a criminal investigation;
d) Reveals criminal investigative techniques or procedures.
6. If it would endanger the life or safety of any person.
7. If it is inter-agency or intra-agency material that is not:
a) Statistical or factual data tabulations;
b) Instructions to staff that affect the public;
c) Final agency policy decisions;
d) External audits;
This provision is meant to encourage open exchange among policy-makers, but does not authorize the agency to refuse to disclose any information under the guise of being an internal memo.
8. If they are test questions requested prior to the administration of the exam.
9. If it is computer access codes.
10. If it is a image recorded by an automatic "red-light" camera. (This exception will expire at the end of 1998.)
In general, the exemptions are concerned with the effects disclosure of information would have, and look to protect privacy and mitigate harm.
B. Legislative Records
FOIL includes a section relating to state legislative records. The law provides access to the following records of the New York State Legislature:
1. Bills and any amendments to them, fiscal notes, introducers'
bill memoranda, resolutions, and index records;
2. Messages received from the Governor or the other house of the legislature and home rule messages;
3. Legislative notification of the proposed adoption of rules by an agency;
4. Transcripts or minutes of all public sessions, including committees, subcommittees, and public hearings, with records of attendance and any votes taken;
5. Audits and factual or statistical tabulations and analysis of material otherwise available for public inspection under FOIL;
6. Administrative staff manuals and instructions to staff that affect the public;
7. Final reports and formal opinions submitted to the legislature;
8. Final reports or recommendations, and dissenting reports and opinions, of committees or commissions of the Legislature.
9. Any other records or files required by law to be made available to the public.
In addition, both houses of the New York State Legislature, both the Senate and the Assembly, are required to make available three additional records:
1. A record of votes of each member in each session, committee, and subcommittee meeting in which the member votes;
2. A payroll record stating the name, public office address, title, and salary of every officer or employee;
3. A reasonably detailed current list, by subject matter, of available records.
The process for requesting records of the State Legislature is the same as under the rest of the law, which will be described in the following sections. Requests should be directed to the public information officers of each house. Specifics can be found on the Resource List.
Agency Records Access Officers and Records Access Appeals Officers Under the "Uniform Rules and Regulations for All City Agencies Pertaining to the Administration of the Freedom of Information Law" (New York City Rules and Regulations, Title 43, Chapter 1) the state law is adapted to New York City. The New York City rules require that each agency designate a Records Access Officer to handle Freedom of Information requests. FOIL requests should be directed to an agency's Records Access Officer. The duties of the Records Access Officer include:
1. Maintaining a reasonably detailed current list of all records in the possession of the agency, updated not less than twice a year.
2. Assisting members of the public in identifying requested records and either making them available or denying access to them in whole or in part, with a written statement of the grounds for denial of access.
3. Keeping a record of each request and when it is received as well as each letter sent by the agency granting, denying, or acknowledging a request.
Each agency must also make available a list of the times and places where records are available for inspection. For New York City agencies, this list is published in the City Record.
How do I make a request? Step 1 - Determining where to write
If you are uncertain about which agency may have the information you seek, check descriptions of the various agencies in sources like The Green Book. Once you have narrowed the possibilities, you might want to call the Records Access Officer of the agency for more information. For a list of city agencies and the name, address, and phone number of their Records Access Officers, see the Resource List. It may be helpful to use the name of the Records Access Officer in the address of a FOIL request, but it is not necessary. If a request is addressed to an agency's "Records Access Officer", the agency will be able to direct the request to the right party within the office.
Step 2 - Describing the Information You Want
The Freedom of Information Law requires that a request must "reasonably describe" in writing what records are being requested. The description must be sufficiently specific so that an employee who is familiar with an agency's records system will be able to locate the records within a reasonable amount of time and effort. The more precise and accurate the request, the more likely you are to get a prompt and complete response, with lower fees. Helpful hints:
- Try to limit your request to what you really want. If you simply ask for "all files relating to" a particular subject, you may give the agency an excuse to delay its response and needlessly run up costs.
- If you want material released to you in order of specific priorities, inform the agency.
- If there are published accounts - such as newspaper articles or other reports concerning the material requested, these should be cited and even enclosed in the request if possible.
- If you know that portions of the requested records have already been released, point this out in your letter. Give information, if possible, to identify that release (date, original requester).
- If you know the title or date of a document, who wrote it, the division of the agency from which it originated, such information should be included.
For your own personal files: - A request for personal records should contain as much specific identifying material as possible, as well as the nature of your relationship with the agency if, for example, you were an employee or a participant of an agency program during a particular period.
- If your name has been changed, remember to let the agency know.
Step 3 - Writing the Letter
The request letter should be addressed to the Records Access Officer of the agency.
- You should begin by stating that you are making a request under the provisions of the New York Freedom of Information Law.
- Make it clear that you know your right to obtain information and to appeal if the request is denied.
- If possible, include a statement concerning the cost of responding to the request. An agency may not charge for inspection, certification, or search for records, but if you want copies of the records an agency may charge up to 25 cents a page. You can save time by informing the agency that you only wish to come and inspect the documents or that you will pay up to a certain sum (for example, $10.00) for copies, and wish to be consulted if the charge for copies will be more than the amount you specify.
- If you are writing for your personal files, you should have your signature notarized by a notary public or a commissioner of deeds.
- You should keep a copy of your request letter and any other written material concerning the request, including any responses from the agency.
See sample letters below.
Step 4 - The Agency's Response
The Records Access Officer is required by law to respond to the request within five business days of the receipt of the request. They may respond in several ways:
1. If the agency decides that the request should be granted, the Records Access Officer must notify the requester in writing, stating the time and place at which the records may be inspected and the procedure and fees for copying of records.
2. If the agency decides that the requested records are exempt from disclosure under the terms of FOIL and should be fully or partially withheld from disclosure, the Records Access Officer must notify the requester in writing, stating the grounds for the denial. This letter must inform the requester of their right to appeal the decision and state the name of the person or body designated to hear such appeals. If a requested record contains some information that is exempt from disclosure and some information that is not exempt from disclosure, the agency is required to release the non-exempt information after editing out (known as redacting) the exempt information.
3. If a request doesn't adequately describe the records sought, the Records Access Officer must notify the requester in writing that the request was denied, stating the reason why and offering to assist them in reformulating the request in a way that will enable the agency to identify the records sought.
4. If a requested record doesn't exist, has been destroyed or is in the control of another agency, the Records Access Officer shall so notify the requester in writing, stating which agency to address the request to if the records are believed to be in another office. Bear in mind that some agencies simply have disorganized or inadequate filing systems and that in some instances officials have later turned up entire records systems that they initially thought did not exist. An agency statement that a record does not exist might trigger some additional research on your part, as well. Can you find news reports, hearings, etc. where they are described more fully?
It is possible that the agency will respond in one of these ways within the five days. However, provisions in the New York City Rules and Regulations allow a delay in the response time on the part of the agency under "unusual circumstances." The agency must still acknowledge that they received the request, in writing, within the five business days. In that letter, they must state the approximate date, within ten business days of the acknowledgement, by which a decision will be made about the request. "Unusual circumstances" means:
- The need to search for or request records from a separate office or facility;
- The need to search for and examine a voluminous amount of separate records;
- The need for consultation with another agency or department having a substantial interest in the decision;
- Any other circumstances in which the agency is unable, acting in good faith, to comply with the time limit.
If the agency then does not make a decision within ten days of the acknowledgement, the requester may deem the request to have been denied, and thus may file an appeal. Note that this rule applies only to to City, not to State, agencies.
Step 5: Making an Appeal
If a Freedom of Information request is denied (or if the agency does not respond within the time frame explained above), the requester has the right to file a written appeal within thirty days of the receipt of the denial to the appeals officer of the agency. An appeal should include the names of the Records Access Officer who denied the request, the dates of the request and denial, the records which were the subject of the request, and your name and address. It is useful, but not mandatory, to enclose copies of your request letter and any response you have received from the agency. Make it clear that you know your rights and expect a response within the ten days the law requires. Be sure not to miss the 30-day deadline.
- You should keep a copy of your appeal letter and any other written material concerning the appeal, including any responses from the agency.
Sending an appeal letter may be more effective than might seem likely, because it brings the matter to the attention of another agency official (the access officer and the appeals officer must be different people), and it puts the agency and the City's Law Department on notice that you are one step closer to filing a lawsuit.
See sample appeal letter below.
The agency is required to respond in writing to an appeal letter within ten business days of receipt of the appeal. That letter must either fully explain the reason that the appeal is denied, or provide access to the record sought. If the appeal is denied, the letter must inform the requester that judicial review of the denial may be obtained in a proceeding under Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules within four months after the appeal denial. If the agency fails to decide your appeal in a timely fashion, you may deem the appeal denied.
Step 6 - Taking it Further - Judicial Review
If, after reading the agency's explanations for denying your request and the appeal, you believe that the records you have requested are not exempt from disclosure, you might want to file a lawsuit. If you think a lawsuit is possible, you should consult with a lawyer who is familiar with the laws governing access to public records. If you are considering the route, be careful not to miss the 4-month deadline for filing your papers in court.
Sample FOIL request letter
Square brackets -- [ ] -- indicate words that must be replaced with the information that is called for.
Parentheses -- ( ) -- indicate words that are optional or wording that requires a choice depending on your particular request.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[your name and address]
[date]
[(name)]
Records Access Officer
[agency name]
[address]
Dear --:
In accordance with the provisions of the New York State Freedom of Information Law, please provide me with (the opportunity to examine and copy) or (copies of) all the records described below. (This request is limited to records produced on or after [date]):
[description of records]
Please place missing documents on "special locate" and notify me that you have done so.
I wish to make it clear that we want all records identifiable with this request, even though reports on those records or copies of the records have been sent to other offices and even though there may be apparent duplication between the records in more than one office.
If documents are denied in part, please specify the exemptions claimed for each page or passage. For documents withheld in their entirety please state, in addition, the date of and the number of pages in each document.
Please advise me of any destruction of records and include the date of and authority for such destruction.
I want to see complete sets of records, but if complete sets of records are not extant, then we wish to see any portion of the requested records that exist.
(Time is of the essence in this matter; if some of the requested records are more readily available than others, I want to see any available records at the earliest opportunity. Please do not delay making any of the requested records available because other requested records are not yet found, redacted, or otherwise prepared for release.)
I expect an acknowledgement of this request within five working days, as provided in the "Uniform Rules and Regulations for All City Agencies Pertaining to the Administration of the Freedom of Information Law," Title 43, Rules of the City of New York, Ch. 1. I expect to you to release the requested records within ten working days of your acknowledgement, as provided in the Rules. I will deem this request to have been denied if you do not comply with the Rules.
(If you have any questions about this request, please contact me by telephone (or fax). My telephone number is [000-0000]; (my fax number is [000-0000)].)
I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks in advance for your cooperation and assistance.
Sincerely,
[your signature]
[your name]
(If you are requesting personal records concerning yourself, you should have your signature notarized.)
Sample FOIL appeal letter Square brackets -- [ ] -- indicate words that must be replaced with the information that is called for.
Parentheses -- ( ) -- indicate words that are optional or wording that requires a choice depending on your particular request.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[your name and address]
[date]
[(name)]
Records Access Appeals Officer
[agency name]
[address]
Dear --:
This is an appeal in accordance with the provisions of the New York State Freedom of Information Law. The original request of [date of your request letter] and addressed to [person's name and/or title] sought disclosure of [description of records].
(A letter of [date] from [name] asserts that, based on Freedom of Information Law exemptions, (all or portions) of the requested records have been (withheld or redacted). The nature of the claimed exemption(s) lead(s) to the conclusion that the records were unlawfully withheld. [Explain why the exemptions do not apply to the requested records.])
OR
(A letter of [date] from [name] acknowledges but does not deny my request. At least ten business days have elapsed since that letter was written, but my request has not been granted or denied. In accordance with the Rules and Regulations of the City of New York I deem my request to have been denied.)
OR
(At least 10 business days have elapsed since I made my request. I have received no response from [the agency]. In accordance with the Rules and Regulations of the City of New York I deem my request to have been denied.)
The above reasons mandate release of the requested documents. I will expect to receive a reply to this letter with 10 business days.
(If you have any questions about this appeal, please contact me by telephone (or fax). My telephone number is [000-0000]; (my fax number is [000-0000)].)
Sincerely,
[your signature]
[your name]
Tags: Freedom Of Information Act Info
