EAST DUBUQUE, ILL. - A national cold case investigation of suspicious drowning deaths is raising questions about a two-year-old missing man case from East Dubuque, Illinois.

A story that aired Monday morning on Good Morning America (GMA), seen on TV9, investigated claims that as many as 40 men from 11 states who got drunk and allegedly later drowned were actually killed by someone.

One of the cases cited in this national network story was that of Matthew Kruziki in East Dubuque.

Kruziki was a 24-year-old from Wisconsin who disappeared Christmas Eve night 2005. He was seen in a number of bars in East Dubuque and then simply disappeared. Friends believed he was walking back to a hotel in Dubuque from the East Dubuque bars.

That disappearance triggered a massive search that included as many as 100 law enforcement officers. Many of those officers volunteered to help because Bill Kruziki, the victim's father, was a U.S. Marshal from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The search ended nearly three months later when Kruziki's body was found in the Mississippi River. An Illinois coroner ruled Kruziki was legally drunk at the time he died an also had marijuana in his system. The cause of death was drowning but the coroner never concluded if it happened because of an accident, suicide or an intentional act by someone else.

The GMA report said two retired detectives from New York City became interested in a number of similar cases in 25 different cities where authorities concluded young men died accidentally after a night of drinking.

Those investigators believe someone, perhaps a serial killer, had killed the men by dragging their bodies to lakes or rivers when they were too intoxicated to resist.

One bit of evidence cited was allegedly finding "smiley" faces drawn near where a number of the bodies were put in the water. Another clue was the word "sinsinawa" found written in graffiti near where a Michigan drowning victim was discovered.

The GMA report said those detectives went to East Dubuque to investigate the Kruziki case and found a smiley face and also "Sinsinawa Avenue" a man street in East Dubuque. They concluded Kruziki may be connected to the other deaths.

TV9 contacted East Dubuque Police Chief Steve O'Connell, the lead investigator in the two-year-old case. O'Connell said those retired detectives mentioned have never talked to him about any information concerning Kruziki.

O'Connell said Sinsinawa Avenue in East Dubuque is a street where bars are located and Kruziki was last seen alive. But it is not a street next to the river where the body was eventually recovered.

O'Connell also said in spite of dozens of investigators on the scene over days and weeks, no officer even mentioned a "smiley" face.

"Because we were searching in such a remote location and the time of year and such I would like to think if somebody saw a fresh smiley face it would have been brought to somebody's attention," O'Connell said.

The East Dubuque chief says unless new information comes forward he does not anticipate reopening the Kruziki death case. Kruziki's father, Bill Kruziki, told TV9 that he has spoken with the two detectives that are looking at all the cold cases.

He said he would encourage those detectives to visit with authorities in East Dubuque and share what they discovered in hopes it might lead to a new look at the drowning.