The true story behind Will Hurley's murder

On October 8, 2009, Boston was shaken by the disappearance of Will Hurley, a 24-year-old Navy veteran and Boston Bruins fan. He left a game early and was never seen alive again. Six days later, his body was pulled from the Charles River with blunt force injuries and traces of GHB in his system.

While investigators ruled his death as drowning, the case later drew the attention of retired NYPD detectives investigating possible connections to the controversial Smiley Face Killers theory. Oxygen’s Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt for Justice revisits Hurley’s story. It is re-airing his episode on Thursday, September 18, 2025.

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What happened to Will Hurley? True story explored

24-year-old Will Hurley was living in Boston with his fiancée, Claire Lebeau, after having served in the Navy. On the evening of October 8, 2009, he joined friends at TD Garden to watch the Bruins play. Partway through the game, he felt unwell and wanted to go home. Will had called Claire and asked her to pick him up.

When Claire arrived at the stadium area, she couldn’t spot Will anywhere. During their last phone call, she overheard him asking a passerby where he was, to which the man replied, “99 Nashua Street.” Will also told her that his phone battery was about to die. By the time Claire reached that location, Will was gone, and his phone could not be reached again.

After six days of searching, on October 14, 2009, Will Hurley's body was recovered from the Charles River, only a short distance from TD Garden, as reported by Oxygen. Investigators initially leaned toward an accidental drowning, citing surveillance footage that showed Will stumbling outside the arena, apparently unsteady.

However, an autopsy report quickly complicated that explanation. It revealed blunt force injuries, including trauma to his head, damage around one eye socket, and bruising behind his leg, most of which supported the conclusion that Will was struck. Toxicology results added another disturbing layer. As per Oxygen, Will had relatively low blood alcohol in his system, but there were traces of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB).

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Drowning or homicide?

Experts reviewing the case argued that the findings did not fit neatly into an accidental drowning scenario. Forensic toxicologist Sabra Botch-Jones highlighted that Will’s GHB level was well above what the body can naturally produce, strongly indicating outside administration.

Detectives investigate Will Hurley's death (Image via Getty)

Forensic pathologist Dr. Elizabeth Laposata examined the injuries to Will’s face and rejected the idea that they came from a simple fall, suggesting they came from direct impact, such as being struck. According to Oxygen, suspicion deepened when Will’s phone was recovered near 99 Nashua Street. The device appeared deliberately destroyed before being run over.

Another major inconsistency lay in the location from which his body was retrieved. Underwater forensic investigator Rhonda Moniz pointed out that Will’s body was found upstream from where he was last seen. Given the Charles River’s current, this would have been impossible, suggesting his body was placed in the water there rather than drifting naturally.

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The Smiley Face Killers Theory and Will's death

These irregularities caught the attention of retired NYPD detectives Kevin Gannon, Michael Donovan, and Anthony Duarte, as well as criminal justice professor Dr. Lee Gilbertson. The team had been investigating a controversial hypothesis known as the “Smiley Face Killers” theory.

According to this theory, an organized network of killers targets young men, drugs them, and disposes of their bodies in rivers or lakes, often leaving smiley face graffiti nearby. Will Hurley’s case contained elements that matched this pattern of killings. But officially, Will Hurley’s death is still classified as an undetermined drowning.

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In 2019, Oxygen’s true-crime series Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt for Justice dedicated an episode to his case, bringing renewed attention to it. That episode will re-air on Thursday, September 18, 2025, highlighting details of the case.

Edited by Sneha Haldar