The Unsolved Disappearance of Daniel Robinson and the Search for Answers

Imagine being thrust into a real-life mystery, where the sands of the Arizona desert hold the secrets to a young man's inexplicable disappearance. We trace the baffling journey of Daniel Cornelius Robinson, a 24-year-old hydrogeologist whose vanishing has confounded family, friends, and authorities. The story unfolds with the last known moments of Daniel, piecing together his final encounters. As we navigate through the heart-wrenching efforts of Daniel's family and the setbacks that have hindered the search, the relentless spirit of David Robinson II shines through, a father's love leading the quest through unforgiving terrain to uncover the truth of his son's fate.

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Chapters

• 1:57 The Mysterious Disappearance of Daniel Robinson
• 16:55 Podcast Promotion and Donation Request

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:57

Welcome to Dark Crossroads podcast, hosted by Roxanne Fletcher. This is your stop for all things true crime and paranormal. From the infamous story of the New Bedford Highway Killer to the chilling tell of the Black Eyed Children, dark Crossroads podcast is a truly deep dive into the stories that frighten and fascinate you. All links to the show will be provided in this episode's description, and don't forget to let us know what you think of today's episode.

Speaker 1: 2:33

In 2019, daniel Cornelius Robinson had graduated from the College of Charleston with honors, with a degree in archaeology. His family has described him as an incredibly bright mind who loved his family. Daniel had an innate sense of adventure, but would always inform his family of any of his travel plans. Daniel is described as a 24 year old Black male standing at 5'8 and weighing approximately 165 pounds. He was born without his hand and a part of his forearm on his right side. He did not let this stop him from playing video games or even learning the trumpet. Daniel was just beginning his career as a hydrogeologist and was excited for the future. Right after graduation, he was offered a job as a field geologist with the Matrix New World in Phoenix, arizona. One of his sisters lived in Phoenix, arizona and Daniel had taken a class and flagged staff before he eventually moved to Tempe, arizona. He was working as an Instacart driver on the side for extra income and had recently made plans with his family to visit him in July of 2021. On June 12th of 2021, david met a woman named Caitlin. While delivering for her, caitlin had invited him to hang out at her home with one of her friends. She also gave him some podcast suggestions and the two exchanged numbers and began texting. According to Caitlin, daniel showed up to her home unannounced and attempted to seize contact with him.

Speaker 1: 3:58

On the morning of June 22nd 2021, daniel's father, david Robinson II, last spoke to his son the following day. Daniel had stopped at a local gas station before he went to work. He was meeting his co-worker, kenneth, at a job site. At this shell gas station, he buys $3.83 worth of fuel. This information was discovered later by police triangulating both phone bank and car records. Authorities were able to confirm via grainy surveillance footage that Daniel was at pump for and he left around 7.03 am. When police pulled Daniel's phone records, they were able to determine that the last text message Daniel sent was to Kenneth around 8.10 am that morning. The contents of the text message were not included in the police report. Those who saw Daniel that morning recall that he seemed different than his usual self, but made no comments about harming himself or others.

Speaker 1: 4:53

Daniel did end up going to work and with his job as a hydrogeologist, it meant that he often met with representatives from companies who wanted to drill wells. His work day began at 7 am and that morning he had a meeting with the company Weber. His co-worker stated that Daniel was behaving quite strangely, staring into the distance and talking about things that did not make any sense. His co-worker reported the behavior to his supervisor. Daniel was last seen leaving a job site near Sun Valley Parkway and Cactus Road. He stayed for approximately 15 minutes before leaving. Daniel was last seen around 9 am.

Speaker 1: 5:32

According to a police report, daniel's co-worker, ken, was made aware that Daniel had not been located yet. He was also informed that Daniel had not contacted any of his family. Ken got into his vehicle and began searching for David. He told police that the road runs north and south and if you head south it comes to a T intersection. If you were to turn east, that would be going in the same direction where Daniel and Ken had come from. Earlier that day, ken noticed that Daniel's tire marks were going westbound where that intersection turns into vast desert terrain. Ken followed the path trying to find Daniel, but was unsuccessful. Daniel's friend contacts his sister after they both could not make contact with him. Daniel's father, david, was then contacted. He contacts the Buckeye police but is told he must wait 12 hours before reporting him missing. However, in any jurisdiction, the concept of a 12 or 24 hour waiting period to report a missing person is a fallacy. Those hours are the most important time to search for a missing person. Daniel was officially reported missing at approximately 7pm on June 23rd of 2021.

Speaker 1: 6:44

According to new information released by Buckeye police, daniel's phone had stopped pinging at 10.30am. The Buckeye police start following up on information provided by David that Daniel may have had the on-star system or the Uconnect system. This could potentially allow authorities to find Daniel's vehicle location. However, when police contacted on-star, they were told that Daniel's 2017 Jeep Renegade would not have that system. When authorities spoke to the Uconnect, daniel was listed in the system, but no account was ever officially created. The officer was able to activate Daniel's account in hopes that would reveal the location of his car. Shortly after the police activated Daniel's Uconnect, they received an email showing information to Daniel's vehicle's location. However, the GPS location that was showing was 0 slash 0. Authorities did also try to triangulate the cell phone records, but it provided no new information regarding the location of both Daniel or his car. Buckeye police officers Thatcher and Cruz called Daniel's cell phone for a second time, but there is no answer.

Speaker 1: 7:51

Daniel was supposed to work the day after his disappearance and did not show up. Buckeye police received updated phone records from AT&T and the records show only five outgoing text messages before Daniel's disappearance. However, the content of these messages were also not included in the report. At this time, david was living in South Carolina and drove all the way to Arizona to help search for his son. He arrived in Arizona by June 26 and wasted absolutely no time to aid in the investigation in any way that he possibly could. Several foot and aerial searches were conducted in the desert, but it uncovered no new information related to Daniel's case. Missing persons posters were also handed out amongst the local community. During some of these searches. Authorities were able to find remains on several occasions and, according to the Buckeye police department, a skull was found not far from the crash site of Daniel's car. The remains were brought in to the medical examiner's office for further examination and later all remains were discovered to not be that of Daniel.

Speaker 1: 8:56

The Buckeye police department made contact with the manager of Daniel's apartment complex. Daniel's family had tried to gain entry into his apartment in hopes of finding any new information or clues. However, the management staff did not grant them access. Per the police report, however, the manager did grant the Tempe police access for a welfare check and it was noted that Daniel's job had paid his rent. When authorities went inside, no items seemed to be out of place or missing. The common areas were seemingly clean and well kept. There was no sign of foul play inside of the apartment. It was suggested that the police request an aerial search be done by the Civil Air Patrol search and rescue assistance. Four searches over six hours, including sending a second plane the next day, unfortunately leading to no new information being found.

Speaker 1: 9:47

Daniel's 2017 Blue Jeep Renegade was eventually discovered in a ravine by a local rancher. It was found only a few miles from the last known location. Detectives were sent to the scene. They discovered there a pair of jeans inside out, two brown worktight boots, a faded orange vest with the company logo, a t-shirt and two socks that were inside out. According to the police report, the vehicle quote had significant damage and a peer job had a front impact with the dirt enrolled before resting on the passenger side. One piece of the jeep's black removable roof was on the ground, partially wedged under the front of the jeep. The driver's front window was shattered and glass was found on the ground consistent with the jeep rolling one time. There was also substantial damage to the lower front end and damage to the top of the windshield and roof. All of the interior airbags appeared to have been deployed. Despite the family's wishes, no forensic testing was done on the scene because no blood was found at the scene, including Daniel not being found.

Speaker 1: 10:58

Following learning of all the information discovered at the crash site, the family hired Jeff McGrath, a private investigator. Jeff had felt that the car's damage did not accurately represent the terrain in which it was found. Upon downloading the car's airbag control module, it was determined that the car was started at least 40 plus times after the airbags had already been deployed. There was an additional 11 miles on the car since the airbags deployed, implying that the car was driven around after it had crashed. The system also showed that the car was likely crashed around 1pm. This was nearly 4 hours after he was last seen. Multiple areas of Daniel's car were swapped for touch DNA. Authorities took both wet and dry swabs of inside the handle of the driver's side door, the steering wheel, gear shifter and push start button. Rear view mirrors of the vehicle were swapped, the driver's side seatbelt, and all results of this testing has not been released publicly.

Speaker 1: 12:03

The family goes on to hold their own press conference outside of the Buckeye Police Department, alongside local community leaders, to draw more media attention to Daniel's case. A volunteer led search uncovered human remains. The family announced on Twitter at Please Help Find 4 that the remains do not belong to Daniel, but David was hopeful that it would provide closure for another family. On November 23rd of 2021, the FBI was eventually briefed on Daniel's case. The Robinson family hold a public press conference and David Robinson announces that he had contacted the Buckeye Police Department chief hall. In a letter, the chief replied stating that he personally contacted the FBI to join the search efforts. David also announces a new phase of his search, asking the public and his volunteers to reach out to local mental health facilities and homeless shelters in their search for Daniel.

Speaker 1: 12:58

David attended CrimeCon in 2022, which was held in Las Vegas, nevada, as a featured speaker. His talk was titled A Father's Fight David Robinson's Search for His Missing Son, daniel. He discussed Daniel's case, the ongoing work he and his team were doing and highlights the Daniel Robinson Foundation. David Robinson, along with other families with missing loved ones, gather for a day of remembrance on September 10th of 2022. To this day, the Robinson family is still actively searching for Daniel. While several sets of remains were found while searching for him, none of them matched Daniel. His father has participated in numerous news, media and podcast interviews in hopes of raising awareness for his case. He also conducts frequent searches of the desert area where Daniel had gone missing.

Speaker 1: 13:50

Throughout the investigation, the family had to truly activate for Daniel because the Buckeye Police Department lacked a sense of urgency for this case. The family has created the Please Help Daniel Advocacy website and other social media accounts of the same name to continue sharing Daniel's story and help raise awareness in hopes of finding Daniel. On the Please Help Find Daniel website, his father puts out a statement stating Thank you for your participation in this effort. The goal is to get law enforcement's attention and continue action on Daniel's case. I am working hard in the background to get justice for my son. Your participation will help this move forward. Please follow me on social media platforms listed and on my weekly live streams where I will discuss the mail-in protest effort and how it helps my ongoing fight for justice in Daniel's case.

Speaker 1: 14:42

My work to find my son is not done. I need your continued help and dedication to the cause. Thank you to all who have contributed in many forms to help me continue my fight. This fight is not in vain. My son remains missing. His case is far from a cold case status. I need your help to keep law enforcement from handling it that way.

Speaker 1: 15:02

I am profoundly thankful for the extraordinary team of individuals who have come to regard Daniel not just as a part of their families, but they cherish him as a son, nephew and friend. In many ways, daniel embodies the essence of America's children, which is why I view him as America's son. What happened to my family happens to families all across this country. According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Namest Database, more than 600,000 people go missing annually in the United States. What my family has endured is a reflection of the challenges faced by the countless families throughout our nation's history. No American should be denied attention, action or resources solely because of the color of their skin. This is our collective mission to bridge this gap and ensure that every missing person, regardless of their background, receives equal attention and resources.

Speaker 1: 15:55

Before I leave you, guys, today, I want to throw in my sources for today. Those include Uncoveredcom, buzzfeed, wikipedia Addicted to True Crime Podcasts, method and Madness Podcasts, misty Mysteries, the True Crime Society Podcasts, dateline, voices for Justice Podcasts and the Facebook page that his family had created in honor of him. Alrighty, so it's that time, guys, to say goodbye, but before I do so, I just want to send a thank you to all of my listeners for your continued love and support and for sending in cases that you want covered and stories that you want read on the podcast. We truly accept all stories, including scary, paranormal and funny. Any cases you want covered or stories that you want read on the podcast, just please send them in to Dark Crossroads Podcast at gmailcom.

Speaker 1: 16:55

Thank you for hanging out again today, and if you want any more information about the podcast or cases and stories that we cover, then head on over to the website at wwwdarkcrossroadspodcastcom. There you can find all of the information about the podcast, a link to our merch and also our blog covering all of the cases that we cover. You can also find us on all social media platforms. Don't forget to like, share rate, review, subscribe wherever you're listening to us. You can subscribe to the podcast for bonus information. There is a link in all episodes in the notes that will send you to our subscription page and with that you will get bonus content, discount on future merch and a lot of extra goodies. Every single dollar that comes through donations or through our subscription goes straight into the podcast, helping fund research, and it really helps us out and keeps this podcast going. And with all of this said, please don't forget to be weird, stay different and don't trust anyone.