Buckeye Police Department
- Daniel Robinson, a 24-year-old geologist, has been missing for over three months in Arizona.
- Robinson's car was found abandoned in a desert ravine in July.
- Robinson's family has called for more attention from the public to help find their son.
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Daniel Robinson, a 24-year-old geologist living in Arizona, has been missing for over three months.
Buckeye Police Department continue to search for the young man who went missing in late June.
According to Robinson's family, he never went more than 6 hours without speaking to his family or without telling someone where he was going. When they hadn't heard from him in at least that long, they knew something was wrong, Robinson's father, David Robinson II, told CNN.
He also claimed local law enforcement initially took too long with the case.
"I think the quick action wasn't there quick enough," he said.
"From the first day that I arrived in Phoenix, Arizona, I have done more to find my son than the law enforcement agency, whose jurisdictional authority covers where he was last seen and where his vehicle was recovered," Robinson II told local NBC affiliate 12 News in Phoenix.
Robinson was last seen on June 23 leaving his job in Buckeye, Arizona
Robinson was last seen leaving a job site near Sun Valley Parkway and Cactus Road on June 23.
"Since his disappearance, the Buckeye Police Department has worked with outside agencies to search more than 70 square miles in an effort to locate Daniel. Investigators have utilized UTVs, cadaver dogs, and air support including a drone and a helicopter," Buckeye PD said in a statement on September 16.
Robinson is 5'8 and around 150 lbs, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his family to help finance efforts to find him. He has dark brown eyes and black hair and was born without a right hand.
Robinson's co-worker said he was acting strange the morning of the disappearance
When Robinson arrived at work at 9 a.m. on July 23, he met with Kenneth, a co-worker, who told Buckeye police he was acting strange.
According to the police report, Robinson was saying things that did not make sense, like asking Kenneth if he wanted to go home to Phoenix to rest. After about 15 minutes of this, he waved goodbye and abruptly left the worksite where the pair was located.
Kenneth contacted Steve, the project manager, who said no one from the company had heard from or seen Robinson throughout the day.
Around 3 p.m., Kenneth was made aware that Robinson had not been located and was not responding to texts and calls from work and family. At that point, Ken started to look for Robinson in the desert.
Ken followed tire tracks he said were Robinson's near the worksite where Robinson was last seen. Heading west, he tried to locate Robinson as he drove further into an "extremely large desert area."
Police then searched that area for "hours" with no success.
Robinson's dad said all of the pictures from his Instagram were deleted shortly after his disappearance
Buckeye Police Department instructed Robinson II to check his son's social media pages on June 24. Robinson II confirmed to police that all of the photos on his son's Instagram had been deleted since his disappearance.
GoFundMe
Robinson's friends and family reported odd behavior in the weeks leading up to his disappearance
According to the police report, multiple of Robinson's friends and family members, and a waitress at a Waffle House he visited two days before he disappeared, reported odd behavior leading up to his disappearance. Most commonly, he was described as being "off."
On the same day, he had texted his sister that he had an emergency but neglected to answer any of her calls in response, according to the police report.
Robinson's sister also said one time he went over to her apartment and sat in silence for 30 minutes before getting up and leaving.
His dad told police that in the weeks leading up to his disappearance, Robinson had told him that he met a woman and was in love with her. Robinson II found this strange since his son "didn't appear to know anything about the woman."
A co-worker told police that Robinson had mentioned something about a girl, specifically about wanting a woman he liked and couldn't have, but overall wasn't making sense when talking about her.
Robinson had made contact with a woman prior to his disappearance, according to a police report.
Robinson was her Instacart delivery person, and she invited him into her home when he arrived with her delivery because he seemed friendly, she told police. After exchanging phone numbers, Robinson showed up at her home unannounced a few times. He then told her he loved her, according to the police report. She asked him to stop contacting her and he didn't again.
On July 19, police recovered Robinson's car
A Jeep belonging to Robinson was found in a ravine on July 19 about 4 miles from where he was last seen, according to CNN. The police department said the car had sustained "significant damage."
Robinson's cell phone, wallet, keys, and clothes were all found at the scene with his car. Police said foul play is not expected, but Robinson's family thinks otherwise.
"It didn't sit right with me," his dad, David Robinson II, told CNN's Brianna Keilar.
Robinson II hired his own private investigator to help with the case.
Evidence showed that Robinson was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the car crash, NBC 12 News reported.
"This looked like a stage event to me," said accident reconstructionist and private investigator Jeff McGrath told NBC 12 News. "After the airbags came out, somebody turned that ignition over at least 46 more times. There's an additional 11 miles on the car so that tells me the car was driven around after the crash."
-Buckeye Police Dept (@BuckeyeAZPD) September 17, 2021
Local police conducted multiple searches in the first month of Robinson's disappearance
Buckeye Police Department said that leading up to finding Robinson's car, they had conducted four ground searches and two aerial searches. After finding the car, they conducted two more ground searches on July 21, according to NBC 12 News.
Later, a human skull was found, but it was confirmed not to be Robinson's
Police later found a human skull near the site of the crash on July 31 but confirmed it did not belong to Robinson.
"No additional human remains have been found, despite online reports claiming otherwise," the department said.
The Robinson family called for answers
The desert search for Robinson has led to the recovery of "close to five or six human remains in the areas we searched" that belonged to other missing persons, according to Robinson II.
"It has been over two months with no leads or evidence towards Daniel's disappearance as well as failed tracking of his vehicle and phone GPS location that could determine exactly what happened that day," Robinson II said on a website dedicated to finding Daniel.
The family has offered a $10,000 reward for information that helps to find Robinson. They have also set up a GoFundMe that has amassed nearly $130,000 to assist with search costs.
David Robinson II said he wished his son's case got as much national attention as Gabby Petito's
On September 23, Robinson II told CNN that he has sympathy for the family of Petito, a 22-year-old who was missing for several days before she was found dead near Grand Teton National Park on September 19, but wishes his son, who is Black, had as much national attention.
"You wish you lived in a world where everything was equal but it's really not equal," he told CNN.
He said it's "hurtful" to see the case involving Petito, who was a young white woman, receive nationwide attention while he's been searching for his son for months.
Anyone with information relating to Robinson is urged to call Buckeye PD at 623-349-6400.