Gone But Not Forgotten: What Happened To Daniel Robinson?
Daniel Robinson was a 24-year-old geologist who disappeared on June 23, 2021, after leaving a remote worksite in the desert near Buckeye, Arizona. A coworker was the last known person to see him, watching Robinson drive away in his 2017 Jeep Renegade shortly after 9 a.m. Nearly a month later, a rancher found the Jeep overturned in a ravine several miles from the jobsite. Robinson was nowhere to be found, but his cellphone, wallet, keys and clothing were still with or near the vehicle. Police said the crash evidence indicated he had been wearing a seatbelt and maintained that foul play was not suspected, but extensive searches using helicopters, drones, dogs and ground crews failed to find him. His disappearance became especially baffling because there was no confirmed sighting, phone activity or financial trail establishing where he went after leaving the jobsite.
The mystery deepened after Robinson’s family hired its own accident reconstruction expert and challenged aspects of the official interpretation of the Jeep. His father, David Robinson, argued that the condition and location of the vehicle did not adequately explain his son’s disappearance and has continued searching the Arizona desert while pressing authorities for a more aggressive investigation. A human skull found during the searches was eventually determined not to belong to Robinson, and despite searches covering more than 70 square miles, his remains have never been located. As of 2026, the Buckeye Police Department still listed the case as open and continued to say it had no evidence establishing foul play. That leaves the fundamental questions unanswered more than five years later: why Robinson abruptly drove away from work, exactly what happened to his Jeep, how he left the crash area without his most important possessions, and why repeated searches have produced virtually no physical trace of him.
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Speaker 1: Greetings, everyone, and welcome to the inaugural episode of Gone
But Not Forgotten. In these segments, we're going to discuss
some of the other missing persons cases that have either
gone cold or are just not getting enough tread in
the legacy media. I think with all of the energy
surrounding Gabby's case, I think that this is the perfect
time to bring some more of these kinds of cases
to the forefront. And you know the parents out there
and the loved ones and the friends, they're all missing
these people like crazy. And I can't even imagine the
hole that would be in my life if one of
my good friends or, God forbid, a family member went missing.
I can't even begin to imagine what that feels like.
And then to think nobody cares on top of it, well,
that really got to be a backbreaker. So here on
these segments, the gone but not forgotten segments, which I
plan on doing two or three of a week, we're
going to try and bring a little bit more light
to these cases and a little bit more interest, perhaps. Now, obviously,
there's so many of them. I can't really do a
deep dive the way we're doing in the Gabby case.
But what I am going to do is the cases
that we talk about, I'm going to pin them and
I'm going to bookmark them. And every time I get
new information about one of these cases, we'll go back
and we'll update that in an updated episode, even if
it's only a five-minute update. Whatever it may be, we're
going to keep track of these cases that we talk about,
and we're going to see where they all go. Now,
of course, I'm not naive, right? There's only so much
we can do. But I think that especially for somebody
with a platform who talks about this kind of thing,
I think it's important that we don't forget the other
people who are missing. And I think it's important that
we bring up their circumstances and their situations when we
talk about this sort of scenario that we see that
played out, unfortunately, for Gabby and now the manhunt for Brian.
But there are countless numbers of people out there who
are still missing. whose loved ones are still missing. And
on today's show, we're going to talk about one of
those people. And this is a case that certainly hasn't
gotten that much attention. And that case is Daniel Robinson.
He was a geologist who went missing in Buckeye, Arizona
on June 23rd after he left work. And nothing about
this case makes sense. Nothing about his disappearance makes sense.
Nothing about the way the police have reacted makes sense.
And it certainly is not cool that it didn't get
enough tread, not even locally. You see, it's very important
that right away this stuff is talked about before it
has a chance to become cold, before it has a
chance for clues to go away. So I think it's
important moving forward for the legacy media especially to report
on this stuff right away. even if they don't think
it's going to get them clicks. Remember, I think that
a lot of people and the media themselves especially have
forgotten their role. They're here to keep the people in
power honest and to give us the information that's necessary
for our lives. And having a bunch of our fellow
citizens going missing with no sign of where they are
or what's going on with them, I think that's pretty pertinent.
At the very least, locally, they should be talked about.
ad nauseum, at least a segment a day about missing
people in each state. But up until recently, we really
haven't seen that kind of energy. So I'm hoping that
with Gabby's parents coming out with the foundation and them
asking for people to be involved and to get more motivated,
I would hope that people would take that request seriously
and that people who have the time. Now, look, I
don't I don't think that everybody has the time or
the ability to do deep dives or start a podcast.
That's not what I mean. But, you know, when you
see one of these cases, repost it on your social media.
You never know who's going to see it. And I
think the power of social media and the internet in
general is very, very, very much a good thing when
it comes to missing persons. So... I hope moving forward,
all of the energy that has been shown around the
Gabby case can be carried over to some of these
other missing persons cases. And as far as I go,
I'll be here quarterbacking some of these stories for you folks.
And hopefully they resonate with you. And hopefully some of
these families that we talk about end up getting some
closure and end up finding their loved ones unharmed, unhurt,
and ready to come back home. With that said, let's
jump into our first article. And our first case, like
I said, is about Daniel Robinson. This is an article
from The Daily Beast. And the author is, the author
is Brooke Lee Howard. This article was originally published on
September 27th of 2021. It's been more than three weeks
since David Robinson's son, a 24-year-old geologist working in Arizona,
vanished without a trace after leaving his job site. Since then,
the devastated dad who's never given up searching for his child,
Daniel Robinson, has grown frustrated by the police's response. And
you see this with a lot of the families of
missing persons. They get really frustrated. A lot of times
they don't want to come out and speak against the police.
They don't want to, you know, maybe cause some friction
in the investigation or whatever it may be. But a
lot of times the families are not happy at all
with the way the police respond. And certainly Daniel's dad
is not happy with the way his son's case was treated.
And I don't blame him. I really don't blame him.
If the police stepped up to the plate, I wouldn't
be standing here now, David Robinson said Sunday. during a
press conference in Arizona that he hoped would bring more
attention to the unsolved case. And, you know, it's the truth.
A lot of times the police are very nonchalant about
missing persons cases, right? Oh, that's an adult. They, you know,
they probably went out and partied, this, that, the other thing.
When in reality, a lot of times it's not that.
And I think that the police need to do a
much better job here. And again, it goes back to
funding and resources. And perhaps there needs to be a
new sort of division created in each state that deals
with nothing but missing persons. We're talking about people here, folks.
Actual people. Not throwaways. Not people who don't matter. These
are people, dreams and hopes and loved ones. And all
of that just snuffed out in a moment of time.
Daniel Robinson said, a black geologist went missing in Buckeye,
Arizona on June 23rd after leaving work. A rancher found
his vehicle, which had his phone, wallet, and keys inside,
in a ravine a few miles away from the job
site in July. Since then, there's been no sign of Daniel.
So that's definitely odd right away. No keys, no wallet,
no nothing. They find all of this stuff in his vehicle,
Very odd. According to the young man's frustrated family members,
the police department's efforts haven't been thorough enough. They wish
their loved one's case would get the attention Long Island
native Gabby Petitos has, and they feel that race has
been a factor in the response to Daniel's case. They
need to do their part when it comes to urgency
and not treat my son's disappearance in a nonchalant attitude,
David Robinson told the Daily Beast. at the September 26th
press conference, they urged the police to do more to
find Daniel. Yeah, they should do more to find Daniel.
And you know what? If I was his dad, I'd
probably feel the same exact way. It is unconscionable that
anyone could or should be looked at as less than
for their ethnicity, their sex, their sexual preference. It does
not matter. When somebody's missing, and loved ones are concerned,
it's time to mobilize. It's time to find these people
if it's at all possible. Not just show up for
a preliminary look around and be like, well, we have
no idea. I think that the same energy should be
shown to every single case as if it was the
people who were investigating that case, as if it was
their own loved one. I know that if I was
a detective, or if I was somebody involved in this,
that's the way I'd be pursuing it. It can't just
be a job, right? This has to be something you
buy into. You're fully invested in. And a lot of
times we don't see that. It took me three months
to look at my son's picture. I'd just seen his car.
It took me three months to look at his car.
Daniel's mother, Melissa Edwards. told the crowd as she fought
back tears. You thought you felt pain? Try looking for
your child and not knowing where he is. That's heartbreaking.
Absolutely heartbreaking. And I can't even imagine for a second
how his mom or his dad must feel. Think about
that helpless feeling in the pit of your stomach. knowing
that there's nothing you can do to bring your child back,
and knowing that it seems like nobody else cares. It
must be a big blow. Over the last three months,
David Robinson has launched his own search efforts for his son,
traveling to Arizona from his home in South Carolina, and
even hiring a private investigator to help. He said he
first called the police about Daniel's disappearance on June 23rd
and was told he had to wait 72 hours before
officially filing a missing persons report. He believes that because
of that, the police lost critical time to find his son.
It took three days until they started the search, he
told the Daily Beast, and again, it's not good enough.
You can't start the search that late, as those of
you who have been listening to my coverage of the
Gabby Petito case... It's too late when it's that many
days have passed. This has to be acted on right away.
Especially if it's a concerned parent calling you like this.
I don't care if it's an adult. Go do a
wellness check. Show up. Figure it out. But again, it
seems like people just don't care. And when it comes
to missing persons cases, that certainly seems to be the case.
There is no energy In these police departments. To find
this sort of thing. To try and locate these kinds
of people. Now don't get me wrong. They do what
they can. Right? I guess. But there's no energy surrounding it.
I shouldn't even say they do what they can. They
do the basic of the investigation. Well you know. The
person's an adult. They might have just disappeared. They might
not want to be found again. They do this kind
of shit. As if you don't know your loved one.
Here's an idea. I know my loved one better than
you do. If I'm telling you they're missing, they're missing.
At first, Robinson was hopeful they were doing all they
could to find Daniel. As an officer with the department
told him they were going to use a helicopter to
search the area. He had gone out and searched the area.
They were going to try and get a helicopter out
there in the morning, David Robinson said. But the next morning,
the officer called him back And told him the flight
was cancelled. I mean really? You can't even get a
helicopter up. Deploy a helicopter to go look for this dude.
And you wonder why this guy's family is pissed off.
I'd be mad too. And it's a shame. That the
police couldn't even be bothered to get a chopper up.
To do a search pattern over the last place this
gentleman was seen. Nah, too busy today, folks. We gotta
go bust some people for smoking pot instead. He said
the higher-ups said it's because your son is a grown man,
and if he wants to leave, he can leave. They
won't authorize it, Robinson explained. I knew right then I
needed to come here and find my son. I can't
even explain to you how annoying that is to read. What,
because someone is a grown man, they can't be in distress,
they can't be lost, they can't be in need of help,
they can't be missing? What the hell kind of police
work is this? Not even an effort was made when
it comes to this case. Not even a real effort.
Robinson has now been in Arizona since June 25th, and
he hasn't given up hope. My aim is to stay
here until I find my son, he said. Robinson has
conducted over seven weeks of independent searches with the help
of volunteers from all over Arizona, cadaver dogs, and drones.
He's launched social media campaigns and worked with the private
investigator to try and find a trace of his missing son.
You know, it's always the volunteers that step up, right?
The selfless folks amongst us, the search and rescue teams,
the local hiking community, the SAR, the SAR people, They're
always the ones who step up in a situation like this. Meanwhile,
the police, well, who knows what they're doing. Not stopping
violent crime because it's skyrocketing through the roof these days,
so I really don't know what they're up to. As
long as they can keep it as a missing person,
the police don't have to actually go look because he's
an adult, David explained. They don't have to spend a
lot of resources because he's an adult. If they turn
it into a possible criminal case, for instance, then they
have to actually do some work. I can't get them
to change that narrative despite all of the evidence my
investigator gave them. So it really just looks like they
don't want to investigate. It's like, ah, he's a grown-ass man.
He can do whatever he wants. C'est la vie. And
I'd like to know where it says in police work
or any kind of law enforcement work that because someone's
a grown-ass adult that you shouldn't look for them or
care if they're missing. Because I don't think I've seen
that part of the manual before. Jeff McGrath, the private
investigator that Robinson hired, said he doesn't rule out foul
play in the crash of Daniel's Jeep, as he believes
there's evidence the car was pushed into the ravine. McGrath
also said he found one of Daniel's socks three miles
from where the vehicle was recovered. Jesus. A sock three
miles from where the vehicle was recovered? I won't even
begin to speculate on what occurred here. But it sounds
pretty scary, honestly. Police, on the other hand, say that
Daniel's vehicle appeared to have rolled off the side of
a cliff and have ruled out foul play based on
the conditions of the vehicle after being found. In a
partially released report, a Buckeye police list Daniel Robinson as
a missing person. The 54-page report? also notes that cops
made efforts to locate Daniel on June 23rd, 24th, and 25th.
It says that one of Daniel's co-workers told authorities that
he was behaving oddly the day that he went missing
and that he was only at the work site for
around 15 minutes before leaving. So, because he was acting oddly,
that just means we should say forget it? Full-on investigation
needs to be conducted here. And whatever happened to him,
that should be uncovered. At the very least, the effort
should be made. Not one cop showing up, taking a
walk around and going home. The primary investigator on the
case spoke with family members, other co-workers, and friends about
his whereabouts. Because large rainstorms had occurred in the area,
police said they have washed away vehicle tracks. The detective
also determined that Daniel had not spent the lengthy amount
of time in the car after it had crashed. So
what happened to him? That's the real question. They'll give
you all the surroundings, right? Oh, well, he didn't spend
time in the car. He didn't do this. He didn't
do that. But the real question is, where is Daniel Robinson?
The Buckeye Police Department told the Daily Beast on Monday
that investigators plan to meet with an outside expert to
conduct more of a thorough analysis of the data from
Daniel's vehicle in the coming days. They would have never
done any of that if the pressure wasn't put on him.
So kudos to Daniel's pops for going hard in the paint,
and kudos to all of you out there who have
looked at this story and seen that it was complete
BS the way he was treated, the way the case
has been treated, and have gave it some shine, because
guess what? It deserves it. and Daniel and his family,
they deserve a real look into where he went and
a real investigation into how it all occurred. Robinson said
his own independent search efforts have been stalled by a
lack of resources. So he started a petition to push
cops to devote more time to his son's case. I've
been forced to start a petition so that the Buckeye
police could start searching for my son again, he said.
Imagine you have to start a petition? To get people
to look for your kid? Unbelievable. I don't care if
he's an adult. I don't care if the person's 60.
Show a little bit of backbone and conduct a proper search.
Robinson believes that racism played a role in what he
deems to be the police department's inadequate response to his
son's disappearance. I know it did, he said. I didn't
want to admit that you want the world to look
a certain way and you want to feel a certain
way in life. Hey, look, you can't blame him for
feeling like that. You know, you see all of the
interest in the news media around one case and you
see nothing around your sons. And it's just natural to
feel that way, to feel abandoned, to feel alone. and
it's sad that he has to even feel that way
at all it's sad a sad testament to where things
are as a society still not only has Daniel's family
suffered from his disappearance but they also say they've been
shattered by racial abuse in the aftermath While David Robinson
checked the area where David's Jeep allegedly fell into the ravine,
a group of white men in a pickup truck drove
by yelling racial slurs at him, he alleged. David said
he recounted the incident to someone who lived in the
Buckeye area who told him to take his family and leave.
I mean, really? There's a real deep, dark place in
hell for people who act like this, and there's no
place for it in civil society. Here's an idea. take
your redneck ass back to wherever you came from, and
shut up. I got people saying all kinds of things, like,
I got your son, I'll break his legs, down to,
we're watching you, we want to see some bloodshed. People
don't know half the stuff that I have to deal with,
especially racism-type stuff. Robinson said he immediately sympathized with Gabby
Petito's family after hearing about her disappearance. He recognized that
she was around his son's age and that her family
must be going through a similar nightmare. On Sunday, Robinson
said the Petito case should be a template for how
missing persons cases are handled in this country. I agree. Look,
there is not anything that Mr. Robinson is saying here
that I don't agree with. And you can only imagine
how he felt knowing that another family is going through this.
And for Gabby's family, on the flip side of that,
They know the deal too, and they're showing that they
care by their foundation and the goals that they have
set out for that foundation. But this just happened, and
it's on national news. It's on CNN. This is running
all day, he told the Daily Beast. I've been out
here for three months and had to start from scratch.
I didn't know nobody. I had to put a search
together that became more technical, have a website, two websites,
trying to put things out, trying to get some attention,
just trying to get Buckeye to do more than what
they were doing. It kind of dawned on me later
on that race does play a part. When you're black,
you have to work twice as hard for everything. That's
what's happening here. I had to work twice as hard
to get media attention, he said. Well, look, we're paying attention, Mr. Robinson.
And over here at beyond the horizon, we get it.
And we understand. And we understand the frustration. And moving forward,
we're going to be talking about all kinds of missing
people here. White, black, anything in between. For me, it
doesn't matter. Your ethnicity, your race, your creed, your sexuality.
What matters is that people and their families are hurting.
And with all of the energy surrounding the case of
Gabby and all of the people who seem to be
interested in this thing, I think that it's the proper
time and the right time to introduce these other cases
into the narrative. So that's exactly what we did here
with Episode 1, folks. And we'll be doing the same
moving forward. Now, again, if you have a case or
somebody who's missing that you would like me to discuss...
please shoot me some email, shoot me a link, and
I'll check it out and we'll add it to the catalog.
All right, everybody. Remember, people might be gone, but that
doesn't mean they have to be forgotten. If you'd like
to contact me, you can do that at bobbycapucci at protonmail.com.
That's B-O-B-B-Y-C-A-P-U-C-C-I at protonmail.com. You can also find me on
Twitter at at B-O-B-B-Y underscore C-A-P-U-C-C-I. All of the links
that go with this episode can be found in the
description box. All right, everybody. I will be back later
on today with an evening roundup of the Gabby case.
That's wild episode tomorrow. And on Thursday, another Gone But
Not Forgotten segment. So until then, folks, I hope you
all have a great day. And I will catch you
all later.