A South Carolina father, whose 24-year-old son vanished in the Arizona desert, revealed his deepest fears after conducting 50 searches of his own.
‘I believe something bad happened to my son Daniel,’ David Robinson told the Daily Mail. ‘Something nefarious happened. I just don’t know what it is.’
Monday marks four years since David’s mysterious disappearance. He had moved to Tempe, Arizona, shortly after graduating from college and landing a job at Matrix New World Engineering as a geologist.
It was an exciting time for the young scientist, who had just gotten his own apartment and was looking forward to a new beginning but, only a few weeks into his new life, the college grad went missing.
On the morning of June 23, 2021, he was meeting a co-worker to assess a remote drill site in the Arizona desert but shortly after arriving at the job site, Daniel got back into his blue Jeep Renegade never to be seen or heard from again.
Over the past four years there have been a number of leads and strange twists in the hunt for Daniel Robinson (pictured), who was born with a disfigured arm
David Robinson smiles with his son Daniel at his college graduation
When David Robinson got the gut-wrenching news that his son was missing, he immediately got in contact with the Buckeye Arizona Police Department and drove 2,000 miles from his home in South Carolina to Arizona.
Over the past four years there have been a number of leads and strange twists in the hunt for Daniel, who was born with a disfigured arm.
Tempe Police Department used forensics on his son’s electronics and found out that someone was utilizing his home computer after he went missing, suggesting someone else had been in his home. His home had also been ransacked.
‘They were looking for something. They tore up his room. His closet,’ David said.
Another strange lead was from an elderly couple, who said they spotted his son’s vehicle on the shoulder of the road the day he vanished.
The woman claimed she saw Daniel crawling out of a ravine close to 1pm. At that time, his vehicle had not been damaged but, according to the black box that was obtained from the Jeep, the accident happened at 1pm.
When his son’s jeep surfaced things became even more peculiar.
A rancher who was looking for cattle found the vehicle heavily damaged in a 20-foot ravine lying on the right passenger side and the windshield was shattered and the airbags were deployed.
Daniel’s heavily damaged blue Jeep Renegade was believed to be placed in the Arizona desert, according to the private investigator
Clothes and sneakers are seen scattered along the desert terrain a few inches away from the vehicle
Inside were the clothes Daniel was last seen wearing down to the underpants – along with his wallet, phone and credit card.
A private investigator hired by Daniel’s father then eerily discovered 11 additional miles had been clocked on the vehicle after the airbags deployed, and red paint was found on the rear passenger side that did not match anything else found near the desert crime scene. There was also little to no glass inside the vehicle.
The private investigator believed the jeep was most likely planted in the middle of the desert.
Frustrated by a lack of developments over the years, Daniel’s father decided to conduct his own searches of the desert.
Since his son vanished, he has done 50 separate searches with the help of hundreds of volunteers. One search dug up a disturbing discovery when they came across the skeletal remains of what is believed to be up to seven people while searching the rough terrain.
Finding those remains was comforting on some level since it brought closure to the victims’ families, he explained. But it wasn’t David.
‘No family wants to find their loved one in that situation but some form of closure is better than none at all so I was grateful for that part,’ he said.
Robinson is pictured with a group of volunteers who helped in the search for his son in the Arizona desert
One of the people he has gotten support from and calls ‘family’ during this agonizing process is Joseph Petito, the father of Gabby Petito, the 22-year-old travel vlogger killed by her fiancé Brian Laundrie while they were traveling cross-country.
‘Because of the circumstances we are (family) in we say that we are part of a club that we didn’t ask to be in,’ he said.
On Saturday, he is planning a candlelight vigil in his hometown of South Carolina to honor his son, and said one of Joseph Petito’s family members will be attending.
His last search, held on April 12, involved law enforcement and the Arizona Rangers, and though nothing transpired, he appreciated the help.
On his Facebook page Please Help Find Daniel, which has more than 11,000 followers, he provides frequent updates.
Robinson described the relationship with his son as very ‘tight.’ The pair would set aside time each week to speak. Before he went missing, he said Daniel was in good spirits and talking about work and a girl he liked.
On Thursday, the Buckeye Police Department provided a statement to Daily Mail: ‘The Buckeye Police are committed to locating Daniel Robinson and getting answers for his loved ones and the many people who have become deeply invested in his case.
‘Detectives continue to investigate every tip and lead and urge anyone with information on Daniel’s whereabouts to contact us. This missing person case remains open until we find Daniel.’
In the meantime, David, an army veteran who served in Afghanistan, is relying heavily on his faith to find his son.
‘Because of my faith in God I am a person that wants to believe in miracles and believe that somehow my son is out there,’ he said.
