Home
cover of episode Update: Daniel Robinson

Update: Daniel Robinson

2022/6/16
logo of podcast Voices for Justice

Voices for Justice

Chapters

David Robinson discusses his mental and physical fitness during the search for his son, Daniel, and how he balances the emotional toll of the search with the need to stay strong for his family.

Shownotes Transcript

What's something that works so well that it's basically magic? It's summertime, so how about air conditioning? Noise-canceling headphones? Meeting-free Fridays? Well, what about selling with Shopify?

Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. From the "launch your online shop" stage, to the first "real life store" stage, all the way to the "did we just hit a million orders" stage, Shopify is there to help you grow. Whether you're selling trained detective t-shirts or advocacy gear, Shopify helps you sell everywhere.

From their all-in-one e-commerce platform to their in-person POS system, wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify's got you covered.

What I love about Shopify is no matter how big you grow, Shopify grows with you. And they give you everything you need to take your business to the next level. Sign up for a $1 per month trial at shopify.com slash justice, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash justice now to grow your business no matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com slash justice.

In 2020, in a small California mountain town, five women disappeared. I found out what happened to all of them, except one. A woman known as Dia, whose estate is worth millions of dollars. I'm Lucy Sheriff. Over the past four years, I've spoken with Dia's family and friends, and I've discovered that everyone has a different version of events.

Hear the story on Where's Dear? Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics, including violence, abuse, and murder.

This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice. Today I'm bringing you some updates in the Daniel Robinson case as we approach the one-year anniversary of his disappearance.

Now, if you haven't listened to my first episode about Daniel Robinson, go back and listen to that first, or else this episode is not going to make sense. I will have the first episode linked in the episode description here for easy access. But just as a little recap, Daniel Robinson went missing from Buckeye, Arizona on June 23rd, 2021.

He was just 24 years old. He was out in the desert at a well for his job that day, but he suddenly left his worksite and was never seen again. On July 19th, 2021, Daniel's blue-gray Jeep Renegade was recovered not far from his worksite, but Daniel was nowhere to be found.

Unfortunately, the Buckeye Police Department did not act with much urgency. So, Daniel's father, David Robinson, sprung into action. He left his home in South Carolina and traveled to Arizona to begin searching for his son. One year later, David is still in Arizona, continuing the search.

There's obviously a lot more to Daniel's story, so again, definitely go listen to my entire episode about his case before listening to this update. But I was finally able to connect with David Robinson to get even more insight into Daniel's case, and he told me about some very promising updates, including witnesses coming forward to say they know what happened to Daniel.

We also discuss his current relationship with the Buckeye Police Department. We discuss the new Daniel Robinson Foundation, true crime media, finding support in the true crime community, and some upcoming events that you can attend and help with. This is the case update for Daniel Robinson.

This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by CB Distillery. If you're anything like me, my medicine cabinet was filled with things that just didn't help me. I still couldn't sleep, I was still in pain, and I was still stressed out. So I gave CB Distillery a try, and it has been a real change. And in two non-clinical surveys, 81% of customers experienced more calm.

and 90 said that they slept better with cbd and i'm a part of that 90 i've had trouble sleeping for most of my life and after trying every tea every pill that i could get my hands on cbd distilleries deep sleep gummies have actually worked for me it not only helps me fall asleep but it helps me stay asleep which has been my big problem in the past

So if you struggle with a health concern and haven't found relief, make the change like I did to CB Distillery. And with over 2 million customers and a solid 100% money-back guarantee, CB Distillery is the source to trust. I have a 20% discount to get you started. Visit cbdistillery.com and use code JUSTICE for 20% off. That's cbdistillery.com, code JUSTICE. cbdistillery.com

This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by June's Journey. June's Journey is a hidden object mystery game, and you step into the role of June Parker and search for hidden clues to uncover the mystery of her sister's murder. Basically, you engage your observation skills to quickly uncover key pieces of information that lead to chapters of mystery, danger, and romance.

Throughout your investigation, you also customize your very own luxurious estate island. You collect scraps of information to fill your photo album and learn more about each character. But my favorite part is chatting and playing with or against other players by joining a detective club and putting my skills to the test in a detective league.

So, there's kind of two times that I find myself playing June's Journey. One is kind of throughout the day when I just need like a little decompression break, I play a few scenes and get back to work. Or more often than not, when I'm laying down for the night, I tend to play then too. For me, it's a nice way to unwind, decompress, and get lost in a mystery. Discover your inner detective when you download June's Journey for free today on iOS and Android.

All right. So first, I want to ask just how are you doing? Well, thanks for having me on. I'm doing okay. I'm doing as much as I can. I'm really still trying to make sure I'm staying physically fit. When I say physically fit, mentally fit to search for my son. Yeah. I mean, that makes sense. I'm sure that those searches were exhausting. Yeah, they're very exhausting. You know,

mostly mental thing. You know, sometimes we think you're done searching areas out there in the desert. Then there's more to come as well as the fact that, you know, every day is like day one. You know, I always come up empty handed, hoping that I don't see, find my son out there. Hope it's a bit waste of time at the same time, you know, saying if he's out there, I want to make sure I bring him back home.

Yeah. I mean, you're doing the absolute most. I have covered a lot of cases. You know that I have a missing sister myself and most parents don't fight as hard as you do. And that's not to shade other parents or anything. It's just I want to highlight how absolutely amazing you are because you are going above and beyond what anyone probably ever expected. Yeah.

Well, I appreciate that. I would like to say something different. Okay. Cause I bet I have to simply agree. I come from a single parent home, of course. So I, you know, I have made sure when my children was born, I say, you know what? One thing they will have is a father,

And what I believe a father would do is exactly what I'm doing, is to make sure he's providing for his family physically, mentally, and to keep them safe spiritually as well. And these are one of the things I have to do. It's my birthright as a father, and I'm really grateful and honored to do this for my son. I'm definitely not having given up on he haven't given up on anything. I'm definitely not giving up on him.

You're just, you're such a good guy. I can't get over it. You're just absolutely wonderful. Every interaction I've ever had with you. Absolutely wonderful. I do want to ask, you know, of course, my episode, you know, aired back in November. So I have to ask, has there been any updates yet?

Well, um, only thing I had so far, uh, you know, I definitely had, uh, some certain, uh, well sites that my son, uh, the one that he was, uh, uh, supposedly last seen. And that was a one that was north of that. I had those, those well site check, um, myself with a company, uh, that came in and did the, um, um, inspection of those wells, uh, free, uh, for the owners, um, so that I can go into those wells and do those, those, uh, um, you know, search. And,

And in one of those wells north, I do have some questions to believe that something is there. Somebody's hiding something in that northern well. A lot of things that shouldn't be in that well. Tons of dirt was thrown into that well to cover up something. And we're still trying to figure out what that is.

As well as going forward, there's some tilts and things that have come in that we're searching. Had some guys claiming to know what happened to my son, that they was involved with it. And as of right now, like I said, under investigation from myself, I did send those information out to the Buckeye Police Department, hoping they would do something. Wow. I mean, those are huge developments. Yeah.

Yes, very much so. The second one, well, both is very disturbing. One, the well site, like I was speaking of, there was something on the bottom that would appear to be the top of someone's skull. I'm not an expert, so I'm having an expert look at that footage and see if they can determine what that really is. Also, like I said, the tip came in through a Twitter post.

comment section, a guy have a word that he know the persons who was responsible for this been straight up murdering my son. And so I just want to make sure that, you know, those, that's the something that's not a fluke or somebody is just really trying to get me upset or is the something that's valid. So I did bring in law enforcement to try to look into that. Like I said, I hope they're acting upon it.

Wow. I mean, and I know you've had your issues with the Buckeye Police Department, and I don't blame you. Do you think that they're taking it seriously? Well, I have no reasons. You know, sometimes you have to. There's one thing Maya Angelou said, if somebody shows you who they are, believe them the first time. You believe that. And one of the things that I can be honest and say, I had lost a lot of confidence in that department.

You know, I would hope they would try to do the right thing. But, you know, that's all you can rely on. You know, I don't have any other places to go. They're responsible for my son's case for right now. I'm just pushing really hard to have his case removed in a different direction and to a different department where I can feel more safe, feel like my son's case has been handled properly. Absolutely. Is there a certain department you're narrowing in on? Would it be a local department or are you asking more for like the FBI to be involved? Absolutely.

Of course. Yes, the FBI is one of the one of the main goals that I have. I did reach out to the Buckeye Police Department in the past. Many may know, sent Chief Hall a striking letter to him with my attorney's approval. And those things that I pointed out in that letter, the fact that my son went missing in the crime scene.

Here we are doing many, I did over 40 weeks of searches out there. We found human remains out there in those areas. One human skull near to where my son's vehicle was found. My son had been missing for weeks. And so my son went missing in the crime scene. I pointed those things out. My son's vehicle now has been discovered. It's on fire.

federal land. And so I just want to make sure that I can get the FBI into it. So I did elicit that or ask them to bring in the FBI. I did a case review. I wanted to be a part of that case review. They didn't notify me. They didn't bring me into that case review. But I was told, of course, according to the Buckeye Police Department, the FBI feel that I was doing

such a great job on my own that it didn't need to come in. Now, at this point, I haven't given up on the FBI, but my goal right now is to bring in the Attorney General's office, try to go into towards the Attorney General's office and then backtrack back to the FBI.

Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, you have to have, you know, a course of action like that. But of course, it just infuriates me that they say that you're doing such a good job that, you know, they don't you don't need any help. It's kind of like when you do a great job at work and they reward you with more work. It's it doesn't make any sense, especially you found so many sets of human remains. My goodness. I mean, you're out there doing this public service that, you know, in my opinion, they should be doing the

You know, they should be finding all these remains as they as they search for your son. It's it's absolutely insane to me. And I know that you've spent a ton of money, you know, with all these searches and it's resulted in finding these, you know, these other humans that have been lost out there. Do you anticipate needing more funding for searching the well and identifying possibly if that is a top of a school?

Yes, I really do. And I want to backtrack with that as well. You know, one of the biggest things finding those human remains is very devastating to see that someone's loved ones was left out on the ground and in those manners that we found them. However, at the same time, I'm still grateful that God put me in certain places with the searches. The volunteers have been bringing some families, some some some form of closures.

As in for the searches, I did put my searches on pause. I will have one coming this coming 25th. It was on pause for a while due to funding. You know, I'm a very responsible guy. I'm ex-military and retired. And one thing I know about logistics and things, you know, to prepare preparations when you're bringing people out in the desert,

One thing I would not allow, and I do care about the volunteers there, they're like extended family, is to put them in harm's way. They have families as well. We don't need a rescue looking for a rescue, for instance. We don't need anybody injured out there. So some of those things were some of the reasons why I had to pause the searches. But a lot of it also was because of funding, which causes problems.

those things that the volunteers needed as well out there to not be available. So I have some things in for the search that's coming up that will provide those for the, for the volunteers, this one particular search. And then for the future, we'll be trying to gain funding to continue my search. So that's, that is really huge. It's very intimidating. That's areas I'm still searching for.

And I definitely, when I see those human remains out there, they always scarred in my mind because God forbid, if my son is out there, I don't need him lying on the ground in that manner because things get moved around. So my goal is to make sure I get those searches. But at the same time, because the friends of work, for instance, wasn't done on the vehicle at the scene or no friends were done at the scene. I have to also cover that. So, you know, kind of try to balance those two things out to cover both.

Yeah. I mean, I thank you for what you're doing. To be honest, I've wanted to go out to those searches so many times, and I don't think I have the strength to stumble upon my own sister's body. I don't think that I could handle it, to be totally honest. That's why I've never come out to a search. So I thank you. I commend you. You're a lot stronger than me. Well, you know, and I'm glad you said that. You know, Daniel has siblings.

And I have my daughters, you know, one here in Arizona, the other in a different city, different state. And, you know, they came to the searches, came to searches at the beginning. And one particular time in the search, my daughters ran across some cattle remains. And

And they were very devastated. I made it to their location and I just seen their face. One thing my daughter said, I'm glad it wasn't Daniel. I'm glad it's an animal. And that dawned on me at that moment. I said, you know what? My daughters, my children, they're not allowed to come out to the searches because they don't need to remember their brother any other way than what they can remember him as. They don't need to see anything like that. Of course, I'm a veteran. I've been around certain things.

Um, it is even hard for me. So I, um, I don't want those memories to be scarred in my, my children's mind as well as yourself. Like you said, it's difficult to, um, see your loved one in a state that you don't want to see. Yeah. Wow. You're just, you just constantly amaze me. You're just, I mean, you're such an excellent father. I can't get over it. And everyone's just so lucky to have you. Um,

I'm getting teary eyed over here because that's so kind. That is so kind of you to shield your other children from that. I just hope you know that you're amazing. I appreciate that. It's my birthright, of course. It's

It's my birthright, and I'm really honored to do that for my children. I didn't have that growing up. I'm definitely going to make sure my children have that type deal. That's for any of my children. They know that. And it's kind of hard to even – I'm really grateful of your comment, but it's kind of hard for me to –

Think of it no different than what a father should do. You know, I think all fathers would do the same thing. I want to say that really badly that any father would be doing this because if you love your children, you love your family, you definitely would. Yeah, I know that you packed up your entire life and now you're here in Arizona and it's been it's been about a year since.

How are you doing? I mean, how is it being in Arizona? Is it just something you feel compelled to do as if, you know, you're just not ready to go back home yet? Do you have a plan to go back home or are you here for the foreseeable future? You know, I want to say it this way. Before Daniel went missing, we had many conversations. Our conversations are always two hours long. And in this conversation, before he went missing, he was always trying to convince me to live in Arizona.

Hey, the Arizona's does. Arizona does. I just love Arizona. I feel Arizona has enough trees for me and enough water, that type thing. I'm a green guy. I love tropical stuff. I say, son, I would never come live in Arizona. Here I am under bad circumstances.

One thing I can say, yeah, it's definitely not a field trip for me. It's definitely not a vacation. It's a place I really don't typically enjoy, but I have to be here for my son. I definitely, you know, don't have a, I did get that question from family. Hey, David, how long are you going to be looking for Daniel? I don't have an answer for that because I can't,

allow myself or see myself right now, even considering walking away. You know, my son is still out there somewhere. I don't have the answers that I really need. You know, so I definitely have to continue to fight. Yeah, that makes total sense to me. And I think it's important for the listeners to understand that in the summer, Arizona shuts down kind of like, you know, back east shuts down during the winter. It's just, I mean, it's

It's unbearable. I mean, sometimes it gets up to 120 degrees out there in the desert. It's extremely dangerous. So I think it's just important for them to understand that in relation to why you have also kind of paused these searches in the name of keeping your volunteers safe.

And that's right. And they, they family, like I said, people who come out there, I don't care if it's one day, they come out, you know, people give, they all, some people have long hauls and some have short, but they all have, they, they, they come out there in love and they don't know, know me. They don't know Daniel. They spend their times out there. You know, I remember the first searches we started at five in the morning. It's supposed to end at 10. Here we are hundreds of people out there at four o'clock in the evening. Like you say, braving 118, 120 degree weather,

um we don't i don't want to put anybody at risk i remember that that then when i first started of course it was a high urgency thing it was a rescue mission fighting really hard um trying to rescue daniel if he's out there over the months you know of course it became a recovery um it gave me a little time to really assess what's really going on and you know that type thing uh with investigation i

Learn to know a lot of the volunteers out there. We work very hard together. We become like a safe family. So, you know, definitely want to risk anybody once we go out there.

Yeah, of course. I mean, you have such a great network around you, too. It's just incredible. I mean, it's it seems like I see this all the time when you try to rely on, you know, the departments that are supposed to help you, the people that are supposed to allocate these resources for you. And you end up relying on this community that you kind of build yourself. It's amazing.

It's an unreal phenomenon in true crime that I can't quite explain or get over, but it seems like the general public tends to care sometimes more than these authorities. That's how I feel.

And they do. You know, we definitely, when I reached out to the community, they came out. You know, I was amazed. I remember even just something as simple as the city distribution. When I started my city distribution, I just got a thought, hey, just build it and it would come. It's like an old baseball movie, build it and it would come. I really needed to get those flyers out. I remember the first city distribution was,

I got to the, to the area at three or three o'clock at the time. And no one in my purview was there. I went in the car, I said, you know what? I'm going to take this by faith, pull these flyers out and put it on my trunk. And I reached in the back. Soon I got out of the car, reaching the back door to get the flyers off the back seat. I heard somebody say, dang it, Mr. Robinson right there. And there's like 30 people standing there, you know? So I would say sometimes you put things out there and the community and come out there and show off and, and,

really come out and help. They show all the empathy that's out there. And, you know, like you said, it's really hurtful when we try to rely on law enforcement and want them there as well. And then you reach out and you don't get invited to reach back. Yeah. Yeah.

It's extremely difficult. And I know that you kind of have this, or at least this is what I've seen, this team around you. I saw, you know, this team at the vigil. I saw this team at CrimeCon. Am I correct in assuming you have a team around you that's helping you facilitate these things? I know that I spoke with someone over email. It seems like you do have, you know, some good support there.

Yes, and I've been blessed. You know, I have a team, also a desert team, of course, people out there helping me coordinate and get those searches together. However, at the same time, some of the team that you met in CrimeCon, the team, they was out there in the desert. They was all the volunteers. They got together to solve a need. Mr. Robinson is doing so much by himself.

We wanted to see how we could help. They formed a little small team. They presented themselves to me. I saw what their background is and things they were doing. Helped me out ever since. Helped me coordinate things, as in keeping track of things.

track of everything because so much come at me at one time, trying to juggle searches to city distributions to you name it, investigation. They kind of helped me keep those things in order and all as well as my dream and my goal when I founded Daniel Robinson Foundations. For instance, they were there in support. And also they're not just a team. They also are board members. So really grateful for the team I do have.

Oh, that's incredible. That was one of my questions was the foundation. So that's all been set up now.

Yes, it has been filed. We're still in the building our constitution and some of the bylaws. But, yeah, we already filed it. We're ready to get this thing on the road so we can go out and help other families. That's the whole goal, to be able to help other families as well as helping myself with the funding and things I need to get out there and finish, continue to search for my son and also to get those funding for the forensic work that need to be done that wasn't done on the scene.

Yeah, that's incredible. Very smart, too. You know, I think I can imagine why you're doing it, but I would love to just get your take on, you know, why you've decided to help other families. Well, you know, the first thing, you know, I'm out there in that desert. I didn't know anyone. It's very overwhelming. Here I am surrounded by total strangers. I mean, 200 of them at times.

And, you know, you can imagine being out there with the volunteers, their passion, their drive, and as well as some of the volunteers, they themselves have missing family members. And then they share their stories. They start sharing their stories. I'm getting emails, texts about stories of missing loved ones, been missing for years. But, you know, the thing that I notice the most, a couple of things. They talk about it as if it happened yesterday.

And the other thing is a lot of times people don't even know who they are. They don't even have a voice. They didn't have a clue how to get a search start and things like that. I thought about the things that I had to go through just to get searches going, just to get some national or news attention and things like that. So I say, you know, I have to give back. I have to help other families.

Nobody should have to go through or me and my family had to go through. When a person say a person is missing, we need law enforcement to go out immediately to look. So let's provide services where we can do that, where law enforcement fail. So that's what the birth of the Daniel Russell Foundation first began in my mind and also in honor of my son, because Daniel himself will be doing the same thing. He's a person who definitely want to do the right things and he will always look out for others.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

You can earn on hundreds of items you buy every day, from groceries to beauty supplies and even toys. The average Ibotta user earns $256 per year.

That's a plane ticket, a shopping trip, or even a fancy dinner. And they have so many brands, over 2,400. Lowe's, Macy's, Sephora, Best Buy, and more. I've been using Ibotta for a really long time. It's one way that I make every penny stretch. And right now, Ibotta is offering our listeners $5 just for trying Ibotta by using the code CRIME when you register.

Just go to the App Store or Google Play Store and download the free Ibotta app to start earning cash back and use code CRIME. That's I-B-O-T-T-A in the Google Play Store or App Store and use code CRIME.

This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by Quince. I can't believe that we are rolling into fall, but we are, which means it's time to refresh your wardrobe. And luckily, Quince offers timeless and high-quality pieces that will not blow your budget.

like cashmere sweaters from fifty dollars pants for every occasion washable silk tops and more all quince items are priced 50 to 80 percent less than similar brands and they do that by partnering directly with top factories that way they cut out the cost of the middleman and pass those savings on to us at this point i've tried a little bit of everything from quince

and I'm still in love with their 10-Cell Jersey Fit and Flare dresses. Especially in Arizona, it's really easy to dress them up or dress them down and add some layers if it gets colder.

Make switching seasons a breeze with Quince's high-quality closet essentials. Go to quince.com slash justice for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash justice to get free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash justice. Um, you know, and you mentioned media coverage. That was also on my list to talk to you about. What's your relationship like with the media?

You know, I was sitting out in invites just the other day. You know, it's very great. I'll just put it that way. I met a lot of journalists, met a lot of journalists and reporters.

And I didn't realize that it was so many people until I had to go and send those invites. But I can tell you there are some like from Dateline, Mr. Dean and some of the others, Sarah Seidner from CNN, for instance, and some of the others that will actually reach out to you. Back then it was Kumo giving his personal number and constantly contacting.

would make sure that they stay in touch. They just don't do a story and then just end it that way. They'll constantly check in sometimes. Hey, Mr. Robinson, how are you doing? I just wanted to make sure you're okay. How's things going in the search for your son?

You know, so those things mean a lot. And I can't say, you know, my understanding of the media. They have bosses, too. Some of these journalists and reporters want to cover Dane Sturris all the time. But, you know, of course, with the media, of course, they can't do that. But definitely, like I say, the people themselves a lot of times are very passionate about their jobs and about what they do.

That makes me extremely happy to hear. I don't always hear that people have pleasant experiences with the media. In fact, when I went to the vigil, I saw one news van that was there for maybe half the time and then they left and I instantly got upset. I feel like the local news here is they I don't know how else to say it. I feel like they just don't care about missing people.

Well, and, you know, and that's the thing we got to change. That's one of the things I'm geared. That's why I have a petition there to try to make some changes in the way where things are done, you know, especially with the law enforcement. But, you know, with the news, news media. Yeah. Sometimes I think, you know, being a state special like Arizona, California, some of these other states, Alaska, New York, some of the cities where the missing person rates are very, very high. Those will be some of the main things they're talking about.

There should be departments allocated, departments within the departments that is definitely geared just focusing on missing persons. And so those things do need to be highlighted. And I say for families to just stay on the reporters, you have to call them. You have to, you know, make sure they take your loved one's story because we've got to change that culture. Like you said, in a way, they look at missing person cases.

Absolutely. And I've also noticed that you've been, at least it appears this way, that you've been accepting more interviews with creators like me. I saw that you went on the Mile Higher podcast with Kendall Ray, which is a venue that platformed my sister's story in a way that I still can't explain. It was huge for my sister's story. So I kind of wanted to get your take on why you decided to start working with some of these more independent creators, if you will, versus the major media. Yeah.

Well, you know, that's how I started. One of the things I had to do is reach out to everybody. You know, having a missing person, your mind is always on your child or your person. At the same time, I knew I had to keep my mind steady. But yeah, one of the biggest things that I learned while searching for my son is that you have to sometimes...

Make sure you're reaching out to the local media. That's in terms of also doing social media. I think social media platforms are a lot bigger than some of the news media. Sometimes we tend to think that we need the news media more than we need social media. I look at it differently. You see the news medias actually have more

YouTube channels to TikToks and things like that because they're where you get the most coverage. People are always often online and things like that. When it comes to the YouTube channels, people reach out to me. I'm very grateful when they do so. They're showing interest in my son's case.

Everybody needs to know what's happening in the Daniel Robinson case. Some people watch one podcast to another. I can say your platform, as well as Kendall Ray, her husband, Josh. I was very grateful. Very big platform to have there. And it was willing to take Daniel's story.

So when I go on these platforms, whether they're big or small, they have followers. And these followers are people who can spread the word about Daniel's disappearance. And that's very important because I need Daniel's story to get out there because I'm always going to be somebody out there that may know what happened to my son and then don't know that I'm looking for Daniel or they would be compelled to speak out. So that's what I'm aiming for. I'm looking at every inch and every place I can to get his name out there.

Absolutely. I mean, I think I did something like 50 podcasts when I was trying to get my sister's name out there. I was accepting every interview that came my way and just blasting people asking for help. That's right. Yeah, so I totally get it. And I also feel, and correct me if you feel a different way, but...

I feel like these creators can mobilize their audiences in ways that national media can't. You know, I feel like people connect with someone like Kendall Ray a lot more than a CNN program. So they'll listen to Kendall and they'll see Kendall make a huge donation and they'll try to follow suit. I just...

There's something really special about the true crime community versus major media. Do you feel the same way or is that just my unique experience? No, I definitely agree. You know, it's almost like a person that knows their audience. You know, a DJ, let's say a DJ playing music. He knows his audience. He knows what to play, what makes his audience tap their feet to clap in their hands and things like that to be engaged.

A lot of times the YouTube creators are the same way, the way I imagine. They know their audience. They know what the people want to hear and things like that. So in other words, they know there are people that come to their site on a more intimate level than a news reporter would on one of the major networks.

So because you have all types of people joining on that, but you have specific people who look for specific things. So those creators know how to bring that story across in a better way. So I think so. I think they're very more passionate about it because they actually can take their time and stick to one story for a lengthy time so they can get really passionate about

and really engage and really talk about a missing person's story. So I've enjoyed that a whole lot more, being able to engage with the true crime communities.

Oh, good. Yeah. And like you mentioned before about journalists, you know, creators like me and Kendall don't really have any bosses. So we can kind of do whatever we want. If we want to do, you know, 12 episodes about it, we can. So that's that's really good to hear. I'm glad that you've had a similar experience. I found so much community in the true crime community, listeners, creators. I don't think I could have made it through without them.

That's right. That's right. And, you know, I've experienced that as well at the CrimeCon event, for instance, out

outpouring of support uh people constantly right i must i tell you after the kind of race show it um for example um i still have people saying hey i just see you on my higher higher podcast you know and you know they hit me up on emails to text messages you know tell me how much they are really in support and how much they really love me and my family you know so those things are very good they get

good morale boosters and things like that. But I see that community do have a lot of love come from different angles, not just as a kind of rate podcast, but also other podcasts as well. Oh, good. Yeah. I still get people to, I mean, I did a mile higher years ago and I still get people that knew me from then. So it's, it's always, I mean, it's huge. It's really huge. Makes a huge difference. But I know that you have your own YouTube channel now.

Can you tell me a little bit about that and where people can find you? Yes. It's Please Help Find Daniel. That's the YouTube channel. The channel, I decided again to make sure that Daniel, when I, you know, it's almost like something I wrote on Twitter. When the lights go

And the camera go off. I'm going to be there for my son. When the interest of the people fade, I'm still going to be here for my son. And one of the things is, and the reason I say that is because, like I said, sometimes the cycle, the news media had to move on to new things. Um,

Um, they can be talking about Ukraine one week and then they'd be talking about the elections the next week. So things change. Um, when the new cycle, uh, have to, I learned quickly, uh, to keep my, my son's name, um, out there. Cause it's important to do so. Yeah. I had to create my own. I think you experienced that yourself. You say you, uh, been doing a lot of episodes as well. Um, you know, you had to create your own, um, um, um,

media. Let's go ahead and put Daniel's story out there. So the challenge is geared to bring awareness to Daniel, his disappearance, as well as events and things that I'm doing in search of my son. And so, you know, just try to get information out to the people and make sure they're very much engaged. And also, like I said,

It also gave me an opportunity to help other families like I did this morning. I wanted a family I tried to bring on. We had a little technical difficulties. Hopefully it should come on this evening. But I definitely want to make sure other families are able to use that same platform and give them the opportunity as you guys have. But like you're doing right now, give me an opportunity as well to put Daniel's story out there.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that there's something to be said for taking back control of that narrative and not because you don't want the bad stuff to come out or whatever. It's because I fully believe that nine times out of 10 family members like you and I know these cases better than anybody else, better than someone who could research it.

That's right. And, you know, some things that definitely won't be. And, you know, you want to make sure that you want to have things on accuracy, like you said, you know, Q&A. I have the Q&A on the YouTube channel and the Q&A is for people who have high interest in Daniel's case.

And hey, they want to ask questions directly to the source. And I am his father. I want to make sure they get the accuracy of that question, because that's a lot of things I heard out there. And sometimes I just have to shake my head, you know, because sometimes things don't come off as accurate as they should.

It's almost like if you was to whisper in somebody in a full room in a circle and you whisper in somebody's ear and they go around a circle and whisper each other's ear, by the time it comes to you, the story kind of changed. So some of those things do happen out there in the public sphere, but that gives people opportunity to come to the channel and ask some questions and they can get it directly from me. Yeah. Big game in telephone. Absolutely. It's amazing how things get distorted. Yeah.

But yeah, I mean, okay, so you have the YouTube channel. I know that you also have this event at the Capitol coming up this month. And I want to promote that and see if we can get as many people out there as possible. Can you tell us more about that? Yes, my team, again, they help with the kind of like visual. The team has also brought to me the idea of having the Day of Remembrance event.

And the Day of Remembrance is definitely for not just to highlight and bring awareness to Daniel's case, but also to do it for other families. You know, we work really hard to get other people in, like resources like Tempe, the police department, the mayor, Phoenix, also Maricopa County, Sheriff's Zone. Some of those folks there come in also nationally.

NamUs and some of these other resources that would help people who need those, who don't know about those things that can be there and also provide these families the ability to put their person's stories out there. Because a lot of people, like I said, don't even have the opportunity to have a conversation.

their missing loved one presented on any kind of podcast to news or local news. Some of these things go unheard. So this is an opportunity to get those families to be able to come together. We can share our stories. I can also share some of my ideas with these families.

how I started things and give them some ideas on what they may be able to do. Let us come together. They also can do the resources and things like I said. So it's, it's gear for that to bring awareness to the missing persons cases. And like you said earlier to change the way that the cities, special cities, states like Arizona look at missing person cases as well. So we put all that together and make sure that these families be able to highlight their missing person case.

I mean, that is so incredible and so important. I know that there used to be an event called Missing in Arizona, and I don't think it happens anymore. So there's definitely a huge need for something like that. Thank you. Oh, thank you.

Yeah, of course. So, you know, like I said before we started, every episode of Voices for Justice ends with a call to action. So how can my listeners go beyond just listening to the story and helping? You know, is it the foundation? Is it the GoFundMe? Is it, you know, going to this event? Is it everything? You know, the call to action is whatever you'd like to make it.

Yes. The call to action would be everything, just as you spoke. You know, when I first got here, I didn't get the quickness and the urgency that was needed in my son's case. I since then started a petition.

to fight and ask this department to step their game up, to really work very hard to search my son. That since started evolving from trying to get the way that missing person cases are reported. They don't have to wait. They shouldn't have to wait 12 to 24 hours before they can report their missing loved one.

Those type things. So the petition started growing from that point as well as in trying to get the FBI and some of these other organizations to tell my son, okay, so it's been a problem. So I asked people if they can go and sign a petition. A petition is not just a signature. It's actually your voice. You can sign it multiple times with different emails that just amplify your voice even louder. But to help people to go in and if they support the same causes that I have,

as well as they can go and also join the search. You know what I'm saying? We'll have the searches again on the 25th of this month, as well as the Day of Remembrance. The search will be at 645 in the morning, beginning out there in Sun Valley Parkway and Captain's Road. You can find the information on pleasehelpfinddaniel.com.

where you can join in on the search. You can sign in so I can know you're coming. You can get the safety briefing and things like that. So all the information about how you can help with searching as well as the events tab. We do have some events. You can follow the events. Like I said, what we have in this week, we had the Candlelit visual. What we have on the 25th, you can follow that. Also, we have the PDF. I have a flyer distribution. I really need to get those flyers out. We have put out

thousands upon thousands of flyers out since I started my distribution of flyers. We have people who join in what I call the ambassador program from different cities. I can get to send those flyers out to them. They will be distributing those flyers in city-as-a-perspective cities.

I'm in charge of those. And so it's things like that. If you want to, if you can't get those flyers, you can also get a PDF off the website. Please help find Daniel where you can print those flyers out if you want to print them out yourself. So it's so much going on. Some other ways you can help if you're in different cities, you put your information there because I do have a foundation and we do need people for that foundation eventually. So you put your skill sets and things like that.

definitely for the founder. But so it's so much more you can do. Just go to please help find daniel.com and all that information will be there. Perfect. And I will make sure everything's linked to make it super, super easy for people. That's right. And thanks so much. And I want that. I want to mention to also the GoFundMe. One of the biggest things is it's very hard to, you know, I'm sure you probably understand this. I,

asking, asking, hey, I need help. I need help. You know, we think we should get that help from the law enforcement. But unfortunately, I have had to be had to start my own desert searches to do my own investigation. Like I said, it was also called a city searches. Now it's called the city distribution, as well as now, like I said, doing investigative work that wasn't done on the scene. So I had to make sure that I'm still here in Arizona on the ground zero.

fighting for my son. So all that comes with funding. Every week I've been doing for 40 weeks, like I say, we cover over 40,000, 32,000 acres over 40 weeks of searches and, you know, and continue to fight. I had to continue to just fight. So any support financially can help towards that fight. And I really appreciate everybody who have given so far. You the ones have gotten me this far to this point. I'm really grateful.

Yeah, the consumers in this industry are absolutely amazing. But yeah, I mean, you're exactly right, especially with this, you know, this new revelation. Even if it's not, you know, Daniel down in that well, if it's a school, it's somebody and they deserve to be named. That's right. Yeah. And I'm sure that that's going to be an extremely pricey venture all on its own. I can't even imagine the logistics of getting down in a well like that.

Yes. And, you know, one of the things about that, well, I did get an offer. It's going to sound weird. The guy who last seen my son at that well, he could work for a company called Weber. When I went to go inquire how we can get those things removed at well and own a company, they suggested was the same company. And, you know, of course, that puts some hesitation in my heart.

in my mind. So, you know, I'm trying to find ways to get someone out there to retrieve those things out of that will and we can go from there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's tough. Hopefully you can supervise it or have some type of third party come in and monitor. That's right. That's right. Yeah. But either way, we'll get it done. Nobody's going to stop supporting you now, you know? Yeah.

Yes, and I really thank everybody who does. Like I said, none of this would have been possible. I'm going to fight. I think everybody can know about this by now. I'm going to fight for my son. I'm going to be out there searching regardless and doing things, but at the same time,

I would not have the distribution. I would not have billboards from the east side of Phoenix out to the west. I would not have, you know, certain things I'm doing right now. All this wouldn't have been possible without the volunteers and people's help. So I'm really grateful for everybody who's listening and everybody who have done things for me and my family. I really appreciate you guys.

Yes, that's what I keep trying to tell my listeners, that they really can help. It's not just some hopeful wish and a dream. I see it every day. Yes, that's right. All right, perfect. Is there anything you'd like to add before we close out? No, I just want to tell you thank you so much again for allowing me to come on and share Dan's story. I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. Of course. Thank you. Thank you.

Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney, and is a Voices for Justice media original. To hear more stories hosted by me, check out my other podcast, Disappearances, only on Spotify. And for even more content, or if you just want to support the show, check out my Patreon page at patreon.com slash voicesforjustice.

And I know we always miss the little outros when we do interviews, so thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time.