A sudden quiet fell over the 50 volunteers in a rural, rocky area in northwestern Buckeye.
A few minutes later, “Clear” was what leaders of a search called out to volunteers looking for Daniel Robinson, or some clue of what happened to how he went missing June 23 last year.
“Hold” is called out by someone a few minutes later. The line of about 40 volunteers comes to a halt again as organizers take photographs and plot the location of the item of interest that prompted the latest stoppage.
Finding mostly animal remains and evidence of humans in the area a short time ago, the group didn’t appear to make any significant discoveries on its Saturday, Jan. 22, morning search.
It was the latest frustration for David Robinson — the South Carolina native who has led searches for his son, Daniel, since nearly the day he disappeared from a work site.
A group of 50 volunteers showed up Jan. 22 to help with that search. David Robinson has been using Twitter, a GoFundMe page, a website and other means to organize Saturday searches of the rural Buckeye area where his son was last seen.
Daniel Robinson, who turned 25 on Jan. 14, was a recent college graduate doing geological work with a partner when he left a job site the morning of Jan. 23, and hasn’t been located since he parted ways with a co-worker.
David Robinson relocated from South Carolina to the Valley to search for his son. He said it’s tough to keep up a positive attitude that some significant sign of his son will be found.
“Every time we wrap up a day of searching, it’s the same old thing, back to square one,” Robinson said after a sigh. “You look out at the desert, and it looks flat, but it’s not, and it can be intimidating. There are a lot of ravines, washes, dips, rises, lots of topography. And we haven’t found much.”
The Jan. 22 search involved about 10 people who brought four-wheel-drive full-size vehicles or various types of off-road vehicles and about 40 people for a walking line search. The two groups covered 226.8 acres of Bureau of Land Management and private land near power lines off Cactus Road west of Sun Valley Parkway.
Wednesday marks the 223rd day since Daniel’s disappearance.
David Robinson has been vocal online in his criticism of how Buckeye Police have been slow to respond to his search, but on-site Jan. 22, he was all business.
Before the day’s search began, Robinson encouraged volunteers to stick together, avoiding getting a person going missing while trying to locate a missing person in the first place. He also encouraged the group to stay hydrated and watch their steps.
The Jan. 22 search involved what Robinson described as more rugged than what Saturday groups have usually searched. The hilly territory involved plenty of loose soil and rocks.
Rebekah Mayes of Phoenix heard about the search when she moved in as David Robinson’s neighbor. The former Midwesterner said she has stepchildren and can relate to what David’s experiencing emotionally.
“I was impressed that it was so organized,” Mayes said of her first time volunteering to help find Daniel. “I already knew it was a sad situation. It definitely gave me a new perspective on what David’s going through, to come and help search.”
Elaine Deveraux of Buckeye has a large Italian Daniff dog named Eggsy she has brought along to help search for clues since September. While Eggsy has no formal training as a search or rescue dog, he’s undergoing training as a service animal and she’s considering getting him training as a scent dog.
“He found a bone once,” Deveraux said. “But it turned out to not be from a human. At this point, it’s about the functioning of the search group.”
Art “Karts” Huseonica of Sun City, an experienced hiker who knows Buckeye and the West Valley well, helps to organize many searches, though he said he’s missed a few Saturdays. Human hip bones and a femur were found one Saturday in November, but David Robinson said those were not the bones of his missing son.
David Robinson said he recently persuaded police to search two wells in the area, though he remains upset there wasn’t more done in the first days Daniel was missing. He hired private investigator Jeff McGrath to help with the search.
Drones with strong camera equipment have also been useful.
Daniel was born without a right hand. He earned a degree from the College of Charleston, and came to Arizona and was working as a hydrogeologist for a firm hired to do field work in Buckeye and was with a co-worker when he disappeared the morning of June 23.
Police spoke with that co-worker, whose first name is Ken and whose last name is redacted from police reports. Ken pointed out Robinson had been to the job site in Buckeye but left in the morning and had not come back. The co-worker said Robinson arrived at the site at about 9 a.m. and it was raining.
The co-worker told police Robinson was saying things that did not make sense, such as asking if Ken wanted to go rest, then asking if Ken wanted to go to Phoenix to rest.
After about 15 minutes on site, Robinson suddenly left and didn’t return.
After he was informed, in the afternoon, that Robinson hadn’t been located or responded to calls or texts from family and his employer, Ken drove along the north-south dirt road that is the only way in or out of the job site.
He told police the tire tracks of Robinson’s light blue 2017 Jeep Renegade make it appeared Robinson headed south to a “T” intersection, then turned west toward an open desert area, rather than east toward Sun Valley Parkway.
Ken didn’t see any trace of Robinson, nor his vehicle, in that desert area. He told police he continued working and he was receiving updates throughout the day from his project manager.
The police report says Robinson’s sister had been to his apartment in Tempe. Robinson was not there and neither was his vehicle.
On July 19, a landowner spotted Robinson’s Jeep Renegade in a ravine. Because of the rough terrain, the vehicle had not been clearly visible to crews searching by air and on foot.
Tests showed someone had tried to start the Renegade dozens of times after it had been in some type of front-end collision that involved paint transfer.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System lists five people who’ve gone missing in Buckeye during the past 30 years, including Daniel. Police interviewed dozens of people, ranging from Daniel’s father to co-workers to the manager of a Shell station in the area where Robinson disappeared.
There is a $10,000 reward offered for information that brings resolution to Daniel’s disappearance.
Daniel is about 5-foot-8, 165 pounds, never had a hand on his right arm, has a medium-dark complexion and brown eyes.
David Robinson said the Saturday search groups have been as large as 200 people, especially after surges in media coverage. He’s been interviewed on CNN and has met with Arizona media and hosts of many types of crime and unsolved-mystery programs.
David Robinson still wants the public’s help. Distribution of fliers, especially in the Southwest Valley, donations for search expenses through gofundme.com/f/sebxxc-help-find-daniel and Saturday search times and locations publicized via the Twitter account @PleaseHelpFind4 are all ways people can help.
“Thanks for coming out, and we’ll most likely be out here every Saturday,” David Robinson told the Jan. 22 group at noon. “God bless you all.”
Jason W. Brooks is a News editor for the Daily Independent and the Chandler Independent.
He covers the Chandler area for both yourvalley.net and the monthly print edition while writing for and assisting in the production of the Daily Independent.
Brooks is a well-traveled journalist who has documented life in small American communities in nearly all U.S. time zones.
Born in Washington, D.C. and raised there and in suburban Los Angeles, he has covered community news in California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and northern Arizona.
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