← Criminally Obsessed
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- [00:00]
A
Hey everybody. Welcome to Crimly Obsessed. I'm Ann Emerson. A father is pushing for change in the way we search for missing persons. When every single second counts, we're seeing the search for Nancy Guthrie unfold. And we know there are so many missing persons cases in the United States. In fact, as many as 600,000 are reported annually according to the National Missing and Unidentified Person System, or namus. So what do we do? According to David Robinson, laws need to change now. Right now, he's the father of Daniel Robinson, a 23 year old geologist who went missing in the desert of Buckeye, Arizona back in 2021. Let's get into it. David, it is so good to have you on the show. Thank you so much for joining us.
- [00:54]
B
Thank you so much for having me.
- [00:56]
A
David, your search for your son has led you to really helping other families and pushing for big changes. And do you believe this will bring more missing persons home? The work you're doing right now?
- [01:10]
B
Yes. You know, every area, anything that we can do collectively, When I say collectively, everyone has a part, plays a part. And finding out missing loved ones and what I'm trying to do here is another part of that to increase the opportunities for families and the awareness of what's happening in our country.
- [01:30]
A
Yeah. And David, tell me, let's start with today, what you're working on right now. Tell us about the Help Find Missing Americans act or the Daniel Robinson Law. Right, yeah.
- [01:41]
B
This legislation, I wrote this legislation when I was in Arizona searching for Daniel, speaking with a lot of families who have missing loved ones, the pain that they're going through, what we're going through as a family, you know, trying to find solutions to. One of the problems that we still, that's still remaining in my son's case is getting a cell phone ping data. And also we already know that things like that is crucial when it's done really quickly. And some of the hindrances when it comes to law enforcement as well as families and getting that data is the issue. If it's not a criminal case, for instance, law enforcement's hands are tied a lot of times for a judge to give a warrant. And also we have telecommunication companies that have their privacy policies to other policies and retention times that allow us not to use technology that's available here in 2026 between time of searching for Daniel, try to learn how to write legislation, how to write a bill. And I was able to accomplish that, write a bill for the US for our federal government. And so that's what the birth of Daniel Robinson Law.
- [02:48]
A
That's, that's amazing. I mean, this work is so important and, and could make an impact for so many people. What has been the, so far, what has been the, the feedback that you're getting?
- [03:04]
B
Well, I get a lot of feedback from families, more so than anyone. I have a family that I'm working with now. Her, their daughter went missing in California. And you know, that Danny Ross law would have been very important in this case as well. On news channels crying out for that very exact thing, you know, hey, law enforcement tell us that we have to have a warrant just to go get those, that data. And they're, they're crying out like, look, we need something different. We need something to change for that. That shouldn't be a hindrance. Families will come out to me and express their need for this. Bill.
- [03:42]
A
Well, and this is such a personal journey for you, isn't it? I mean, can you take us back to 2021 and, and, and tell us about your son Daniel's case?
- [03:52]
B
Yes, it was the most devastating day, of course, right here in my home when I received that phone call in my spot that Daniel, even though everyone know that I like to sit outside. It changed our life as a family, Changed our life. My daughter called and someone was looking to see if Daniel's at her apartment and you know, he, see if he type things and you know, just the, the pain of not knowing what's going on at that day and at the same time not getting the answers I really needed from law enforcement when I was, when I called, it was really rough. It was really rough just even trying to navigate that, navigate that, what to do first, what, how to do it and things like that. So I can say yes. Back in 2021, when it first happened, when Danny first went missing, was the biggest and the most devastating day of my life.
- [04:40]
A
How did you find out that your son was missing?
- [04:43]
B
Yes, I have received a phone call from my daughter. She was very disturbed about someone coming to her apartment looking for Daniel. He expressed that he was one of Daniel's co worker, he'd been with Daniel before to a place she probably didn't remember, and that he, he told her that Daniel was last seen at his work site. You know, he just took off and no one saw him again. And so of course she was devastated by that and she called me. And of course, being a father, the first thing I had to do was tried to get her calm, you know. You know, we all know that we have to do our due diligence first. That means Go, you know, check and see if he's home. Check, make sure he's okay, Call all his friends. His mother and I are divorced, but I was able to call her and her husband to see if they heard from him. We did those first and of course no one heard from Daniel. That was the first indication that something was wrong. When we got to that point, I sent his daughter, his sister over, my daughter over to his apartment and to see if he was there. And when she got there, she said, hey, his vehicle was gone. She saw a little light on inside. You know, she could look through the blinds of his patio and see a light on the living room, but his doors is locked, for instance. And she was knocking and she was trying to see if he was in there, but no answer. So those indications was really, really hard for us, especially with friends and family. No one have heard from Daniel that day. But then when I look at the time difference, a three hour time difference from Arizona to South Carolina, and it was over six hours. And I know Daniel, you know, I'm a single parent, a single parent raising Daniel, his brother, his sisters. And I know, I know when, the way he thinks and you know, how what he does in, in the day, for instance, he talked to his siblings almost every day. He talked to me at least two or three times a week. We talk for over two hours. Daniel always tell us where he's going. He always tell us his plans, if you have any travel plans, things like that. So without all of that, we knew something was wrong. And that was the first indication to at least start off with a welfare check and then also end up, ended up calling, you know, putting in a
- [06:51]
A
missing person report and David, you're thousands of miles away. I mean, it, it, it strikes terror in me. Like as a parent, you know, I just, I just had my 20 year old over in California for a week, you know, and you're, you're constantly wanting to know that they're okay.
- [07:08]
B
That's right. That's right, yes. And you know, that 2,000 miles away when I had to go search for Daniel, I heard that language of law enforcement and I started driving. My mind just went away. And I just did what's natural to me. Being a former truck driver. I just threw everything in my vehicle and just started driving. And that's when that 2,000 miles became so real. I wasn't getting there fast enough. And, you know, just being that far away, you know, you're proud for, you know, before Daniel missing. Of course, as a parent, I'm proud That my. My children had decided to spread their wings of what I like to tell them when they was younger and see what the world is all about, see what the country is all about, you know, be able to be independent. But like you said, as a parent, it's really hard to be away from your children, that. That distance, you know, apart. Especially when the situation, like what happened
- [07:57]
A
with Daniel and when you were driving across 2,000 miles and you're trying to get to Arizona. I'm sure you're having plenty of conversations. Are you talking to the police about where they're investigating and what they're looking for?
- [08:08]
B
Yes, yes, yes. One of the things is trying to get information myself, but trying to provide all the information that we can to law enforcement. And you can imagine, yes, driving and speaking to law enforcement, talking to Daniel's job, his co worker, his. His. His supervisor, trying to even get contact with the owner of the company, Just getting details, you know, their. Their safety mechanism, the things they do, what they are doing, those type things, what could be done. And so, yes, trying to handle all of that and drive at the same time, it made that. Made that journey rougher to. To. To even navigate.
- [08:45]
A
And what were the roadblocks that you were facing, like, besides the time difference? And then you're in the car and then you're just trying to get there. Like, what were the roadblocks getting information or you. You felt like you were getting stymied.
- [08:59]
B
This initial thing that caused me to jump in my car in the first place, you know, coming from South Carolina, I smile about that because I was a kid. I. I know that how things were before there was cell phones. So I can tell you how old I am that we had to deal with law enforcement as a child. You know, just hearing that language that was given to me about Daniel, I didn't see no urgency. They said, hey, we put him in the NCIC database and explained to me that, hey, look, if you get pulled over, it's a. Law enforcement can see his tag and it automatically come on their dash that someone's looking for him, basically, you know, and it wasn't the urgency to say, hey, he's an endangered person, even under the circumstances, and we need to send that helicopter out there. Because I did ask for that that night when Daniel went missing, and they denied that, say they were gonna do it in the morning. But then after that, they denied it again, Said higher up, said, he's a grown man. He could disappear if you want to. That language is what caused me to get in the car also as I was driving, trying to still push for law enforcement to get a bird in the air to go search for him. It wasn't happening. To get some things done, maybe, you know, to the news cycles, the local news, those things weren't being done. Trying to get information that I can from his co workers and his job. I got some of that and that was some of the blessing from his job. They came, gave me some little ideas about where he went missing. Right. It was announced to Snoring Desert. So that's when I first heard. But yeah, it was really hard. It was really hard trying to get anything from law enforcement at that point.
- [10:32]
A
Because your son was a geologist. I mean, he was where he was supposed to be. He was at the job site. You know, he's in the desert, he's working on what he needs to be working on. And nobody knows like a parent does when that radar goes off, it's urgent, immediately, you know, that, that people aren't where they're supposed to be and we got to move.
- [10:52]
B
Yeah. And it is one thing is just hearing what his co workers, what his boss told me. Ken Elliott is the guy that Daniel was going out there to meet. He's. He, he was telling me the story at the time when I was driving, what was told to him. And you know, just hearing some of that language, like you said, I, as a parent, knowing your child, those things didn't match with his personality, who he is as a person. So those things stood out to me on that journey to Arizona. So the only thing I can think of in my head at the time, I needed to go speak with Ken and we had to look eye to eye. Father. The father, if he's a father, he had to tell me exactly the same thing. What law enforcement said that he told them is because, you know, I just couldn't, I couldn't get that. That language didn't sound like Daniel to me.
- [11:40]
A
So the, the language that you heard that he was expressing to his co workers was not things that you expected to hear from Daniel. You knew something was off.
- [11:52]
B
Right.
- [11:52]
A
In a nefarious way or in a, or in a, just in a mental health way. Do you mind telling me how. What was off about that?
- [12:01]
B
Well, it was a little bit of both, A little bit everything. A couple things that stood out to me was the fact that, you know, Ken said that. He said he was so tired, I guess, and he wanted to go back to Phoenix to rest. I could tell you at that time, it didn't dawn on Me that when he said Phoenix, my son didn't even live in Phoenix at the time. He lived in Tempe. But. But that didn't dawn on me. The part that dawned on me was that he said he wanted to go back to rest. And, you know, one of the things about my son, he's. He's responsible for that. That well site, you know, being he's the chief person can't work for Weber Waterworks, and that's the secondary company that come in. And so Danny could have just shut down the site basically for that day. If he was that tired, he definitely wouldn't have gone to the first well site. Nevertheless, going. Even going to a second well site, if he's that tired, he know what it is about being safe. If you're tired, you know, you're not. You're working with equipment, you're not going to go out there sleepy. So that stood out to me. So I wanted to hear Ken tell me that the other party is. You know, he said he was saying things that didn't make sense, and. And to the fact that he was looking in Daniel eyes. He said he looked in his eyes, I guess, to see. See if his eyes dilated or something to that effect. And I know Daniel, he's not gonna let another man just look there, looking at his eyes and stuff like that. So that was unbelievable to me, you know, certain things that was said. So, of course, that just drove me to say, hey, you know, me and Ken have to have a talk. And. And that's what I did when I first got to Arizona. First thing I want to do is make sure I first talk to law enforcement, but also to talk to Ken. Okay.
- [13:34]
A
Now, you've done searches for years now looking for Daniel. And I know that with the Nancy Guthrie case that's going on right now, I'm sure you're following it. I mean, it's just extraordinary. That's in Arizona as well. What is searching like in that landscape? What are the specific challenges you're going to have in a landscape like the Arizona desert terrain?
- [14:00]
B
Well, I'll tell you what. You have to do your homework first. I did a lot of that learning about that desert out there. It's very challenging. You have the washes and the ravines. You know, you also have mines. There's vertical mines and also horizontal lines.
- [14:16]
A
Wow.
- [14:16]
B
In the desert, you know, we all know it's a desert, so you'll have wildlife. So it's a lot of things and challenges that you have to face. But the biggest part Was the, you know, the, the, the, the, the how wide and how broad the desert is. It's very intimidating. So a person can be standing in one, one spot and they go north, south, east or west and anywhere between and start hitting a straight line. And your, your search efforts have to be each of those just because you don't know which direction that person had had off on. So it causes you to have to, to search a spans of area just to make sure your loved one is not out there. Like I said, you have a lot of shrubberies and things that can be, can hide a person and it is so much. So yes, it's very hard then you have to deal with the elements of the heat in the day. Sometimes it's cold in the mornings, really early in the morning. So you know those type things. Searching in deserts, really tough.
- [15:16]
A
How many searches have you, have you done now for Daniel?
- [15:20]
B
Yes, as of April 12th of last year, it's been 50 weeks of desert searchings. I realized that time went by really quick, but it's 50 weeks of desert searching out there. 35,000 acres of land covered out there in that desert.
- [15:33]
A
Unbelievably, tragically, you haven't been able to locate your son, but you have located other missing persons, Is that correct? What was it, what was it like to share that information with those families?
- [15:46]
B
I remember the first human remains we found. You know, of course anytime that happened, and especially that first time as well, it was really hard during the time I had my children who would come out to the searches sometimes and. But to find other human remains out there, it was, it's a bittersweet thought in your mind to come in your mind because you know you're helping somebody, someone the family at the same time, you know, that family don't want their loved one found in that manner. So it's, it's one of those things that was really tough, you know, then also of course I'm still looking for Daniel and I was hoping that we don't find Daniel in that kind of position as well. But yes, just bring those closures for families. I know one family specifically out of Florida who's very grateful to finally locate their, her brother. You probably remember the human skull that was found. And so they was very grateful for those remains to give them some type of closure. It feels great to be able to give some, someone some type of healing. It's not the healing that they want, but they get some type of healing.
- [16:55]
A
Yeah. 100. I mean it is. I've, I've Been out there in the South Carolina area talking to people, searchers, trackers, organizations. And that is often the case, isn't it, that that you do come upon remains that are not the one that you're looking for.
- [17:14]
B
That's right.
- [17:14]
A
Which is tough. So many people have been moved by the work that you're doing for Daniel and hearing his story and how the perseverance alone has been extraordinary. Can you tell me what the latest is with your son's case and where it stands five years later?
- [17:32]
B
Well, one thing for sure, despite of what law enforcement may or anybody would want to classify Daniel's case, it's not a cold case. It's not a cold case by any stretch, you know, is this mishandling of Daniel's case is the issue that I have been having from day one. You know, I was able to have a custody transfer of things with law enforcement on April 10th of 2025.
- [18:00]
A
Really?
- [18:01]
B
Yeah. So that's where we're at right now. I was able to get that custody exchange in with promises of doing the things that should have done, been done initially. What I like to call the crime scene where the vehicle showed up and also some of the things that was found in Daniel's apartment. So those things, we did a custody exchange using body cam footage, you name it, everything. But I can report that law enforcement still haven't moved. And one of the things that bothers me with that is the promise that the Buckeye Police Department have given myself and my family to conduct those forensics on the airbags and all the other things that I was able to give to them to have tested. They haven't moved on it just yet. And so what we're doing right now is constantly still putting pressure on law enforcement to do so. I have a four year quest to find out exactly what have been done and what haven't been done. So they have a little more leeway right now to have that completed. But right now as a stand, I'm still pushing what I'm planning to do in the meantime, running for office right now. So that's keeping me from a lot of movement. But to get back into Arizona, where I can put a little more pressure, because I noticed that anytime you're there in law enforcement space and give them that kind of pressure to actually start doing things and moving.
- [19:17]
A
Yeah. They see you there and they know that they're going to have to answer some questions. Right. I mean, did they ever give you their scenario of what they think happened to your son? Did they ever give you Any thing to work off of.
- [19:31]
B
Yeah. And that's what caused me to. When that vehicle showed up, they gave me a lot of their theories and that's what caused me to get a private investigator. The initial thing that detective Biff and told me, you know, after you tell me the car roll and flip and he believed Daniel had a severe head injury that's made him shred his clothes off, is that he felt that Daniel because he straight his cloth, you know, head injury make you hot is what he's saying. And he walked off somewhere and hit on a bush to cool off and then wild animal ate him or something to that fet. The second thing he was saying to me that he maybe Daniel joined the monastery, become a monk to be away from his family. So those, those ideas with law enforcement as well as the fact that they're there was basically during the time a that the vehicle was there for 30 days despite of what the rancher said, who found the vehicle say it wasn't there two days prior. They wanted to base things on this 30 day thing for whatever reason that the vehicle's there since June 23rd of 2021.
- [20:27]
A
Just to remind you of the timeline here. Daniel went missing on June 23, 2021 and was last seen in his Jeep Renegade heading toward the desert. We know Daniel's Jeep was found crashed, rolled over in a Ravine on July 19, 2021. A rancher found the Jeep on his own property with the airbags deployed, along with Daniel's cell phone, wallet, keys and clothes. The issue and the disparity here is that law enforcement says the vehicle was there for 30 days. But the rancher says he went searching for Cat July 17, 2021 and the vehicle was not there. This rancher always maintained that that Jeep was not in the ravine until he returned on July 19th.
- [21:10]
B
And you know, the evidence and the information didn't match what they were saying. So those things caused me to get a private investigator and could still continue to do my own independent investigation of my own. So that's where that's pretty much what law enforcement stands on that point.
- [21:28]
A
Okay, well that's hard to hear.
- [21:30]
B
Oh yeah, it's very hard. Very hard. Not helpful. No, not helping at all. So, you know, it's not helpful at all when you know you have a law enforcement agency, in my opinion, doing the opposite of what you think they could be doing. My investigator, for instance, found a lot of information. We found the four to six initial cycles, found 11 additional miles on the vehicle. He found the red transfer paint he found the two impressions on the windshield. Someone beating the windshield in. He found what happened near the first initial crash happened near one o' clock that. That evening. So I mean, so it's a couple things like that was actually found hard evidence. The damage didn't match terrain, for instance. And instead of law enforcement embracing those things and working with those and finding out the credibility of it, for one thing. The second thing is to find out some answers. They hired their own private investigator of their own, which I thought was weird because they haven't detectives but they've hired a prime investigator to rebut anything my investigator found is what the way I take it because. And the only reason I could take it that way is because their private investigator have not even examined the vehicle. He never physically touched it or I like to say taste it or smell it. He haven't even been there. But use third party pictures to make a full report about something he has never seen in his life. So. So, so those type things was very problematic for my case that I'm continuing to have right now. My investigation, I like to say into my son case and as well as my private investigator at the time, his investigation was a hindrance to getting the answers that we're looking for.
- [23:09]
A
Yeah, I mean that would make me angry. That would absolutely make me angry. I mean you've worked with other families I understand in this space as well, like the petitos. Can you tell me what some of these struggles and frustrations are like that maybe the public doesn't know about?
- [23:26]
B
Well, you know, it's always been about the urgency. I think with every family I talk to is a shared common thing about this urgency. When we see something that's very urgent and then we feel that lawful kind of drag their feet or they'll find reasons for non actions or.
- [23:45]
A
Right.
- [23:46]
B
A lot of assumptions for instance and things like that. So you hear the same kind of things that happen in across the board or a lot of times it's law enforcement not being able to handle a caseload like Ms. Loved One Case. So it's combination of those things. That's very. I hear a lot from families.
- [24:04]
A
Yeah. You can't move fast enough. Right. You can't move fast enough when you're looking for a missing person. And that's what I always think about is that no one can ever touch your sense of urgency of what's going on.
- [24:16]
B
That's right. That's right.
- [24:18]
A
I mean we, we saw it with Gaddy Batita. We are seeing it still with Nancy Guthrie. Unbelievable. Amount of coverage. Unbelievable about a media attention for certain cases. For some cases, not for all cases. We don't see that for all. What are the challenges for families to get in front of the media? Like, how hard is it for families like yourself to get in front of.
- [24:42]
B
It's really hard. I remember when Dane went missing, it took two weeks for him to see. Get local channels to even take this. Take the. Take his story. I spoke to law enforcement, Buckeye Police department to say it's your responsibility to do that. So I found a way to reach out to the news organizations, the radio stations. No one did want. No one wanted to take the story. But I can't tell you that it's two reporters, Josh Sanders and Nico Griggs. Is their names some reason they. They. I ran into them coming out of my hotel pretty much. And they reached out to me and said, hey, you know what? We would like to hear about your son's story. And. And that gave up, gave a break for Daniel's case, gave a break for his story because it's very important to get that story out really quickly. And that's the same thing I'm hearing a lot of families, you know, of course with families, no one prepares for what to do. You have a missing loved one. You just have a missing loved one. So you don't know who to call and how to call people who to talk to and those type things. So that slows it down as well, trying to get your loved one's story out there. Some people don't know to turn to social media and for instance, like I was able to do is open up a page to humanize your loved one. I know what persons of color like my son and myself, it was important, for instance, to humanize Daniel to show who he is. He's a brilliant scientist. For instance, his. He have a family, you have siblings. So open up those pages and things are very important. But like I said, talking to families is one of the things that urges me. I can't give you a little bit more. Mr. Petito, Joseph Petito, a friend of mine, very good friend of mine, he and I was having a conversation and another young lady who happened to miss a sister was on a zoom together discussing some things. And we're talking about our loved ones cases, for instance, and the difference in. She and I was talking about the difficulties of getting law enforcement to move, the difficulties of getting a loved one's story on local news and things like that. And then Mr. Petito said all I had to do was Make a phone call. Right. And so that still rings in my head to this day. You know, he says, all I had to do is make a phone call and the story went national. That's. That's the thing that we kind of look at as a family. Families that I talk to is, you know, we'll see cases like the Goltry case or we'll see the Petito case. We'll see some of these other cases where, no, those stories just hit, hit, go really fast. And we have loved ones who's crying out, hey, here I am right here. You know, my loved one is missing. And so it is very difficult. It's very difficult.
- [27:24]
A
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that as just as a member of the media that we can't. We can't have more balance in the coverage. You know, I know, I understand, like, Savannah is a celebrity. Savannah Guthrie. I know, I know. She's just given money, $500,000 to NCMEC because she also recognizes that it's not just her missing mom. It's, you know, we have hundreds of thousands of missing people. God, that breaks my heart. There is a disparity, and I think that the community needs to face up to it. What can we do in. In the community, not just the media, but in the community to. To fight that.
- [28:03]
B
That's right. Just call it out. Just call it out and speak about it. You know, one thing that encourages me, though, is people like yourself. We have a lot of podcasters and also have a lot of true crime community to help families who have missing loved ones. Because it wasn't for communities like that, a lot of stories wouldn't be told. Of course, we ought to know media can only do so much as well because there are 600, 000Americans that go missing area 3,000 a day, over 2,000 children a day. And you know, to cover all those simultaneously will be kind of hard. But, you know, but like I said, the disparities and the way things are handled is the problem. It's a big problem. I can use a prime example. Even speaking of the Gultry case, I really first like to say, you know, I reach out and try to give anything I can. As a father who been out there in the desert, who's been searching, like you were saying earlier, what can I do to help help them find locate their mother, which we all want to see her come back home. We really need to. One of the things that bothered me as a father, though, is that Daniel's still missing as well, and you know, some of the scenarios that we saw in the Gultry case, for instance, it's happened in the Daniel case. He had a ransom. I had a ransom. They. They wanted thousands of dollars from me for Daniel, for exchange of Daniel. I had to go through that. That was death threats on me just because I was searching for my son. They had Daniel under tied up with broken legs is what they told me. And you know, they coming through my emails. And until this day, I still don't have the FBI to even want to take that. That part of the case and find out who these people is, are trying to harm me or who possibly could have had Daniel. So I see that in the initial part of Daniel's case, where there's no movement with law enforcement, there's no movement with FBI. I've been to the field office of Fin, the same one that's working the Gaultry case. And instead of getting an invitement or hospitality, when I received that, they put me in the. They wouldn't let me in the building. They put me in the security room. And with two on guardman as I thought I was gonna get shot that day just coming in asking questions to how they can help the FBI. So, so those type things. So it's the disparities when it comes to like you say, who it is, where they're from, their name, their title or. And things like that matters when you get full participation. I even seen the sheriff of that county, Pinot county, crying in this case, Chief hall of Maricopa County, Buckeye Police Department, stone Face for instance. The. The. I'm out there finding remains for other families members, other seven other families out there. And not one time has a city manager or the mayor come to me and say thank you, Mr. Robinson, for coming to our state, in our city and help us locate missing loved ones that. Who's been missing from obviously for years. So it's those kind of things. When I look at the totality of things that is a really, really dent it really. It hurtful. Especially when I'm still searching for Daniel. But at the same time I try to have such a bigger heart to. Because that's the type of family we are to help as many people as we can along that hard journey to carry with us.
- [31:20]
A
Yeah, I mean, I don't think anybody could ever overestimate like the relentlessness of a parent. Your relentlessness with this case has been extraordinary. I mean, to hear that you spent 50 weeks searching in those deserts in Arizona is. Is. Is really remarkable. And I hope that we can do more to help you. You know, I think about your son and I think that, you know, Daniel would be 29 now. 20, 28. 29.
- [31:52]
B
Yes. He will be going on 29. Yes, yes. That time's going by fast. Yeah. So we just had a birthday on the 14th of January. So, you know, every year his birthdays come up and you know, the Christmas and he had the Thanksgiving is always around. That time of the year is even a lot worse because, you know, they kind of all ball up together New Year and you know, families, we get together. The family dynamics has changed. So of course, you know, those are constant reminders that he's still missing. For some I can say may feel that, hey, it's almost five years. You should be over right now. I talk to families all the time. They're just like I am, like the ones that was in the desert with me. They talk about their missing loved one who've been missing probably for 20. Some 20 years, some 15 years. But they'll talk about that person as it. If it happened yesterday or it happened today. And that's the same feeling that you get because, you know, you don't have any answers. You know, you're always in limbo. You just don't have those answers. You know, your loved ones alive or they're not. And you always have hope and then sometimes you feel despair. So you always all over the place when you have missing loved ones. So there's one of the things that just don't go away until you get those answers.
- [33:05]
A
What do you think he would be saying to you right now? What would he be saying to dad right now about what you've done?
- [33:12]
B
Well, I hope that he can know that I kept my promise, you know. You know, I told him not directly in those ways, but, you know, I'm gonna be there as a father. I'm always going to be there for all my children. I'm going to be there for them, be the father that they, they should have. You know, I'll be the father that, that I didn't have, you know, growing up. So, you know, he could see that part and, and really, I really believe he appreciate that, that, you know, hey, my dad haven't got given up on me. He's still out there searching for me. And you know, if that, that can show my love to him, that's all I really need him to know that part. I'm not going nowhere.
- [33:49]
A
You think you're going to find him?
- [33:51]
B
I have to keep that faith. I'm a man of faith. You know, my, my mind is always there that, hey, my son is alive. I'm going to find him. It just a matter of time. Today is day closer to me finding Daniel. I will say that to myself and I really believe I am going to find Daniel. I'm not giving that that idea up.
- [34:07]
A
Well, I believe you will too. And we'll certainly include for our viewers and our listeners out there, his story is alive and well with you. Whatever we can do to spread the word. Just one more person heard it today. It's just one more person heard it. There's one more big chance out there that, that something might click and, and we can go ahead and bring Daniel home. So thank you so much for, for us today. Your story is inspiring and you are running for Congress in my home state of South Carolina.
- [34:45]
B
That's right.
- [34:46]
A
You ready, Ready to take it on you take on government here?
- [34:50]
B
Yes. I ran 2026, but it's rough. Yeah, it is. It's a hard thing. Yeah, it takes a lot of time.
- [34:58]
A
The reason I'm doing true crime and not politics, I, I've been doing politics for years too. Yeah, you gotta. That's a whole different mystery, right?
- [35:08]
B
It is, it is. I didn't know it was gonna be that rough and you know, and things that you. Unexpected stuff. But yeah, it's a lot different than what I'm doing for searching for Daniel for sure. I can tell you that for it.
- [35:17]
A
Well, hopefully this you'll be able to bring change where change comes. So drop a comment below, tell me what missing persons cases you'd like to see us cover. And do you think that there is a problem with the disparity between these missing persons cases? I want to hear your thoughts. Be sure to like and subscribe to Criminally Obsessed. And if you're listening to this on podcasts, please drop us a five star review so that others can find our podcasts as well. If you want to hear more about the Daniel Robinson case, you can go to the website. Please help find daniel.com. we are also going to link all of the social profiles and be sure to keep sharing Daniel's story so we can bring him home.