Daniel Traina (8 of Diamonds, Florida)

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Deck

Episode: Daniel Traina (8 of Diamonds, Florida)

Release Date: August 12, 2026
Host: Ashley Flowers (audiochuck)
Case: The 2021 disappearance of 49-year-old Daniel Traina, Lake Park, Florida

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on the baffling disappearance of Daniel Traina, a well-known figure in Lake Park, Florida, who vanished after leaving a 7-Eleven store in May 2021. Despite being a distinctive presence in the community, Daniel disappeared without a trace, leaving behind grieving family, a web of rumors, and a house mired in uncertainty. Through interviews with family, friends, investigators, and a private detective, the episode unpacks Daniel’s troubled final months, failed investigation leads, and the questions that haunt his loved ones.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Daniel's Background & Family Life

• Daniel Traina was described as a “happy go lucky guy,” well-known in his neighborhood ([00:01] Ashley Flowers).
• Family moved from New Jersey to Boca Raton, Florida in the 80s for a better life ([04:18] Ashley Flowers).
• Daniel was close to his brother David, who described their protective relationship growing up ([03:29] David Trena).
• Daniel’s later years included a divorce, loss of his mother, and increasing isolation and struggles with addiction ([06:38] David Trena, [07:05] David Trena).

The Disappearance Timeline

• May 25, 2021 — Daniel’s 49th Birthday
  • David spoke with Daniel, who seemed fine and planned a low-key celebration ([08:47] David Trena).
• May 29, 2021 — Missing Person Report Filed
  • Roommate Roy Smith reports Daniel missing after not seeing him for four days.
  • Family grows concerned after multiple failed attempts to contact Daniel ([02:36] David Trena, [08:47] David Trena).
• House Visit by David and Sister Desirée
  • Find the house in disarray, doors open, strangers inside, and items missing ([10:20] David Trena).
  • Roy and his uncle Sam Perry (both Daniel’s roommates) are present and nonchalant about the situation ([11:17] David Trena).

Investigation & Key Witnesses

• Initial Law Enforcement Response
  • Detective Milner led the investigation, then handed over to Detective Jeff Weissman due to maternity leave ([12:54] Detective Weissman).
  • Search of Daniel’s house using Blue Star to detect blood failed to turn up evidence ([13:44] Detective Weissman).
• Last Confirmed Movements
  • Daniel left his phone at home “on purpose”; Roy said Daniel feared retaliation for sleeping with someone’s girlfriend ([14:43] Detective Weissman, [14:50] Ashley Flowers).
  • Store receipts and phone records confirm Daniel went to Staples and tried unsuccessfully to withdraw cash ([16:58] Ashley Flowers).
  • Visited friend Mike Carpinella, appeared agitated and paranoid, used Mike’s phone to call his own several times ([18:30] Mike Carpinella).
  • Took an Uber to 7-Eleven; surveillance shows him unsuccessfully using ATMs and cards, then walking out and vanishing ([20:04] Detective Weissman, [21:10] Detective Weissman).

Aftermath and Dead Ends

• Evidence Trail
  • Only trace after the 7-Eleven: Daniel’s ATM card tried at a Chase ATM 10 miles away (no security footage) ([23:26] Detective Weissman).
• Personal & Financial Troubles
  • Daniel had mounting money issues; took in Roy and Sam as roommates for rent ([25:15] Detective Weissman).
  • Family and friends describe growing vulnerability and disorder in his life ([25:53] David Trena).
• Focus on Associates
  • Roy Smith and Sam Perry: Unlikely to be involved (per police), though family remains suspicious ([35:36] Detective Weissman, [34:46] David Trena).
  • Sex worker and narcotics crowd: Daniel’s relationships and lifestyle had become riskier, and he was rumored to have angered people ([26:36] Detective Weissman).
  • Text message threat from “Jonbro”: “you mess with my girl, I’m gonna kill” ([30:35] Detective Weissman). Later traced to John Lee Smith, who claims dispute resolved amicably ([36:30] Detective Weissman).
  • Women in Daniel’s life at the time—Shawanda Alvin, RichnaNicholas, and Alena Demarchi—all interviewed, no clear connections found ([27:09] Detective Weissman, [28:30] Detective Weissman, [37:20] Ashley Flowers).

Private Investigation & Family’s Quest

• David and friends hired Bo Dietl’s private investigation firm, who encountered distrust and fear among Daniel’s associates ([32:39] David Trena).
• Investigator Carlo Catogno revealed Roy suggested, "we could take everything this guy has"—feeding the family’s suspicions about the roommate ([34:24] Carlo Catogno).

Theories and Final Thoughts

• Likely that someone met Daniel at or after 7-Eleven, potentially forced him to use his ATM, and made him disappear ([39:08] Detective Weissman).
• Family is adamant Daniel never would have abandoned his children, beloved house, or dog ([40:04] David Trena, [40:42] David Trena).
• Ongoing plea for information to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office ([41:24] Ashley Flowers).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On the Shock of Daniel’s Vanishing:

• “In this day and age with electronics, I mean, how could something like this happen with cameras everywhere? I mean, it just, it baffles my mind.”
  — David Trena ([01:11])

On Daniel’s Struggles:

• “He was a mama's boy… Even when he was divorced and got older, he would always bring his clothes there. She would do his clothes. She would cook for him.”
  — David Trena ([06:38])

On the Investigation’s Frustrations:

• “After the initial month he was missing, my brother's friends and myself got together and we hired Bo Dietl's office out of New York City... his friends put together about $10,000 and got that office to look into the case.”
  — David Trena ([32:39])
• “We’re looking for Dan Traina. We're not interested in what you may be doing... I come at them like a person... We're not looking for them to be a snitch or an informant. We just want some answers.”
  — Carlo Catogno ([33:16])

On Possible Motive:

• “Somebody obviously met Daniel at that 711 or close by and took him to the ATM way up the road... If Daniel would have disappeared into an environment like that, you could have easily disappeared and not be found.”
  — Detective Jeff Weissman ([39:08])

On Family’s Loss and Perseverance:

• “It's gone for five years, and I won’t let it go. The old adage is a squeaky wheel gets the oil, and I won’t stop.”
  — David Trena ([40:42])

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Important Timestamps

• 00:01–01:11: Introduction to Daniel’s case and the context of the Deck podcast.
• 02:36–04:18: David learns of Daniel’s disappearance; family backstory.
• 10:20: Family discovers chaos at Daniel’s house.
• 12:54–13:44: Detective Weissman takes over the case; forensic investigation begins.
• 14:43–15:13: Oddities in Daniel leaving his cellphone behind; Roy’s story.
• 16:58–19:47: Daniel’s last confirmed movements and contacts.
• 20:48–21:45: Daniel’s final appearance at 7-Eleven, failed cash withdrawals, and disappearance.
• 23:26–24:12: Unsuccessful ATM attempt in Jupiter; frustrating dead-ends in evidence.
• 30:35: Discovery of threatening message from "Jonbro."
• 32:39–34:24: Family’s hiring of PI and suspicions around Roy Smith.
• 39:08: Detective’s theory on Daniel’s fate and the disappearance aftermath.
• 40:42: Emotional impact on the family and Daniel’s dog, Toby.

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Summary

This episode is a deep, emotional dive into the unresolved disappearance of Daniel Traina. It interweaves family memories, the realities of addiction, challenging police work, and the persistence of those left behind. The narrative captures the ambiguity, frustration, and heartbreak of searching for answers in a case where, despite digital age tools, one man simply vanished. The hope is that sharing Daniel’s story anew will bring someone with information forward at last.

If you have information:
Contact the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office at 561-688-4000 or submit an anonymous tip at crimestopperspbc.com.

Transcript

[Ashley Flowers]

One thing I've learned from covering cases on the deck is that fresh eyes can change everything. A missed detail, a familiar name, a timeline that suddenly clicks with new information. That same idea is at the heart of my other weekly show, Crime Junkie. Every Monday, my best friend Britt and I cover cases that deserve attention. From missing persons and unsolved murders to stories still unfolding in real time. Stories where one detail, one memory, or one listener could make a difference. Listen to Crime Junkie every Monday. Wherever you get your podcasts. Our card this week is Daniel Trena, the eight of diamonds from Florida. 49 year old Daniel Trena was hard to miss. The six foot four happy go lucky guy was always bopping around the West Palm beach suburb of Lake park, well known to bartenders, store clerks and neighbors. So it was mind boggling when In May of 2021, Daniel walked out of a 711 next to Florida's busy federal highway and vanished into the sticky, humid night, leaving behind no clues.

[David Trena]

In this day and age with electronics, I mean, how could something like this happen with cameras everywhere? I mean, it just, it baffles my mind.

[Ashley Flowers]

And as investigators have tried to retrace Daniel's final movements and worked their way through those closest to him, the case has taken on a distinctly south Florida feel. An Oceanside town, a 711 sign glowing in the dark, a cast of eccentric characters, conflicting stories, and a mystery that five years later still has everyone asking, how did someone who was so hard to miss vanish without a trace? I'm Ashley Flowers and this is the deck. David Treina was at home on a hot Saturday afternoon making sales calls when a call from his sister came in that would change his life.

[David Trena]

My sister called me frantic and said, you know, Dan was missing.

[Ashley Flowers]

Dan was his beloved younger brother Daniel, who just turned 49 earlier that week.

[David Trena]

I was like, what do you mean he's missing? I just talked to him for his birthday. She goes, no, he's missing. His roommate called the police and said he was missing persons report. Hasn't seen him for four days. I was like, well, that's impossible. I talked to him on his birthday. The first thing I did is called my brother. I called both phone lines went to voicemail. I reached out via email, I reached out via text message, I reached out via Facebook. I reached out x every other avenue, social media avenue I had with him, Instagram, trying to get where yet. You're scaring us. You know, please let me. You're okay. What's going on? No answer.

[Ashley Flowers]

Before Daniel even came into this World. David was looking out for his younger brother. He was four years old when he learned he was getting a sibling.

[David Trena]

My mom said she was pregnant, which, you know, being four years old, I had no idea what that meant. I just knew that baby brother was coming. Are you ready for your baby brother? And I was excited. It was a big deal. My mother was like, he's coming. He's going to be here soon. And when he was born, I was upset because he was in the crib and couldn't do anything. I remember looking at him and going, how come you can't get up? How come you can't run around with me?

[Ashley Flowers]

And once Daniel could get up and run around, he and David were inseparable. While growing up on the Jersey shore,

[David Trena]

we did everything together, everything throughout our lives. Basketball, sports, girls, everything we were around. He was always following me. I was a lot bigger than him, so I was always protect him. I was a big brother. He would, you know, say, somebody's picking on the school. And I would go to the school and, you know, beat somebody up or threaten somebody. They'd leave him alone.

[Ashley Flowers]

The boy's father was a contractor, and the family moved to Boca raton in the 80s, lured by Florida's real estate boom and the year round sunny weather.

[David Trena]

He loved Florida. He got into paddleboarding as he got older, but fishing was his love. He loved to fish. My dad had a boat. We used to go out and fish all the time.

[Ashley Flowers]

By the time Daniel reached high school, the little brother David had always protected was not so little anymore. He grew to be 6 foot 4 and 180 pounds.

[David Trena]

And as David remembers, he had a size 17 shoe. So I used to tease him all the time. So he was l. We looked at him sideways because his feet were so big. He was so skinny. Daniel, when he was 18, 19, my dad owned a real estate company. He pivoted from construction to real estate. And so Daniel got his real estate license and started doing real estate rentals, things of that nature. And because my dad and I, all three of us are very similar, we butted heads. So it wasn't fun working for your dad. And so what he started doing was he learned computers.

[Ashley Flowers]

Around the time he got married in 2001, Daniel started building a life that from the outside looked pretty idyllic. He began working in email marketing and bought a house with his wife in Loxahatchee, about 40 minutes west of the Palm beach coastline. It was there that they raised their three kids while Daniel worked from home.

[David Trena]

He'd work in his garage and tease me because I was in a suit and tie. I went into sales and I had to go to work and, you know, I had to dress up. And he'd be in his boxer shorts on the computer all day, clicking buttons and making more money than I was, so.

[Ashley Flowers]

But in 2008, Daniel filed for divorce from his wife. They sold the family home in Loxahatchee, and he eventually purchased a new one closer to the water in a small west palm suburb called Lake park.

[David Trena]

House was small, little two bedroom, one bathroom home, A thousand square feet, but it was his. He bought it, paid for cash, no mortgage to the house. I was very proud of that all the time living there right by the fishing spot, right across from the Maria where he could fish.

[Ashley Flowers]

Daniel enjoyed the easy living that he found in Lake Park. But In August of 2019, things started unraveling. First, he lost his beloved mother, Anne Marie.

[David Trena]

He was a mama's boy. He was the favorite, my brother. When he was younger, he was a sickly kid, and so my mother always coddled him. And so even when he was divorced and got older, he would always bring his clothes there. She would do his clothes. She would cook for him. He didn't cook for himself. He didn't know how to cook.

[Ashley Flowers]

As Daniel was still grieving that loss, the entire world was hit with something that knocked even some of the most stable people off their axis.

[David Trena]

Covid hit. And with the combination of both of them, he really went through a tough time. Myself, because he was by himself. I had my wife and we were together. And so we were shut down and sheltered in place, but we had each other. He had nobody else but himself. And I think from there, and this was after he was paddleboarding and he couldn't even do that anymore. He was just shut in place. He had to sit home is when he probably turned to drinking excessively. I didn't know, because he hit it. Well, anytime you ever ask any of us, oh, we're fine. Even my dad, oh, he's. He's not fine. You know, we know we're not fine. We just don't talk about it because that's how we were raised. Just, you know, where everything's fine, keep it inside, and continue to move on.

[Ashley Flowers]

David says he tried to get his brother help, even offering to go with him to AA or narcotics anonymous. But Daniel would agree and then never follow through. His brother's struggle with addiction is something that still makes him emotional. He'd spent his whole life looking out for his younger brother. And even when Things got hard. He refused to give up on Daniel.

[David Trena]

I talked to him at least once a week, always check on him. My wife and I would stop off and bring food to him because he didn't cook. So my wife's a very good cook because look at me, I'm not a skinny person. And so we'd always make sure we brought him food, big CD stuff he used to love. And we'd drop it off and we'd see him.

[Ashley Flowers]

On May 25, 2021, David checked in like he always did. It was already an important day for Daniel. But later, that call would mean something else entirely.

[David Trena]

I call my brother and say, hey, happy birthday. You know, I can't believe you're so old. You're catching up to me, joking around. Cause we're getting older. And he was fine. I said, what are you gonna do? You gonna go out? You gonna go to dinner? He goes, no, I'm just gonna go out, probably for a couple of drinks, get some lunch or whatever with a few friends. I was like, okay, that's cool. And then four days later, I found out he was missing through my sister.

[Ashley Flowers]

On May 29, it was the boy's younger sister, Desiree, who got a call from one of Daniel's former girlfriends telling her that something was wrong. She said that their brother hadn't been seen in days. And Daniel's roommate, 53 year old Roy Smith, had reported him missing.

[David Trena]

And he was disabled veteran, from what I understood, because I'm a veteran as well. And the VA and the SSI was paying his bills and he was paying Daniel, I think, 500 bucks a month to live in the room. I was, okay, well, that's good. And he was disabled veteran. I'm sure he's harmless. Older guy.

[Ashley Flowers]

David and Desiree continued trying to reach Daniel by any means they could think of. I mean, he may have been dodging his roommate, but if he was around somewhere, surely he would get in touch with them, right? But when there was still no word By June 1, David and his wife hit the road at 11am and drove 6,75 miles south from their home in Sebastian to Daniel's place in Lake Park. And immediately the state of things at his place was cause for even more concern. David's wife photographed the inside and outside of the house that day to document its condition.

[David Trena]

The doors were open, there were a bunch of people in the house I never met before in my life. I never met any of these people once. The house was in disarray, it smelled of urine. I was in Shock. And then I was mad because I was like, what the heck are you guys doing in my brother's house? They were on his couch watching his tv, ACS on, you know, and the cable in the house. Because my brother was, you know, during the cancer culture time, during COVID he canceled his Netflix account. So I gave my private video account, and he was using that to watch tv. So when I went there, all these people were at my brother's house and watching the stuff I was paying for on his TV on his couch, and my brother's nowhere to be found, and they were acting like there was nothing wrong.

[Ashley Flowers]

David says one of those people hanging out and seemingly without a care in the world was Roy and his elderly uncle Sam Perry, who David learned for the first time was apparently staying in the spare room with Roy.

[David Trena]

I only met Roy when my brother disappeared and heard he was living there. And I was like, what? And I was like, both of them living there drilled Roy, what's going on? Where my brother at? What happened? You know, when's the last time you spoke to him? You know, why didn't you call sooner? You waited four days. You know, he started to mention, oh, he had a drug problem, he owed people money. And, I mean, I heard all these different stories from him that I said, well, what are you doing here? He goes, well, you. I got street cred. Like, he was. Like he was an old man. And so, yeah, first he said, he's a security guard for my brother, which I thought was comical. And then he said he was a landscaper. And I have pictures of the house. The house was disgusting. I mean, everything was overgrown.

[Ashley Flowers]

David said it had been a few months since he'd last been at Daniel's house. But as he walked around that day, he noticed several key things missing, like the high powered computer that Daniel had built for work and the garage door.

[David Trena]

I said, what happened to all that stuff? He goes, well, somebody came in and stole everything. And I was like, what happened to the garage door? He goes, oh, it broke. Well, so where's the pieces at?

[Ashley Flowers]

Roy would later tell detectives that he was a scrapper, as in someone who collects metal objects to sell at scrapyards. The garage door was aluminum, so David suspected that Roy sold the door for scrap. Now, the moment David and his wife left that house, they called the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office, which confirmed that a missing person report had already been filed by Roy on May 29. But the case wasn't assigned a detective until June 3.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

After David's call, Detective Milner she got the preliminary case. She met with, you know, called Roy on the phone and went and visited him.

[Ashley Flowers]

That's Detective Jeff Weissman, who took over this case from Detective Milner two weeks in after she went out on maternity leave. Her files were his jumping off point.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

You know, they meet with a complainant. In this case, it was Roy Smith. They gather as much information as they can. Background wise friends. Would he go somewhere, did he leave town? And they also, you know, would enter the house to see if there's anything left behind, a note.

[Ashley Flowers]

There was no note at Daniel's house and zero clue as to where he may have gone. Not even when they went through the home with a search warrant in hand a few weeks later.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

The purpose of that search warrant was to utilize a process which we call blue star, which is determines if there is any blood not visible to the human eye that was on the interior walls, floor. It would also indicate if somebody had attempted to clean up a bloody area using, like, bleach, you know, or, you know, a cleaning product. We went out, it was around one in the morning and had to do it with the moonlight and everything else. And then they use a special light to take the photos and that illuminates it if there's anything there or not.

[Ashley Flowers]

Detective Weissman met with Roy himself. You know, get the story straight from the horse's mouth. And his story was pretty consistent. He said that he'd last seen Daniel on the morning of May 25 at around 10am before the two went their separate ways for the day. But according to Roy, Daniel seemed a little out of sorts and he left something specific behind when he headed out the door that day.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

Daniel left his cell phone at the residence, which was very unlike him to leave the house without the cell phone.

[Ashley Flowers]

Roy told police Daniel did that on purpose for a reason that only made the case stranger.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

He said that he left the house and he was afraid that somebody was going to beat him up for because he had slept with this guy's wife.

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[Ashley Flowers]

According to the detective's case summary, it was some guy's girlfriend, not wife, that Daniel supposedly slept with. But Daniel was afraid of her boyfriend nonetheless. He apparently told Roy that this guy, of course he didn't name him, was after him.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

Roy didn't have any other information to know as far as the identity of this man or woman that Daniel talked about before he left the house. But he left his cell phone there, which Roy said was very out of place for Daniel. He said that he left the phone with Roy because he was going to call back later on that phone to see if anybody was there looking for him.

[Ashley Flowers]

When detectives later accessed Daniel's phone, text messages and Google location data, it showed that he went to a Staples two miles from his house to purchase an Internet router before he returned home. His brother David found a receipt later that shows the Staples purchase was made at 11:34am the phone never left Daniel's house after that. But investigators Learned that around 6:30pm Daniel went to his friend's house, Mike Carpinella's, about five minutes away. the time. Daniel didn't have a car, but he didn't walk to Mike's.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

He got dropped off to the house by a black sedan. And the only information we got was the driver was a black male. There was no other description, tag number, you know, make or model of the car. And that came from Mike Carpinella, who told us that he stayed at the house for about 45 minutes, had a couple beers. Mike Carpinella said that he seemed not, you know, normal. He wasn't, you know, absurdly drunk or didn't seem high on, on narcotics, but he was, you know, he, he mentioned this unknown man that was going to beat him up for sleeping with his wife.

[David Trena]

Why?

[Ashley Flowers]

Cornelia Rowe, who reported on this case for us, spoke with Mike on the phone about his encounter with Daniel that night. So let me ask you, so that last night you were one of the last people to see him. Can you tell me about what happened, like where you saw him and how he was acting?

[Mike Carpinella]

He showed my house and board Shorts, no shirt, no shoes. And so somebody dropped him off a couple blocks, and he ran there because he's a little sweaty. Give him some water. He's just talking crazy. He's just all over the place in conversation, you know, didn't stick in one kind of topic. He was going from here to there to there to there.

[Ashley Flowers]

Do you think he was under the influence of anything?

[Mike Carpinella]

I don't know. I never did anything like that with him. I don't know.

[Ashley Flowers]

So did he mention anything about being scared of someone or anyone in his life that was giving him problems?

[Mike Carpinella]

Well, he told me he had to use my phone because he left his phone with his roommate.

[Ashley Flowers]

And he didn't tell you why he left it at the house?

[Mike Carpinella]

No, but he used my phone like four times to call his phone, and then no one ever answered.

[Ashley Flowers]

Detectives subpoenaed Mike Carpinella's phone records, which showed that three calls were made from his phone to Daniel's between 7:42 and 7:45pm When Mike spoke with investigators after Daniel went missing, he said that he'd shown up to the house sweating and paranoid and mentioned that someone wanted to kill him because he'd slept with their wife, end quote. But in our interview with Mike, he didn't mention anyone specific to us.

[Mike Carpinella]

The only thing I thought was weird is he didn't have his phone with him because he left it at the house.

[Ashley Flowers]

Mike's roommate, Chris Markovich, was also at the house. At 8:38pm Daniel left in an Uber that Chris ordered for him.

[Mike Carpinella]

We Ubered him out of here real quick. Dude, he was just acting crazy. So we Ubered him out of here real quick. We Uber him to his house. Then we heard that the Uber went stopped at 7:11.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

He was supposed to go home. Daniel then changed it to drop him off at 7:11, which he did. We located the Uber driver who did pick up Daniel at the house and actually drive him. He told us that, you know, midway, you know, to Daniel's residence. Daniel had asked him, you know, hey, can you just drop me off at 7:11? I want to grab something. Driver said, no problem, dropped him off at 7:11. Driver didn't notice anything suspicious at the 7:11. No odd vehicles that stuck out to him at the time. You know, driver said that Daniel got out of the car, went inside 7 11, and he went on his way picking up more rides.

[Ashley Flowers]

What happened next was captured on security camera footage from inside the store. We were able to obtain the video, but there is no timestamp on it. Detective Weissman told us that the footage from the three cameras that were working at the time appeared to have been captured somewhere between 8:30pm and 9:00pm Daniel

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

goes into the 7 11, tries to use his debit card at the ATM. You can see him on video in the store trying twice. The machine wouldn't dispense any cash at that time. Daniel goes to the counter, grabs a candy bar and tries to purchase it at the counter using a different credit card. That credit card was also declined at that time. Daniel is seen walking out the front door of the 711 toward the gas pump area and disappears from view.

[Ashley Flowers]

Earlier in this story, Mike Carpinella told our reporter that when Daniel was at his house, he wasn't wearing a shirt or shoes. But in the video, you can see that he is wearing a shirt. Now, whether Mike's memory is fuzzy or Daniel had a shirt to put on, we don't know. But that's kind of the least of everyone's worries because after Daniel walks out of that 7:11, they lose him completely, at least visually.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

There were no cameras from the 711 that were. That were operational in the leaving the store toward the gas pump area. The 711 was about a little less than a half a mile away from Daniel's house. Daniel would walk there daily, buy various goods from the store. He would hang out there. He knew the clerk, you know, from going there so much.

[Ashley Flowers]

The 711 employee spoke with investigators. He said there was nothing out of the ordinary about Daniel's appearance or demeanor that night.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

The clerk remembered the car not working, said he walked out the front door and he didn't pay attention. He didn't see him go, you know, in speaking with anybody in the parking lot or getting into a car. Nothing that he saw.

[Ashley Flowers]

Detectives canvassed the businesses and homes between the 711 and Daniel's house, and they found a couple of residences that had security cameras, but there were no signs of Daniel on any of them. There was only one more digital trace connected to Daniel that they ever found after he walked out of that 7 11.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

Approximately an hour later, after Daniel had left the store, his ATM card was tried to be used at a walk up ATM at a Chase bank located in Jupiter, Florida. They attempted to use a pin, but it was declined. And this would have been the same card that was that Daniel attempted to use inside the 711 at the ATM there, and it didn't work. This location would have been too far to go on foot. As far as him walking there, it would have been too far. The ATM did have A camera system, which we did contact Chase bank. Unfortunately, the camera for the ATM wasn't working that night, so we got no footage from it.

[Ashley Flowers]

The ATM in Jupiter is almost 10 miles north of the 711 where Daniel was last seen. And certainly not on the way to his home in lake park, which is less than a third of a mile south Or a five minute walk from the convenience store. So how did Daniel get to the ATM in Jupiter? Within an hour? Certainly not on foot. Whoever used Daniel's ATM card got there by car. And if it wasn't Daniel, who was it? That night, Daniel had done the impossible. In today's day and age, he was gone without a trace. Without a single piece of digital evidence to track Daniel, detectives tried working backwards. They began looking more closely into his life and the people in it to understand who he was associating with and who could have a motive to harm him. And as detectives tried to piece everything together, A picture emerged of someone who was struggling in ways that may have made him vulnerable.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

It was obvious that Daniel was suffering from money problems, and he was kind of spiraling downhill, you know, on the way to rock bottom as far as the alcohol and some of the drug use that we learned from people, you know, interviewing in this case, and just some of the people he was generally hanging around with.

[Ashley Flowers]

In fact, money problems were precisely why Daniel took in Sam Perry and Roy Smith as roommates. His house may have been paid off, but he still had bills to pay. And he wasn't generating income from work Because Daniel had also recently lost his email marketing job.

[David Trena]

They wound up letting him go during the COVID stuff. I don't know, it was because of him drinking, not being able to do his metrics for email marketing, or was because of COVID or a combination of both. So he lost his job there.

[Ashley Flowers]

David says his brother had received a $25,000 Covid hardship grant, but the money went quickly. So Roy and Sam entered the picture and literally the house they moved in Just a few months before Daniel's disappearance. Uncle Sam and his nephew Roy were still there on June 9th when Detective Weissman came onto the case. He and his partner went to the house that day to talk to them. By now, Daniel had been missing for two full weeks.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

We spoke with Roy Smith, who started really naming some individuals, you know, who he described as, you know, sex workers and, you know, narcotic users.

[Ashley Flowers]

Investigators learned from Roy and others they spoke with that Daniel was seeing several women. So they had to ask, were any of them perhaps connected to the guy that Daniel thought was after him. And one of the first names that Roy gave them was Shawanda Alvin.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

Roy continued to tell us that, you know, the relationship with Shawanda and Daniel was kind of, you know, toxic. Shawanda, you know, had slapped Daniel in front of Roy before. She had stayed at the house as well with Daniel for periods of time. And then eventually Daniel made her leave the residence because, you know, the relationship wasn't working out. You know, Roy also stated that Shawanda would have people come over, you know, and there was some drug sales out of the house and bringing a crowd that Daniel didn't want to the residence, people he didn't know, and so forth. So he told Shawanda to leave.

[Ashley Flowers]

Shawanda was interviewed by the police. She admitted to having an intimate relationship with Daniel, but apparently wasn't very cooperative and didn't want anyone knowing that she'd spoken to police. Still, detectives found nothing tying her to Daniel's disappearance or to whatever man it was that he feared. We attempted to reach Shawanda by phone and email for comment, but we have not received a response. While Daniel didn't have a strong digital trail for the day he disappeared, his phone left behind at his house did help paint a picture of the days before.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

Going through Daniel's phone, we noticed some pictures and some text messages that were the night before Daniel left the house. And this came from a girl identified as Richna Nicholas. Talking with Roy, we learned that Richna lived directly on the same street as Daniel, about four houses down. In his phone. Some of these photos that Richna was sending Daniel were kind of provocative in nature. She stated that she did come over to Daniel's house the night before he went missing and had a sexual, you know, relationship with him that night. But she then said that she left the house the next day. Roy backed this up with his information. Roy said she was aware that Richna had come to the house and Daniel had mentioned to him that he was going to have sex with her.

[Ashley Flowers]

The timing here is important because, remember, the detective's case summary says that Roy told them Daniel said he had sex with someone's girlfriend last night, the night before he went missing. And that is when the boyfriend was mad at him or after him. Now, Richna didn't have a boyfriend, or at least that is what she told police.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

Richna was cooperative with us in the investigation, didn't try to hide anything. I mean, she was quite helpful. She also, you know, found it odd that Daniel would invite Roy Smith and his uncle in. She made comment that Daniel was kind of going down a bad path. He was drinking a lot, you know, in the last month that she noticed by seeing him on the street and so forth. So she seemed kind of concerned about it.

[Ashley Flowers]

We tried calling and texting Richna to see if she would speak more about Daniel and the case, but we did not receive a response. And I was really hoping that she would talk to us so I could ask her if if she knew someone named John. Because detectives found another interesting message on

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

Daniel's phone, we did notice one peculiar text message from a guy named John Breaux. In the message, Jon Breaux had told Daniel, you mess with my girl, I'm gonna kill.

[ABC Audio Narrator]

In 2010, a family of four in California goes missing. Investigators spend years looking for answers. Is this a family on the run or is the truth far more sinister? From ABC Audio In 2020, this is what happened to the McStays. Follow what happened to the McStays for weekly episodes. Wherever you get your podcasts. Or if you can't wait. The entire series is streaming now ad free for subscribers to 2020 True Crime Plus. Find 2020 True Crime plus on Apple Podcasts to start your free trial today.

[Kylie Lowe]

In a small town, unsolved stories don't fade away. They remain in the places people know by heart and in the lives of those who never stopped looking for answers. I'm Kylie Lowe and on my podcast Dark Down East, I cover true crime cases from my home state of Maine in New England with care, context and the people impacted at the center of the story. These cases shaped communities even when the rest of the world moved on. Listen to Dark down east wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ashley Flowers]

This message from Jonbro seemed to fit squarely into the narrative Roy had laid out for police. Daniel had slept with someone's girlfriend and they were after him. It seems like it could have been John bro, except they didn't know who John Rowe was. The number was likely a burner. It didn't come back to any real name or address. And getting people in Daniel's world to talk. Good luck. While Roy seemed cooperative, they were stonewalled by everyone else in Daniel's circle at every turn. David eventually got so frustrated with the lack of progress that he hired a PI.

[David Trena]

After the initial month he was missing, my brother's friends and myself got together and we hired Bo Dieto's office out of New York City. Bo D's. You know, they're a movie star PI firm out of New York City. They're not cheap. So his friends put together about $10,000 and got that office to look into the case.

[Ashley Flowers]

Carlo Catogno oversaw the investigation for the firm. He says that his team's first challenge was getting close enough to the people in Daniel's world to earn their trust and to get them talking.

[Carlo Catogno]

When you're dealing with this kind of world, unfortunately, you have people that have things that they want to hide or they had bad experiences with investigators or the police in the past. So a lot of the rapport building needs to come in and say, we're looking for Dan Trainer. We're not interested in what you may be doing. We're not interested in. In anything like that. We're not the police. We're not looking to bust you for drug use or sales or. Or whatever else you might be into. We're dressed in a casual kind of mode. I don't have a badge, I don't have a gun. I. I come at them like a person, you know, and I'm working for family. I'm working for loved ones of someone that something happened to that we were trying to get answers to. We're not looking to prosecute them. We're not looking to turn them in. We're not also, we're not looking for them to be a snitch or an informant. We just want some answers.

[Ashley Flowers]

One of the people they spoke with was Richna Nichols, who told them something that she hadn't shared with police before.

[Carlo Catogno]

Richna told us that Roy Smith had confided in. In her that if we wanted to, we could take everything this guy has.

[Ashley Flowers]

And to David, that lined up with the fear that he had about Roy from the beginning, that once Daniel was gone, Roy didn't just stay in the house. He acted as if it belonged to him.

[David Trena]

He had nowhere to live. So I think in his mind, he thought, well, I'm just going to take over as Daniels live in this house. It's bought and paid for. It's my house now.

[Ashley Flowers]

It didn't help that Roy stayed in the house for over a year until Daniel's ex wife and children went through the courts to evict him in 2022. To this day, David treina thinks detectives should have pressed Roy harder.

[David Trena]

But anytime I told that police officer that Roy's been nothing but fantastic, he's answered every question voluntarily without an attorney. I was like, well, he can't afford an attorney. How's he going to have an attorney?

[Ashley Flowers]

We were unable to locate Roy for comment, and his uncle, Sam Perry, passed away recently. We asked detective Weissman if Roy or Sam should have been looked at closer as potential suspects?

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

I really don't think so. Nothing we uncovered in the investigation, you know, led us to believe that they did anything to Daniel.

[Ashley Flowers]

They seemed to believe his story that Daniel left and when he did, he was scared of someone who was after him for sleeping with their girl. They even had a text message to that effect in Daniel's phone from the elusive jonbro. They didn't know it for sure, but they felt confident that jonbro was going to hold some answers. So they continued working leads trying to track him down. Well, that took two and a half years. But in November of 2023, Detective Weissman and his partner went to the palm beach sheriff's office, county jail and interviewed jonbro. His real name was John lee Smith.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

We confronted John Smith with a text message and he stated, I mean, John said that, yeah, I remember that text message, and that he was referring to a girl named alina who was a sex worker that John was close with at the time that Daniel had had sex with her. And John burrow was upset with him for it. John Smith stated that the two of them worked it out and they had met in person after the text was sent, and that was the end of that. Daniel was a big guy. I mean, you know, he wasn't a guy that, you know, you would go up to and want to pick a fight with. You know, John Smith wasn't, you know, he was a pint size. So, you know, I don't think nothing came to fruition as far as, you know, looking at John Smith as a hardcore suspect.

[Ashley Flowers]

Alina, the woman at the center of the argument, was identified as Alena demarchi. She was actually the person who had called Daniel's sister back on May 29, 2021 and informed her that no one had seen Daniel in a days and she was more than just a casual hookup of Daniel's. The two had been involved kind of on and off since 2018.

[David Trena]

She was a 30 something year old female that apparently she was pregnant with my brother's twins. At one time they were, they were engaged to each other. From what I understand, she had a miscarriage and they were together off and on. Probably kind of a toxic relationship, but they were together all the time.

[Ashley Flowers]

David said that Alena also struggled with substance use disorder. By this time, Daniel had been missing for more than two and a half years with still no answer. So David began doing some of his own digging and he managed to track Alena down to see what she knew about his brother's disappearance.

[David Trena]

I asked her what happened to my brother? Do you know what happened? She didn't make too much sense.

[Ashley Flowers]

Detectives never found any evidence tying John Lee Smith or Aleena to Daniel's disappearance. They've never been able to tie anyone to it. Our reporting team reached out for comment, but we never heard back. But Detective Weissman thinks that someone was responsible for making Daniel vanish. He didn't just wander off alone and meet his fate, whatever it was. Weissman points to what he says was the last substantial development investigators have had in this case, that attempt to use Daniel's ATM card after he was seen leaving 7 11.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

Somebody obviously met Daniel at that 711 or close by and took him to the ATM way up the road. We actually physically have Daniel seen as his last point, you know, on camera, walking out of the 7 11. We have him leaving there, but we have his ATM card used, you know, several miles up the street to the north at a walk up atm. Now, the area where that was where the ATM was, you know, just going a little north, there's a wildlife preserve along the coast, that type of area. Very marshy, humid, wooded, wet, very wet. If Daniel would have disappeared into an environment like that, you could have easily disappeared and not be found.

[David Trena]

Something happened. Something happened to him. He would never leave that house. First off, that was his pride and joy, that house, his kids. Granted, during this time he was struggling with his addictions and stuff, but he would never leave his children and not know what was going on with them. I've talked to him a little bit, but their mother is kind of in between us, so I don't really get a chance to talk to them at all. I hope this helps out. They're able to see this and see that I'm not going to give up because this is not fair to them. It's not fair to my family. We got to find out what happened to him.

[Ashley Flowers]

Daniel also left behind Toby, his beagle lab pug mix that lives with David.

[David Trena]

Now, anybody that's, you know, skinny and over six foot three, he thinks it's his Dan, he thinks it's Daniel. He walks up to him and looks at him all the time. And then when you get there, he realizes it's not him, but he always looks for him. I know that this is the last piece of my brother that I have left is really him. It's Toby. I remind her every day that my brother is still not found. He reminds me, I mean, you never forget your brother, but, you know, having the dog that was your brother's, you know, your brother's dog you never forget. It's gone for five years, and I won't let it go. The old adage is a squeaky wheel gets the oil and I won't stop.

[Ashley Flowers]

If you know anything that can help the Traina family get answers about what happened to Daniel, call the Palm Beach County Sheriff's office at 561-688-4000. Or you can submit an anonymous tip with Crimestoppers of Palm beach county through their [e-mail] the deck is an audio check production with theme music by Ryan Lewis. To learn more about the Deck and our advocate legacy work, visit thedeckpodcast.com I think Chuck would approve. Latte for Keenan.

[Carlo Catogno]

That's me.

[Ashley Flowers]

Hey, you're.

[Kylie Lowe]

Yeah.

[Ashley Flowers]

Buying a car online on Autotrader.

[David Trena]

Really?

[Ashley Flowers]

But unlike other sites, you can start online, test drive with a local dealer, then finish online or at the dealership.

[Mike Carpinella]

Cool.

[David Trena]

Enjoy.

[Ashley Flowers]

Buy your car online on Autotrader. Really?

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

The snack wrap plus Caesar sauce equals

[Ashley Flowers]

extra crispy chicken Caesary greatness.

[David Trena]

Sounds delicious.

[Detective Jeff Weissman]

Caesar sauce at McDonald's for a limited time.