CAVE CREEK, Ariz. (NewsNation Now) — The family of a missing geologist has hired a private investigator in hopes of finding him.
Daniel Robinson, 24, vanished more than three months ago while working in a remote area of Buckeye, Arizona.
Police have said they have no evidence of foul play or violent criminal activity. However, Robinson’s Jeep was found by a rancher one month after he was reported missing. His keys, wallet and cellphone were in the vehicle but there was no sign of him.
Robinson’s father has planned searches for each of the past 11 weeks, with another scheduled for Saturday.
Jeff McGrath, a retired police officer with years of investigative work, has been hired by Robinson’s family to work on the case. He told NewsNationNow.com there have been reported sightings of Robinson throughout Arizona and possibly even California.
“It’s actually great news. But we need to get more of his face out there and especially over in the California area,” McGrath said. “Somebody has seen him if he is out there and if these leads are as accurate as what they say they are, we need his face out there.”
A recent police report said Daniel was rebuffed by a woman he was communicating with after showing up at her home unannounced on more than one occasion. McGrath said he has interviewed that woman.
“She made it very clear that there wasn’t a relationship there,” McGrath said. “They were acquaintances and that she just felt that it was would be best that Daniel just not contact her.”
However, McGrath doesn’t believe there’s a correlation between the woman cutting off communication with Daniel and his disappearance.
He said the next step in the investigation is getting the case classified as an endangered person case.
‘There’s a lot of information that still needs to be acquired and I can’t do it without warrants. I’m a private citizen,” McGrath said. “Now, I’m not a cop anymore, so I can’t draw warrants. I’m going to be talking to the Buckeye Police Department; they’re aware. And if we can reclassify this as an endangered person, we don’t have to have a crime but an endangered missing person. We can draw warrants to get some of the technical information that we’re looking for.”
