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Gabby Petito Case Prompts Pleas To Help Find Geologist Daniel Robinson, Who Vanished In Desert

"His disappearance is just as important to others that got media attention and got answers," Shayla Davis told Oxygen.com.

By Gina Tron
Gabby Petito Case Prompts Pleas To Find Daniel Robinson

The apparent discovery of Gabby Petito’s remains over the weekend has prompted pleas for the public to help find missing geologist Daniel Robinson, who vanished earlier this summer in Arizona. 

Stark State college student Shayla Davis took to Twitter shortly after the news broke on Sunday asking people to read up on his vanishing in June. 

“I'm shaking reading about the discovery of Gabby Petito's body in Wyoming,” she tweeted. “While we're watching this case unfold, please take 5 seconds to read about Daniel Robinson, a geologist who went missing in the desert outside Buckeye three months ago. His father is still looking for him.”

Robinson was last seen at his job site in Buckey, Arizona on June 23, driving his 2017 Jeep Renegade. He hadn't told anyone where he was going or why he was leaving, the Buckeye Police Department wrote in a press release.

That Jeep was found abandoned in a ravine in mid-July, the Arizona Republic reported. It has been badly damaged and its airbags have been deployed, Newsweek reported. Robinson’s clothing, cellphone, wallet and keys were found inside the Jeep.

Daniel Robinson Pd

Police have said that foul play is not suspected in his disappearance.

Robinson's vanishing has received little attention compared to the swarm of media coverage surrounding Petito's disappearance.

“Not a day goes by where missing people families suffer emotionally and mentally,” Davis told Oxygen.com on Monday. “People coming up missing daily and nobody talks about it enough unless it’s covered by big media outlets. His disappearance is just as important to others that got media attention and got answers.”

Davis, a journalism student, added no missing case should be swept under the rug. Her tweet has now been reshared more than 43,000 times as of Monday afternoon. 

"No matter the race of a person, spread awareness about everyone that’s missing until we get answers about their whereabouts,” she said. 

More than 710 Indigenous people — primarily girls — went missing from 2011 to 2020 in Wyoming —  the state where Petito was apparently found. Most of those cases remain unknown to the general public.

Robinson was hired as a field geologist after he graduated from college in 2019, according to a GoFundMe created by his family. He was hired to oversee sites in remote desert locations.

He is described as 5-foot-8, with hair and brown eyes. He does not have a right forearm or hand. Anyone with information is urged to call the Buckeye Police Department at 623-349-6400.