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Authorities search for missing Arizona man

PHOENIX, Ariz. (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - New revelations in the Daniel Robinson case as his family and investigators are going on two years of searching for the missing geologist, who vanished in late June 2021.

His car was found crashed with all his belongings inside, but Robinson was never seen again.

The police report reveals when detectives extracted data from Robinson's Google searches in the week leading up his disappearance. There were searches that stuck out like, "Love changed me," "Delete Instagram account, "Shooting Tempe, "Explosion" and "I'm okay to do things I hate."

But Robinson's father, David, had just talked to his son on the phone and didn't hear anything alarming.

"Outside of the history for searching things like that, he definitely did not display that openly," David expressed.

Suspicious witness

The new information in the report shows Robinson's phone at the crash site at 10:05am, and it stopped tracking just after 10:30am.

That becomes very important with the other new details that have emerged: A witness named Bill who claimed to have seen Robinson in the area after he disappeared.

Bill noticed Robinson's new Jeep, and said he was wearing a reflective work shirt and boots. He also noticed Robinson was missing part of his arm, which is consistent with Robinson's disability.

"At first, his story seemed to be valid. I even mentioned it at my second family press conference that there was a second person who saw my son," David spoke.

But Bill claimed to have seen Robinson around 11:30am, then changed his story to different potential sighting times. None that matched the data of Robinson's phone at the crash site by 10:00am. The police report also casts suspicion that Bill may not have been truthful about a law enforcement background.

"Those were red flags for me. I went to the Buckeye Police Department with that," David detailed.

Remaining hopeful

After Buckeye police interviewed Bill just two weeks ago, they issued this statement in their report:

"At this time, there is no evidence in Bill's electronic devices or phone records which helps to corroborate or disprove his story. The data in [Robinson]'s phone does not align with his story and it remains unclear what his motivation would be to lie about talking to [Robinson] the day he went missing."

Robinson's father says he has to remain hopeful. "I just have my faith to believe that somehow, some way, I'm going to find my soon alive and I'm going to bring him back home," David expressed.

Article Topic Follows: Arizona News

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Dillon Fuhrman

If you have any story ideas, reach out to him at dillon.fuhrman@kecytv.com.

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