Darrel Johnson Part 2: Triangle Beneath the Stars
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If he was alive when he went missing, just we're saying hypothetically, and he had to survive in the wilderness, he'd be one of the people that could. He's so smart in his resources, he'd be able to do what he could until he couldn't.

I really think even if it's sometime down the road that someone's going to get spooked, I think someone's going to break or something's going to be said because they're going to get too nervous or they're not going to remember something specific that they said. Something's going to happen where we're going to get something to go forward. I really feel like that's how things are going to break down.

In late June 2024, Daryl Johnson traveled from Phoenix to a remote state park in northeastern New Mexico to go camping with a group of 33 other people. They were there to celebrate the birthday of the daughter of a woman who some described as Daryl's girlfriend, while others referred to her simply as his friend. It's been said that Daryl and others arrived around 11 a.m. on June 28th and spent the rest of the day at the campground.

Stories later emerged that there may have been an argument between Daryl and another man, who has been described as the woman's boyfriend, though the account of that evening has been disputed. Later that night, around 11:00 p.m., Daryl's friend or companion reportedly checked in on him in his tent and asked if he was okay sleeping there. She said that Daryl assured her that he was fine. But by 7:00 a.m. the following morning, Daryl was missing from his tent, and no one in the group knew where he had gone.

They weren't alarmed at first, assuming Daryl had gone for a walk, perhaps to the restrooms. However, when Daryl failed to return, they decided to contact authorities and report him missing. Investigating officers spoke to nearby campers, and it was revealed that shortly after midnight, a witness believed that Daryl had approached their group and asked for help.

and asked to borrow a flashlight. After receiving one, he was seen walking away, initially heading along the shoreline before turning back toward his campsite. After that, Darrell was never seen or heard from again. Back in Phoenix, Darrell's family was stunned to learn from the New Mexico State Police that he was missing. They hadn't even known that Darrell left town.

his son and daughter-in-law quickly packed up their family and made the nine-hour drive to assist in the search. As days turned into weeks without any new leads, tensions began to rise between Daryl's family and the group he had been camping with. Daryl's family grew suspicious, feeling that the others must know more than they were letting on. They began to notice discrepancies in the stories they were being told,

Meanwhile, the family of the woman Darrell had traveled to New Mexico with felt that they were being unfairly blamed for his disappearance, and communication between the two sides ultimately broke down. More than six months later, the investigation remains at a standstill, but Darrell's family refuses to give up on their search, holding on to hope that answers will eventually be revealed.

I'm Marissa, and from Wondery, this is episode 473 of The Vanished, part two of Daryl Johnson's story, Triangle Beneath the Stars.

When 67-year-old Daryl Johnson mysteriously vanished from a campground in New Mexico, his family was left in shock. Daryl was the kind of man whose life was marked by routine. Most days he could be found at his junkyard, living quietly with his loyal dog Muffin, and tinkering with things in his free time. On occasion, when the weather was extreme, either too hot or too cold, Daryl would go stay with a woman he knew. To his family and friends, she was understood to be his girlfriend.

But after his disappearance, she disputed that, claiming they were strictly friends and had known each other for 40 years. In June 2024, Daryl went camping with this woman and a large group of 34 people in total. When Daryl went missing, the nature of his relationship with her became a point of confusion and suspicion, further complicating the already mysterious circumstances of his disappearance.

leaving family and friends struggling to reconcile what they thought they knew with the unsettling truths that were now emerging. When Daryl vanished, it appeared that the 33 other people he had been camping with hadn't seen or heard Daryl leave the campsite, though you learned last week that there were only notes and recordings of interviews with three of the other campers from the group, Daryl's companion, her daughter, and son-in-law.

It was one of the daughters of Daryl's companion who reported him missing. In early July, the investigator reached out to her in an effort to clarify the situation further. We tried to run the drone yesterday. We didn't see anything. Search and rescue is not going to go out for what we have right now. At this point, we're hoping he'll show up at home or we'll find him out there. That's the only thing we hope for now.

And that's kind of what my mom was hoping also because he lives with her. And so she went home to see if he shows up there somehow. I mean, I know that you guys had said maybe he just hitchhiked. I remember you saying that because somebody had spotted him at 7 o'clock in the morning. So that's not, that wasn't him?

That wasn't him? No, it was another black male individual that was... And he had the same shirt, the same clothing description, but it was a younger... The ranger had seen that guy there for a day or two walking. It was a coincidence. And see, we didn't have that information either. And so now his family...

I'm telling my mom that she's making up stories and that she hit the body. I talked to Darrell Jr. So I had already told him. He actually was in Ponchos and I showed him the campsite. I explained to him what we had. So what is your mom to Darrell? My mom and Darrell are friends. I'm going to call him Bubba because I do not know him by name. Why is the son adamant that Darrell was the boyfriend?

So he lives with my mom. Anything that you guys need to know, I'm more than happy to give you information. Who's your mom's boyfriend? My mom's boyfriend is ******. And was he there with you guys? Yes. So my mom and ****** drove out. And is this ****** jealous of Bubba? No. There's no reason for him to be jealous of Bubba. I mean, that's my mom's boyfriend and Bubba lives with my mom. He's there when Bubba's there. There's no reason for him to be jealous.

My mom have been together off and on. I want to say eight plus years. While somebody in your group is twisting the story that supposedly got jealous. No reason for Bubba to be jealous of her.

No reason for *** to be jealous of Bubba. The only thing, and I had told the Rangers this that day, because you guys had asked, was there a fight? And I said, no. I don't consider that a fight. I don't consider that anything. And I did disclose this to them that day. The only thing that was said was *** was drinking, and he wanted to go get more beer. And my mom's like, no. You don't need to be drinking anymore. Nobody's even drinking out here. You don't need to be drinking more. And then...

And where was it?

And where was he?

Uh, that I don't know. Why didn't you guys tell me this when I was out there? I did tell the ranger whenever you were talking with my mom. I did tell the ranger, the female ranger that was with you that day. I was talking to her and I did disclose that. Okay, he should have told me that because I didn't hear you guys when you were talking. Where was it when you guys went to bed? With my mom in her truck. They slept in her truck. Or in his truck, sorry. And Bubba had his own tent that we had set up for him. Put sleeping bags in there. We want to find him just as much as everybody else, so.

Baba has been to New Mexico several times. He's been to our house for Christmas time. He's been there for the little fiesta time. I know. It's just right now at this point, it's kind of like we don't know where he's at. You can understand the son situation where he's trying to find his father and it's frustrating when we don't have nothing at all to go off of.

I mean, the only thing I can tell you now is try to avoid telling your mom to avoid it.

avoid daryl jr and any issues as far as harassment she's gonna have to go through her local uh law enforcement agency she called us because i guess supposedly somebody had called her and told her something so we don't have jurisdiction over arizona so she'll have to go through her local agencies okay so i did tell her that and i told her not to respond and that anything if she feels that she needs to respond to do it over text so that everything is documented like

Like I said, I understand that emotions are high. They don't know where he's at. We stayed until Sunday. We didn't get home until after 6 o'clock. You had said he probably hitchhiked because you said that his son stated it was normal behavior for him to kind of up and leave if maybe he was upset about something. Yes. So we left. I mean, we really, there was nothing for us to do. The rangers all checked. We searched the...

That whole Saturday research Sunday. He took off somewhere. I just don't know why. I don't know why he would take off walking in the middle of the night. It doesn't make sense.

In part one, Daryl Jr. revealed that he began hearing a story about an alleged argument between his father and the companion's boyfriend. For him, this raised an immediate red flag. The alleged dispute appeared to stem from the boyfriend's drinking and his mistreatment of the companion while intoxicated. Daryl Jr. noted that the details surrounding the argument have been inconsistent, with conflicting accounts emerging over time.

When officers first arrived at the campground after Daryl was reported missing, the companion provided them with her account of the events from the night prior, which seemed to align with this story.

So anyways, I was like, you need to stop drinking. And then Bubba says, did he upset you? I said, no, he just needs to stop drinking. He's all right, because I wouldn't want him to upset you. And then he might have got upset because I told him that, but other than that, like, no arguing, no. In July, the investigator was able to reach Daryl's companion by phone, hoping to clarify the nature of their relationship and determine whether an argument had occurred just before Daryl's disappearance.

So who was calling you? Uh huh. And what did they tell you? Okay. And which friend is he, are they referring to? What do you mean?

My boyfriend. You're- okay, so you and your friend, he's assinuating, uh, Darrell. No, Darrell's my friend.

This is my boyfriend. He's been my boyfriend for 13 years. So how come Daryl Jr. is saying that you and his dad were dating? No, we have never dated. He lives with me. Brother Sr. lives with me. He's lived with me for the last two years. Well, how come the family keeps saying that you and Daryl were boyfriend and girlfriend? No, we're not. We've known each other for about 40 years. He lives here with me.

Because whenever I talked to Darrell, he said that you guys were dating.

Okay, so he wasn't your boyfriend? No, Darrell has never been my boyfriend. Never had any kind of relationship like that with him. Okay, and where's this story coming that supposedly Darrell got upset because you were drinking? Well, drink. Huh? I had open-heart surgery. Well, where's this story coming from? Who's saying that Darrell got upset because he didn't want you to be drinking and supposedly you got...

You guys ran out of beer and somebody said, there's beer over here if you want to continue drinking. Where is that story coming from? I don't know where that story is coming from. I don't drink. I just had open heart surgery two years ago. I don't do drugs. I don't know where all these stories are coming from. I don't. Was there any...

argument between you and Darrell on Friday night where he might have got upset and walked off. The only thing that was sad between me and Bubba Sr., okay, because I told him, hey, the air conditioner went out in the van. He goes, okay, let me check it out. He opened up the hood, took a picture, and then he got some numbers from the back of the van.

Oh, this is what's wrong with that. He says, I'm going to make a couple phone calls to my friend to get the parts. I was like, Baba, don't worry about it. Baba, don't worry about it. Leave it alone. Because he was like, I can go get the parts. I was like, don't worry about it. We're way out here. He did make a phone call to whom? I don't know who he made the phone call to. And when was this? That night. When did you notice Darrell missing in the morning on Saturday? At 7 in the morning.

Why did you guys wait so long to call? Because we didn't get the call till 1130. And how did you guys know that his phone was going dead? But it was dead though. You guys were saying it was dead. Uh-huh.

During this call, the companion also expressed her concern that she was being harassed by Daryl's family. I was getting threatening phone calls. Bubba calls me yesterday and said, why did I leave the campsite? I had to leave. I sat there for two days looking for Bubba and I can't find him. You know, I don't know where he's at. I don't know where he could have walked off.

Okay. So at this point, we have no idea where he went. It's kind of odd, but I don't know where Mr. Johnson split to.

From this point forward, if they call you, you'll have to call your local law enforcement agency if you continue getting calls like that. Well, I tried to call the Phoenix Police Department yesterday when I got home. And they said that I have to report it to the Las Vegas Police Department because I've

I was that when everything happened. We don't have jurisdiction in Arizona. It's a whole different state. If the threats are going on in Arizona, they have to be handled in Arizona. We can't be handling calls, harassment calls for you in New Mexico when they're occurring over there. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yeah, because they're calling and... The family's going to be upset. They're freaking out because their dad is missing. While speaking to Daryl's companion, the investigator shared his own thoughts on what may have happened to Daryl.

I think he took off walking. Where he went, I don't know. That area is just so big that if he caught one of those dirt roads to the opposite direction, he'll be going towards Raton or Mosquero and those areas. But the terrain out there, there's just nothing. Like it's just hills and mezquite and it's the only people that are going to be between there until you get to Mosquero is going to be ranchers.

And that's another thing. If he went that way, the ranchers would have found him because there's ranchers up and down those roads all the time. Nobody saw him on the other side because nobody on the west side of your campsite, there was a lot of people out there and nobody said he walked by. They would have noticed him with a flashlight. You know what I mean? That's what I'm saying. And then they said something about the phone being there.

More than likely either he dropped it and then that thing can ping for several miles so it just depends. But after the first that last ping that they got there was no more activity after that because the dispatcher said either his phone's off or it's dead. That's the only reason why there would be no more activity.

I've been trying to call his phone. Yeah, it's not going to work. They went through his duffel bag and, you know, they saw everything that he had in his duffel bag and his chargers were in the duffel bag. So I don't know. For some reason, he just took off walking. Who knows the reason why? I don't know if he got disoriented or if he got upset with you or something, but that's all we have right now.

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When we first heard about Daryl's disappearance, we questioned whether he had even made it to the campground, wondering if something may have happened at his home or along the way. However, a photo taken on the Friday they arrived at the campground appears to provide some clarity. In the picture, Daryl can be seen with a companion and her boyfriend. He was wearing a red shirt and jeans. This is reportedly what he was wearing when he disappeared.

Though this raised another red flag for Daryl's daughter-in-law. Michaelin pointed out that if Daryl had retired to his tent for the night before later deciding to leave, it would have been uncharacteristic for him to sleep in the same clothes that he had worn all day.

They said that's what he was last wearing, but I don't think that he would have gone to sleep in jeans. And if he went to bed and he went in the tent and you said goodnight to him, was he really wearing what he was wearing in the picture? That's another question, because if he got ready for bed, he would have put on his pajamas. How do we actually know that that was what he was last wearing?

And no one saw him leave his tent. In the photo, the companion is sitting next to him. And then her boyfriend is sitting next to her. And they're all three sitting next to each other, smiling for the picture. It's so bizarre. When they told us who he was, that's when everybody said, no, it's not. What the heck is going on? That's a weird thing to have your boyfriend and your mister next to you.

That's bizarre on its own. He had a duffel bag with his stuff in it, but the duffel bag was with them. He disappeared with nothing.

Michaelin watched helplessly as the relentless nightmare consumed her husband, slowly tearing him apart. With the searches for Daryl yielding no answers, no clues about what had happened to him or which direction he may have gone, Michaelin felt an overwhelming urge to do more. She couldn't stand by any longer. She had to find a way to help bring her father-in-law home.

He's heartbroken. He's not in a very good place and he just doesn't have the capacity to deal with everything. So I just said, you know what, if I got to be the spokesperson or the social media person or whatever it may be, I'll do it. So I'm the one that's written all these emails to figure things out. I'm the one that begged the state police to do a search and rescue, calling the governor that was writing the governor because nothing was being done.

So we didn't even know in July, the police didn't even tell us that the dogs had searched that area. Also too, on the 5th of August, search and rescue went out and did a search pattern with their drones. We weren't advised of that. How we found out about all of this is because there was an email on the 27th of August that my husband sent to them.

the captain of the New Mexico State Police. He sent him an email asking him what's been going on with my father. Is there any new updates? And that's when the captain responded and said, I will have Officer Gonzalez reach out to you and give you an update. That's when he said, I do know search and rescue, went out and did a search pattern on August 5th. We responded back to that email because

because Officer Gonzalez never called, never emailed, nothing. So August 27th was the last correspondence that there was with the police. The police have not responded to any more follow-up emails. They have not responded to Daryl. They have not reached out to him. And I can tell you, there's a local newspaper out there who did an article in the beginning on Daryl

And I spoke to him. He reached out to the state police for a comment and they did not give him one. So now they're not communicating at all.

When someone goes missing in a state park or any wilderness area, the terrain must always be taken into account. Is it a place where someone could easily get lost, fall off of a cliff, or become trapped in a crevice? What obstacles does the landscape itself present? Michaelin pointed out that much of the area around the lake was flat and open, with little tree cover. Given these conditions, she believed it should have been relatively easy to spot someone, especially if they were wearing a bright red shirt.

There's nowhere where he would have fallen off a cliff if he was climbing. It is very open. They mentioned if he went in the water, there's cliffs that you could drop off and you wouldn't know because you can't see them. But those are the only cliffs that are in the park area. But yes, it's very open and there's no drop-offs or anything like that where he could climb high enough to fall or go through such terrain where he's hiking or things like that.

We also have to consider the lake itself. Could Daryl have decided to take a late-night swim? We were told that Daryl didn't like water, and his family doesn't believe he would have ventured down to the lake for a midnight dip. However, there are other ways someone could end up in a body of water, whether by accident or foul play. Michael M. believes that if Daryl had fallen into the water, he would have surfaced quickly.

He didn't like water. He would always say with big areas of water like that, the Loch Ness Monster was in there. He was deathly afraid of water. So he wouldn't go into it or near it on his own accord. I mean, yeah, the tents near the water.

but it's not close enough to the water where you're going to get swept in there or something like that's going to happen. But he wouldn't just go into the water on his own for a swim or anything like that. He would not do that. His body would have surfaced, but nothing at all.

In part one, you learned about the growing divide between Daryl's family and the group he was camping with. As the months began to pass without any answers, the tension between the two sides only intensified, with frustration building on both sides.

She said to Daryl, oh, I didn't know your dad didn't tell you. I thought he did. And Daryl said, well, if my dad didn't tell me that he was going out of town, then you would have. She would have called my husband and said, oh, we're going out of town. She would have told him. She knows that he has a dog, but it didn't seem like she cared about the dog. Another thing which is weird is that we were in New Mexico and she was back in Arizona. She went by my father-in-law's yard and called my husband and said,

screaming at him saying, why the F are there two locks on the yard now? Freaking out about it. And my husband said, who the hell are you to be cussing me out and asking me why the yard is secure and why there's another chain on there? She goes, because I never seen another chain. I only saw one. And my husband had to hang up on her. Going forward, a couple of weeks later in July, she calls my husband.

And she says, I need you to come and pick up all your dad's stuff here because it's giving me eerie vibes. I just can't have his stuff around with him not around. And me and my husband looked at each other. He had her own speakerphone. You want his son to go and pick up all of his stuff that's at your house because you have a weird feeling and you can't have his stuff around because he's not there physically. Weird things like that. Now, after that,

She went radio silent. That was in the middle of July. Never heard anything from her again. However, another thing that was kind of odd that we had to put a stop to is that they were acting like they were the first ones that needed to be notified by the police about anything. And my husband's telling the police, you don't notify them first. You notify me or my sister. We're

his son and were his daughter. Why are they so keen on wanting to know exactly everything that happens first? So we put a stop to it. We said, uh-uh, you're going to contact Daryl first, the son or the daughter. In their search for answers, Daryl Jr. and Michael Lynn keep circling back to the relationship between Daryl and the woman he went camping with. Each new detail they uncover seems to suggest that there was more to their connection than she has claimed.

When my husband went to my father-in-law's yard to get important papers, bring anything out of there so he would have them to keep him safe, he found old phones. The screensavers for the old phones were pictures of...

as his background. And then in one of the old phones, it was an iPhone. In an iPhone, you could put a recovery phone number, but it was her phone number. If that wasn't your girlfriend, and if that wasn't your boyfriend, why would you have a background of them? Why would your phone number be in his phone as a secondary number?

Another thing is, too, she was asking if anybody had checked his voicemail. And she knew his password, too. And she told Daryl, oh, this is his password. There was nothing there. But why would you know the password to his voicemail? She was so intertwined in his life. Because I could tell you, too, if he was with his son and he wouldn't answer right away, she would keep calling. His friends knew it. His son knew it.

But it wasn't reciprocated. He wasn't controlling. I can't tell you what he thought or felt. We really think he loved her. We think that he was in love with her and this was a love to him. He had someone that was showing him affection, showing him love, showing him care.

The camper who reported that Daryl asked for a flashlight mentioned that they believed he was intoxicated. However, Daryl's family insists that he didn't drink or use any substances. Could it be that Daryl was experiencing a medical event, something that could have been mistaken for intoxication? When we spoke to Daryl Jr., we asked him about his father's health.

The only thing he had was just a bad shoulder and it runs deep in our family. It's high blood pressure. But other than that, he knows how to get out of situations. And my thoughts would be he would have at least gone and waited somewhere or

call somebody off his phone. That would be the first thing on the list is he'll get his phone and call somebody. I told him, it don't matter how far, you can be on the other side of the country. I will find a way to go get you and bring you home. And he knows that because that's who he calls if he's in a bad situation is to call me or call his close brother, friend,

There's an article that stated Daryl may have been experiencing early signs of dementia. Michael Lynn clarified that this idea stemmed from a conversation between Daryl Jr. and the investigator, during which Daryl Jr. mentioned his father repeating things more frequently in the months leading up to his disappearance.

Daryl mentioned when he was talking to the officer, my dad repeated himself a lot, but there was no medical diagnosis by a physician or anything that would indicate dementia or onset dementia. He didn't know if it was a possibility if his dad could possibly have it, but no one thinks that that's a possibility or a big piece of why he went missing.

Daryl Jr. has given a lot of thought to the account of his father appearing intoxicated, and he worries that there may be another explanation. Could his father have been injured, causing him to become disoriented, acting in a way that seemed similar to intoxication?

That was an actual camper that saw my dad and they gave him a flashlight. Because if you look at it, in my point of view, when they said, oh, they saw my dad gave him a flashlight, he looked like he was drunk. In my head, it's like, well, my dad don't drink. So what if they did do something to him and it was too dark for them to see if something bad. But my mind with everything is crazy because maybe this person was involved with something with my dad or maybe he did actually give my dad a flashlight.

We also have to consider whether it was truly Daryl who asked the other camper for a flashlight. As you learned last week, there was a sighting of a man along a nearby roadway who resembled Daryl, but ultimately they learned that he was much younger. Michaelin isn't certain if that man was staying at the campground, but she questions whether it was really Daryl who borrowed the flashlight, or could it have been another case of mistaken identity?

It was a younger black male and it was not Daryl. So if that guy was on the campsite, which they didn't say if he was or not, they just said that they saw him walking. Could it have been him? Maybe because it's as dark as it was. I don't know.

After receiving the documents and footage we requested for Daryl's case, we forwarded the videos to Michael Lynn so that she could review them and see if anything stood out to her. There were several things that we noticed, one of which was the way Daryl was spoken about. While there was the initial confusion when someone mistakenly identified a younger man as Daryl, we found that some of the references to him in the videos lacked empathy.

In fact, they seem to convey little care or concern for a missing person. Here's one example of this that stood out. You coming from Vegas? Yes. You didn't see anybody walking down here? No. No black male individual? No. No? Huh. Bueno. I think I would have seen that. Yeah. I guess. I don't know. He fucking wandered off from the lake and they can't find him now. Oh, wow. No, I didn't see anything. Bueno. All righty.

After Michael-Ann reviewed the footage, we got on another call with her shortly before Daryl's series went into production. Here are some of her thoughts. That's what I really thought in the beginning, that racism played into his behavior because of the way that he portrayed my father-in-law and me.

made remarks about him, but I really don't know. I guess overall, I really think that they should have, meaning law enforcement, it's the one officer, it's Officer Gonzalez. He's the only officer really mentioned and his only body cam footage is the one that's obtained. So I really think in the beginning, especially when he went to the campsite and was walking around questioning, I noticed right off the bat that

that he kept saying, this guy walked off, this effing guy walked off, was making derogatory comments about my father-in-law and what he did. However, if you watch all the videos, not one person in a phone call from Daryl Jr., his sister, or anybody that they interviewed that was a part of the people in that group for the party, never said anything.

never said that he would walk off the campsite. They all said that this was not like him and he wouldn't do something like this. That officer gave the narrative that he walked off. And I think that put a wrench in things. He was the only one that said that guy walked off the campsite. The other party, I can say that everybody was in agreement

from whoever he talked to in the party and the family members that the officer talked to. Everybody agreed that this was unlike Daryl's characteristics, that he would not do something like this, that he wouldn't just take off in the middle of the night and disappear. The officer, it seemed like he was a jerk in the beginning, but I can say he did question certain things when he spoke to the other party.

when he had mentioned, oh, well, if you woke up at 7 a.m. and he went missing, why'd you wait till 11 to let the park rangers know? So he did, in some instances, question them and say, well, why didn't you tell me this? Why didn't you do that? And when he

talked to the daughter, he said that too. He goes, well, if there was an altercation, why didn't you mention that before? If the boyfriend was there, why didn't you mention that before? And then when the female companion was asked something, she mentioned there was an argument about a car park. Those were red flags to me. And then the biggest thing was that how come you as the officer

being told more than once things that didn't match up when you talk to them at the campsite. When he was interviewing the other party at the other campsite where he got the flashlight from, the woman said a word in Spanish.

the color black in Spanish. I guess basically English interpretation. She said, oh, I saw the woman walking with the black man. If you were told that there's a possibility that after the fact you saw them together, how come that wasn't looked into more? So

I really think the ball was dropped on the end of law enforcement. They should have done a further and more thorough investigation. Even if they couldn't consider it foul play, they should have looked at all avenues and said, okay, well, we're concerned because they didn't tell us this in the beginning. Let's go back out there and

look again, get all these people that we can and interview all of them once again. Even with them hearing that information, they still didn't do anything. I do know that the mentioning of the phone, how it pinged in the location, then it was nowhere to be found. And then the female companion said,

She said initially his phone was dying and he asked for the battery to be charged. One of the daughters said, OK, I'll charge it. And then he said, OK, well, that's enough. Then she said the phone was completely dead and it never got charged. And I think because the comment that the officer made about him walking off, even though it was his narrative and nobody else agreed with him and all the other conversations he had with the other police,

party, mainly the daughter and female companion, those right there, something should have been done more. It shouldn't be six months where everything is at a standstill or nothing has been done even with hearing those. So unfortunately, I feel that they really dropped the ball on my father-in-law. And I feel that those people just hearing what they said and what they didn't say did put him in a position that was not good. I

I don't want to point fingers because I don't know the facts. I only can give my opinion, but I feel that it was not an accident. And I feel that something was done to him sinister, but I can't tell you why.

Last week, you learned that the woman Daryl went camping with had a boyfriend, who was also on the trip. While going through the records we received, it was puzzling when we realized that there were no interviews conducted with him, nor any mention of him being questioned in the written reports. Michaelin was particularly disturbed by the changing narrative surrounding this man, and a potential altercation or disagreement with Daryl just before he went missing.

the boyfriend of 12 years on and off. And I know the daughter mentions that too, but I think she says a lower number. I think she says seven or nine years on and off. So there was two separate altercations. Back when everything happened with my father-in-law, one of the sisters sent a screenshot to Daryl Jr.'s sister and said,

I'm pretty sure that there was an altercation between your dad. There was an argument because he was drunk. When he gets drunk, he gets mean. But that was in the beginning. We knew nothing about obviously what the audio and recording said because we didn't have them at the time.

So when we brought that message to the attention of the older daughter, who they were there for celebrating the party for, she said, oh, that sister is the problem child of the family. You can't listen to anything she says. She lies a lot. So just ignore her if she reaches out to you and we're going to tell her to shut her mouth. As you listen to the recording, the daughter mentions that

is a big drinker. He ran out of beer and he wanted more. And I guess that when gets really drunk, he may not be very nice to the female companion. That was one argument that arose that would coincide with what we heard in the first few days of him missing. Then there was an argument

that something was wrong with the van that they brought. And my father-in-law insisted that he find the part and search for it. And she said that we got in an argument about him not looking for the part while we're on this trip. I told him, listen, don't do it right now. We're too far away.

When the issue came up, Daryl asked the officer, did you interview in person? And the officer said, yes, he did. You never hear or see about interviewed or talked to. And even in the police report, there is no mention of in the recording. You hear when he walks back that way to the party, he asked, well, where's

And she keeps saying, I don't know. So nobody knows where he is. Nobody questions where he is. It's like he disappeared too.

I mean, in reality, he didn't disappear, but he's nowhere around when the police come or anything like that. He's not in the area. So where is he? Is he in the bathroom? And he was at the campsite. We have the picture and we know that he was there. You have a recording of the daughter saying to you there was an altercation. You were given in the beginning a screenshot that another daughter said there was an altercation, but you guys don't do anything with that. So, yeah, that was a really big thing.

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Michelin also noted that during her interviews, Daryl's companion often portrayed herself as the victim, focusing more on how Daryl's disappearance had affected her life, rather than on the search for Daryl himself.

She kept playing the victim, I felt. She came out and said, this is a lot for me. I'm really upset. I had open heart surgery two years ago. This is no good on my heart. She always made it about herself. She said, oh, I'm sad he's missing and I don't want to be blamed. But she never made it like he was the one that was missing always.

She makes it seem like the attention needed to be on her. And even the daughter was like, this is a lot for my mom, people blaming her and saying things. And it was consistent in person and over the phone. And even when Daryl Jr. had phone calls with her, she always brought that up about the open heart surgery and how all this was stressful to her.

but never really indicated anything about his dad. She really didn't mention him too much, even in the phone calls. Daryl Jr. has been troubled by the companion's tendency to position herself as the victim in this situation. To him, it feels like a way of deflecting attention, away from the real issue at hand, the fact that his father is missing.

Every time she'll talk with my dad, she'll talk about herself, all her problems and stuff like that. Right now is the time to talk about you. It's about my dad that's missing. It was even to the point where she was out there with us. My wife was like, well, his son has health problems. His son has MS. His son has high blood pressure. You don't see him talking about it. People around my dad, everybody, they just got weird vibes around her.

At first, Daryl's family was hopeful that law enforcement would take this case seriously. As Michaelin mentioned, as the months have gone by, communication with authorities has steadily dwindled, eventually fading out to complete silence.

For them to be radio silent, come on. We sent them the cell phone records, never got a response, nothing. It's kind of like what's going on with them where they're not even saying anything, where the captain stops responding. He would be the last person that should stop responding because he's the main person that oversees everybody.

When we caught up with Michaelann just before Daryl's story was set to air, we hoped she would have received some new information from law enforcement about their investigation. Unfortunately, we were disheartened to learn that nothing had changed.

Officer Gonzalez indicated that they're far from Contras Lake, an hour, an hour and a half away. So it's very hard for them to get over there. Headquarters or their region location is far away from the park. However, they oversee the park because it's in their jurisdiction. And that was another thing that the officer had mentioned a couple of times.

The last time we heard anything from them was August 27th, and the captain of the state police never responded to Daryl after that. Daryl followed up with him for a couple months into the end of October and kept writing emails and writing emails, but no one ever responded to the emails. I don't understand why they wouldn't say anything or even give an update.

We contacted the New Mexico State Police to request records and an interview. While they did release records, they never responded to our request for an interview. When considering the theories surrounding Daryl's disappearance, one possibility is that he got lost and simply hasn't been found. Could he have suffered a medical event, causing him to wander in a state of confusion? Given the terrain and the extensive search efforts, Daryl Jr. believes that if his father had been disoriented and wandered off, he would have been found by now.

The most people that were helping out there at that state park was the park rangers. I believe if something like that, those park rangers would have found him. Because out of everybody looking for him, they even told us. Real nice gentleman. Did more stuff than the state police at the time. And he even told me that every time we were searching for him, they were at their campsite. They weren't even looking for him.

Many of us find it hard to believe that something could happen to a person in a busy campground without anyone noticing, with people up late enjoying themselves and others sleeping just a thin tent wall away. It seems unlikely that no one would hear or see anything. Could something have happened to Daryl, and the sounds of campers partying into the night simply drowned out any noise?

Because everybody's close together, yeah, but nobody's going to hear it, especially at the time everybody's drinking out there. They can think, oh, they're just messing around, playing around. That comes in and the play too. If you're drinking, I mean, of course, everybody, when they drink, they like to play around and wrestle or something. They could have thought that.

Daryl's family is convinced that he was harmed during the trip to New Mexico. For Daryl Jr., one of the most troubling aspects of this case has been the shifting stories from those who were camping with his father. In his view, when someone is telling the truth, their accounts should remain consistent.

The whole time in the beginning, I didn't trust him. I still don't to this day. It's like because of the stories, everything's changing and changing. And then we're figuring out more stuff throughout the process. Like I said, it's going to take us time for the truth to come out and for justice to be made for my dad. And I even told her, I'm not doing no services for my dad because I want to bring him home. I'm not doing this where I'm going to bury my dad in an empty casket. I'm not doing it.

Michael Lynn is certain that her father-in-law would have never chosen to disappear. While she doesn't have the answers as to what happened, she can't help but replay Daryl's relationship with a companion in her mind, constantly questioning what may have transpired that evening in late June.

This is not something that he would do. He wouldn't just elope. He wouldn't disappear. He wouldn't vanish. He wouldn't just take off, especially from his family.

I think Daryl Jr. had mentioned before his dad disappeared just in the recent year, their relationship started getting very close. His dad never really showed emotions, but started in the past year, year and a half saying, I love you to Daryl Jr., started hugging him when they would say goodbye to each other. His relationship with people was just very kind and very loyal and truthful. He was a great person. He was respectful.

respectful, very compassionate, kind-hearted, and everybody loved him. I could tell you that no one that I know would say a bad word about him. He didn't have a bad bone in his body. Don't get me wrong. If you took advantage of him or pissed him off just like anybody, you wouldn't want to get on his bad side because you knew that even though he was nice and caring, you didn't want to piss him off or be his enemy because then you'd be the one that was looking like an asshole. Excuse my language.

He really cared about this woman, whether it was a friendship or a romantic relationship. He really cared about her. He was very fond of her. He would do anything for her. He really did have a soft spot for her. If she said to jump, he would jump, unfortunately. But I feel...

think that she was controlling of him as well. And we've heard stories from people that Daryl Sr. knew that said, oh yeah, she was controlling. She would call and yell at him. She would even call Daryl Jr. and say, where's your dad? He needs to get back here to my house now. Would always behave that way even when she talked to his son or even when she talked to him. That was uncomfortable to

Daryl Jr. reflects on his final conversations with his father, searching for any sign or clue that something was amiss. His last memory of Daryl is bittersweet, and he can't help but look for deeper meaning in those moments, hoping they may offer some insight into what truly happened.

There was one thing that my dad's not an emotional person, doesn't show much love, but he gave me a hug the day before they were leaving. And his hug felt kind of off. I don't know what it was, but it felt kind of off. But that's the only thing that I noticed that was different with him that day.

So what happened to Daryl Johnson during his camping trip to New Mexico? Daryl's case is shrouded in layers of mystery. For one, Daryl left Phoenix without informing anyone of his destination, which was so uncharacteristic, as he always made sure that Daryl Jr. would care for his dog, Muffin, if he had plans to travel out of town.

The family still wonders why he didn't call Daryl Jr. this time. And luckily, after learning that his father was missing, Daryl Jr. was able to make his way over to the junkyard in time to care for the dog. Then there's the complicated relationship between Daryl and the woman he went camping with. They had known each other for decades, and Daryl's family and friends believed they were a couple. But after his disappearance, the companion denied that, revealing to the family for the first time that she had another boyfriend.

who was also on the trip. A photo taken on the day they arrived at the campground shows Daryl with both the companion and her boyfriend.

An eerie image for the family to reflect upon now. The story goes that the companion checked on Darrell around 11 p.m. and asked if he was okay sleeping in the tent. She's expressed that Darrell said he was fine. However, campers who were not part of the group reported seeing a man they believed to be Darrell after midnight. He asked them for a flashlight and appeared intoxicated, though Darrell wasn't known to drink or use substances.

According to their account, the man walked along the shoreline before heading back to his campsite. Darrell was never seen or heard from again. When investigators checked Darrell's tent, they found two sleeping bags inside. If Darrell was alone in the tent, who was the second sleeping bag for? Had someone else been inside the tent with Darrell? Or did Darrell go on that trip believing that someone else, perhaps a companion, would be spending the night next to him? There's also the curious case of Darrell's phone.

His phone is still missing along with him. But Michael and Darryl Jr. were able to get his cell phone records, which showed that his phone was still using data after he went missing. And we also know that it pinged near the campsite. Darryl vanished late on the night of June 28th into the early morning hours of the 29th, but his phone continued to use data until the 30th. The people he was traveling with have claimed that his phone was dead or nearly dead when they last saw him. So how is that possible?

There was a reported sighting of Darrell the following morning, walking along a road many miles away. But this was later ruled out as a case of mistaken identity. The man was much younger than Darrell. This sighting led to confusion, and the investigation shifted from looking for a missing person to a belief that Darrell had simply walked away on his own. And as a result, some of the search efforts were scaled back.

Despite the sighting being ruled out, the assumption that Daryl left voluntarily seems to persist, and his family feels that this has hindered the search for him. Daryl's family is unwavering in their determination to find him, and to uncover the truth about what happened to Daryl. Despite the challenges and setbacks they've faced, they continue to push forward, refusing to let their hope fade.

Each new lead, no matter how small, is followed up with persistence, and they remain committed to questioning the inconsistencies in the investigation. To them, this isn't about finding a missing person. It's about honoring the man they all loved, who gave so much to others, and ensuring that the truth, whatever it may be, is finally revealed.

If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Daryl Johnson, please call the New Mexico State Police at 505-425-6771.

You're telling somebody that they're in a group of so many people and no one knows anything? That right there should have blown this open. There's 30 plus people and nobody knows what happened and nobody thinks that's odd, nobody thinks that's coincidental. That's normal? No sightings, no nothing physical, nothing at all. Coincidentally, the cameras haven't worked for like 40 years, they said.

I feel like when you're a type of person like me and my dad where you just sit there and observe people, people don't like that. When you're quiet, when you're observing people, I feel like they didn't like my dad, period, because he's African-American. I try not to judge people, but the way how I learned off my dad, you can tell how people are just by being around them. And being out there, somebody would have saw him walking because I got there like at two something in the morning because I wanted to see how that park is.

pitch black. And yeah, it's pretty black, but for my dad to walk out of there, there is no likely way for him to walk out of there at all. Things I care about, bringing him home, washing over his dog he has. They thought that we're just not going to do nothing about it. We're just going to let it slide and let New Mexico State Police do whatever they have to do and leave it be. They thought we're just going to, oh, OK, he's missing. He does this all the time. No.

That brings us to the end of episode 473. I'd like to thank everyone who spoke with us for this series.

If you have a missing loved one that you'd like to have featured on the show, there's a case submission form at thevanishedpodcast.com. If you'd like to join in on the discussion, there's a page and discussion group on Facebook. You can also find us on Instagram. If you like our show, please give us a five-star rating and review. You can also support the show by contributing on Patreon, where you can get early and ad-free episodes. Be sure to tune in next week. We'll be covering a case from Minnesota. Thanks for listening.

If you like The Vanished, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

I'm Jake Warren and in our first season of Finding, I set out on a very personal quest to find the woman who saved my mum's life. You can listen to Finding Natasha right now exclusively on Wondery Plus. In season two, I found myself caught up in a new journey to help someone I've never even met. But a couple of years ago, I came across a social media post by a person named Loti. It read in part, Three years ago today that I attempted to jump off this bridge, but this wasn't my time to go.

This is a story that I came across purely by chance, but it instantly moved me and it's taken me to a place where I've had to consider some deeper issues around mental health. This is season two of Finding and this time, if all goes to plan, we'll be finding Andy.

You can listen to Finding Andy and Finding Natasha exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.