Account
Apr 17, 2017
Jan 12, 2024
Daniel
Cleveland
42
35
66 inches
70 inches
175 lbs
180 lbs
White / Caucasian
Male
In the small town of Index, Washington, nestled in the Cascade Mountains, 35-year-old Daniel Wayne Cleveland was last seen on March 31, 2017. A man with red/auburn, shaggy hair and a beard, Daniel was known to have both ears pierced and several tattoos, including symbols on his left hand and a religious and tribal symbol on his left shoulder. On the day he vanished, he was wearing a dark coat and jeans. Daniel did not have access to a vehicle or a cell phone, making his disappearance all the more concerning for those who knew him. He was last seen near Sportsman Park, an area just outside the town, before he seemingly vanished without a trace. The circumstances surrounding Daniel's disappearance were troubling from the start. His family and friends were left with few answers as to his whereabouts. Public bulletins at the time of his disappearance noted that he may have been suicidal, adding a layer of urgency and concern to the search. Relatives took it upon themselves to search the river valley in the spring of 2017, but their efforts yielded no signs of Daniel. The lack of any substantial leads left his loved ones in a painful state of limbo, clinging to hope while fearing the worst. For over a year and a half, there were no new developments in his case, and the mystery of what happened to Daniel Cleveland deepened. A significant breakthrough in the case came in a completely unexpected way. A fisherman on the bank of the Skykomish River discovered a piece of a human skull. Investigators suspected the remains could belong to Daniel, as the location was downstream from where he was last seen. Through a painstaking process involving DNA analysis, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office was able to confirm that the cranial bone did, in fact, belong to Daniel Cleveland. While this discovery brought a devastating confirmation to his family, it provided a degree of closure that they had been denied for so long. The exact details of how and why Daniel ended up in the river remain unanswered, leaving a lingering sense of sorrow for a life lost too soon. The case of Daniel Cleveland serves as a somber reminder of the fragility of life and the enduring pain experienced by the families of the missing.
Mar 31, 2017
Index
Washington
Snohomish County
No
33446
Snohomish County Sheriff's Office
Everett
Washington
Snohomish County
98201
David Fontenot
Detective Sergeant
3000 Rockefeller Avenue, Washington
4253883839
County
Law Enforcement
KK 2017-0001756
Snohomish County Sheriff's Office
Red/Auburn
Brown
Brown
06/21/2026
