11/30/2021
NamUs MP # 591
Daniel Joseph Marks
Nickname/Alias Erth
Date last seen November 10, 2005
Kauai, Hawaii/County Hawaii
Daniel Marks went missing Nov. 10, 2005, on Kauai, Hawaii. The 24-year-old tr
Daniel, a 1999 graduate of Girard High School, majored in music at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio. Daniel, who was living in Portland, Ore., had planned to enter graduate school at Portland State University in January 2006.
Daniel worked as a musician and made CDs through PsyBooty in California. In the weeks before his disappearance, he spent time with PsyBooty producers, who were friends, and other friends in California, where he camped at Yosemite National Park.
At the time of Daniel’s disappearance, his mother, Pat Marks was teaching at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn. She had arranged with Daniel to pick him up Nov. 19 at the Twin City Airport; they and other family members would spend Thanksgiving and Christmas together before he began grad school.
Pat Marks and her sister, Mary Falk, went to the airport, but Daniel was a no-show. “I knew there was something wrong,” Pat Marks said. They found out Daniel never boarded the plane.
Daniel’s sister, Susan, was able to access her brother’s e-mail account and found he had gone to Kauai on the invitation of “Miko from Maui.”
“I didn’t know about that trip,” Pat Marks said. “It was odd he didn’t tell me about it.” The family has e-mailed “Miko,” but he has not responded.
Pat Marks said her children had common friends, so Ronald and Susan Marks contacted them. They talked to Portland police, who did a welfare check at Daniel’s apartment and found nothing amiss. Rangers at Yosemite confirmed Daniel had camped and left.
Pat Marks said they learned Daniel stayed at a hostel on Kauai his first night there, Nov. 9; he was last seen at 4 p.m. Nov. 10 and then nothing.
Pat Marks said her son was last seen at Waimea Canyon on the Pihea Trail. There was no evidence that anyone fell off the trail because the detective said a “fall line” would be evident.
The Marks family has learned that three other young men, about the same age and description as Daniel, also are missing.
Following years of searching with the help of family members, friends, the Kaua‘i Police Department and private investigators, Marks convinced America’s Most Wanted to air her son’s story. After it appeared on June 19, 2010, someone called the program’s staff to report a sighting. The person saw a man matching Daniel’s description with a young blonde in braids.
“He was very dirty and they were sharing an ice cream cone,” Marks said of the report.
Then, after attending a Sunday service at a Lihu‘e church, two more people shared their own sightings of theman. Several more in Po‘ipu and Kapa‘a swore they had seen Daniel.
Marks said that she, Daniel and his siblings are very close and if he wished to become a hermit, he would have let them know before roughing it in the jungle.
The detective who’s handling the case told her there’s no way to know if he’s still on island. But Marks has some theories.
The first, although it may sound like the plot of a movie on the Lifetime channel, involves amnesia.
While in high school in Ohio, another teen assaulted Daniel, giving him a concussion. He lost his memory for a week. Then, while in Eugene, Ore., for a college semester, Daniel fell and struck his head on concrete. It resulted in a year of memory loss.
“It was so bad, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to finish school,” Marks said.
He saw a neurologist, and Daniel, as well as Marks, learned that a lesser head trauma could give him a concussion and longer memory loss.
“He could be walking around this island as a homeless person and not know who he is,” Marks said.
Another theory is foul play. Marks fears someone may have killed, kidnapped or otherwise caused Daniel’s disappearance. She said an acquaintance told him about cheap tickets to the island shortly before he left for a series of planned trips.
“I don’t like the way Daniel received the information about coming to this island and I don’t like the fact that there are a number of young men missing who have extremely similar profiles,” Marks said.
County spokeswoman Sarah Blane said the Kaua‘i Police Department considers Daniel’s case — as well as any other unsolved missing person case — active until the person is located.
Date entered 12/12/2008
Age last seen 24 to 24 years old
Age in 2014 33 years old
Race White
S*x Male
Height (inches) 68.0 to 70.0
Weight (pounds) 130.0 to 140.0
Hair color Brown
Brown/Wavy
Left eye color Brown
Right eye color Brown
Scars and marks
five pale coffee colored patches called "cafe au lait" marks on trunk of body between the size of a dime and baseball
Tattoos
Tattoo of two small black Asian symbols on each temple (covered by hair), large green "Maple leaf" tattoos on each shoulder with a black outline
Piercings
previously pierced ears and tongue
Clothing
Possibly wearing a gray T-shirt, khaki cargo pants, shorts, or a wrap sarong, sandals, and may be carrying a small backpack with tent poles.
Footwear
sandals
Jewelry
Possibly wearing a watch with a black wristband.
Accessories
may be carrying a small backpack with tent poles
Dental
Status: Dental information / charting is available and entered
DNA
Status: Sample submitted - Tests complete
Investigating Agency
Title Missing Persons Coor
First name Claire
Last name Ueno
Phone 808-241-1696
Case number 2005-30634
Jurisdiction County
Agency Kauai Police Department
City LIHUE KAUAI
State Hawaii
Zip code 96766
(808) 241-1677
Phone 808 241-1711
Jurisdiction
Agency KAUAI COUNTY PD LIHUE KAUAI
City LIHUE KAUAI
State Hawaii
Zip code 96766-1268
https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/case_report_html/591
http://www.vindy.com/news/2010/nov/18/girard-woman-hopes-her-son-will-be-found/?print
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