HURON COUNTY — Today marks 26 years since 17-year-old Danny Violette went missing, and his family still wants to know how he ended up dead in a Huron County cornfield.
Drew Violette last saw his brother Danny on Oct. 24, 1998.
“I still remember police coming to our house and telling us they found Danny, which was 10 days after he went missing,” Drew said.
According to the autopsy report from the Lucas County coroner, Danny died from asphyxiation. He had post-mortem abrasions that showed his body had been moved, patterns across his chest resembling a tire tread and ligature marks around his neck.
“It was a shock, and everybody took it their own way. I remember my mom vividly consistently going to her room, and I could hear her crying. She would try to keep us from seeing her that way, but we always heard it," Drew explained.
Drew was only 12 years old when he lost his big brother, and for the last 26 years, his family has tried to cope without Danny’s presence as a son and a big brother.
“He’s a great brother and I remember him playing with all of us, a 17-year-old playing with a 12-year-old,” said Drew.
The Violette family has also had to live without any answers about what happened to Danny. Since 1998, Danny’s manner of death has been listed as unknown. Meaning it has not been ruled a homicide, suicide or accidental. Drew says there hasn’t been much told to the family since ’98.
“I don't want to criticize the police for not looking at my brother's 25-year-old case, because they got other stuff that's more in the forefront and actually might make a difference. So, if I was looking at it from their lens and they can go solve a current case or even prevent something from happening, I could see why they focus on that. Versus an old case that really doesn't change anything. It’s just the family closure would be nice,” said Drew.
He says some family members have made peace with Danny’s death.
“They have forgiven whatever or whoever did anything, but I haven't. So, I need to know answers,” Drew said.
In 2020, Drew began working with Danielle Allen. Allen is married to one of Danny’s childhood friends, and she says she began looking into Danny’s case after experiencing her own personal tragedy.
“I lost my daughter in 2016, and I looked at it as a mother who has lost and to have to fight for justice on top of that, I just had a lot of empathy for their family. And then I came across a podcast and I felt like that's what Danny's case needed,” Allen said.
Together, they started an organized effort, working to get answers. They created a Facebook page called Justice for Danny to spread awareness, interviewed community members, shared his story on a podcast called Culpable and started raising money through this GoFundMe page to get advanced DNA testing.
“I think that we're giving it all that we have now, and that's never been done before. We have a real shot and there are people that are wanting to work with us and find out these answers,” Allen said.
Drew says he met with the Huron County Sheriff’s office last year and was told they would dedicate one or two hours to the case, which he appreciated.
“I don't have any faith in them solving it, but we've given them some names and they've gone and investigated them at our request. I guess unless we get some kind of big lead that pans out, I don't see them solving it without our help,” Drew said.
Allen says Danny’s death was followed by years of misinformation, rumors and disappointment. She says she was shocked by the lack of media attention the case received.
“We started to share the truth about what happened to Danny, because there have been so many rumors that people didn't really understand. And there's lots of people in the area that didn't know, what happened to Danny. Or they heard about it and heard he died of a drug overdose, so we really tried to correct the narrative because all his family want is the truth,” said Allen.
The duo says they feel closer to the truth than ever.
We're working hard to try to get answers because Danny deserves it. No matter how much hard work it takes or what it costs at this point, he deserves this effort that he really should have gotten all along,” Allen said.
Today, they announced on the Justice for Danny page a $10,000 Reward for information regarding Danny’s death.
