HURON COUNTY — Driving through Huron County, you'll see signs that read "Justice for Danny," and you may wonder what happened to this kid.
That is the same question his family has had for over two decades.
“Living for decades with only your imagination of what happened that night, it's like a nightmare. So, I think if we could really provide them some form of closure that would be amazing,” said Family Friend, Danielle Allen.
I first told you about 17-year-old Danny Violette last October, a case from 1998 that remains unsolved.
RELATED: Family searching for answers in 26 year old cold case
Drew Violette last saw his brother alive on Oct. 24, 1998. His body was found 11 days later in a cornfield just north of Willard. How he died remains a mystery.
According to his autopsy report, Danny died from asphyxiation; he had post-mortem abrasions indicating his body had been moved. There were also patterns across his chest resembling a tire tread and ligature marks around his neck. However, Danny’s cause of death was listed as unknown.
In 2021, Drew and Allen began working together, trying to draw attention to Danny’s case. The duo started a social media page in Danny’s honor.
“One of the things that Danny’s case seriously lacked, was media attention,” said Allen.
So, Allen reached out to the #1 show and best true crime series on Apple Podcasts, also known as Culpable.
“They are compassionate and not only are they really good at taking an overwhelming amount of information and providing it to the public in a way that's easily understood, but also compelling and respectful to families,” said Allen.
Nearly two years later, Allen got an email from senior producer Dennis Cooper, who was intrigued by the lack of unanswered questions in Danny’s case.
“I've just always been intrigued by bizarre cases like this that have tons of unanswered questions and what seems like endless possibilities. But also, I did it because it was a 25-year-old cold case at the time, no one was talking about it, no news outlets, podcasts, nothing. In fact, Danny's own family knew very little information after all these years and that didn't sit right with me. So, I wanted to see what I could do to help make a difference,” said Cooper.
The culpable team spent the last two years researching Danny’s case, visiting the site where his body was found, listening to recordings from the Huron County Sheriff's Office and spending time in the community interviewing family and friends. This helped them create their 8-episode series dedicated to Danny’s case, called the “Kid in the Cornfield.”
“We're not here to try and point fingers or say you did this wrong. Of course, if things are blatantly wrong, that's okay to point out and have an honest conversation about that. But at the end of the day, we just want to be a helping hand,” said Cooper.
Culpable is also offering a $10,000 reward for information about Danny’s death.
“When you hit a wall and feel like people aren't speaking or you're just not getting any new information, it doesn't hurt to offer a reward because someone out there might need that, might be holding on to some information that could help in the grand scheme of things,” said Cooper.
“I think one of the things that's important about this is a lot of people felt that or believe that Danny had died of a drug overdose, which is inaccurate. But there could have been people back then who maybe saw or heard something suspicious, but then they believe that it was a drug overdose and didn't come forward with that information. So now, if we're able to put all the true facts out there, maybe somebody will remember and say that was weird maybe it could help,” said Allen.
And with the help of social media, the family has learned more about Danny’s case in the last year than they had in the last 26 years and was able to raise enough money for advanced forensic DNA testing.
“So, then after we got through that hurdle, it was really time that we had to approach Huron County because they are the evidence holders. So, it's been a lot of working with them and getting everybody on the same page, but we're in the process of getting that evidence tested,” said Allen.
The show will be released weekly, on Mondays. People can listen to Culpable on any major podcast streaming platform, such as Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio and Spotify.
