Breckenridge – Reliable, punctual and a man of routine, Royal “Scoop” Daniel has never been one to just disappear, making the search for the Breckenridge attorney all the more frustrating.
“I think if he could call, he would,” said the Rev. Tracy Hausman, pastor at Father Dyer United Methodist Church, where Daniel has been a mainstay in the choir and where he delivered a sermon just a week ago. “But we’re still hoping for the best.”
Daniel, 61, failed to make an appointment late Friday morning, raising alarms among friends and acquaintances in the resort town where he has practiced real estate and immigration law for years.
After three days of fruitless searching, authorities still are considering several possibilities: that he suffered a sudden problem with physical health or a psychological problem, that he was the victim of foul play or – perhaps least likely – that he intentionally walked away from his entrenched lifestyle.
“There’s nothing that leads us to believe that,” said Crystal Dean, spokeswoman for the Breckenridge Police Department. “It’s just not in his personality.”
Daniel was spotted on security cameras arriving at his office as usual at 5:35 a.m. Friday, and he spent the next couple of hours sending routine e-mails, making cellphone calls and tending to business, including normal online bank transfers.
His last known activity was at 7:45 a.m. When staff members arrived at his office inside a bank building a short time later, he was gone.
Breckenridge attorney J.B. Katz, a close friend, said police told her that there was a nine-second 911 hang-up call from Daniel’s cellphone and they found broken glasses and a pen in his office.
Katz said Daniel led an unsettled life. “His life always seemed in chaos, and it never seemed to phase him,” Katz said, adding that Daniel had financial problems.
He had left behind his maroon SUV and golden retriever, Ben, who frequently accompanied Daniel to work.
Authorities have pored over his business and personal relationships but found nothing to indicate that Daniel, a divorced father of eight adult children, has made enemies.
“We have nothing to point us in that direction anymore than a willful disappearance,” said Dean, who would neither confirm nor deny that the Summit County dispatch center received a 911 call from Daniel that morning.
About 140 friends and local volunteers participated Sunday in a fruitless ground search for Daniel, scouring a 2-mile radius around his office in town and the nearby wooded mountainside.
At the landmark Father Dyer Church, where Daniel has served, at least 100 parishioners had jotted messages on colorful index cards taped to a poster board.
“We miss you, Scoop, and are praying for your safe and quick return,” read a typical entry.
Volunteers have posted missing-person fliers throughout town.
Meanwhile, a sign on his darkened and locked office turned well-wishers away: “We greatly appreciate everyone’s concern; however we must attend to the firm’s urgent responsibilities. Please do not visit or call this office to commiserate or to discuss the tragic events involving Scoop.”
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
