A man goes missing, and a community mobilizes.
They searched fields and forests and abandoned buildings, sometimes trudging through snow and rain. They knocked on doors, called hospitals, hung signs, scoured dumpsters, collected video and mapped data.
And, all along, they wrapped the family in a blanket of love.
They were neighbors and strangers, locals and people from far away, business owners and customers. They were people with specific skills and people with general concern.
They were people who cared. And their numbers reached well into the thousands.
The monthslong search for Chicago resident Dan Davis, who family members believe walked away from Merrionette Park bar 115 Bourbon Street late one night in a state of confusion, did not yield the outcome everyone had hoped for. But the ad hoc community that bonded around his disappearance may be a silver lining in this dark cloud of loss.
It is an indicator that human kindness is as strong as ever.
Davis, 59, disappeared from his place of employment on Nov. 25. Earlier that day, he had been involved in a multivehicle accident and refused treatment.
His body was found March 9 in south suburban Blue Island.
In the dark, often bitterly cold intervening months, as hope of finding the Mount Greenwood resident dissipated, his daughter Wendy Davis and her mother Jenn Barber Masuka built a ring of compassion that went above and beyond.
They reached out to their community and, inadvertently, the world through social media and WhatsApp. As the only administrator on the Finding Dan Davis Facebook page, Masuka saw a mountain of compassion grow before her eyes.
When membership neared 50,000, Masuka turned off page comments “in an attempt to protect Wendy” from the possibility of negativity as well as open speculation that Davis had died.
“My private messages became where folks sent their well wishes, suggestions and frustrations. Every morning, I opened my laptop and braced for ill-informed or unnecessary opinions, but every morning, I was greeted with nothing but support and motivation to keep going,” Masuka said.
“After almost 3½ months, can you guess how many (people) I had to ban? … TWO. That’s it,” she said.
Instead, she said, “People were asking how to reach out to each other and form their own search groups. They were making new connections within their own communities’ unhoused folks. They were talking to their kids about Dan,” she said. “I became more dumbfounded and humble every single day.”
Though the investigation is ongoing, some speculate Davis may have died where he was found.
“To think I had searched near that spot,” said Tim Briody, of Island Lake.
Briody, who has search and rescue as well as Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training, had never met Davis but, as a South Side native, he knows people in the area.
And helping in a crisis is his thing. He had previously assisted in missing persons cases in Crystal Lake and Glencoe as well as with disaster recovery following tornado touchdowns in Washington, Illinois, and DeKalb County.
The Davis case, he said, “hit close to home.”
“I was born and raised in the Beverly neighborhood. Blue Island was one of my stomping grounds as a kid,” he said. “I know band members who’ve played at Bourbon Street.”
He gave Masuka contact information for Illinois SAR and for the CERT team in Chicago. He also participated in several ground searches, one of which took place near 127th and Kedzie, not far from where some speculate Davis may have been all along.
“It hurts to have been so close,” he said.
Searchers, he said, cannot trespass onto private property.
Despite the outcome, Briody said he will continue to help people in need.
Alice Collins, who lives in Beverly, got involved in the case after seeing a Facebook post about Davis’ disappearance.
Like many of the other searchers, Collins had never met Dan.
“I felt so bad for him and his family,” she said. As she came to know Masuka and Wendy Davis, Collins said she wanted to help even more.
She suggested that they contact restaurants about attaching flyers to their to-go orders. Then she called a number of places to get them on board.
Collins, along with her husband and some friends, also participated in some of the ground searches, including an 8-mile grid walk.
“One thing that impressed me and made me want to become more involved was how organized and engaged Jenn was. She gave updates and seemed really transparent and kind. She seemed willing to try anything and everything. She encouraged the searchers to pursue the ideas they had,” she said.
The searchers, she said, fed off that energy.
Many of the searchers, Collins said, “say the experience made them kinder.”
Though building community wasn’t the point, Collins said, the cause “gave us an opportunity to be kind.”
David Haywood Jr., chief of the Blue Island Fire Department, said finding Davis became a collaborative effort among suburban, Chicago, state and federal officials too.
“Chicago had outstanding detectives working on the case. Cook County supplied canines. Blue Island police were awesome,” he said. Even nearby communities, including Calumet City’s Fire Department, offered assistance.
When searching for a missing person, Haywood said, “Communication is key. All of us were letting each other know where we were going to be, what we were going to be doing. We all picked different areas to search.”
When you have a common goal, he said, “the bond becomes really strong, even among professionals.”
If there is any solace to be taken from this case, Haywood said, it is knowing that “everyone did as much as they possibly could.
“I told Wendy, ‘We’re always going to be there for you.’ A victim and a victim’s family deserve the best we can give them,” he said.
As family and friends now mourn their loss, Masuka said they are grateful for the dedication of so many people and comforted by the care that continues.
“We weren’t prepared for the emotional outpouring of infinite intangible support from tens of thousands of people all over the world,” she said. It’s “the kind of assistance that can’t be noted on a spreadsheet.”
Supporters hailed from Elgin, Burbank, Arlington Heights and Valparaiso, as well as Texas, Ohio, New York, Ireland, Brazil and Canada.
Although the search is over, Masuka said, “the profound effect the sense of community has had on the members of this group is palpable.”
People aren’t merely sending condolences, she said. “They’re saying, ‘I’ll never forget this,’ This has changed me,’ ‘I’ll never walk past another person who might need help again.’”
They’re also saying, “’Thank you for bringing us together’ and ‘I’m so proud of my community.’”
Donna Vickroy is an award-winning reporter, editor and columnist who worked for the Daily Southtown for 38 years. She can be reached at donnavickroy4@gmail.com.
