Daniel Jay Fools, known as Danny, was 20 and serving in the U.S. Army when he went missing from the Summerton–Manning area of Clarendon County, South Carolina. He was last seen on January 7, 1984. In the days before he vanished he had been struck with a glass bottle in a bar fight and suffered a head wound; witnesses urged him to get medical care but he feared trouble with the Army, and his family has suggested he may have experienced amnesia.

A week after his disappearance his red 1979 Ford Thunderbird was found abandoned in woods about 4,000 feet from his home near exit 102 off I-95.

Daniel is described as multiracial (Native American and Caucasian), 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 10 inches, 150–180 pounds, brown hair to the ears, brown eyes, with a dark brown mustache and goatee and a quarter-sized birthmark on his stomach. Distinctive tattoos include a skull with crossed spud wrenches and the words Iron Worker on his right upper arm, and a cobra with wording on his left upper arm. The investigation has produced few leads and unidentified remains have been considered but none matched. Is there anyone who knew Danny, his routes in Clarendon County, or who might recall seeing that Thunderbird in January 1984?