Driving through Huron County, you’ll notice signs that read “Justice for Danny,” and you might wonder what happened to this kid.
His family has been asking the same question for more than two decades.
“Living for decades with only your imagination as to what happened that night is like a nightmare. So, I think if we could really give them some closure, that would be fantastic,” said Family Friend Danielle Allen.
Last October, I told you about Danny Violette, a 17-year-old whose case from 1998 remains unsolved.
Family is looking for answers in a 26-year-old cold case.
Drew Violette last saw his brother alive on October 24, 1998. His body was discovered 11 days later in a cornfield just north of Willard. It is still unclear how he died.
Danny died of asphyxiation, according to his autopsy report; post-mortem abrasions showed that his body had been moved. There were also ligature marks around his neck and patterns across his chest that looked like tire treads. However, Danny’s cause of death was unknown.
Drew and Allen began collaborating in 2021 to raise awareness about Danny’s case. The two created a social media page in Danny’s memory.
“One of the things that Danny’s case seriously lacked, was media attention,” according to Allen.
So Allen reached out to Culpable, Apple Podcasts’ number one show and best true crime series.
“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,” Allen told me.
Nearly two years later, Allen received an email from senior producer Dennis Cooper, who was intrigued by the absence of unanswered questions in Danny’s case.
“I’ve always been fascinated by bizarre cases like this, with so many unanswered questions and seemingly limitless possibilities. But I also did it because it was a 25-year-old cold case at the time, with no news coverage, podcasts, or anything else. After all these years, Danny’s own family knew very little, which bothered me. So I wanted to see what I could do to make a difference,” Cooper explained.
The culpable team has spent the last two years researching Danny’s case, including visits to the site where his body was discovered, listening to recordings from the Huron County Sheriff’s Office, and conducting interviews with family and friends. This aided them in developing their eight-episode series about Danny’s case, titled “Kid in the Cornfield.”
“We are not here to point fingers or say you did something wrong. Of course, if something is clearly wrong, it is acceptable to point it out and have an open conversation about it. But, at the end of the day, we just want to lend a helping hand,” Cooper explained.
Culpable is also offering a $10,000 reward for information regarding 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,” Cooper told me.
“I think one of the most important aspects of this is that many people believed Danny died of a drug overdose, which was incorrect. However, there may have been people back then who saw or heard something suspicious, but believed it was a drug overdose and did not report it. So now, if we can get all of the true facts out there, maybe someone will remember and say that was weird, and it will help,” said Allen.
And, thanks to social media, the family has learned more about Danny’s case in the last year than they have in the previous 26 years, allowing them to raise funds for advanced forensic DNA testing.
“So, once we got past that hurdle, it was time to approach Huron County, as they are the evidence holders. So it’s been a lot of work with them to get everyone on the same page, but we’re in the process of having that evidence tested,” said Allen.
The show will be released weekly on Mondays. People can listen to Culpable on any major podcast streaming service, including Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and Spotify.
