WESTBROOK, Conn. — Jodi Hancock and Tracy Dickson have been on a search that seems never-ending. They’ve been looking for their father, Daniel Farrar, who hasn’t been seen since 2014.
“The not knowing gnaws at you,” said Dickson
“You just don’t know,” Hancock added. “'What if?' this or 'What if?' that.”
Eight years ago, Farrar left his assisted living facility in Westbrook with $20, telling staff he was going out for lunch.
He never returned.
Recently Farrar's case was featured on a popular true-crime podcast called “The Vanished." On the podcast, Hancock and Dickson talked about their father in hopes someone out there might know something.
“How does somebody just disappear? And somebody without the means to disappear?” Hancock asked.
His daughters describe Farrar as a funny guy who was well-known where he lived.
“People would say hello to him, and he’d walk away, and he’d tell me their life story. He knew everything about everybody,” said Hancock. “[He] loved to read. That was, like, his number one thing. When I’d call him on the phone, one of the first questions is, 'What are you reading?'"
But a stroke had left Farrar disabled. His daughters say he was not able to do a lot of the things he loved, like reading.
“It had a profound impact on his life,” said Dickson.
Even before the stroke, Farrar hadn’t had an easy life. He battled alcoholism before he was able to maintain sobriety for 28 years and was an active participant in Alcoholics Anonymous.
Farrar even sponsored others and helped guide them through sobriety. But, Farrar began drinking again in 2000.
“Within a year, he lost his apartment, business, everything,” explained Hancock.
Danny ended up at the New Haven Green, homeless. During this time, though, he still maintained contact with his daughters, at points asking for money.
“Even though he hadn’t been in contact with other people in his life, he was contacting us pretty regularly,” said Dickson.
So, when he disappeared from his assisted living facility at 63 years old, some people believed he went back to the streets. His daughters immediately went to check their father’s old stomping grounds, showing flyers to those living there, but to no avail. Jodi and Tracy checked shelters, bus stations, train stations, and area police departments – even posting flyers in Westbrook trying to find their father.
They spent weekend after weekend walking through the woods, but about six weeks into the search the sisters decided to stop.
Jodi had seen a grey sweatshirt that looked like something her father was wearing when he went missing. While it didn’t turn out to be connected, it caused the sisters to pause their foot search.
“I want him found, but I don’t want to find him like that,” said Hancock.
State police also opened an investigation and searched. But after days turned into months and months turned into years, Hancock and Dickson accepted a tragic possibility.
“We would love to be hopeful that, you know,” said Dickson, “But we’re realistic. I don’t believe that my father is still alive. But it sure would be nice to know for sure.”
Dickson and Hancock have donated their DNA and regularly search a national website called NamUs, which helps resolve missing persons and unidentified remains across the country.
Despite Farrar's difficulties, Dickson and Hancock said his life matters and they want closure for him and their family.
“I drive through the town and think, oh, there’s a body of water; I wonder if he’s in there. Oh, there’s a big old field; I wonder if he’s there somewhere. That’s awful, it’s awful,” said Dickson. “And it’s never-ending.”
“We’re still looking; we still care about this,” said Hancock.
FOX61 reached out to Connecticut State Police about Farrar's case. Police sent us the following statement:
Our Major Crimes Detectives regularly review missing persons cases such as that of Daniel Farrar, who has been a missing person since 2014, to ensure that any and all new leads are thoroughly investigated. We understand that the families of missing persons never stop seeking answers and our detectives strive for reunification and to provide the family missing person with as many answers as possible. In every missing person case, our investigators work diligently to provide closure to the affected families.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Daniel Farrar is asked to contact the Central District Major Crime Squad at Troop F in Westbrook at (860)399-2100. All calls will remain confidential.
Jenn Bernstein is an anchor at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jbernstein@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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