Timeline

After finding out Danniella was pregnant, Danniella and Tyler move out of Tyler's parents' home and into an apartment.

From birth, C.T. primary custodian was Tyler's mother, Julie. Tyler was dealing with heroin addiction, which resulted in several arrests and rehab stints. Danniella and Tyler's relationship had devolved into constant fighting that sometimes turned physical, and the couple felt it was in C.T.'s best interest to remain in Julie's custody until they could get things sorted out. Danniella took a number of different jobs at different restaurants and bars in the Mobile area. It has been reported that Danniella would sometimes take Vyvanse, which she did not have a prescription for and would purchase from individuals, to sustain her lifestyle.

Danniella found out she was pregnant with her second child. However, after visiting the doctor and establishing the time of conception, they realized Tyler was not the father of Danniella's second child because he had been in jail and, later, rehab. The father of Danniella's second child is unknown. Danniella and Tyler had an on-again/off-again relationship over the years. Despite their tumultuous relationship, they considered each other a dear friend and stayed very close. It was because of their relationship that Tyler vowed to support Danniella through the pregnancy until she gave the child up for adoption.

The CaseFile podcast claims that, by December, Danniella's pregnancy was beginning to show and Tyler began to lash out in humiliation and anger. To put some space between her and Tyler and get away from Tyler, Danniella moved to North Carolina in an attempt to reconnect with her mother, Joy Vian.

The CaseFile podcast claims that Danniella's move to North Carolina was short-lived and that she returned to Mobile because she missed Tyler and C.T. The date on which she returned is unclear.

Upon her return to Mobile, she began working at P.F. Changs and struck up a friendship with a coworker, Hannah Jakoboski, who frequently gave Danniella rides to work since Danniella did not have a car of her own.

Tyler overdosed on heroin in his car. EMS was able to resuscitate him using NARCAN, and he proceeded to the hospital to support Danniella through the birthing process.

Danniella gave birth to a baby boy. She chose an open adoption process and screened several applications before settling on a Mobile couple. The adoptive parents are unknown to the public, but we do know the mother was a teacher and the father was a police officer. They were willing to let the baby know who Danniella was, but she didn't think it was a good idea. They worked out an agreement so that Danniella had up to 6 months to decide if she would like to have a relationship with the baby boy. The adoptive parents were present at the birth.

After the baby was born, Tyler turned himself into LE for violating the conditions of his parole.

Danniella texted Julie the evening of the birth to say she was sore but okay. The CaseFile podcast claims that Danniella then wrote a letter for the adoptive parents to give the baby boy when he turned 18 and left the hospital without ever seeing or holding him. It is unclear whether she left the same day the text was sent.

Despite having complications from the birth and continued heavy bleeding, Danniella returned to work, relying on Norco, a prescription painkiller known to cause drowsiness, to help her work through the pain.

Danniella wrote a list of goals in her journal that related mostly to C.T. and steps to achieving financial stability, including things like getting C.T.'s room together, taking her to school every day, having her sleepover 80% of the time, and paying off a library fee and an overdrafted bank account.

Having saved up enough money to purchase a car, Danniella went to Pearl Motors to purchase a dark blue 2014 Chevy Cruz. Pearl Motors is a buy-here/pay-here dealership that caters primarily to individuals with no credit or bad credit and often provides on-site financing that requires in-person payments made in cash. Pearl Motors required a $1,500 down payment for the car but agreed to allow Danniella to pay $1,000 upfront and $500 by the end of the month. However, she also needed to pay for insurance. Because her bank account was in overdraft, Danniella asked Julie to deposit the cash for the car insurance into her bank account.

Pearl Motors required a number of documents to complete financing, including a letter of recommendation from her landlord stating she was reliable in paying rent. Danniella borrowed Julie's car and spent the day running back and forth between various locations gathering the required documentation.

Danniella returned Julie's car. Still suffering from complications and pain from giving birth six weeks earlier, Danniella was in pain from the day's activities, so she took a Norco and laid down on the couch. Julie and Danniella discussed their upcoming plans, including the return of Julie's husband, son, and C.T., who was out of town visiting family and due back on Thursday. The following day Julie planned to take Danniella to the bank and to Pearl Motors. After Danniella picked up the car, she planned to go shopping for school supplies for C.T. and then meet up with friends for a celebratory drink. Danniella planned to return to Julie's on Thursday to surprise C.T. with the school supplies and stay overnight. As they discussed their plans, Danniella was very lethargic and apologized to Julie, saying, "This medicine just makes me really sleepy."

Danniella rose early to get ready for the day. She placed an envelope containing the cash for the downpayment and insurance into her satchel-type handbag.

Julie takes Danniella by the bank so she can deposit money into Julie's account so that she can pay for insurance on her new car.

Julie took Danniella to Pearl Motors and waited for her to complete the necessary paperwork and pick up keys to the Chevy Cruz.

Because Danniella's car had been financed through the dealership, the car was equipped with a GPS system that plugged into a socket at the base of the steering column. The GPS would ping every 4 minutes while in motion and every 4 hours while not in use until the car was paid off. If the GPS was disabled, the dealership would get an alert and try to locate the car. Danniella had to sign an acknowledgment that the GPS was there and that she would not attempt to remove it.

Julie waved Danniella off as she left the Pearl Motors parking lot.

Danniella texted Hannah to ask if she's at work since she was planning to visit the mall. Hannah responds that she will be at work at 5.

A few minutes after texting with Hannah, Danniella messaged Randy, a former coworker from Hurricane Bar & Wings, on Facebook to find out if he was working that night. Randy responded he was working that night, but he no longer worked at Hurricane's and now worked at Hero's in West Mobile and she was welcome to come by. Danniella responded, "But I don't like going to a place I've never been before. Hurricane's is just along the way of whatever responsible things I have to get done so I can stop by a drink mid bill paying." Randy replied, "LOL. I hear you. Well, I'm here, not like you don't know anyone."

Danniella left her apartment dressed casually in black leggings, a dark Mellow Mushroom t-shirt, black Converse high-top sneakers and a pink hat with a doughnut graphic.

Danniella went to The Shoppes at Bel Air mall, which is where P.F. Changs, now closed, was also located. She bumped into an unnamed coworker and chats for a moment, telling them how relieved she is to finally have a car.

Danniella went to Heroes Sports Bar & Grill to hang out with Randy while he worked. Randy was about 10 years older than Danniella and also had previous arrests for drug possession, possession of stolen property, and DUI.

A short time later, Denson White and Mallory Kentworthy arrive and join Danniella at the bar to watch the MLB All-Star game. Denson, who worked as a manager at APM terminals, was in his early 40s and unknown to Danniella prior. Mallory was in her early 30s and Danniella was familiar with her through mutual friends. Denson and Mallory played on a softball team with Randy and were supposed to have a game that night, but it was canceled due to the rain.

Danniella messaged Hannah to tell her she didn't see her car at P.F. Changs when she went to the mall earlier. Hannah responded that she was at work

Danniella messaged Hannah again saying, "I'm drinking happily at a sports bar." Hannah responded, "Hell yes. Taking advantage of the freedom."

Danniella sent a text to Hannah that said, "Okay. I'm going to drive now, but should I? I don't know." Danniella had consumed a few alcoholic beverages and didn't appear to be drunk, but it is not known whether Danniella had taken Norco that evening. Patients are warned against drinking while taking Norco.

Danniella and Denson became friends on Facebook, and Denson sent Danniella an invite to a party taking place at his home a couple of weeks later.

Danniella, Denson, and Mallory decide to leave Heroes and go to Dublin's, an Irish pub not far away, to wait for Randy to get off work, and then they would meet back up with him at Ollie's, another bar closer to Danniella's apartment. Danniella hugged Randy goodbye, then she, Denson, and Mallory left Heroes.

As soon as Danniella made it outside, she sent two Facebook messages to Randy, but he did not respond.

Danniella, Denson, and Mallory left Heroes in their own personal vehicles. This is according to a timeline provided by Randy to Julie and shared on Facebook, which has allegedly been validated by timestamps on calls, text messages, and video surveillance.

Danniella attempted to call Hannah, but Hannah did not answer because she was still working.

Danniella sent Hannah a short video on Snapchat in which she is sitting alone in the driver's seat of her car. The clip contained nothing unordinary, but Hannah noted Danniella appeared to be a little intoxicated.

Hannah tried to call Danniella shortly after receiving the Snapchat message, but there was no answer.

According to GPS records, Danniella's car left the parking lot nearly one hour after exiting the bar. It is unknown whether Danniella stayed in her car in the parking lot the entire time or rode with someone else and returned to Heroes later to retrieve her car.

Danniella continues to hang out with Denson and Mallory at Dublin's.

Randy messaged Danniella on Facebook to let her know he was off work and would head straight to Ollie's.

While hanging out at Dublin's, Mallory decided to go to a pool hall called Runway Bar to meet up with friends and planned to rejoin Danniella, Denson, and Randy at Ollie's later. Denson decided he was going home instead of Ollie's as originally planned. Danniella, Denson, and Mallory each left Dublin's in their own individual vehicles. The drive from Dublin's to Ollie's was only 2.8 miles and required a left turn out of Dublin's parking lot. Denson's house was in the opposite direction and required a right turn. According to the GPS data and Mallory's statement, Danniella took a right turn leaving Dublin's, which was odd since Danniella knew the area well.

Unable to find the group at Ollie's, Randy calls Denson but gets no answer, so he waits for them to arrive.

According to Denson, he was not aware Danniella was following him until he was passing through a quiet industrial area and she flashed her headlights at him, signaling him to pull over.

Despite there being open gas stations and a Waffle House nearby, Danniella and Denson pulled into a closed Shell gas station. Danniella told Denson she lost her phone. Note: NBC 15, a local news station, initially obtained and published the surveillance footage. At the request of MPD, they removed the actual video but left a timeline of the video up.

As a result of either being intentionally disconnected or a fuse blowing, the GPS installed in Danniella's car by Pearl Motors stopped communicating. It has been reported that the GPS was securely installed in an outlet under the steering column, making it highly unlikely that it accidentally became unplugged.

Video shows one car leaving Shell station and one car staying.

A video shows another car pulling into the Shell station. It is unclear whether this is the same car that left or a different one.

Danniella was known to frequently lose phones and used Facebook messenger as her primary method of communication. It is assumed Denson called her phone in an attempt to locate it and used it via Facebook messenger because Danniella either hadn't memorized the phone number yet or was not in a state to remember it. A voicemail was left, seemingly inadvertently, in which a male and female can be heard, presumably Denson and Daniella. This voicemail can be heard on the CaseFile podcast at 55:15

A voicemail was left, seemingly inadvertently, in which a male and female can be heard, presumably Denson and Daniella. It is unclear whether the female voice heard in the second audio is the same female voice heard in the first audio clip This voicemail can be heard on the CaseFile podcast at 55:55.

After stopping at Runway Bar, Mallory met up with Randy to wait for Danniella and Denson to arrive.

Denson called Randy to explain that Danniella lost her phone and he was going back to Dublin's to look for it.

Video shows both cars leaving Shell station and turning towards Dublin's. Danniella followed Denson for a while before turning towards a "more populated part of town." It is unknown whether Danniella was actually driving her car as LE has only stated she was last seen "occupying" her vehicle.

Denson sent Mallory a text message containing a selfie of him at the bar inside Dublin's with the caption "Getting phone. Just got back here but somehow lost a Danniella." A server had found Danniella's phone on the back of a car in the parking lot and placed it behind the bar for safe keeping. Denson retrieves the phone from the server.

Denson attempts to call Danniella via Facebook messenger and received no answer, which is unsurprising considering he had her phone and she presumably had no way to answer the call. When she didn't answer, he wrote her a Facebook message that read, "Call me. Dublin had your phone."

Denson joined Randy and Mallory at Ollie's, who told him Danniella had not shown up.

After trying to call Danniella twice and getting no response, Denson asked Randy what to do with her phone. Randy suggested taking it to P.F. Chang's so she could get it on her next shift.

Hannah sent Danniella a text asking if she was okay.

Tyler called Danniella from jail. At this point, Denson was in possession of Danniella's phone and answered it, telling Tyler he had found the cell phone in a parking lot. Tyler gave Denson Julie's phone number.

Denson called Julie and told her he found Danniella's phone, not mentioning that he was with her the night before or that he knew her. She told him to drop the phone off at P.F. Chang's.

After Julie received the phone call from Denson, she contacted 701 South's building manager and asked them to leave a note on Danniella's door.

After Danniella did not show up for C.T.'s return, Julie became worried and messaged Danniella on Facebook messenger. She continued checking for a response, but the message had not been viewed and Facebook was showing that Danniella had not been active in two days.

After receiving no response from Danniella, Hannah contacted mutual friends to see if anyone has heard from her. An unknown mutual friend said that Danniella was at Heroes Tuesday night.

Hannah called Heroes and asked the manager to check the parking lot for Danniella's car, but her car was not there. The manager offered to check the schedule and see who had been working. The manager called Hannah back and said Randy confirmed Danniella had been at Heroes and had been hanging out with Denson and Mallory.

Hannah didn't know Denson but found him on Facebook. She sent him a message asking if he knew where Danniella was or had any information.

Denson called Hannah and told her he had not seen Danniella since Tuesday night, but he had her phone and had been trying to get in contact with her so he could return it

Hannah went by Danniella's apartment and found no sign of her there.

Denson called Julie to tell her he still had Danniella's phone. Julie told him she was going to the police station to file a missing person report and he could meet her there.

On her way to cosmetology school, Hannah went by Danniella's apartment to check for her again. Danniella still wasn't there.

Danniella was scheduled to work but did not show up.

Hannah called Julie and messaged Denson to let them know there had been no sign of Danniella. After a flurry of calls and messages between the three of them, they decided it was time to report her missing.

Julie and Denson arranged to meet at the police department on Airport Blvd. and Dawes so Julie could file missing person report and Denson could hand over the phone and make a statement. They were directed to the Government Blvd. location where the missing person department was housed. On the way there, Julie called Hannah to get the 6-digit passcode to Danniella's phone so she could check her messages and calls over the last week. Hannah advised it was her employee ID number and gave her the number.

Denson gave a statement to the police regarding Tuesday evening. Hannah gave a statement about how out of character it was for Danniella to be out of contact and not show up for work. Julie gave as much information as she could and handed over Danniella's phone.

Julie and an officer, along with a crime scene technician, went to Danniella's apartment to conduct an assessment. Nothing seemed to be missing or out of the ordinary.

Danniella's Facebook login information was stored on Julie's computer. Julie logged in and found several missed phone calls and two voicemails from Denson.

Julie contacted LE about the messages found on Daniella's Facebook and they advised her not to log back in to Danniella's account to ensure no evidence is tampered with. Julie asked about the potential of CCTV footage from various locations, but LE told her no such footage had been found. Julie was shocked when a local news station aired footage captured from surveillance cameras at the Shell gas station where Danniella's car last pinked and contacted LE to ask about it. Instead of responding to Julie, LE contacted the news station and demanded they remove the video, to which the station complied.

The custody process had begun several months prior to Danniella's disappearance. The plan was for Julie and Patrick to have fully custody of C.T. until Danniella could get her life in order, and Danniella had been completely cooperative during the process and most of paperwork had already been filed. Since Danniella was missing and unable to attend the hearing, the court awarded full custody to Julie and Patrick.

Upon his release from jail, Tyler immediately returned to the apartment he shared with Danniella and took any items of value, including a video game system, and pawned them. When Julie found out, she went bought the items back.

LE confirmed that Danniella's case had been handed over to homicide but that they had no evidence that a homicide actually occured.

Tyler gave Hannah a key to the apartment and asked her if she noticed anything unusual. Hannah noted all of Danniella's possession were still there.

At some point after Danniella disappeared, LE searched her apartment and noted she had a whiteboard that contained notes related to her goals and money saved. According to the notes, she had $1,200 saved. There is no official record of the money ever being found in her apartment.

Tyler was unable to maintain the rent on the apartment and was evicted. The building manager would not allow Julie in to collect Danniella's possessions and instead dumped them on the sidewalk for Julie to collect.

LE published a blog with minimal details related to the investigation into Danniella's disappearance and subsequent death, which allowed members of the public to submit information and tips. LE also announced a $2,000 reward, later increased to $5,000, for information.

Jason, Julie's nephew, was arested on charges of domestic violence, strangulation, assault, and unlawful imprisonment. The alleged victim claimed that he had said something threatening about Danniella. However, a raid of the property found no evidence related to Danniella or her disappearance. The allegations were later proven to be false. The charges were dropped and Jason was cleared as a POI in the investigation of Danniella's disappearance.

Frustrated with the lack of information, Julie started a GoFundme and used the funds raise to print flyers to post and pass around. She also had billboards posted featuring Danniella's photo and details about the disappearance.

An off-duty police officer mapping out areas for dive training in Saraland, Alabama, approximately 17 miles north of where Dannilla was last seen, noticed something unusual in a drop-off near a public boat launch located in a residential area and marked it for the dive team to investigate during training.

The dive team investigated the area previously marked and discovered a dark blue Chevy Cruz with a Pearl Motors tag containing human remains. Due to the crime scene, the vehicle and body were left underwater while investigators consulted with experts on how to appropriately remove them and preserve any evidence. LE stated they would be treating the case as a homicide until an autopsy could be performed and make a final determination.

Investigators removed the Chevy Cruz and drained it on site. Other than damage to the front panels on both sides, the car was in relatively good condition. The car and remains were transferred to a secure facility.

Police Chief Lawrence Batiste gave a press conference and confirmed the Chevy Cruz belonged to Danniella Vian and the remains found were those of an adult female. He could not say how long the vehicle had been in the water and whether it had been pushed or driven in. He also could not confirm the position the body was found in and stated investigators would unlikely be able to determine the location of the body when the vehicle entered the water.

Friends and family held vigil at boat launch and requested help figuring out what happened to Danniella and how she ended up so far away from where she was last seen.

Preliminary autopsy and toxicology results were inconclusive. LE stated the preliminary investigation revealed that the condition of the car was consistent with that of an accident and the investigation is still ongoing. Their early investigation revealed that certain manipulations to the inside of the vehicle indicated that Danniella had been alive when her car entered the water. The vehicle was in park, which they believed Danniella did in a panic when she hit the water. Danniella's family was told she was found in the driver's seat with no seatbelt on. Reports indicate the keys were in the ignition, but the car was not turned on. The emergency brake was also engaged, the doors were locked, and the rear driver's side window was down about 2 inches.