While researching this case, I came across two potential theories and one question. Apologies in advance—I tried to organize my thoughts while still thinking out loud, if that makes sense.
THEORY #1: The Roommate's boyfriend
According to
this article, "reprinted with permission from the July 12, 2016 issue of
FrankMagazine:"
"Darryl lived on Portland Street in Dartmouth with his roommate Erin MacDonald, whose father David had once been mayor of North Sydney.
For a time, there was also a third wheel at Casa Darryl: Erin's baby daddy...
About six weeks before [Darryl] disappeared, Evelyn says that Darryl confronted Erin and said, "He goes or I go!" The man went... Erin approached her ex and asked him if he knew anything about what happened to Darryl. He denied knowing anything about the disappearance. He left town not long after, and settled in B.C. Last anyone... had heard, Erin was living in South Korea."
If this is true, Erin's then-boyfriend would have had motive to harm Darryl, if Darryl had confronted him. To protect him, Erin could've also appealed to her father, who had former connections to authority, to help cover up the alleged incident. Both Erin and her then-boyfriend left the area not long thereafter, and according to the Darryl's father, "
the police didn't do a whole lot, at one point speculating that Darryl had just gone on 'a road trip.'"
THEORY #2: A Serial Killer
However, another theory is that Darryl's disappearance may have been related to the gay bar where he was last seen, and the fact that
another gay man disappeared from the same area on the same morning.
Brian George disappeared from
Reflections Gay Bar "after arguing with a friend." Darryl was last seen leaving the
now-defunct Club NRG. Both clubs are
a 20-minute walk from one another. Could both Brian and Darryl have run into a serial killer targeting gay men?
Darryl's dad remained "convinced... a serial killer in the Halifax area... may have got his son," but apparently "Halifax Regional Police [announced] the dissolution of their serial killer task force, due to lack of funding, just two days after Darryl went missing."
QUESTION: The Missing Time
Darryl left Club NRG around 1:30 am, but his cousin Jamie says she observed him at 3:40 am "running past her as she sat in a friend's car... toward the
Marquee Club." Both clubs are on Gottingen Street a few blocks apart. And the Marquee Club is
on the way from Club NRG to Reflections, where Brian disappeared from.
The question is, where was Darryl for those two hours? Was he alone?
I doubt he was confronting Erin's then-boyfriend at the time. The apartment they lived in was actually "behind the Marquee Club in the North End", and yet at 3:40 am he was observed "
toward the Marquee Club, but
away from the apartment building," which suggests he hadn't been home. Of course, they could've met up elsewhere.
Could he have possibly hooked up with someone he met at the bar?
This is where I wish we knew the direction he was running
from. He could've been running from Club NRG, but that's such a short distance for a 2-hour gap in time, so this seems less likely to me.
But what if he met someone at Club NRG, this person suggested they meet up later at Reflections, and
this is where he was running
from? His total journey then, Club NRG—>Reflections—>Marquee Club, would account for about 45 minutes of that 2-hour window. And one hour is a reasonable time to spend having a drink or two at a bar. In this scenario, the serial killer theory might make more sense.
What do you think?
