Overview

Date Last Seen: August 3, 2013
Last Seen Location: Sioux City, Iowa (after leaving Moville, Iowa)

Main Circumstances

The investigation remains open, and authorities continue to request information from the public.

Dale Richard Robinson disappeared after leaving Moville, Iowa, in his pickup truck.

He suffered from early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, making him especially vulnerable.

Surveillance cameras captured him at the former Argosy Casino parking lot in Sioux City on the afternoon of his disappearance.

Despite extensive searches by family, volunteers, and law enforcement, neither Robinson nor his truck has ever been located.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Dale Richard Robinson Case:
Disappearance of an Iowa Man with Alzheimer’s Remains Unsolved

Brief Summary

Date Last Seen: August 3, 2013
Last Seen Location: Sioux City, Iowa (after leaving Moville, Iowa)

Main Circumstances

1. Dale Richard Robinson disappeared after leaving Moville, Iowa, in his pickup truck.
2. He suffered from early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, making him especially vulnerable.
3. Surveillance cameras captured him at the former Argosy Casino parking lot in Sioux City on the afternoon of his disappearance.
4. Despite extensive searches by family, volunteers, and law enforcement, neither Robinson nor his truck has ever been located.
5. The investigation remains open, and authorities continue to request information from the public.

Dale Richard Robinson Case

The disappearance of Dale Richard Robinson remains one of Iowa’s longest-running unsolved missing person investigations. Robinson, an 84-year-old retired welder from Moville, Iowa, vanished on August 3, 2013, after what initially appeared to be a routine drive.

Robinson had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, and his family became concerned when he failed to return home. His condition made him particularly susceptible to becoming disoriented while driving.

On the day he disappeared, Robinson stopped at the 4-Way Stop Shop in Moville to purchase gasoline before driving west toward Sioux City in his maroon and gray 2000 Ford F-150 pickup truck. Authorities later reviewed surveillance footage showing Robinson driving through the parking lot of the former Argosy Casino in Sioux City at approximately 1:00 p.m. This remains the last confirmed sighting of him.

Following his disappearance, dozens of volunteers, local law enforcement officers, and family members searched roads, fields, waterways, abandoned properties, and rural areas throughout western Iowa. Robinson’s son spent years personally searching section-by-section using county plat maps, hoping to locate his father or his vehicle. Despite these extensive efforts, no confirmed trace has ever been found.

Several possible sightings were reported in Council Bluffs and Missouri Valley during the days following Robinson’s disappearance, but investigators were never able to verify any of them. As a result, authorities continue to consider the Sioux City casino surveillance footage the final confirmed evidence of his movements.

Robinson’s truck has also never been recovered. Investigators believe locating the vehicle could be the key to determining what happened, particularly because vehicles involved in missing person cases are sometimes discovered years later in remote locations, bodies of water, or heavily wooded areas.

Latest Investigation Information

The case remains active and unsolved.

The Iowa Missing Person Information Clearinghouse, Moville Police Department, and organizations tracking long-term missing persons continue to publish Robinson’s case and request tips from the public. There have been no publicly announced major breaks, arrests, recoveries, or confirmed sightings since his disappearance. His information remains listed in state and national missing persons databases, indicating investigators continue to seek new leads.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact law enforcement.

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Facebook Post:
Dale Richard Robinson – Today marks 11 years missing

Dale was last seen in Sioux City, Iowa on August 3rd, 2013. He was driving a maroon and gray 2000 Ford F-150 pickup truck with the IA license plate number 870ZCF.

He suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease and other medical conditions. Sometimes, he couldn’t recall family members’ names or remember things he’d just been talking about, other times he was himself.

He left a goodbye note. At about 12:30 p.m. that day Dale wrote a check for $20 and change for gas at the 4-Way Stop Shop convenience store in Moville, where he lived. He headed westbound on U.S. Highway 20 toward Sioux City and was last seen on surveillance camera half an hour later driving through the parking lot at the former Argosy riverboat casino along the Missouri River in Sioux City. He was not a gambler but would often pick up his wife Betty from the riverboat.

There may have been a couple of sightings of him in Missouri Valley, IA and Council Bluffs, IA. He might have been headed toward St. Joseph, MO where he worked a number of years ago.

There were unconfirmed sightings of him at museums in Missouri Valley and Council Bluffs, Iowa. Knowing that people with Alzheimer’s sometimes return to familiar locations from their past, the family checked old job sites as far away as Rockport, Missouri. They stopped at gas stations along Interstate 29 to the north and south of Sioux City to see if any surveillance cameras had footage of Dale or his pickup. Portions of the Missouri River were scanned with sonar around 2018.

Dozens of people searched for the well-known Dale Robinson, a retired welder and fabricator who’d operated R&R Sheet Metal in Moville for about 30 years. After retiring from the sheet metal business, Dale did voluntary jobs all over the Siouxland area, including mowing the grass at the Woodbury County Fairgrounds in Moville and giving others rides to doctor appointments. He would scour roadside ditches for abandoned hay rakes to fashion into peacock yard ornaments. He made dozens, sold some to admirers, and placed others unannounced in the yards of family and friends.