Body-Cam Video Shows Missing Man Dan Davis At Crash Scene Before Going Missing

MERRIONETTE PARK, IL — Haunting videos show Dan Davis, 59, last present moments at the scene of a car crash during the late evening hours of Nov. 24, before he went missing over a month ago.

Patch acquired redacted body-cam footage through a freedom of information act request from the Cook County Sheriff’s Police, whose officers investigated a head-on crash around 11:15 p.m. involving Davis, who is speculated to have suffered a head injury, and an Alsip man in front of the Garden Homes Fire Protection District at 3900 W. 119th St. in unincorporated Alsip.

The redacted video includes four extended clips of 2, 11, 22, and 35 minutes in length, each from another officer’s body-cam perspective. Davis is left unredacted, but video showing the other driver, medical information, license plates, and officers’ phone screenshots, including some audio, has been removed or blurred out. Cook County police vehicles are not equipped with dash cameras or in-vehicle cameras.

Dan Davis, 59, is dropped off at 115 Bourbon Street on Nov. 25, 2025

At the request of Davis’s daughter, Wendy Davis, who has been relentlessly searching for her father for over a month, Patch is only publishing a short clip without audio. His family has also acquired, with Patch’s assistance, the same batch of videos by freedom of information act request from the Cook County Sheriff’s Police.

In the body-cam footage, Davis appears calm, alert, even jaunty, responding well to Cook County officers’ questions, but having problems working his cell phone. Officers ask him multiple times if he is okay, but Davis insists that he is fine and refuses medical treatment.

“We’re still kinda digging into these videos and finding details,” Wendy Davis said.

Davis, wearing his distinctive black Harley-Davidson jacket over an inside-out Indiana State University hooded sweatshirt, first appears in one of the videos casually leaning against a white pick-up truck, scrolling through his phone. As the officer approaches, Davis, frustrated with his phone, says, “c’mon.”

He also hands his driver’s license over to a Cook County Sheriff’s Police officer, who gives Davis a card with towing information for his totaled white Kia.

As the officer walks back to a colleague, he states: “I think his T-Mobile is dead.” It’s unclear if he is referring to Davis.

Over the clanging of tow chains and the sound of Garden Homes firefighters sweeping up broken glass in front of their firehouse, a female officer responds: “I’m a little iffy about it,” after both drivers claimed the other drifted into their lane, resulting in a head on collision.

Is it possible they were both distracted,” he wonders.

The female officer later walks over to Davis and asks, “are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m good, I’m good,” he replies.

In another video, an officer approaches Davis, he explains he is having trouble finding his insurance card saved to his phone. She tells him to take a picture of her county cell phone number so he can text it to her when he finds it.

“I can’t use the phone right now,” he tells her. She helps him take a picture of her phone.

Davis at the crash scene on Nov. 24, 2025 at 119th St. and Avers

He tells the officer, “I was driving this way. I looked up and [the other vehicle was] right in front of me.”

Davis later says, “I can’t tell if I was in their lane, or they were in mine. I thought I was in the correct lane.”

When told the other driver said he made a U-turn on 119th Street heading eastbound, he admitted that he couldn’t remember what he did.

Cook County Sheriff’s police officers ask Davis where he would like to go, he responds, “115 Bourbon Street in Merrionette Park,” although he tells officers he can walk there.

“I have friends there who can take me home,” Davis tells them.

Davis accepts the ride anyway. The officer tells him, “do you have any weapons? I need to do a quick pat down.”

“God, no,” Davis says.

The officer warns that the back seat of the police vehicle will be a tight squeeze, as Davis stuffs himself in the back seat.

“It’s my first time,” he says.

“Hopefully it’s the last time,” the officer replies.

The officer is guided by GPS to Bourbon Street. The police vehicle rattles as it hits potholes.

Davis is let out in front of the entertainment complex where he has worked for the past 25 years as a lighting designer. He thanks the officer for driving him, and makes a joke about not being able to open the back seat door, which has no inside handles.

A haunting final image shows Davis limping/dragging his left leg. He loses his balance trying to navigate the curb in front of Bourbon Street, where he was last seen in person around 1:15 a.m. the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The next time Davis is spotted is during the daytime hours, when he is captured on Ring cameras wandering disoriented through Blue Island, walking down alleys and cutting through yards.

“His family can notice some small details that are easily overlooked without context,” Wendy Davis said. “Him tripping on the curb when he got dropped off [at Bourbon Street], having trouble using his phone, having trouble remembering how exactly the accident happened.”

SAR Sheps, a non-profit search-and-rescue team based in Fredericksburg, Ohio, will be arriving with their three German shepherds who are certified cadaver dogs, to continue searching the Cal-Sag Channel and area around it for Davis.

The family is also offering $500 for any confirmed video taken of Davis after Nov. 26, when he was seen leaving mass at St. Donatus Catholic Church in Blue Island.

Wednesday will also mark the first New Year’s Eve at 115 Bourbon Street that Davis has missed working in over 25 years.

“We believe whatever happened to him before the crash was well-masked, either on purpose or with adrenaline from the crash,” his daughter said.

If you have any video of Dan Davis after Nov. 26, please email FINDDANDAVIS@gmail.com.

If you see Dan, call 911 first, then the CPD Area 2 Special Victims Unit at 312-747-8274.