College Student Dan Zamlen Disappears During Phone Call (And The Baffling Case Of Jelani Brinson)

The cases of both Daniel Zamlen and Jelani Brinson share more similarities than just occurring in the same state mere weeks apart. Zamlen disappeared while on a phone call with a friend. Brinson vanished after apparently running suddenly from a friend's house. All the evidence points to the fact that both were held for a period of time before being killed, and their bodies placed in water. The unexplained facts surrounding each case point to an unseen culprit that seemingly has the power to do things we can't fully comprehend.

Patreon

SOURCES:
Case Studies In Drowning Forensics by Kevin Gannon & D. Lee Gilbertson
Missing 411 - David Paulides

Dan Zamlen

Jelani Brinson

[introverticalibrated]

The world is strange and dangerous for sure. When I was 25 working at a pizza place I'd often walk home since I didn't have a vehicle and some guy always showed up following me in his car, he'd stop and ask where certain bars were and I'd always say "I don't know" and keep walking to which his response was always "hop in and show me" while offering me alcohol. There were even times he'd pull up while I was having a cigarette on break at my job offering me wine. The 'odd' thing is that I'm not a petite small girl but a 5'9" fairly fit male (not ripped but not fat either) and everywhere he came for me was well lit, populated parts of town. One day I decided to test him by making random turns into places where he couldn't get his car and he'd scramble to cut me off by going down adjacent streets but I kept changing my direction and it was quite obvious he was definitely after just me.

I always wondered what would have happened if I got in the car with him but there's no way in hell I ever would have. I told people around me, at work etc and the response was almost always laughter. This went on until I left the job after 2 years.

[MrPhife]

The moral of the story: Stay away from the woods. Stay away from the city. Just stay in your closet and hope that Grub Hub and unemployment benefits will keep you alive.

[Firstthunder]

I can’t imagine being that young man’s mother when the police told her they didn’t have time to look.

[IanP]

My friends son went missing in a NP in Canada in 2011 it's an awful experience to suffer for families and their friends. An exclusive club nobody wants to really belong to. My heart goes out to the families of both men😢

[Steve_V]

Interesting video. The death of Jelani is just crazy. I was a firefighter and paramedic up until I retired recently and had to be part of many body recoveries. One of the things I found was the men found in water would almost always be found face down, with some women being found face up. Our coroner explained that fatty breast tissue tended to float more readily and could cause women to float face up.

[heatherhillman]

I think the police know more about the Dan Zamlin case than they are letting on. I thought that his body was put in the river after the search also, before it was said in the video. I suspect that happens often when bodies are found in areas that had previously been searched. It's just odd that they only looked for him a few days, like they knew he wouldn't be found alive. I agree with the family, something bad happened to that kid.

[lisabunnie]

Great job. You're getting more comfortable and in command of your craft. Excellent. I so look forward to more greatness from you.

[j.d.thompson]

If you love someone who vanishes you never stop wondering. Even when you know they're gone forever you still talk to them sometimes. I miss my beautiful friend Patty. They found her car parked at Donnell's but she had disappeared. Another woman vanished from there a few years prior.

[EskimoPagan]

A few years back when I was working in North Carolina, one of my coworkers had something similar to these two cases happen to her boyfriend. I don’t know all of the specific details because she was extremely shaken and I didn’t want to ask anything she wasn’t willing to just say.

Her boyfriend played college football and was in extremely good shape. He went for a morning run and never came back. He was found in a nearby body of water days later with no apparent injuries. She told me this right before his autopsy happened, after they had identified his body. I thought it was very strange back then but didn’t know this is apparently a common problem…which makes it altogether much more bizarre, sad, and terrifying.

[tartanmystic]

The victim blaming in the deaths of these young men found in water is deeply troubling

[yeags]

This exact thing just happened to a young man in Orlando Florida. Brian Bone I believe his name was. Found him floating in a lake downtown. He was drinking with friends on his birthday downtown. He called his mom late at night. She said stay where you are, your brother is coming to pick you up. He sounded distressed on the phone. He was found dead 3 days later.

[ElysetheEevee]

I'm actually acquaintances with a very kind nurse who's son passed under similar circumstances. I remember when her son went missing and then after they found him. He was troubled but the situation is jusr bizarre and suspicious. They found him in one of those irrigation ponds you see in subdivisions. The area had been searched previously as that neighborhood was more or less his last known area. His autopsy showed nearly every drug possible to test in his body at some level (not too much of an exaggeration). He was also missing some clothing, if I recall. He wasn't found for over a month, if I recall that as well. Just a very sad situation. The police basically dismissed the whole thing despite the weird toxicology tests and the people he was with giving different stories. There's more to it but it just seems very similar to this weird MO of whatever type of missing persons case this is. It's scary.... She's such a nice lady and I still feel horrible for her, even though this happened a couple years ago. He was 23 I think.

[samrichter]

Poor choice on my part to watch this at 4 am. Currently a UST student living in the area and Zamlen’s path towards the river would have taken him right past my bedroom window. Clearly foul play imo, there’s just no place for a body to hide for nearly a month along that stretch of riverbank. As for the police’s excuse of being too busy, it’s not unbelievable. The coaches at all 5 rowing clubs on this stretch of the river are on a first name basis with the police because of how often they come across bodies.

[prittyflutterbystar]

You're exactly right, there is so many cases just like these 2. I'm glad you covered these and well done!💯👍

[bullock]

I couldn't imagine the hurt and pain the parents felt when the police gave up the search and told them your son was a very troubled young man and we'll find him when the river gives him up. We don't have the time to look for him.

[Fluoride_Jones]

I love in Anoka, and have lived in Minnesota my whole life. I'm surprised Jelani was found in that small pond on the golf course grounds instead of the Rum River, which travels all through Anoka. Fun fact: Anoka considers itself the "Halloween Capital of the World, " and has many supposedly haunted sites. It also boasts one of the state's major mental hospitals, with underground tunnels connecting the multiple buildings to one another.
Meanwhile, St Paul, MN has many caves that bootleggers used to use during the prohibition days. As a kid, I remember going to a haunted cave tour there around Halloween time. I think they still do them to this day!

[IanP]

There's been similar situations in Manchester ((England) on the canal system there - very odd indeed. May Dan RIP!

[masonarcher]

I know this is an older video, but I would encourage you to consider digging in to more of Minnesota’s strange water/drowning deaths. They happen much more often than one would think. My friend and I actually noticed how often it was happening and we’d see the stories pop up in the newspaper explaining the death away as a drowning despite the person not being near water or living in a direction where they’d be walking away from a water source. Duluth, MN specifically has seen a few of these, many don’t make big headlines. Definitely worth looking into for someone such as yourself who seems to have the skillset to research these things. Something strange is going on out there with this.

[GeoFishing]

How can someone say something like that to a grieving mother. They get so cold and heartless in that field :(

[antoineferbos]

I feel for the families of all those who have disappeared under mysterious circumstances.