Boyfriend of woman who vanished at California beach bonfire speaks out, makes plea for public’s help
The boyfriend of a Utah woman who vanished earlier this month at a beach in California is now speaking out, urging the public to “please come forward” with information in a case that police suspect might contain “foul play.”
Danielle Staley, 35, was last seen at a bonfire on Rio Del Mar State Beach near Aptos on Nov. 6 around 11:30 p.m., according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies later said new information indicates that Staley may be “at risk” and that “foul play may be involved.”
“I’m not stopping until I find her. And I’m not going anywhere, I’m right here,” Alx Nunez, identified by KSBW as her boyfriend, said in an interview with the station. “I really appreciate everything that people are doing. … and I want to do more than what I’ve been doing, sitting in some hotel room, so what I’m asking is for if anybody has any information, any information whatsoever to please come forward, the detectives are working on this really hard.”
“As God as my witness, I have nothing to do with it,” he also said.
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The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office describes Staley as being 5 feet, 6 inches tall, weighing around 120 pounds. She was last seen wearing a dark-hooded sweatshirt and leopard-print leggings.
“Since being reported missing on November 7, 2025, deputies and detectives have been actively investigating and following up on all information to help locate Danielle Staley,” Santa Cruz County Sheriff Sgt. Zach West told Fox News Digital on Thursday. “Staley’s personal belongings were found on the beach, and she has not been in contact with her family — behavior that is uncharacteristic and has raised additional concern.”
“At this time, investigators are not ruling out foul play; however, the case is being treated as a missing person at risk due to the circumstances,” West added. “The Sheriff’s Office is asking residents and businesses with surveillance footage capturing the area of Rio Del Mar Beach, Beach Drive, Treasure Island, and/or Spreckels Drive areas, between November 5 and November 7, 2025, to contact our deputies for review of video footage.”
West said Staley is from Holladay, Utah — a city outside Salt Lake City — and that her boyfriend has been cooperating with the investigation. Staley, he said, was “in the company of an unknown group of people” around a bonfire at the time of her disappearance.
“Over this past weekend, some of Ms. Staley’s family members arrived in Santa Cruz County to assist in the investigative search efforts,” West also told Fox News Digital. “Community members have continued to report possible sightings and have provided video surveillance to assist with possible leads.”
Nunez said he did not attend the bonfire on the night of Staley’s disappearance and instead fell asleep in the camper van they were traveling in. The van is still being searched by police for evidence, according to KSBW.
“And when I woke up, she wasn’t there, so I’m saying there’s cameras there, there’s a whole private subdivision that isn’t nothing but cameras, and there has to be some video surveillance of something cars going in and out between about 11 o’clock and six in the morning,” the station quoted him as saying.
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