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Danny Piñeda

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Real Name: Daniel Piñeda Jr.
Aliases: Danny Piñeda
Wanted For: Rape
Missing Since: November 1991

Nanette Brana

Nanette Brana

Case[]

Details: Twenty-three-year-old Danny Piñeda is wanted for raping his girlfriend, Nanette Brana of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The two had first met at church in the early summer of 1991. She was just thirteen, while he was nineteen. When she first met him, he was shy and quiet. As time passed, they started seeing more of each other. They soon became boyfriend and girlfriend. He would come to her house every day, and they would see each other at church as well. She says it was an “innocent” relationship.
Danny was a gifted athlete on the track and cross-country teams at McCaskey High School. He could run with the best high school students in Pennsylvania. In four years of competition, he set numerous state and county running records and amassed over twenty-five trophies and medals. To those in the local Puerto Rican community, he was a hero. However, while at school, he also had disciplinary problems that prevented him from competing in some events. He also did not receive any college scholarships due to his poor academic performance.
Soon after they met, Danny became Nanette’s constant escort. Each morning, he walked her to class at Hand Junior High School. Because of their six-year age difference, Nanette’s mother, Nancy Rivera, kept a keen watch over their budding romance. In the beginning, Nancy thought he was a good guy. She had no problems with him whatsoever. In fact, she really liked him.
But, as the romance continued, Nancy noticed that Danny was becoming possessive over Nanette. He began to follow her everywhere. He would call her often and always try to be next to her. Nancy says that is when everything started to change with the couple’s relationship.
Nancy held back her disapproval for fear that Nanette would rebel against her. But less than two months after she met Danny, Nanette herself began to feel smothered by his obsessive infatuation. On multiple occasions, he came to her school, stood outside her classroom, and yelled her name. He would not let her talk to or smile at anyone else. He would make her style her hair and dress a certain way. Nancy told Nanette that it was not right for him to do that.
Nanette had had enough. On the morning of November 13, 1991, while walking to school, she met Danny outside his house. She asked him not to walk her to class and handed him a note. She told him to read it inside. In the letter, she said she was too young to have a boyfriend and wanted to spend more time with her family. She closed by saying, “Maybe in the future, when I get older, we can get together again.” Once he finished reading it, he began to freak out, tossing his trophies around. She immediately left to go to school.
Nanette says she felt bad because she did not want to hurt Danny. But she did not want to be hurt either. She says she was scared all day at school because she did not know what was going to happen. However, the school day came and went without incident. That afternoon, after classes were over, she began her walk home.
Nanette was less than six blocks from her house, walking on Chesapeake Street between Strawberry and South Queen Streets, when she encountered Danny. He was brandishing her note. She was unaware that he was also armed with a kitchen knife, cellophane tape, and a can of mace.
As they began to argue, Danny pulled out the mace and sprayed it in Nanette’s face. He dragged her into the nearby woods and pushed her down a hill. He tried to tape her mouth shut, but when that failed, he pulled out the knife and said he would kill her if she did not shut up. A group walking on Chesapeake Street noticed Danny and Nanette and asked what was happening. He stood her up and told them that everything was fine. When she tried to say something to them, he sprayed her again.
Once the group left, Danny sprayed Nanette with mace again. He then raped her. She says that every time she tried to scream, he sprayed her in the mouth with mace. She tried to tell him to stop and that she could not breathe, but he did not listen. After the rape, he refused to let her leave.
About an hour after the attack began, Nanette escaped by throwing the top of the mace can into the woods. Shortly afterward, she was spotted by an officer patrolling the area. When the officer approached her, she began to cry and scream for Nancy. He asked her if she was okay, and she said no. She continued to scream and cry.
Five minutes later, Nancy, who had been out searching for Nanette, chanced upon the scene. The officer told Nancy that he could not let her touch Nanette. He then told her that Nanette had been raped. Nancy says it felt like “the life went away from [her].” Nanette was then taken to the hospital.
For three days, nobody saw or heard from Danny. Then, he called Nanette’s home. Nancy answered and told him that he had to go to the police station. He cried and begged to talk to Nanette. He told Nancy he wanted to apologize and tell her what had happened “for real.” She became angry and told him to leave them alone. She says she was so nervous during the call that she was shaking.
Nancy gave the phone to her cousin, Judith. Judith told Danny he could talk to her, but not at their house. He asked to meet her at the tennis courts in nearby Lancaster County Central Park in fifteen minutes. She agreed, but first, she called the police. A trap was quickly put in place. Shortly after the call, Judith met with Danny at the park. While she tried to keep him distracted and talking, the police closed in. However, as a police patrol car pulled up, he noticed it and ran away.
One officer tried to chase Danny on foot, while the other tried to follow him in the patrol car. Unfortunately, he was able to escape into a wooded area before the officers were able to reach him. According to Lieutenant Dennis Arnold of the Lancaster Police Department, that was the last time the police saw Danny.
Danny was gone, but his shadow continued to fall over the lives of Nanette and Nancy. They lived in constant fear – not only of Danny but of his friends and family as well. One night, a man showed up at Nanette’s home. He tried to open one of their doors and banged on several windows, demanding that they open the door for him. He told them to “leave Danny alone.”
Nancy says Danny’s family and friends wanted her to drop the charges against him. She told them that she was not going to. They told her she was wrong because she “had to forgive him.” She told them she would forgive him, but he still needed to face the consequences. She claims they tried to make her feel like she was in the wrong and was the bad guy in the situation. She assured them that she was not wrong: Nanette was the victim, and Danny was the perpetrator. She told them that he had to pay, not Nanette.
Lieutenant Arnold believes there are people in the Spanish community who know where Danny is. He suspects they are not coming forward and being uncooperative because they do not believe the rape really happened. Lieutenant Arnold says he knows the rape happened, and there is no doubt in his mind that Danny committed it. He says Danny needs to “pay the piper” for what he has done.
Nancy and Nanette have been forced to move several times because of the harassment from Danny’s family and friends. Nanette says she is sad, hurt, and angry about what happened. She says she “does not know what to feel.”
Danny has been charged with rape, statutory rape, aggravated indecent assault, corruption of minors, and unlawful restraint. His last known address was 508 S. Ann Street. Police have received “reliable information” placing him in several spots along the East Coast and in Puerto Rico.
Extra Notes:

  • This case first aired on the January 12, 1994 episode.
  • It was followed by a rapist roll call which featured Dr. George Desmond Graham, Joseph Gardner, and Ronald Oglesby.
  • It was submitted to the show by Nancy.
  • It was one of the few cases solved prior to the broadcast.
  • It was excluded from the FilmRise release of the Robert Stack episodes.
  • Some sources state Nanette ended the relationship after learning how much older Danny was.
Danny in 2022

Danny in 2022

Results: Captured - Authorities knew that in 1992, Danny had run a marathon in Puerto Rico under the name “Sammy Laureano,” but they had been unable to locate him. Shortly before the broadcast, however, an anonymous tipster provided police with specific information about Danny’s car.
The police discovered that Danny had been using the name “Daniel Laboy,” his mother’s maiden name. He had recently registered a 1977 Toyota under that name and used it to receive public assistance. Authorities traced the car’s registration to a home in Utuado, a small town forty miles southwest of San Juan. He was living there with his wife and infant child.
At 9:30am on January 12, 1994, the same morning as the broadcast, Danny was arrested without incident at his home. On February 3, he was extradited to Pennsylvania to face the charges against him. On November 14, he pleaded guilty to one count of rape and was sentenced to serve five to fifteen years in state prison. He was also ordered to undergo counseling, including a sex offender program, and is not allowed to have any contact with Nanette.
In October 2001, Danny was released from prison after serving seven years. He is currently listed as a registered sex offender in Pennsylvania.
Nanette now lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is married with four children.
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