Circumstances of Disappearance
Barter was last seen playing near the banks of Perdido Bay, AL. At the bay side campsite were the boy's parents, three brothers, an uncle, and two cousins.
It was just about 09:45 and the family was preparing equipment for a fishing trip when they realized Danny was gone. About 15 minutes had passed since his brothers had last seen him near the campsite's small beach. He had spent the night in his uncle's car with the other children and he was barefoot, still wearing the gray boxer shorts he slept in.
The search for Danny started at the beach, a few miles north of the U.S. 98 bridge into Florida. Danny didn't like the water, and there were no footprints leading into the bay.
The search included several hundred volunteers and emergency personnel, the U.S. Navy, a trio of prizewinning bloodhounds, helicopters, skin divers, mounted posses and even hunters who stalked alligators and sliced open their bellies searching for signs of the boy. The bloodhounds repeatedly tracked the boy's scent to the same spot on a nearby road.

The case remained open for years, but no leads ever emerged. In 2008, investigators began a new push to solve the case with the prevailing theory being that Barter was abducted.