Where Daniel "Dan Dan" Robertson's body lay in the basement of Gichitwaa Kateri church in south Minneapolis last week, photos showed him as a happy boy surrounded by family, and as a high schooler at Hinckley-Finlayson, 100 miles north of Minneapolis.
Family members didn't have any photos of him after that.
Robertson was about 16 when he moved to the city in want of two things: community, and his father, who struggled with substance abuse. He was 18 when his father died after being beaten on Franklin Avenue. Robertson was never the same, said his sister Elizabeth Robertson, 42. He turned to drugs and lived on the street.
"My brother Dan was always waiting for my dad to come back and get him, for him to sober up and do what he needed to do to come back," Elizabeth Robertson said.
Robertson was 32 when he died last month at the Wall of Forgotten Natives homeless camp along Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis after reportedly having a seizure and losing consciousness. His cause of death is unknown, though witnesses have raised concerns about whether first responders did enough to try to revive him. The agency representing the responders said they followed their training.
Named after the original tent city that stood at the same site five years ago, the Wall attracted some 140 people from smaller camps across Minneapolis following a succession of closures by the city and MnDOT. It too was closed the day after Robertson's death.
Robertson was respected as a kind and compassionate person by those who live unsheltered in Minneapolis' encampments. He was known to pick up trash around camp, provide power through his small electric generator and share what little he owned, said family members and encampment residents.
At the time of his death, there was an apartment in his name in St. Paul. Yet Robertson gravitated toward encampments and his second "family," because he couldn't stand the solitude.